Is a 996 C4 realistic as a winter driver?

Thinking about selling my Boxster and Audi A6 and consolidating to a 996 Carrera 4 as a year round daily driver. My only hesitation is, would a 996 C4 be realistic for an Upper Midwest winter even with proper snow tires? Drove the Boxster through winter a few years ago and it generally did fine, but once there was about 5" of unplowed snow it would basically become beached. Obviously it does not have the AWD of the 996 but similar ground clearance. Fortunately our roads are plowed promptly so that's almost never an issue. Just doing my due diligence before jumping the gun..

The main problem with winter driving is not you or your cars ability but the ability of other road users failing to stop where they are supposed to stop and skidding into you on the snow and ice. A side road attempted stop straight into your path. Now the cost of body work to repair your 996 can be to deciding factor in totaling your car. Those factors are the reasons why I will never again drive my 996 during the winter months. I have other vehicles for those road conditions. Best of luck to you if you decide otherwise.

The 996 is going to have the same basic problem as you Boxster. Ground clearance. Other than that, our C4 has always done great up to the point the snow meets the bumper.

The AWD system in the 996 wasn't designed for winter conditions, it was designed for improved performance in spirited driving conditions. It's nothing like the Quattro system offered by Audi. It utilizes a viscous coupling, and it only sends power to the front wheels if there is a speed differential from front to rear. You may encounter this speed differential when cornering at speed. If the rear wheels slip in winter conditions, the PSM and traction control systems will intervene, cutting power to the rear wheels before the AWD system can do much good. A C2 fitted with winter tires will outperform a C4 with summer tires or all-season tires in winter conditions.

Hmm, I remember taking my Boxster into the unplowed lane of a highway with 5" of snow and passing trucks and SUVs at 60mph. Sure, ground clearance is the limiting factor, and my BMW X3 or Jeep Grand Cherokee was better and could handle 8+" of snow, but where I live (Chicago), it's unlikely to have to deal with that depth of snow for very long (they plow here). I even purposely avoided getting a C4 because I knew the C2 would be just fine. But it all comes down to your comfort level, driver skill, and whether or not they plow where you drive.

works for me

sorry to be THAT guy. I only drive mine when we're over freezing temps. Today I woke up to rain & got to drive for the first time in over a week. Precautionary principle has a hold on my brain. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...cylinders.html Performance wise even my C2 is able to move well in the snow. The limit I've seen is steep uphill on snowpack, anything less isn't a problem. My concern is about the block temps/scoring potential.

It is definitely do-able. I drove a C4 through 5 Wisconsin winters. The snow tires worked the best the first year, then started getting worse every year. The AWD works, at a stop light I would hit the gas, the rear tires would spin for half a second, then power would get sent forward, and away I went. I could still out accelerate pretty much everything else on the road. This biggest problem I ever had was ice preventing the window from dropping when you open the door, and ice jamming the fuel door lock.

I couldn't disagree more, I every driven all my 911's for the past 28 years during the winter, with the correct Winter Sport tires, the cars are awesome in the snow, if it is over 4" then I take the Audi Allroad, other than that, I never had a problem, really...When I was stationed in Germany I saw many 911's during the winter months.

Just get a set of winter tires (any brand will do) and you will be more than fine with the 4S.

I would not and do not do it. I park my P and other sports cars for the winter and drive either an A6 quattro or an x drive BMW. The reason has more to do with the relative size of the car, poor visibility and idiot drivers than the ability of the respective vehicle. I will say no "car" out performs a Quattro in the snow, outfitted with blizzaks, in my experience. With summer tires, my C4 is HOPELESS in the snow......and I don't want to drive it so bad in the winter that I would bother with winter wheels and rubber.

It is for sure if you live in Tucson Arizona.

Weather isn't a big issue in SF, but I know guys here that run snows on their 996s and use them for driving to Tahoe in winter. I also remember a Car and Driver long-term test of the 996 C4S where they fitted it with a set of Bilzzaks and drove it through the Detroit winter. Seems like if you were to pick a sports car to drive in traction-limited conditions, a C4 would be a decent bet - having a majority of weight over the rear axle (where most of the power goes, even in a C4/S) should help with traction, and obviously the AWD helps as well.

Drove my 99 C2 with Blizzak WS-80's last year and it was awesome.

Yes. I drive my 996 Turbo year round. I have Blizzak's on it and its awesome in the snow. Also, I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This city is one of the coldest in North America. This morning it was -42 degrees Celsius with the windchill!

To give you an idea of how good it is in the snow, when we get a 10-15 cm snowfall I'll go out driving, just for fun. Just turn PSM off and its awesome to drive.

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For some reason, my wife's '08 BMW X3 was better in the snow than her '14 Audi Q5. I'd attribute this to tire differences. I can see why a summer-tire Porsche would be hopeless in the snow. I once got stuck in my driveway with my '06 BMW M5. There was 1" of snow and my driveway is flat! Tire choice is the leading important factor. Imagine hockey players wearing basketball shoes in the ice.

/\ /\ Agree.

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The first winter I had my Cayenne, it was an unstoppable monster in the snow. Before the second winter I had the tires replaced and unfortunately didn't end up with the model I intended. That second winter it was absolutely useless in the snow and the C4 with it's PS2s was more confidence inspiring. When digging the cars out I'm lazy and just knock the snow down to the level of the bottom of the bumper and then back them through. Last year that meant about 15' of snow they had to back through. The e90xi (Michelin all weathers) backed right out no problem. The C4 (Michelin PS2s) didn't blink. The Cayenne in off road mode (Conti all weather ECO POSs) made it a foot before getting stuck. I ultimately had to remove all the snow down to the pavement for the tire tracks.

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Will switching off PSM will be necessary/solve this problem?

My C2 does great in the snow when outfitted with Blizzaks. It's actually better than our Touareg TDI, GL450, Outback, or Highlander were when those were running their standard OEM tires. With Blizzaks on those, they do better of course, but it's still nowhere near night and day. I will say that PSM helps quite a bit but being judicious in using your right foot and common sense counts for a lot. But if you didn't have any issues beyond traction in your Boxster, you will have NO greater issues with a 996 of any drive type as long as you fit appropriate tires. Don't assume you need AWD or that it will increase the possible usage days, I do not believe it to be a factor. As you stated, accumulation is a bigger potential factor. My Avatar is me and my car on Georgetown Lake (frozen with some snow cover) with Blizzaks. That year I came in second overall in the local Porsche club autocross that they do annually. The competition included numerous C4S's, Turbos, and Cayennes, all AWD, some with snows and some with studded snows. The winner? An early 80's 944 with Blizzaks and 3 guys sitting in the open trunk area for more traction.

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Yes it will, although you obviously lose the other benefits of PSM in winter conditions. I did this very thing several times to get up my steep, snow-covered driveway.

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I would leave PSM on unless you are stuck, and need some wheel spin. Or as mentioned above, maybe for a specific hill. It felt much safer to me having PSM on when for example changing lanes. Also mentioned above is a Cayenne that was useless in the snow. I will agree. Once I got a Cayenne loaner with Pirelli Verde Scorpion all season tires. It was possibly the worst vehicle I've ever driven in snow.

These days so many cars are AWD and many of those have electronics to assist when driving conditions deteriorate. Some of us had to drive in snow when almost all cars were front engine, RWD and the radio was the most sophisticated piece of electronics. We did it. Snow tires in the rear and a bag of sand helped. My C2 with snows is so much easier to drive in snow than the Galaxy V8 I drove through just as much snow in the 70's. PO, you can do it.

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Heh. My dad had 5 gallon pails of sand he kept in the beds of the trucks (2 in the S10 and 6 in the 3/4 ton). At least once a winter he'd get to use the S10 to pull our neighbor and his 1/2ton 4x4 out of the ditch It's not just about having the tools, you have to know how to use them.

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There was a guy who used to pull the plow truck down the road when it got stuck with a s10 that was 2wd and had bags of kitty litter in the bed for weight.

Any car will do well in the winter if equipped with real snow tires. Hell, we drive our Vette in the winter but obviously not in deep snow. Here in NJ where the conditions can be really varied, we just take care on snowy days. My DD is a Chevy SS with 430HP and rear drive. With snows, I motor past many SUV's with AWD because they still have their all season tires on. So get some snows and have some fun!

I wouldn't do it, I just garage my porsche unless the roads are clear... it also takes a toll on the bottom of your car... the owner before me used my car for winter and now when I change anything out due to the amount of rust and corrosion I seem to be grinding or braking off all my bolts/clamps because they are so rusted/corroded and then having to buy all new hardware for every job I tackle

Well I guess it depends on the owner and expectations. If the car is to be a DD then winter driving by is OK. If the car is along term buy, then they have a decision to have another DD ad the place to properly store the Porsche.

In the snow: Blizzacks + Skilled Driver = Unstoppable Blizzacks + Normal Driver = Good to Go Summer Tires + Skilled Driver = Crazy Fool Summer Tires + Average Driver = Dead in the Water AWD + Below Average Driver = Get Stuck Deeper

For my winter vehicle, I have driven my 1988 924S with snow tires for the past 10 years. Works great as long as the snow is not deep. You should have no problems just avoid deep snow (6 inches) on the road.

Driving my c4 in the snow makes me hate winter a little less.

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Sorry to hear that. My first gen Cayenne S equipped with Michelin Latitude Alpins was a beast in the snow!