I live in the snow belt, in Central New York, in a suburb of Syracuse. We get what the meteorologists love to call "Lake-Effect Snow"; that is when super cold Canadian fronts come across the great lakes, (in this case, Lake Ontario), and like a sponge, soaks up tons of moisture like a sponge. The second that dense, cold air hits land, it dumps it on us in the form of giant snowflakes. We often win the "Golden Snowball" award for snowiest U.S. city; (annual total snowfall amount). North of us in the country, it's even worse. The Tug Hill Plateau directly east of Lake Ontario measures snow not in the standard inches, but FEET.
Add this to the fact that my daily commute involves lots of twisty turns up and down hundreds of feet of elevation, and I feel I'm qualified to comment on the Alltrack's snow prowess.
I think this is a fantastic winter driver, right out of the box, even on the standard all-season tires! I am a firm believer in snow tires, at least for my particular region. In fact I will be using snow tires next winter on my car. But I just got it about a month and a half ago, and decided to be lazy and wait to switch to snows until next November, and to see how the all-seasons handle winter. Again, I am pleasantly surprised! I have given it many, many tests already, believe me!
Now, I have had some internal debate with myself, about which driving mode I should be using. Most SUV's nowadays have a "snow" mode in their list of choices, and between you and me, I feel VW was unwise/lazy to leave that mode out in the Alltrack, (a car that they're aiming directly at Subaru Outback owners/cross-shoppers who live in the snowy areas like me). Heck, even the newly redesigned VW Tiguan has a snow mode! So a missed opportunity there, VW!
I didn't know if I should be using Off-Road mode, with that hill-decent control or just normal mode... I've found not much difference in Off-road mode on the worst of the worst snow days. Days where every single school from Cleveland to NYC is closed due to lake-effect or bomb cyclone snowfall, and I still have to go to work! I recommend normal driving mode.
I also HIGHLY recommend putting the shift lever into manual mode, especially if you have hills you're going up, and more importantly, down. Descending a slippery, snowy hill can be the most stressful thing about winter driving. You often crest the hill and then realize you may be going a bit too fast for the conditions, and will naturally want to brake. But hitting the brake pedal, even lightly <<may>> induce a spin, especially if you're on a turn already. What to do?
That's when you use your nifty left-hand DSG paddle, and downshift until you get to a higher RPM, which will help slow the car down, without using the brakes. Engine braking, if you will. It is so easy with our awesome DSG flappy-paddle transmissions, and I highly recommend using them in snowstorms, in addition to the complete opposite kind of weather, the nice sunny day when you want to carve canyons aggressively. DSG paddles aren't just for spirited motoring! YOU control the transmission! Take back control, especially in a bad snowstorm.
My two cents...
-Jonnieoh
