As a trophy winning trials driver in FWD and RWD cars on road tyres, (4WD not allowed) and even though I don't especially care for flash German cars, its not the car and its not the driver why it simply won't move from a standstill, low throttle, full throttle and traction control or not - its that little tiny patch of grip between tyre and road.
All those claiming their RWD they grew up in was brilliant in the snow - think back - how wide were the tyres? "Wide" in the 70's was 155 . .. Think of the tread - Michelin ZX and XZX ? Lots or crossways grooves and sipes.
Now look at your average shopping car, FWD or RWD - 225 width? Circumferential gooves. You might has well use bald steel rollers. There's nothing to grip the snow, collect it and use it to grip the snow again - which is how winter tyres work.
And to give generations of drivers a chance - we don't have much snow all over the country very often - there's a lot of drivers never had to drive in it before.
Me - I used a modern car with winter tyres - which also happens to be 4WD - my Lancia integrale for close to 20 yrs - centre and rear locking diffs. And now an Alfa 159 Q4 - its nowhere near as good as the Lancia as no locking diffs, wider tyres and heavier. But its better than most things on the road at the moment. I don't add weight - it's more weight to stop and steer.
Funniest are two tonne Land Rovers on bargrips or some such silliness - overtake them, listen to their hooting and tooting, watch in the rear view s they slide straight on at the corner you sailed round . .
As for Germany and winters tyres - back in 200 ish when I was working there, it wasn't the law - but if you weren't and had an accident, you were more than likely going to get blamed for it.
We could cope - if you paid even more tax for an un-used except for once in a blue moon fleet of ploughs and gritters.
I've worked in Scandinavia, the USA and Canada where chaos ensues in rush hour if a lot of snow comes down and traffic stops gritters etc getting through.
Having said all that, I was still annoyed with non-winter tyre equipped cars in my VIP outer lane down the bypass at 6.30 this morning ;-)
All those claiming their RWD they grew up in was brilliant in the snow - think back - how wide were the tyres? "Wide" in the 70's was 155 . .. Think of the tread - Michelin ZX and XZX ? Lots or crossways grooves and sipes.
Now look at your average shopping car, FWD or RWD - 225 width? Circumferential gooves. You might has well use bald steel rollers. There's nothing to grip the snow, collect it and use it to grip the snow again - which is how winter tyres work.
And to give generations of drivers a chance - we don't have much snow all over the country very often - there's a lot of drivers never had to drive in it before.
Me - I used a modern car with winter tyres - which also happens to be 4WD - my Lancia integrale for close to 20 yrs - centre and rear locking diffs. And now an Alfa 159 Q4 - its nowhere near as good as the Lancia as no locking diffs, wider tyres and heavier. But its better than most things on the road at the moment. I don't add weight - it's more weight to stop and steer.
Funniest are two tonne Land Rovers on bargrips or some such silliness - overtake them, listen to their hooting and tooting, watch in the rear view s they slide straight on at the corner you sailed round . .
As for Germany and winters tyres - back in 200 ish when I was working there, it wasn't the law - but if you weren't and had an accident, you were more than likely going to get blamed for it.
We could cope - if you paid even more tax for an un-used except for once in a blue moon fleet of ploughs and gritters.
I've worked in Scandinavia, the USA and Canada where chaos ensues in rush hour if a lot of snow comes down and traffic stops gritters etc getting through.
Having said all that, I was still annoyed with non-winter tyre equipped cars in my VIP outer lane down the bypass at 6.30 this morning ;-)