Q3 Q5 Quatro in the Snow?

[naboo]

Mrs is looking to move on from her Freelander but wants a petrol car. That limits options like the Discovery Sport or the Volvo XC60, hence looking into the Audis.

Any thoughts on how the Quatro's perform in the snow? We're quite rural and things can get messy!

Thanks in advance.

[a4cabrio]

With winter tyres on I'd say both would be quite capable of getting about in snowy conditions, without winter tyres it'll be a struggle like most cars do, I'm a firm believer in winter tyres, I lived in Yorkshire for a few years & used them on a couple of BMW's I had & was amazed at how well a BMW could handle snow.

[Yertis]

a4cabrio said:

With winter tyres on I'd say both would be quite capable of getting about in snowy conditions, without winter tyres it'll be a struggle like most cars do, I'm a firm believer in winter tyres, I lived in Yorkshire for a few years & used them on a couple of BMW's I had & was amazed at how well a BMW could handle snow.

Quattros can cope with snow easily without winter tyres. I'm told with winter tyres they're even better – we don't get much snow down here so it's not an issue, but when we do get it quattro gets me out when everyone else is stuck, including some other 4WD types I could mention.

[RammyMP]

The Q3 and Q5 have different systems, Q3 predominantly front wheel drive, the Q5 has more of a split to the rear wheels. The wife had a A3 (similar system to the Q3) and if was good in the snow on summer tyres, it never got stuck. I've got a A5 which has a system the same as the Q5 plus I've got winter tyres, it coped last winter better than the wife's Land Rover.

So in summary, both would cope with the snow better than 2 wheel drive.

[Adrian E]

As above, tyres make the biggest difference to winter weather performance. A heavy car on summer tyres with limited grip to the road surface will happily slide when it runs out of grip, whether it's 2 or 4 wheel drive - the point at which it does that will vary a little by vehicle and the tyre will be the biggest factor, all else being equal. Number of driven wheels largely influences how fast you're going and has little influence on the ability to slow down.

We run our S5 on 19" winter wheels and tyres even though we live in the South East - they just work better below 7C and we don't get salt on the summer 20s, which are too wide and hard to provide much grip in slippery conditions anyway.

If you can't be arsed with 2 sets of wheels look at getting a set of Michelin Cross Climate tyres for year round use.

My old S8 was lethal in icy conditions on summers 20s. Strangely our old A6 on 17s worked OK year round on summer tyres - probably because it wasn't over-tyred for the weight of car

[Lotobear]

How about a Subaru Outback?

I had two petrol Legacys followed by an A4 Diesel Allroad. Apologies to Audiphiles but the Subarus were in a different league in snow.

Not everyones cuppa but I still recall those cars as the most satisfying vehicles I've ever owned.

[naboo]

That's all good to know, thanks, I'd never thought about winter tyres, might be the answer. Mrs seems keen on the Q3, it's a good size, not too much to manoeuvre in town, we've a test drive booked next week... maybe it'll snow too!

[Yertis]

Adrian E said:

Strangely our old A6 on 17s worked OK year round on summer tyres - probably because it wasn't over-tyred for the weight of car

Which type of A6 was it? The old C4 body shape was the last quattro to have the original quattro system which mechanical diff locks. I found my C4 (actually a 100S4 – which is not the same as an S4 for all you youngsters) was much better in the snow – unstoppable actually – than the first gen AllRoad I had afterwards. I've never bothered with winter tyres but that AllRoad certainly needed them.

[Adrian E]

Yertis said:

Which type of A6 was it? The old C4 body shape was the last quattro to have the original quattro system which mechanical diff locks. I found my C4 (actually a 100S4 – which is not the same as an S4 for all you youngsters) was much better in the snow – unstoppable actually – than the first gen AllRoad I had afterwards. I've never bothered with winter tyres but that AllRoad certainly needed them.

C5 avant quattro sport - 3.0 petrol

[therams]

I’ve got a sq5 and live in rural Yorkshire
Snow , no problem going uphill on normal tyres

Going downhill it’s a bit of a problem trying to stop. Lots of sliding, but I guess that’s what you get with a really heavy suv on normal tyres

[Burwood]

naboo said:

That's all good to know, thanks, I'd never thought about winter tyres, might be the answer. Mrs seems keen on the Q3, it's a good size, not too much to manoeuvre in town, we've a test drive booked next week... maybe it'll snow too!

A q5 on winters will outperform any Range Rover on summers. Winters are quite simply awesome.

[E34-3.2]

Lotobear said:

How about a Subaru Outback?

I had two petrol Legacys followed by an A4 Diesel Allroad. Apologies to Audiphiles but the Subarus were in a different league in snow.

Not everyones cuppa but I still recall those cars as the most satisfying vehicles I've ever owned.

+1

[Dr G]

Michelin's new Cross-Climate has been getting very positive reviews as an all-year-round do everything sort of a tyre if two sets of rubber feels like a faff too far.