You haven't lived until you've done a 360 on a lonely highway in a 76 911S with , all season tires no less, in the ice and snow. Enough to wet your britches...
My son's 2001 S4, with summer tires, was an exercise in terror on a suddenly snowy day also.
My 06S stays in the garage until warm sun.

 

The fundamental problem is you are driving around in winter in areas that can get snow, without winter tires on. Its not an issue of the car, but the owner not being properly equipped. Any make care driving on warm weather performance tires would suffer the same. If you want to only drive in warm weather with the top down, you should wait till you know no further snowfall can happen and temps will never go below 40 again.

 

That'll learn ya.




I suspect I will be getting a call from you next fall?

 

I seriously have no clue how people drive these cars in snowy areas full time.
They have less than 4 inches of ground clearance, lots of torgue, and wide tires. The exact opposite of what I want to be driving around in on a snowy day.

Then you factor in that it's a $100K plus car and the abuse your taking from salt or other ice melting solutions, rocks, and just plain idiots who have no clue how to drive in bad weather....

Just makes no sense to me snow tires or not...but hey, differences of opinion are what make life interesting.

 

What's snow?

Sunny and 68 degrees in March. God, I love California (well, the weather at least).

- Mike

 

Wo Hoo - some Porsches go better with snow than others, but winter tires are a must. Glad you made it safely

 

I live in a ski resort in Colorado and my 1990 C4 was my everyday driver for 5 years. With Michelin Pilot Alpin's, it was amazing in the snow. I was never stuck in the snow and the only time it got a little wild was when there was thick slush on the road and the under body of the car would start to ride up on the snow. There is not a better SUV than a C4! I have an '06 right now with summer tires and it i terrible but I am sure the right tires would turn it into a snow going machine!

 

How's that economy thing coming along?

 

I hate to be the one to burst your bubble but these were $100k plus cars, now they're $50K plus cars.

 

Didn't realize this was going to be such a popular thread!

At least I was only called out once on my poor planning for being in Maine in March and not anticipating some snowfall (thanks Minok). But then, it was in the 50-60s all weekend, and nothing snowy was forecast for Monday. Plus, if you had had the chance to stay one more night with the company I had, you would have risked it :-) And it definitely turned out to be a risk.

That said, I agree 110% that it's not the car it's the tires. My usual winter driver (which was enjoying a rest back home at the time) is an E320 4Matic wagon. This year it has Michelin X-Ice tires all around, which have gotten me through everything and then some. Last year, however, was a different story. I bought the car in February with decent but not great all-season tires. I hoped to get through the remaining winter on them before replacing with PS2s. One weekend we were up north skiing and a few fresh inches fell. I was reminded of the old adage: it's not whether you can go in snow, but whether you can *stop*. While attempting to come to a stop from 20 mph down a slight snow-covered incline, the ABS was activating furiously as I slid right through a stop sign into the main road. Thank god there was no oncoming, otherwise my time with driving that vehicle (and who knows what else) would have been short indeed. Those tires were fine when my foot was on the gas; total unknowns when hitting the brakes.

Admittedly I was getting a little ahead of myself (and the season) by taking the Pcar out for the weekend. I did enjoy covering the 90 miles *up* to Portland in about 65-70 minutes though, open roads, dry pavement and top down all the way :-) And I'm thrilled she;s back in the garage, none the worse for the wear.

Gene

 

Sure kick us when we're down, why don't you.

 

I know it's a joke but the California and the US economy have a ways to fall before they get to Canada's or Ontario's lower levels of output.

California GDP (purchasing-power-parity) per 1 million people ~ 52Billion
Ontario GDP (PPP) per 1 million people ~ 41Billion
(latest data I could find 2006)

United States GDP (PPP) 2008 est (from IMF data): $47,025 per person
Canada GDP (PPP) 2008 est (from IMF data): $39,339

The numbers look even better if one picks, say, San Francisco to compare with Toronto.

BTW, I'm Canadian. Just one of the millions who live in the US.

 

Great story.

I had no idea what a difference tires make until I got surprised by a snowfall in my BMW, which has Continental Sport-Contacts. No grip whatsoever in the snow. I couldn't believe it, but I got stuck trying to get up one of the little hills on my road. I got halfway up, the car would spin to a stop, and I had to roll back down and try again. DSC on, off, whatever, no help.

I had to abandon the car and have my wife pick me up. On the bright side, I was really surprised at how kind so many people were to offer a lift.

 

We once lived in TN in an area that got very little snow where everyone said all I needed was FWD and AS tires -to get home we had to go up an down a few small hills - We had a Volvo 850T with AS rubber and learned very fast that tires make all the difference in the world. Now each winter, the winter tires come out and a full check to make sure that there is plenty of tread depth. Happy winter driving.

 

Good point, but you're from Phoenix! You shouldn't be allowed to contribute to this thread.