Quote:
The main thing is that they are narrower than the summer tires, so I do not understand the 295's as winter tires.
It is very simple: they look good.
Of course narrower tires are better for snow and icey roads, especially when it comes to braking. But the 235 size doesn't look that good on the Cayenne.
The 295 (or 275) winter tires are for people who don't get to have much snow. If you're living in an area without much hills or even mountains and you still have some snow (not much) but especially very cold outside temperatures, the 295/275 tires might be a "better" choice. Don't forget that below 7*C, summer tires loose much of their traction/braking abilities. High performance tires sometimes even below 11*C.
I don't drive much around the mountains (the Alps are just 90 km away from me and I can see them on a clear day from my window), just skiing in Austria for a week or so. I have 255 winter tires on my ML55 and they kept up pretty good so far with any situation I encountered, including huge snow, even blizzards and driving up to 2400 m on sleigh track in the mountains.
Never needed the chains I carry with me.
BTW chains: the problem is that there aren't chains available for the 275/295 20'' tires. So I might reconsider going for the 275s for my Cayenne Turbo because the law in Austria and in some snow regions sometimes obliges one to put chains on the car, no matter if a 4WD or not (because of braking). I don't want to get stuck in Austria because I can't (legally) drive away without chains.
That said, I think the Porsche approved 235s are the best choice for mixed (snow, dry, ice, rain, etc.) winter driving but if one doesn't drive to the mountains and there isn't much snow around, the 275/295 tires really look good on the Cayenne.