kmcdonal
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2019
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- Location
- CO
- Vehicles
- Nissan 350Z, Subaru WRX
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- #1
I know people have touched on winter driving in other threads, but I thought it was worthy of a dedicated thread. I have had my Taycan for about four months and have been anxious to see how it would do in the snow. I bought the car so I could have a sports car I could drive year round, but honestly I was skeptical of how it would do in the snow with 500+HP. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well it did.
I have the 4S with 20" wheels and torque vectoring. I recently put the Pirelli Zero Winters on. I have been driving in the snow for 35 years and have been in more than my fair share of blizzards and other dicey conditions. Historically my car of choice in the snow has been Subaru or Audi although I have driven a lot of different vehicles in the snow.
Today we had some rain that froze and was covered with about 8 inches of powder. Most of the roads had not been plowed at all. In other words, it was pretty sketchy.
I was super impressed with how the car put the traction down to the ground. I was quite concerned about how it would do with all that torque. However, it was better than the Subaru we own, and Subaru is a snow machine. The Taycan very quickly redistributes the power to whatever wheels have traction. It is much more fluid than the AWD systems on other cars have I tried. Even our Subaru will allow the rear tires to fishtail a bit more before it sends the power up front. The Taycan just keeps the car pointing straight. I went up this steep and very slick hill with zero problem - really impressive.
I did go down several streets where the snow was deep enough that the grille was starting to plow the snow. (It is hard to see, but in the second photo the snow is 8 to 10 inches deep.) I did raise the suspension up to make sure I didn't get high centered, something you may have to watch with this car if the snow is really deep.
The ABS did kick in a little sooner than I was expecting in a few places. It wasn't the ABS per-se, but the lack of traction. The P Zero Winters have a lot of traction in the snow, but it is still a wide tire. This is totally a gut feel thing, but my sense is that some of my prior cars with narrower tires might not have triggered the ABS quite so quickly.
Overall I was super impressed and will have no qualms taking the Taycan out in big snowstorms. Just keep an eye on the speed. It is not hard to imagine building speed quickly enough that you get in trouble.
P.S. The picture of the snowboarders / skiers being towed by a jeep has nothing to do with the Taycan, but it cracked me up.
I have the 4S with 20" wheels and torque vectoring. I recently put the Pirelli Zero Winters on. I have been driving in the snow for 35 years and have been in more than my fair share of blizzards and other dicey conditions. Historically my car of choice in the snow has been Subaru or Audi although I have driven a lot of different vehicles in the snow.
Today we had some rain that froze and was covered with about 8 inches of powder. Most of the roads had not been plowed at all. In other words, it was pretty sketchy.
I was super impressed with how the car put the traction down to the ground. I was quite concerned about how it would do with all that torque. However, it was better than the Subaru we own, and Subaru is a snow machine. The Taycan very quickly redistributes the power to whatever wheels have traction. It is much more fluid than the AWD systems on other cars have I tried. Even our Subaru will allow the rear tires to fishtail a bit more before it sends the power up front. The Taycan just keeps the car pointing straight. I went up this steep and very slick hill with zero problem - really impressive.
I did go down several streets where the snow was deep enough that the grille was starting to plow the snow. (It is hard to see, but in the second photo the snow is 8 to 10 inches deep.) I did raise the suspension up to make sure I didn't get high centered, something you may have to watch with this car if the snow is really deep.
The ABS did kick in a little sooner than I was expecting in a few places. It wasn't the ABS per-se, but the lack of traction. The P Zero Winters have a lot of traction in the snow, but it is still a wide tire. This is totally a gut feel thing, but my sense is that some of my prior cars with narrower tires might not have triggered the ABS quite so quickly.
Overall I was super impressed and will have no qualms taking the Taycan out in big snowstorms. Just keep an eye on the speed. It is not hard to imagine building speed quickly enough that you get in trouble.
P.S. The picture of the snowboarders / skiers being towed by a jeep has nothing to do with the Taycan, but it cracked me up.