[Legoman]

Hi everyone, this is my first post... apologies if this has been asked before.

I have been given a company owned Q3 with an option to buy in 6 months and live in a hilly area. I've never drove an automatic before.

Do you have any good advice when driving the Audi Q3 in snowy conditions, particularly i guess when travelling down steep hills? Is it best to move the S tronic gear box out of automatic in to manual? Move it into S position to accommodate longer gear changes? Or just keep it in Drive?

I am not allowed to fit any snow tyres yet..

Thanks for your help.

 

[SeaBox]

Hi,
Welcome to the forum. I do not have an auto so can't advise but I just wanted to point out that unless you are planning on putting on full studded snow tyres then winter tyres aren't just for snow; they are for all conditions below 7 degrees centigrade. This is because they have a softer compound and far superior water clearing abilities than summer tyres. With the current forecast especially for the east its probably a good time to fit winter tyres if you have them.
Cheers

 

[Wal]

Welcome Legoman,I agree with SeaBox on the tyre issue.But if you dont have the option to swap to winters then keep the S-tronic in standard drive.This will give you "softer" gear changes and hopefully avoid wheel spin.A big word of warning.If your Q3 is fitted with Audi Drive Select DO NOT use economy mode as this will result in you free wheeling when you come off the gas.Could be a big disaster if going down hill!!!

 

[daytona]

I have not tried my Q3 in snow yet , but when i had my golf gti with DSG _ same as s tronic -if you are starting off in snow just put it into drive and let the electronics get you going dont bother with the accelerator until you are moving . this got me going everytime a few years ago when we had lots of snow .

 

[Legoman]

Thanks for your help guys..

I guess it would be better to switch to manual when trying to stop / slow down on snowy hills as opposed to touching the brakes?

Sorry for the silly questions but Semi-automatics are all new to me! The Q3 is a lovely car and think it handles well.... Just trying to reduce the chances of my first bump!

 

[Jadewoo]

Thanks for asking the question Legoman, it's useful to me too.
What sort of cost are winter tyres please, just rough?

 

[SETIG]

Going back to the days when I owned my Tiguan, the handbook stated that you should turn the ESP off when driving on ice / snow.

If you have autohold I would also recommend that you turn it off. My reasoning behind this is that if you brake in snow or on ice and it detects that the wheels have locked, it may well just apply the autohold, giving you no control at all.

I got places in my Tiguan on summer tyres that amazed me. Yes they are good at traction, but please be very careful as they take the same time to stop as any other car.

 

[SemiQ]

If you have autohold I would also recommend that you turn it off. My reasoning behind this is that if you brake in snow or on ice and it detects that the wheels have locked, it may well just apply the autohold, giving you no control at all.

Hopefully not

I would guess that the system is smarter than that..

 

[rps199]

As the first major snow fall has hit I decided to take the Q3 for a spin to see how it would cope.
I live in a rural area so the roads are all white and slippy.
I've got to say I'm pretty impressed and really pleased I opted for the Quattro.
I've got grip in this car I never had with my previous 2wd cars even on summer tyres.
I know that winter tyres will give alot more grip but at the moment I'm struggling to justify the cost of the 4 wheels and tyres judging by drive I took an hour ago.

With regard to Autohold, I don't have that but do see the sense in switching it off as it probably works off the speed sensors which would cause a bit of a problem!

 

[SETIG]

If you have autohold I would also recommend that you turn it off. My reasoning behind this is that if you brake in snow or on ice and it detects that the wheels have locked, it may well just apply the autohold, giving you no control at all.

Hopefully not

I would guess that the system is smarter than that..

I experienced this on my Tiguan whilst stopping on packed snow. All 4 wheels locked up. No ABS was felt under foot and cadence braking was non-effective. Auto hold was on. This is only a presumption as to why I had no control, so by passing this onto others may prove beneficial. I did not try to replicate it again, but just always switched it off in icy conditions.

 

[Legoman]

Thanks for the useful tips...

I also played in the snow today, and despite experiencing the occasional skid / abs kicking in when breaking on a gradient (which guess is quite normal) I found switching to manual when approaching downhill and then slowing down with the gears gave me more confidence than relying on 'Drive' to slow down sufficiently enough before braking.

I did found the Q3 to be trouble free during acceleration and normal driving in snowy conditions... which is the main thing!!

Btw - should you see the ESP stability light flash when a wheel slips? I never saw anything appear..

 

[rps199]

Yes, my ESP light did come on but I was pushing it a bit!

 

[rontheman]

Please clarify: Autohold=hill descent control?

 

[reilsab]

Autohold would be for the handbrake if i'm right in thinking.

With the normal handbrake or parking brake you have to pull the button to apply it but it comes off automatically. With autohold feature it comes on automatically as well, thats my understanding of it.

 

[rontheman]

thanks, makes sense now!

 

[mark3988]

Hi. Driving in the snow is fine. It's the ice that causes problems. On the smallest incline my Q3 looses grip, but hey it only lasts for a few weeks a year.

This looks like fun though...

[TUBE]http://youtu.be/I6jrvxfHFoc[/TUBE]

 

[SemiQ]

That is right: Audi hold assist

 

[dus]

Hey,

I tested the Q3 a couple of weeks ago in Grindelwald going up and down a steep narrow icy hill. I do have winter tyres, but the car was fantastic.

I prefer to put it to a manual shift mode so i can use low gears. On my way down, I also switched on the Hill descent button.

But, the quattrois just great.

Cheers
dus

 

[drjamesr]

Autohold handbrake function comes on only when the car is stopped completely and the brake pedal kept pressed - gentle braking to a halt and quick removal of the foot off the brake does not engage Autohold, eg in a queue approaching a roundabout.Very handy and why it's not standard kit on DSGs I don't know.I'd guess that Audi thought of the potential problem and it isn't an issue. Drive select in efficiency mode allows free wheeling in neutral, which can be alarming at first, and not good down a steep slippery hill, but it cuts out the instant the brake pedal is touched and the engine free wheels again only when the accelerator is pressed, probably for a quarter of a second, and then the right foot lifted off completely.So as long as a sensible speed is maintained I can't see it being a real problem. It's possible that the ABS system overrides the drive select in any case in a skid situation but I have not put this to the test!

 

[JayN]

Thanks for the useful tips...
...
Btw - should you see the ESP stability light flash when a wheel slips? I never saw anything appear..

Then they probably didn't slip enough for the ESP to kick in! ;-)