Snow ....should I add Quattro to my order?

[funkycat]

OK, on day 6 of A4 stuck on the drive with no chance of getting out! The wife's "Pug Power 206" is able to deal with the snow w/o issue, so now I'm getting ear ache about how "useless" my A4 is in the snow.

I have new A4 on order for March 2011 :-

On order : 2011 A4 Avant Black Edition, 2.0Tdi (170bhp), Phantom Black, 19” 5 arm rotor design titanium alloy wheels, Leather/Alcantara (Black with Silver stitching), Heated Seats, Cruise, DAB, B&O, AMI, Audi Parking System, Auto dimming/Folding Mirrors, Mobile Phone Low, Interior Light pack, Piano finish black inlays, Privacy glass, S-Line 30mm lowered suspension.

Should I add Quattro?
Will Quattro get me moving in the snow (and I guess we are gonna get loads more snow in the future now) even though the new A4 will have 19" 255/35 tyres on it! just like my current A4.

Its a £1500 additional cost on my order!

What do you all think?

 

[Alex C]

tbh i am suprised to see its only an additional £1500, i would say yes for that price. I guess you would have additional running and servicing costs with quatrro

 

[S3 Paul]

I would say yes.
But i would , as said above check the MPG for both cars,
Personaly i wouldnt have a FWD A3 over my S3 for its sure footed drive in bad weather

 

[NickH]

I have a similar spec to the one you have on order and I have to say it has been great in the snow/ice. Winter tyres are something I'm considering if we get this type of weather regularly. Once you've joined the dark side there is no return ;-)

It's also better in wet weather which is very handy for our climate.

Not to be confused with 'if I have quattro I don't have to worry', once you lose traction, 4wd, 2wd, rwd, it's all going to end up the same way...... messy.

HTH

Nick

 

[NICK-C]

I have gone from a FWD Astra to an S3 and the Astra was OK in the snow/ice and I did get stuck on our hill twice but so far the S3 has been great! Coming in to work this morning some tit in a BMW pulled out in front of me and got stuck on a hill so I had to stop halfway and watch them 'spin' their way up. When they had gone I started off again and got up with no issue.
For an extra £1500 I would deffo add the Quattro.

 

[johnnythepie]

I have an almost identical 2009 fwd.And it is totally and i mean totally **** in the snow.Its a no brainer mate.Im so sore from kicking myself

 

[Big Bird]

Oh yes, get a Quattro!!!!!

I've had mine a year, have 19" alloys on it (no winter tyres) and have not been stuck yet (tempts fate.....). Mine ploughs through 5 and 6 inches of snow without any bother and i manage to use roads other cars cant even think about. Being in Scotland, i wouldn't even consider 2wd, and it pays......

 

[Scotty]

quattro (lower case q ) is for all year. You notice it pull and push you out of bends/roundabout in the dry and it just balances the car in my opinion. You don't get tramping on fast get aways or torque steer. It simply delivers.

In poor conditions it's advantage is even more obvious especially to those who haven't had it before.

You're right to consider the 19" wheels as I have them and they are not ideal in the snow but mine cope. If I did more miles I'd get winter rubber but I don't so I can't justify the cost.

quattro can lull people into a false sense of security as mentioned above. Remember that all cars brake with your wheels and quattro works when you have power on. It increase traction and not grip.

quattro's generally cost about 10% more in fuel due to the additional drivetrain loses and of course the increase in weight and you have the initial outlay to factor in. Having said that having quattro on my old Mrk 1 TT (Haldex type) I was converted and it was only when I got my B6 S4 (Torsen type) that I fully appreciated it.

I don't think I'll ever have a FWD car again. RWD maybe but not front and definately will have more AWD.

Audi missed quattro of my order so I had the same car as I have now but FWD for 6 months or so. With all due respect to FWD owners, it was certainly not for me. I'd heard people saying that torque steer had been engineered out and that there was ample grip if you boot it out of a junction. I don't agree.

If you're on a tight budget then I'd drop other options instead of it e.g. plain black instead of phantom etc

quattro all the way

p.s. Today instead of struggling to get going I've had ESP off and have been throwing the **** around. quattro is a safety feature but it's great fun too

 

[consilio]

Yep, do it. I have a shared driveway with a neighbour and I could see this morning from tyre tracks that he managed to get half way up the hill but could go no further and had put his car back on the driveway. My turn and the S3 went up without even thinking about it, and yes I did feel smug about it

 

[eno394]

Have a FWD Sline and can't even get it off the drive despite digging it out. The first bit of ice or snow it hits and it's game over.

Spending a night sleeping on the M61 when the snow first hit made me realise just how poor this car is even with traction turned off. Sitting there just watching other cars soldier on was totally degrading for a 33k car.

 

[NHN]

Dont be a tight ****, get the quatty.

 

[rjm180]

Get the quattro, think you'll regret it if you don't.

 

[car4kids]

My advice would be definately add the quattro... I never looked at Audi until I bought an old A4 a few weeks ago - specifically to keep me moving in the snow. It is a 2.5Tdi 51 plate with quattro. It is astonishingly good in the snow. I have owned two freelanders, a 110 defender double cab and a mud tyred Discovery 3. The A4 is better than any of the land rovers in snow due to its lighter weight - it goes and stops reasonably well on snow covered roads. The only thing you don't get is the ground clearance. If there is that much snow the problem then becomes other motorists vehicles stuck in front of you and you can't get anywhere even with better ground clearance.

Beyond the snow it is remarkable the difference having 4x4 on a road car makes. You can accellerate much much earlier in corners with confidence whether you are on wet roads or dry roads there is considerably more traction.

I am so impressed with my old A4 that I have just bought a 3 month old S4 (quattro, of course!) I intend to keep the older one for the rest of the winter and have put in on winter tyres just yesterday.

If you are considering winter tyres order them now... don't wait until winter or delivery of the car. Mine took a long time to be delivered and it would be better to know you have them waiting to go on.

 

[Brett Butler]

I love Decent Winter tyres, the difference is huge

 

[aragorn]

Winter tyres are a no brainer imo.

If you can afford to buy a 2011 car, you can afford to pick up a spare set of wheels and shod them in some decent winter rubber. Barring the initial outlay, running costs arent any higher, because your summer tyres arent wearing out when the winters are on and vice versa.

As an example, we've fitted our 1,8TQuattro with winter tyres and i recently visited my brother in scotland who has an S4, but fitted with summer tyres. We drove into his street and parked up without fuss on hard packed icy snow, then after a couple of hours nipped out to the shop in the S4. The difference in grip when manoevering round the street was unbelieveable. Obviously the S4 didnt get stuck, but the car was squirming all over the place due to the lack of grip, whereas our car had just driven in with no fuss whatsoever.

Quattro certainly helps you pull away and put the power down, but it does NOTHING to help you stop and steer, infact it makes it worse, because quattros are heavier.

 

[Scotty]

Quattro certainly helps you pull away and put the power down, but it does NOTHING to help you stop and steer, infact it makes it worse, because quattros are heavier.

I largely agree but you can use more engine braking without locking wheels with quattro. It's also argued that steering is improved :

FWD : Each front tyre has x amount of available grip and is split between the steering input and 50% of the power.
AWD : Each front tyre has x amount of available grip and is split between the steering input and 25% of the power.
This means that under the same amount of acceleration the AWD car can handle a greater amount of steering input before exceeding the available grip.

Taken to the extreme you end up with RWD cars where the rear wheels only have to cope with the acceleration and the fronts with the steering (roughly speaking).

As I say though I largely agree that quattro is mainly of benefit in getting the power down and additional weight is never a good thing .... although it's a very small percentage difference in a car such as the A4.

 

[audicruiser]

Quattro all the way though if your order is due in March I doubt you will be able to change it now!!