Hi, @ChrisG,
Thank you for sharing your observations!
Like many other correspondents, I believe the tires make a significant difference. I am using 19" Hakka R2s and drove through a couple of snow storms over the last two weeks. I drive largely on highway, suburban and city roads, not rural. Plows are in evidence. There's a lot of ice, packed snow and slush.
My comparison points are a 2001 Audi A4 Quattro, purchased new in 2000 and driven through 2010; a 2004 Prius (used), from 2005-2010; a 2010 Prius (new), until I replaced it with the Model S earlier this fall; and a 2012 Prius v wagon (new). Also a 1974 Cadillac Fleetwood limousine (1982-1985), a Dodge Colt (1982-1985), and a 1987 Nissan Sentra (new through 2000). All cars were driven first with manufacturer-supplied all-season radials, and then with third-party replacements such as Toyos. Unfortunately, I've never had the opportunity to drive an A6 or A8/A8L in the snow, therefore no opportunity for what might be a more fair comparison between Audi and Tesla.
Obviously, there are significant differences between these vehicles and a Model S -- age, weight, size, front-wheel versus rear-wheel versus Quattro -- and I haven't driven the Audi since 2010, so there's also my fading memory to contend with.
The Audi A4 Quattro has been far and away my favorite for snow and ice performance. What a performer!
As for Model S... well, after reviewing as much material as I could on this website, I expected that the Hakka R2s plus traction control would turn my P85+ into something effectively drivable for the Boston winter. And I believe that is the result I have achieved. I can climb hills of significant grade -- even *accelerate* up those hills -- when covered with a mixture of snow and ice. The car is fairly easy to control. I can bring it to a full stop in a reasonable distance and time. As with all driving, matching your speed and turns to road conditions is critical. Model S with Hakka R2s easily matches and a times exceeds the snow-handling abilities of the Priuses, Sentra, Colt & Cadillac limousine -- perhaps a set of low bars.
Certainly, 4600 pounds of Model S-with-Hakkas is chewing up icy hills that would give the Priuses pause.
Compared against the 2001 Audi A4 Quattro... well... I was able to drive the Quattro harder in these snowy conditions than I can Model S. With Model S, I can feel the traction control constantly fighting the desire of the rear-wheel drive to swap places with the front of the car. I feel more play in the rear and I don't like it.
I was surprised at how much more distance I need to safely bring Model S to a full halt. More than I was used to from my previous experiences. With Model S, especially on a down hill, if I haven't adjusted my reflexes to take the S into account, I can find myself with my foot pressed on the brake, ABS fully pulsating, waiting with bated breath to find out whether I'm going to wind up stopped before the traffic light or in the middle of the intersection. Of course, this situation is true with ANY car! If you're going too fast on snow/ice, you will not be able to stop quickly, no matter how wonderful your tires. With Model S, I think I'm mostly adjusting to the much greater weight of the car compared to Audi A4 & Prius. But there also just "feels" like "less" grippiness than I used to have in that A4.
In short, I think Model S is a decent winter car but that one should have different expectations for it than for, say, a Quattro-based car. I have had to make adjustments to my winter driving reflexes to take into account Model S' greater weight and rear-wheel drive.
Probably my single biggest fear when purchasing Model S had been its performance in snow and ice given its rear-wheel drive. This fear has been put to rest.
Finally, a Model S with AWD might be AWESOME in hard winter conditions as well as the rest of the year!
Alan
Hello,
I just returned from a one day winter driving course in the swiss mountains. It was snowing in the morning and raining in the afternoon. So we had all kinda fresh snow and slippery. As this is my first driving course ever I'm probably far from an expert driver and I did learn a lot today. This event was excellent to see how the Model S performes compared to other cars. Unfortunately it was quiet sobering. I drive a standard 85 with 19' Pirelli winter tyres with about 1000km on it and they still look like new.
The first excercise was a slalom course, with the traction control it did handle well and without it, it was fun to drive, even thou it's quiet hard to dose the accelration. Also the stabaliser did work a lot while having the traction controll off.
after that we tried to start uphill with the car, wich was impossible with the Model S. Even when it wasn't uphill, just some snow in front of the tires from braking it was hard to get away. I had to be pushed by people 3 times that day, and there was only one other car that needed that and only one time it was because I ended up in a bit deeper snow.
After that we did full brakes a bit downhill around 60 km/h, the Model S needed the most distance to stop from all the cars by about 10m. We also did some manuvering while braking. The ABS system worked flawlessly and I could avoid the excercise object with about the same speed as the other cars.
In the afternoon we had drove through a corse with tight corners. It had 3 Startpoints so we could drive on it with 3 cars at the same time and see who's back first after 2 rounds. Here I got 2 times the 3rd place. While my driving skill probably did matter most in this excersice we also did drive a few rounds with the 2 winners. A skoda oktavia and a BMW (no clue wich one ^^) both with 4x4 and the acceleration and grip on the snow was really something different.
After that we drove through a more street like roundcourse for maybe 15km. Like at the slalom it was fun to drive without the traction control but in the end I didn't really got the hang of dosing the accelerater good enough to really drift nicely and accerlerate good and the car broke out a lot. So I was alot faster and of corse more stable drive with the traction control on.
In the very end we tried to drive kinda fast backwards and make a 180° turn and drive away immediately. I didn't really got the front gear in while breaking and sliding around, it was most likely my missing skill, but maybe the electronics prevented that somehow, no idea.
You can say I suck at driving, that other winter tyres are better but like I said my experiences where sobering. So keep in mind we drive a heavy car wich does have some disadvantes. So drive carefully and don't get overconfident.
