Interesting article, Re: AWD vs. FWD/RWD & Winter Tires

[Khan Klatt <khan@mediaaccess.com>]

Car and Driver compared Quattro vs. a non-Quattro A6, and a Mercedes E320
with a Mercedes E320 4-Matic to see which would perform better in wintery
conditions.

To make things a little more fair, they put winter tires on the FWD/RWD
cars, and left stock tires on the Quattro and 4-Matics.

The article was written from the standpoint of "instead of buying a more
expensive 4WD/AWD system, what if people simply bought winter tires for
their 2WD (Rear or front) cars?"

The results are predictable in most of the situations. In several tests,
the best result was had with the AWD/4WD with Winter tires... In other
tests, the Quattro/4-Matic were bested (in braking) but all results were
improved with Winter tires.

<http://www.caranddriver.com/FrameSet/0,1350,_sl_NewArticle_sl_0_cm_1633_cm_1429_1_16_cm_00,00.html>

My summary? If you drive in wintery conditions, requiring uphill grades
between 15 and 30%, 4WD (Quattro/4-Matic) will easily allow you to handle
these situations than any 2WD car (front or rear) which are unable to
climb these grades well either in stock or winter rubber.

To improve braking, acceleration, and handling in such situations, either
drive train will benefit from Winter tires. Winter tires improve all
aspects of the above handling characteristics of a car, and are a good
investment, especially if your car is not AWD (as the Jetta is not).

Therefore, if severe wintery conditions are not too common in your area,
you can overcome most of the downfalls of 2WD mechanisms by using winter
tires.

Wintery conditions are best handled in 4WD with winter rubber, but if
conditions don't get bad, 4WD may be enough to get you through the
season. If you, like me, appreciate shorter braking distances, more
surefooted acceleration, and handling, you'll equip your car with winter
rubber regardless of the severity of conditions.

The only liability in 4WD with winter tires is braking distance, which is
slightly longer due to the added weight of the 4WD systems, although some
might argue that you might be able to accelerate and steer a 4WD out of
trouble better than braking... obviously the particular situation will
determine the veracity of that argument.

-Khan