I haven't had the pleasure of driving in snow/sleet, etc. yet, and after driving an Audi A4 for 9 years I am a little bit concerned. I mean, is it really really bad, or just mostly terrible?

 

It's FUN!!

For last five weeks temps below freezing ( this morning -17C ) and 12-16" of snow. Studless winter tyres and PSM switched off...

 

A 996 in the snow is NOT an Audi in the snow (my wife's A4 wagon with blizzaks is unstoppable).

With that out of the way, I never had a problem with my 996 C-2 with my blizzaks/17" wheels as long as clearance was not an issue.

If you have the right tires/wheels (smaller the better) you are good to go for winter fun! (By the way, mine are for sale as I now have a 997).

Have fun out there!

 

Go out to an empty parking lot first and push your car with harder accelerations, stops, turns, etc., to get a feel for it. You'll probably find it's a predictable, non-event.

Although many board members don't like to hear "VW" & "Porsche" in the same sentence--they share a design heritage that is more beneficial than a problem. The VW bugs were excellent in the snow with just regular tires. They seemed unstoppable with snows. The 996's wider tires won't cut through the snow like the older narrow tires would--but they still work surprisingly well.

 

Remember to switch off TC and PSM to get the feel of how the car behaves.

You need to be able to provoke oversteer and to steer car with the accelerator. Soon you learn that the car is both understeering and oversteering much more under these conditions. In order to be a reasonable driver in the snow you need to correct under/over-steer "automatically". When you master this you can have great fun constantly balancing the car on the limit when the average driver finds the driving conditions really difficult (and drive extremely slow).

Just remember that there are several different snowy and icy conditions dependent on: temperature, snow depth, wind, sun, "wet" or "dry" snow, snow density, snow crystal size, snow crystal structure, "new" or "old" snow and so on.

Good luck!

 

I haven't picked up winter tires even though I live in NYC/NJ and should've long time ago. There's only a few days that we get hit with crazy unplowed streets so I've been stubborn. Times when I've been caught driving on my 19" PS2's in snow storms...its dicey to say the least and I kick myself in the *** and say why didn't i get some blizzaks on this biyatch.

 

Winter tires make the driving more dependable. My car has 18" wheels w/summer tires. This year, I bought a used set of 17" turbo twists w/Blizzaks for winter driving for a very reasonable price.

Deeper snow is your biggest problem. Partially frozen mounds left by snow plows can damage the front bumper.

The second biggest issue is sand (which often includes a lot of gravel) beating the paint and windshield.

So, there's a lot to be said to being thoughtful about the actual conditions you're facing.

That said, we had an unanticipated snow storm in Seattle a couple of years ago. The highways were a mess. My wife was stuck some 15 miles away in another town. Although there was ice/slush/snow everywhere, I kept to the back streets when possible and got her home safely on summer tires. The back streets had more ice than the freeways, but at least didn't have multi-car pileups creating miles of standing traffic.

For playing, turn off PSM. But it can be a good assist for driving in traffic or bad conditions.

 

Definitely need the right tire to play in the snow. At least all season tires, preferably snow tires. And yes, PSM off.