Wish I shot some video footage today, but I took a drive up to the mountains today during a VERY heavy snowstorm. The chain control guy took one look at my car and tires and waved me through, allowing me to tackle the 6 inches of snow on the highway with naked rubber. After about 30 miles of heavy snow driving, I think my car only lost traction 1 time, when the rear end slid about 2 inches to the left around a corner. Stability control kicked in immediately and the car pulled itself straight. That’s exactly what these systems were designed for, and it was amazing to see it in action, performing exactly the way it should. As I trucked along at a relatively safe 30mph, I passed countless numbers of SUV’s and pickup trucks with big knobby mud/snow tires slipping and sliding all over the place, one of them was spinning tires so badly going up a hill that they were starting to smoke. I just wanted to mention that these cars handle snow and ice exactly the way Audi says they do, and I couldn’t be happier with how it performed. I even passed a few WRX’s that were slipping and sliding like crazy, and as a previous owner of one, I can say they are usually pretty good snow cars too.
Unfortunately, I passed a black S7 that was stuck in some deep snow on the shoulder at one point, and I wanted to stop and help but it was a place where I almost certainly would have become stuck myself and/or creamed by another car. I’m guessing either inexperienced driver or summer tires, or both.
One last thing, it might be the opposite of what common sense would dictate, but the S6 handles in the snow and ice 2x better when in Sport mode. Take it easy on the gas pedal, but at the same time, make sure you are applying at least a little throttle at all times. The quattro system doesn’t do anything special when there isn’t any power being applied to the wheels.