Drove to Austria this weekend since I have 19" winter wheels on my car now and I wanted to see if I can catch a bit of snow (no chance, only up on top of the mountains or on ski slopes).
Learned a couple of interesting things about the various setups possible with Drive Select and the OEM Continental WinterContact TS830 R01 winter tires (which btw. are excellent for the car).
Weather on my way to Austria was not that good, roads were pretty "greasy" (that kind of moist which is mixed with dust, dirt and whatnot, making the roads a bit slippery) most of the time, at temperatures around 2-4°C. On my way back home, I also got into some mixed rain and snow thing, wasn't really pleasant since it was dark and there was a lot of traffic.
What can I say?
First, never use Performance modes in winter time, not even the wet or snow setups. Unless of course your name is Walter Röhrl. These modes may be fun on a closed track or air strip but no on public roads. Just trust me.
Then, using Dynamic mode (this is actually how I drive 99% of the time) in this kind of weather may be fun but not really safe. At first, I thought that the Continental winter tires are crap because they felt very smeary and not planted at all. Way too much slip, I wasn't really happy with them. Until I realized that...wait a moment...I was driving in Dynamic mode. How I realized that? Well, I was doing a narrow curve (actual an exit from a major road to another one) at around 50 kph and my rear started slipping. It was kind of funny because it wasn't one of those sudden heavy oversteers but a really nice, smooth oversteer with the rear coming slowly, steadily and in a highly controllable manner. Actually, after that, I wanted to do the same narrow curve again but a bit faster. Seriously, it was fun but of course this is not something you want to happen to you on a public road, especially when you have other cars following you.
I changed to the Individual setup and set everything (engine, gearbox, steering, chassis, etc.) to Dynamic mode, with one exception only: Quattro (AWD/ESP setup). I set Quattro to...Comfort mode.
After doing that, car felt like a different car. No kidding. Tires suddenly felt better planted on these "greasy" or wet roads, traction felt better, there was no more oversteer and only a very mild understeer. It is amazing how electronics setups can change the whole character of a car. Fantastic!
I really enjoyed driving the R8 in this kind of weather because everything was still set to "sporty", with the exception of the AWD and ESP. Speaking of ESP: In Dynamic mode, I saw the ESP lamp come on pretty often. In Quattro "Comfort" mode not even once.
The Continental winter tires don't take away too much from the original character of the car with summer tires. There is a slight loss in steering precision though, the steering in isn't that razor sharp anymore as before but for driving in winter time, i think this is actually a very good and welcomed setup. Understeer is a bit stronger but this also adds a bit to the safety feel because you can basically feel it in the steering when you're too fast under these driving conditions since the mild understeer is a pretty good warning sign not to go faster.
Overall, a pretty interesting winter driving experience and I can truly say that this car is perfect for winter driving.
Only problem in winter time could be ground clearance (when there is lots of snow) but other than that, no problems.
Rims look quite OK (design) and it doesn't even bother me that they aren't black.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet (2015), Porsche Cayenne S Diesel (2017), Audi R8 V10 Plus (2016), Mini JCW (2015)