Which would be best in the snow?

I might need to go out in the snow today and was wondering what you thought would be less pathetic :?: The 5 series touring has so far proved to be utterly shite as soon as it gets slippy. Rear wheel drive and fat tyres are useless. Even a slight incline from a standstill is a struggle. I resorted to reversing up a small hill at the weekend otherwise I would still be at the golf club now - not such a bad thought - at least they have a bar. The 996 C4 has so far stayed in the garage but do you think it will be better or worse than the 5 series :?: We have had about 4" of snow overnight and most roads still haven't been gritted. I look forward to you sharing your wisdom. :floor:

The C4 will be better I would suggest. But which do you prize the more? A fleeting trip to my little boys school this morning showed how inadequate a C2, just like the BMW is in the snow also. Good fun though! :drive:

Last february I did back-to-back same journey, one day in a BMW, next day in the C2 993 in the very icey-snow. Conditions were slightly worse on the 2nd day in the Porsche. Not deep snow, but ice and snow both days. 993 had much more grip than the BMW. BMW was actually oversteering at 20mph due simply to the camber on the road plus no weight on the driven wheels. 993 stayed straight. My advice? Take the Clio. :grin:

Actually, in all seriousness, what tyres do you have on each car? Thrasher911s (993 Turbo) trip to Scotland in deep fresh snow recently passed without incident - he was on ordinary P-zeros, which have quite an open / blocky tread pattern, which he reported performed 'adequately' in snow. I can see Contis NOT doing so well, but it's what I had on the rears last february.

Nice idea but I can't take the Clio. The Porsche is running Bridgestones. Thanks for the replies :thumb:

On sunday on pure ice the C2 handled well on Bridgestone S02, but I haven't done snow on them yet. No help at all really :grin: :wack: Good luck.

I had to go to work at 5.30am on Sunday morning in horrible conditions and decided to use the Porsche and not my wifes puma as I am going to be using the Porsche as the main car. It was heavily snowing and all roads, including main roads, were completely white and I've only had the car a week. I was very nervous, however I just took my time, especially round bends, never over accelerated and I got to work fine. I used the car again yesterday as the main roads were a lot better (still icy though), again taking my time. Over the 2 days my biggest concern was the other idiots on the road with me, a taxi undertaking me on a roundabout, an Audi TT speeding up and slowing down, almost trying to tempt me into a race, a taxi stopping on a bank in front of me inbetween 2 parked cars to let a passenger out and a car parked opposite my drive and my house is on a bit of an incline, total idiots grrrr! I've owned many 3 series beemers in the past and found them all to be ok in the snow, as long as you take your time, accelerate very, very gently and use your gears to slow down as much as you can.

Take the C4 Bubbles. This weather is madness!!!

Thanks for all your advice. I have decided to take the sofa. :hand: ***** it, I'm going nowhere. Haven't seen a car of any description go down our road in the last 30 minutes, usually there are a couple every minute. :bye:

Don't deny it, your a closet Loose Women fan. :hand:

OK you got me. :cop: It's either that or reruns of Top Gear on Dave .... c:

Just to pick up on what OC mentioned earlier. The thing with the natural camber on minor roads. My C2S was over steering all the time as well and I was being ever so gentle, "honest Gov". Parking for the school is on the other side of the road when you approach from the direction I do. So, road is clear of traffic and I gradually move over to the other side of the road, so facing oncoming traffic. Anyway, as soon as I was over the middle of the road the natural camber started a slide towards the kerb. Minor "oh no, not my alloys" moment, when the car gripped and I was able to park up safely. I have to say though, every time you come to a quiet section of road/tarmac where there are no obstructions, getting the back end out is soooo hard to resist and great fun. I think I'd like to have a go at testing the 911 (or should that be testing me) in the snow on one of these Porsche Experience things. Tesco's car park will have to do for now though and I can chav it up wiv me massive.

I'm working from home today but if I had to go out I'd be using the missus Picasso (front wheel drive) rather than my company 3 series as the combination of run flats and rear wheel drive is a terrible mix, I'm not impressed with run flats in general as the last 3 company cars I've had have used them. (I've only recently bought my pride and joy and don't intend on using it in this weather anyway!) I read another post about tyres earlier and everyone seemed to be favouring the Michelins so I'm wondering what the opinion on the Conti Sportcontact2 currently fitted to my car are as they've still got about 6mm left so I won't be changing them soon? I also run them at the recommended pressures or should I be looking at running them slightly lower?

Well I am using my Turbo rather than my Isuzu Trooper at the moment :grin: Trooper is useless unless the road is completely covered, as it's not permanent 4WD and is even worse than a BMW at the moment: No weight on the back, a live axle, high centre of gravity and All-Terrain tyres with less grip than a slippery thing on tarmac! 911's always used to do well in the snow rallies (admittedly with appropriate tyres) as they have so much more grip, due to weight over driven wheels. In particular, when braking, front-wheel drive cars tend to lock up the back wheels - causing them to try and swap ends... 911s tend to pull up much straighter as the front wheels lose traction first under braking.

C4S in the snow I have to report that my C4S on bridgestones grips pretty good in the snow. Must be the 4wd. Have driven up a some nice inclines on pack snow at a slow pace with no trouble at all. Even stopped on the hill and started again. Could never have done this in my old 928. Have been very impressed in spite of the 18" 295's. I'm thinking that C4's are much better than C2's in snow.