Great morning S. Ont. 10 + inches snow. A4 gets stuck twice in 20 feet. Daughter's 1992 Sycro stick plows out no problem. Roads not plowed , pushed snow with spoiler and bumper. Audi has stock Dunlop 8000 -not M&S. Passat has Michelin 195-15 X M&S 330 snows. Obviously time to put real shoes on Audi. Advantage probably goes to Passat even with equal tires as it has traction control at low speed.<br>PS-- didn't take BMW out of garage. To answer earlier post- with BMW traction control (AST+"automatic stability control + traction") -when slipping occurs you hear and feel antilock brakes working (plus idiot light on dash flashes) Engine power reduces- wheels keep turning jerking and car sits. Ross

'92 Syncro w/trac. control was offered in Canada and not U.S.? Does A4 have Quattro? (Might seem a dumb Q., but you weren't specific)

With Observe winter tires (195/65/15) quattro had no problem plowing through the snowbanks the plow left this morning. I even went for a joyride last night in the midst of the storm. Car handled extremely well. Time to put the winter boots on.<br>

1998 A4 2.8 Q Sport auto hibiscus/grey leatherette

i have not even tried to leave my garage. A geo tracker got stuck (not enough ground clearance).<p>I don't think traction is a problem, but ground clearance is (stock suspension)<p>i will try later today/<p>1996 a4 2.8 qm<br>

You never said if you A4 was a front-wheel-drive or a quattro. Also, you stated, "Advantage probably goes to Passat even with equal tires as it has traction control at low speed."<p>A4s also have traction control. Audi calls it EDL (Electronic Differential Locking), which uses the antilock brake mechanism to stop the spinning wheel(s).<p>I've driving my A4 in snow halfway up the wheels, and never got stuck. I have the original equipment Goodyear RSA 205/55-16s which are M+S rated.<p>StevenN '96 2.8 qm

We have 10" snow and I was out and about with not problem. Man I love this car!!

Odd that your BMW behaves so much differently than my 323i. Maybe Minnesota snow and ice not as bad as Ontario's?<p>I regularly pull away from Passat FWD vehicles on snow packed and icy roads here (all are FWD in Minnesota since Synchro not available in the States).<p>My wife's A4 Quattro is much superior to the Bimmer in this respect ONLY on snow and ice. I find the 323i stops and corners better, and this is more important to me.<p>By the way, I have the stock 16" Premium wheels w/ Conti 205/55 M+S tires on the Bimmer.<br>

I thought edl was like the old posi-traction but I READ the manual. The Passat advantage must have been tires only.<br>Almost all of Minn. is North of Toronto and has tougher winters than southern Ontario.(In spite of all that about "The great white wilderness to the north")<br>My BMW has Michelin MXV4 235-16 stock. They say M&S but are poor even on wet.<br>Ross<br>

Saw some people driving around in their sport tires today! In Ottawa, where we got at least 30 to 35 cm of snow last night!<p>Marcin R.<br>---<br>'98.5 A4 1.8Tqms

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I went out this morning and, after spending an hour and a half shoveling snow, resculpted mine into a wagon with a rear end similar to the old A6 wagons. Looks great, but I'm going to have to take it off and venture out soon. I love this weather!

other than having to help push all the cars and minivans around me! ;-) You really need to install a good set of winter tires to get the most out of quattro. (I've got Goodyear Ultra Grips from Tiremag)

1992 Passat Syncro Canadian car (Cambridge)<br>

Minnesota doesn't get doodley-squat snow compared to those Canadian Provinces & U.S. states on the east side of the Great Lakes. <p>When it comes to snow, Minnesotans are rookies.

Since my flight for Nassua from Toronto was cancelled today. I decided to venture out into the Toronto streets.<p>While pulling out of my unplowed back lane (1.5+ foot dense and hard snow drifts), I had to stop and help shovel/push out a neighbor's Subaru Outback.<p>After getting him out I just locked my rear diff (I have an S4) and drove through like it was dry pavement (bottom of my car dragging all the way).<p>In his defence, he had an auto box (which has a crappy AWD system - compared to the stick) and was running with all seasons (which are bad in all seasons).<p>p.s. I just finished breaking my back shoveling out my Acura<p>Dwayne<br>94 S4

In the Subaru systems, if I understand their setup correct, the auto box is computer controlled and is their only system which can distribute torque splits. The manual tranny has a fixed torque split.... again to the best of my knowledge.

Yeah. We have an Outback Auto which is electronically controlled such that, under normal conditions, 70% of torque goes to the front. We also have an Imprezza 2.5RS manual which splits torque 50/50 under normal conditions. As of tomorrow, we will no longer have the Outback but will have a 1.8T instead. WOO HOO!