Winter Driving Advice

[DOCMORGY]

Follow up: bought Blizzak WS70s (studless ice and snow) and had them mounted today on the M3. Drove 40 miles through a winter storm and the car never broke traction. I didn't try to push it to the limits. It also climbed a couple of hills without any issue. Performance on the ice remains to be seen but so far so good.

Glad to see you made the jump to driving year-round with the M3. I am currently NSX-less myself (though my Brooklands Green/Tan '94 is on it's way) so I can't even say I've driven an NSX in the snow (though in high school I got around okay in a 1st-gen RX7 w/o LSD or traction-control for many years in Spokane, which averages 60 inches snow/annually).

For what it's worth, I have had 2x BMW 335I X-drive coupes : sold those but kept my mounted snow tires (studless : I don't believe in studs as you would not believe how horrible Spokane's roads are from the studs...). I have a Z4 convertible (hard-top) w/300hp & 50/50 weight distribution & no ground clearance w/a nice traction control system. I slapped my snows on it & have driven confidently in several snowfalls & ice storms this winter. My daily driver is a wonderful AWD FX50S (mutant-SUV built on G35 platform) that has traction & stability control: it is a TANK (better than my 4wd Tundra w/aggressive M&S tires). So alot of it has to do with the snow tire choice itself & presence of the stability/traction/LSD systems. BMW used to be HORRIBLE in the snow but have come a long way.

That is a beautiful M3 by the way. I just hope the paint doesn't take too much of a beating from the rocks tossed at it (they use a lot of sand/gravel on roads here & then don't sweep it up for 4 months...)

Take care

 

[ozone]

That is a beautiful M3 by the way. I just hope the paint doesn't take too much of a beating from the rocks tossed at it (they use a lot of sand/gravel on roads here & then don't sweep it up for 4 months...)

Take care

Thanks. I'm looking forward to using the M3 all-year round. The toughest part is convincing my family who all think AWD is the only option for the snow. Driving today, I can say, as far as snow is concerned, M3 + winter tires > S4 Quattro on all-seasons. The S4 + winters was never an issue. I just need to see if it works going up my driveway when it gets iced up.

In a way, this will help me drive my NSX more too since I will be getting "M3 time" in during the winters.

 

[DRIFTER]

Will I regret selling a great winter performing Quattro? Please advise.

Short answer YES! Your crazy for driving anything thats not AWD in your location. Want a cheeper car get a Subaru. My daily has to be AWD and I don't even get the lake effect snow like you do. AWD makes driving in the snow fun. The M3 will get you ware you want to go with snow slugs but you will miss the confidence and stress free ride of an AWD car. Especially if you have a long commute. Last night I had to pick my girlfriend up in the middle of "Nemo" there is nothing more exciting then blasting down the deserted interstate in a AWD drift. While passing SUVs stuffed in the snow banks. I love my lil A3 Q

 

[ozone]

Short answer YES! Your crazy for driving anything thats not AWD in your location. Want a cheeper car get a Subaru. My daily has to be AWD and I don't even get the lake effect snow like you do. AWD makes driving in the snow fun. The M3 will get you ware you want to go with snow slugs but you will miss the confidence and stress free ride of an AWD car. Especially if you have a long commute. Last night I had to pick my girlfriend up in the middle of "Nemo" there is nothing more exciting then blasting down the deserted interstate in a AWD drift. While passing SUVs stuffed in the snow banks. I love my lil A3 Q

Believe me, nobody was more skeptical than me about this--I've owned the M3 for a decade and just slapped snows on them (granted the earlier part of the ownership was in Florida). I need a larger sample size to make a judgement but thus far the car performed well in a storm. I was driving 45MPH on a highway yesterday and passing almost every car. A few speedsters who either are very confident or don't respect the weather passed me. I feel like I could have easily driven much faster but wanted to get some confidence in the new shoes. I was driving on unplowed roads and the car held up fine.

I was able to go up my inclined driveway today w/o issues (*but testing on ice will be the key). I searched for some hills, etc but the plows have cleaned up all the roads perfectly.

I'm going to evaluate how the car does the rest of the winter before making a decision on the Audi. Safety and confidence are critical to me as well. I happen to live 15 miles south of the lake effect snow region but we still get a decent amount.