Quote:
Originally Posted by Norretal
Well said Ray, it's more down to the driver than the tyres
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I think to be fair, it's both.
Back in the day (Ray will remember this too) cars had skinny tyres and driving in snow, even really heavy snow, was a matter of being careful and somewhat skilful. I never, ever failed to drive to work, whatever the weather, throughout my working life due to snow. And that was from the early 70s into this millennium.
Sometimes you had to be quite creative to find a way through, but I always got there.
But modern cars have wide, low-profile tyres and they just don't work in snowy conditions. Since putting winter tyres on both my cars a few years back I can say that the difference is like night and day and well worth it if you HAVE to drive whatever the conditions.
I do confess to going out unnecessarily and having a bit of fun quite recently in the S8 when everyone else was struggling to get anywhere and most roads were gridlocked due to several inches of snow. 
I'm still keeping separate summer/winter sets for my S8, and the summer ones will go back on relatively soon (Easter?) if we get a predicted lengthy warm spell.
The other car is now shod with all-season tyres, Michelin Cross-Climate Plus.
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2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions, ski hatch retrofit; extended leather. Aftermarket DVB-T, reversing camera and full XCarlink (Bluetooth etc.).
2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation".  (A much rarer model than a D2 S8 by the way!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one! 
Finally: gone, but not forgotten.....
1998 D2 PF S8. AgateGrey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors.
e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course.  (internal dimming mirror added later)
1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon, Auto-dim mirror, Leather, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer.
And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850!
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