996 C4 winter driving

Ok so this my third winter with the C4 and it never ceases to amaze me how good these cars are in the snow and ice, i feel just as secure driving this as i do driving a Range Rover. I was pulling out of my road the other morning and the cars in front of me were wheel spinning and sliding all over the place but the C4 didnt batter an eyelid, no sliding/wheel spinning or anything, (a lot of this was down to brilliant driving on my part of course ) but still i couldnt be happier with it. Dont know what other peoples experiences have been? but for anyone that wants to know about winter handling before making a purchase i can completely recommend them..

A little bit surprised you say this as the downside is that the wide rear tyres of a 996 would exert less pressure on a road surface than narrow ones. Not tested my own 911 4wd in the snow yet as I would think my fwd car would cope better? ~ Maxie :?:

I've found the AWD to be very handy on the snow. The conditions in Jan/Feb provided no issues, and I sailed past quite a few struggling RWD only cars. The Porsche electronics and variable drive seem ideally suited to a bit of snow and ice. Both this time and last I've got the occasional skight rear wheel slide (mostly on roundabouts where you turning and crossing different wheel tracks) but the subtle combination of the awd, electronics and (obviously) my super human driving skills correct this quickly. If you stop in several inches of fresh snow on top of compacted ice, you're still totally screwed. Like Scotty always said, you cannae change the laws of physics. I think it is as well to recognise that this is driving on roads that (despite their still dodgy condition) have been gritted, snow ploughed and kept clear by a lot of traffic. If I was really in the sticks I'd want skinny snow tyres, fixed FWD, off road gear ratios - either an old Land Rover or (say) a decommissioned T34. All I'm saying really is the Porsche AWD is quite nice and using abandoned 3 series as landmarks does give one a certain smugness. OK - today I'll probably bin it.

After reading these posts and looking at the deserted roads I felt pretty tempted to get the old girl out and try her in these conditions. I then realised that I'd have to move a fwd and a rwd car off the sloped drive before doing so and as there's 6 inches of standing snow I quickly changed my mind. If I actually had any reason to leave the house today I'm not sure what I'd do but in future I think I'll park the daily drivers differently. :frustrated:

I had to check the original poster to this thread wasn't me. Word for word my experience with my C4S.

Similar experience in my C4. This year and last year got through on roads that only range rovers/discoveries etc going. I use mine around some single track/ungritted roads and find it just as secure as my old 4WD Subaru. Still can't disobey the laws of physics so need to be wary when braking etc. With winter tyres on I imagine it would double as a snow plough with the front splitter

Was out in my C4S this morning in the snow... so much different to a 2WD Porsche. My wife has a Boxster and that's all over the place on a slippery road whereas the C4S is rock solid even with great big wide tyres on the back.

Hi All, Great to hear of all your winter driving experiences in C4 and C4S. First winter in mine but it's not been out of the garage yet as I was planning to replace rear tyres before the snow came - I got caught out there then! Mine's a daily driver, doing about 15k pa commuting Edinburgh to Glasgow 3 times a week and I intend keeping this up through the winter. I was going to buy a spare set of wheels (same size fronts but 10" rears as recommended in handbook) and fit with winter tyres but I'm wondering if this is neccessary after reading all your comments? With a brand new set of Bridgestone S02As (N3) on the rear and barely worn fronts sounds like it might be fine? Have been using wife's Discovery 3 during the serious stuff in Edinburgh this week (2' of snow!!!!) Porsche will only be out on roads where I'm not going to get beached on thick stuff. I have had my C4S since April and absolutely love it - what a car! Puts a big grin on my face every morning. Nicely specced late 04 with PSE and all the good stuff. Did 350 mile tour round central Scotland with a mate in his souped up S2 Elise - on twisty A and even B roads the Elise could not lose the Porsche - when in front the Porsche pulled away - he was as surpised as I was. Body control on twistys with crests was fantastic - only once or twice did I think a GT3 might have been handy but actually think it would have been to stiff for the surfaces. Porsche have got the comfort/handling balance 100% spot on. PS superb forum.

Confession Snow hts the South finally yesterday morning. Came out to drive to work and went back into the house and grabbed the misses Lexus RX keys. Regretted it the whole way to work I'll get my coat...........

was it missing the drive you regretted or the fact she might have popped out to the shops and pranged the Porsche...!

I may have bottled the drive but I'm not stupid. I went in and took the misses keys and also kept the Porsche keys in my pocket. Come on give me some credit.

smart move.. always thinking!

Have had an opportunity to do some impromptu testing between C4 on summer tyres and winter tyres the last few days with the snow. Luckily in Cambridgeshire we haven't had too much snow, maybe 2-3 inches. My C4 is great in snow and I have not had any problems however comparing it to my friends 964 carrera 4 with "cheap" Nankang winter tyres on was a revelation. We had a car-park with about 2 inches snow on. The 964 stopped in 2/3 distance from 30mph than my C4. Also on a sharp 90 degree coned corner mine ran wide at 15 mph when his only did this at 23 mph. I was very impressed. We did a similar thing on just cold Tarmac with no snow and braking distance about 3/4 of mine before abs kicked in and he could corner a bit faster. Makes the already impressive Porsche 4WD even better as you can't beat the improved grip from winter tyres in cold temperatures

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I'm still trying to work out if this post is saying the winter tyres are better than all-year / summer ones, or a 964 is better than a 996...? :grin: