I have a 90 CQ, 95S6 Avant , and a 91 200 20V and the CQ wins hands down followed by the 200 and the worst being my S6 Avant. All with Blizzak's and why the heck is my like new S6 so terrible in the snow? I think it is the heavy nose. The 200 and CQ are well balanced.

if I had to guess of the current models, I'd say an all-road would best due to highest ground clearance.

with my old 88 90, now 90 CQ feel that these earlier cars can't be beat for tossing around in the snow with full control. The ABS stuff these days just slows the forward progress but I cant' say that I have ever owned an ABS car.

and the A8 has rocked through 2 Buffalo winters on all season tires. My experience is that the cars with "traction control" suck.

Of the 25 + years I have lived on the Wasatch Front, I can recall maybe twice that clearance is the limiting factor. Older Audis will generally do better than newer models not because of differences in quattro versions or traction control but because of tire widths. The narrow tires that were the norm until the mid-90s make a huge difference in snow traction. Put snow tires on one of these older models and the traction advantage is unbeatable.

FWIW, having spent three winters in upstate New York, the roads there are waaay worse than Utah roads in the winter. I think it is a combination of better plowing out here, plus the snow melts much more quickly.

now that was fun in the deepest of snows...plus the long wheel base made powerslides fun!....Audi-wise, my 2.8/tip avant did alright in LCC going up...but the downhill could get sketchy if the road was snow/slush packed as I was rolling on thin Cooper Lifeliners last winter...looking forward to this winter with the Ecsta ASX...a few deeper grooves should help.

Even with my monster 245/45 18 Dunlop M3s it was no problem. The snow was super fluffy and was coming up over the hood. I think it all depends on what kind of snow you have combined with the tires.

One time I went to my office on campus on a Sunday afternoon and there was, no kidding, two feet of snow in the empty parking lot and on the unplowed roads. I eventually got stuck because I was just pushing too much snow. I left it 50 yards from my office, retrived my files on foot, got back in the car, and backed right out.

I even put 15 inch wheels on and snows and it still sucked. Alligment is fine but the nose and car are so heavy it was easy to get sliding and out of control if you were not careful.