You needed and Audi All-Road! Too bad, they're NOT bringing the new model over to US ... however, the used ones can be had fairly cheap these days.

 

I'll chime in on this one... I live in Park City Utah with an elevation of 7500 feet and an annual snow fall of 350-400 inches. My wife drives our LR3 like she stole it, and I prefer an 07 Mini Cooper S (FWD) as my DD. My son has attended private school in Salt Lake City for the past 8 years, and we drive him the 70 miles road trip each day. That included a canyon run down I-80 of 35 miles each way descening 3000 feet to Salt Lake. We put about 20K miles on each of our cars per year. And no - my son has NEVER had a snow day because we can drive through anything with that LR3...

Before the Mini, I drove a 3-series BMW convertible (RWD) as my DD, and on both those cars I ran winter tires (Blizzaks) on a dedicated set of winter wheels. I run 15s on the Mini versus 17s for the summer tires for the narrower footprint. You can easily feel the difference in control. Both the Bimmer and Mini stuggled if we get a powder dump greater than 8 inches and the plows are not able to keep up. We'd be pushing snow with the front valence and it would just get too difficult to steer at speed (needed for momentum). But if it is plowed, no problems whatsoever... Ice/sleet/rain/light snow - easy....

Just asked the wife and she confirms - we have about 5 days per winter where we can't drive the Mini because of insane snow. I've been doing this for 9 years, and that is a fair average. Now how would a 911 C4S handle in the snow? Much better than my Mini or my old Bimmer! It sounds like a blast! Within the next 6 months, I will be buying an 06 or 07 C4S/C2S Cab to become my new DD. That has been a dream of mine for a long time. I'll even add 996 hardtop, do the mount mod, and put on a ski rack. Can't wait!!! My biggest issue is the 2/4 question. I like the feel of the "2" but wouldn't mind the stability of the "4".... Still have time to decide...

Hope this helps - and good luck!

-B

 

Yeah, bummer...the new A4 allroad looks sweet. I've been thinking about the Q5; just wish they'd put one of the diesels in it for the US market...even if it's the 2.0.

 

haha! That horror in the second pic belongs on a mini van!!!!!

 

I loved the old all-road with the adjustable suspension. Too bad the reliability was an epic fail even by audi standards. Most Americans really won't buy anything that looks like a station wagon these days, no matter how practical they are.

 

Just for future reference, Porsche doesn't provide a roof rack mount method for the hard tops.

 

What was the reliability issues with it? I am actually thinking of getting one for camping/skiing trips.

I had the same engine in my Audi S4, and it is a TRICKY engine, but if you do proper maintenance, it's an absolutely FANTASTIC, and you can chip it to 350 HP easily, or upgrade Turbos for 500HP+ gains!

 

Here in Swizerland, in this time of year, you see 90% of the time "4" Carreras driving around. Last weekend though on the Susten pass there were two GT2's and a GT3 RS going up the hill at a pretty good clip.
But I bet you those guys have a C4S in the garage for when the snow starts coming down !
I wish my Targa 4S had the roof rack option to take my gear up the hill ...
Maybe the Swiss have a solution for that ;-)