4 Wheel Drive

Must say that I was sceptical about moving from 2WD rears to a 4WD vehicle, yet today making my way home from work in lots of snow I have never been so pleased with my decision. For such an unpractical car, it has performed brilliantly this winter. How are the 2WD cars doing in this weather? I am yet to drive a 996 with RWD but heard they are fantastic.

Hi there I have to admit that I'm still treating the Turbo with kid gloves if the road even looks as though it hasn't been gritted. Loathe to put some foot down only to discover that the AWD doesn't really cut it, so am going to wait until I'm a little more used to the car methinks. Would be of interest to hear what others have found with the AWD cars in this weather. Cheers Chris

cars with power, big tyres are f***ing usless in this weather, we take the van out in this sort of weather, we make mincemeat of all these 4wd cars[ ]

I'll let you know later... I've been out in the van today, it wasn't very good[&:] - but it was empty and spins the wheels in the wet anyhow [ ] garyw

2WD are fantastic - but utterly useless in this snow!! Just managed to get home and get it in the garage in a semi contolled manner!! Wife's 2WD BMW 3 stuck of the drive!!

hopefully later..... [ ] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6llEEg6txSc

Yes I can say c4s a total waste of time in the snow and ice,these cars are only 5% 4wd at slow speeds anyway,30% max at high speed due to the viscous coupling,not like the 964

I have to say that a certain new model 4wd 997 was absolutely stunning going up the "ice hill" at Silverstone recently! [8D] I think they have played around with the coupling/electronics etc.etc since the 996 though? Be interesting to see what it's like on the real stuff.

I agree the new 997 is electronic 4wd as I found out going down the hill backwards in the pdk,The car stalls automaticaly to stop any damage to drive system,very clever stuff Paul c4s x51 Stuck in the stable yard for the night

Well, have been successfully negotiating our local snow and ice bound roads in the C4, much to the amzement of neighbours..."you're not going to try to get out in that are you?" My RWD Lexus IS220d has been left stranded on the drive way so w/o the Porsche we'd have been stuck at home! Must admit that while it gets me out & about, anything above 20-25mph has been pretty scary (cos of the ice on the roads) particularly corners as the car feels as though it wants to keep going straight ahead despite my instructions via the steering wheel...but, better than nothing!

I suspect it is more of an issue of tyre type than 4wd. front engined FWD cars are better in snow than front engined RWD cars as the weight of the engine is directly over the driven wheels, therefore it stands to reason that a rear engined RWD car should be just as good. Of course you can't beat 4wd in slippery conditions, but these cars have wide tyres fitted which are no good in snow and ice no matter how many driven wheels you have - the width of the wheels spread the weight of the car too much. You want narrower wheels so the wheels penetrate the soft fluffy stuff on the surface and get onto grippier hard packed snow or road underneath. In countries that get snow every year they wouldn't dream of going out in any car in these conditions without their winter tyres on. My brother lives in Norway and by the end of November his winter tyres go on and stay on throughout the winter - it is common practice in those countries. I'd be willing to bet that a 4wd 996 on narrower winter tyres would be as good as anything on snowy roads as long as you have the ground clearance. In fact i'd bet that a 2wd 996 with narrower winter tyres would be pretty good also - at least as good as a front engined FWD car. Last year in Stanstead Airport car park when we had the wintery weather around Feb time I found my 944 was much better than A5's and BMW's that were struggling to get up a fairly shallow but icy gradient. I just pulled out around them and passed them with little fuss. I was a bit surprised given a 944 is a lighter car, but I put it down to the extra weight of the transaxel over the rear wheels.

Getting cabin fever The turbo has been and remains garaged My girlfriends lowly 97 1.4 polo on skinny tyres makes mincemeat of anything else Even in the local carpark where all the X5s and other chelsea tractors were floundering, polo just zipped past like a little terrier Time to get some low friction handling practice in [ ]

I had heard that the 4WD system alters from 10/90 to 40/60 depending on how the computer feels, I must have been wrong! The weight over the rears makes a massive difference, this is why I was keen to hear from any 2WD owners to see how they had got on. My E92 3 Series Coupe was lethal in this weather with no weight over the driving wheels... Having never posted pics of mine up before I thought it was time, the fact it's dirty somehow makes it look better in the snow! Stay Safe!

I was driving in Sussex a couple of weeks ago in snow and ice and the C4 drove beautifully. Amazing traction especially on uphill stretches, when other cars were sliding all over the place the 996 was rock solid. Great piece of kit Steve

Did the M62 twice just before XMas in similar conditions. Once in 2001, 996 C4S Tip and once in 2007, Kia Cee'd 1.6 diesel. Both were OK, but the 911 didn't put a foot wrong. Admittedly, I drove both very sensibly but was very surprised at the Porsche, I thought it was going to be a nightmare, but it was very manageable!!!

Just to add my two pennorth!! Both C4 and C4S have been ok to drive in the snow when i've had to (refer back to some pics a couple of years ago in my report coming back from hawick!) Even the automatic was ok, not fantastic due to tyre size, but much better than Audis or BMWs i've had in the past. The biggest problem at the moment is ground clearnance and depth of snow. I also have a Landrover which gets some stick sometimes but every model i've owned from Series 3 through all marks of Discovery to present Freelander 2 have been fantastic. My car has the right tyres on and as long as driven sensibly (which i believe is the biggest factor!) they will get you anywhere. From the frozen wastes of rural Durham!!

my 996 C4 was pretty near as useless as linda`s new bmw recently.......the snow chain guy in kent who`s had a few porsches told me in no uncertain terms that without winter tyres (or chains) the 996 even in "4wd"format is,in snow just "an expensive snowboard".that was very much his expert view,presumably because it is not really awd at low speeds and the huge weight over the rear wheels. having spent 3 fun days at silverstone on the ice and wet in cayman and 997(twice)i have to say that i think things have improved considerably(as has hopefully my skill!!)

Well, I am at work looking out of my window and wondering what my C2S will be like on the way home....Any advice??

Scott`s point about tyres is absolutely correct. I`ve seen 4x4s on low profiles floundering around recently. The low temperatures as well as the road conditions make "normal" tyres pretty ineffective and winter tyres are a must if you have to stay mobile.My 2cv is great in the snow as it has very narrow tyres and cuts through the snow rather than sliding over it. Unfortunately its tucked up in a french barn and I`m currently in Wales. jr

Got in the car around 5 last night, dreading the drive home......roads were empty in North London!! Also a few dodgy moments where you feel no grip, otherwisw the C2S is fine.

I have 315s on the back. As a result, the Rangie is getting plenty of use - just need some off-road tyres....

My Range Rover Classic failed its MOT before Christmas and I was told that it needed lots of welding to pass. So I dusted off the C4S on Weds to get to work and had no problem with it in the snow. Come the evening, I had to drive back through south London and went up Crystal Palace hill. My colleague who was with me had not been in a Porsche before and found it amusing that we had to drive around stranded cars that could not get up the hills and we were in a 'sports car'. The 4WD does work but ground clearance is a problem and I would guess with proper winter tyres on, the car would be even more amazing. There are not that many sports cars that you could even consider taking out in this weather!

Hi from snowy Hampshire, Having ventured out in the snow over the past three days I have found my C4 to be superb and very predicatable. [ ] I even found it better to cut through some back lanes to avoid the idiots in white vans who seemed to think that they could carry on driving in the outside lane at the same pace as normal! Talk about accidents waiting to happen. By letting the torque of the engine loose in a high gear it was easy to pull away in all manner of conditions. I have an MGF tucked up in the garage and in previous snowy conditions the damned thing has tried to do Bolero all down the roads. [ ] Edited to add the following link, which if you get beyond the 1 minute 12 secs part gets really interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkAi41dJFGk&feature=related Mark PS A belated Happy New Year to everybody

Great vid. A bit like me driving to work this week, but slightly less impressive. [8|]

Had the same problem yesterday,My wife and I tried to get our c4s out from where it's been stuck for a week,Got the car moving up the hill,only to come to a stop halfway up,put the handbrake on 20 secs later the car just slid backwards down the hill missing tree's and a large drop into a field,with me inside totally helpless,FRIGHTENING,managed slowly to get it back to it's original position now to stay until complete de-frost.NEVER AGAIN!!!!!

i know what you mean, mine's not been out for nearly 5 weeks now[ ]getting serious withdrawl symptons now[ ]

by the way,forgot to had my wife Tanya had to sit on the front wing while I was sliding to stop it going sideways Paul