Poster: A snowHead
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What’s your ultimate Alp vehicle?
In the 90s a diesel Golf or Passat with winters was great for cruising there and then going up and down.
We need:
Clearance for the garage and car parks so not too high
Traction
Legroom in the back
Four seats
Decent luggage capacity
Quietness
Reasonable fuel economy
Decent sound system
Hyper reliability
Decent headlights
I like VAG stuff - and our current 4wd Yeti has great headlights, compact dimensions outside, heated leather seats (yum), and really meets the criteria above.
So far in the last 20 years we’ve used
Golf GTD
Passat estate
Touran
Octavia
Yeti
It’s all changing with electric vehicles - and the Tesla 3 has terrible rear seats - the other models won’t fit in the garage….grrrr
I rented a Massive Merc and whilst phenomenally grippy and luxurious it wouldn’t fit in the garage and had the fuel consumption of a Saturn Five booster
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A few years ago a couple of petrol passat wagons went well, up and down the NZ Ruapehu fields. No snow tyres, you can’t get them there, had to rent chains now and again then got socks but never had to use them.
In Norway we got lucky and got a decent Volvo wagon, v60 I think. Nice, handled the conditions well. Cleared a misted windscreen as if you had an old station attendant there doing it for you, but not that big.
Previous trip we to Crans we had need of a seven seater, got one of those big Fords. Like a bus but daughter liked her own area in the third row. Plenty of room.
This time we ended up with a BMW 2 series grand tourer (diesel but good pick up). Plenty of room down the middle for 2 ski bags and 3 other hold bags and hand luggage.
All up, I like s/wagons that have a ski hatch, a decent amount of room for ski bags and other stuff but don’t have to be fancy, so our old passat turbo s/w would have done do us fine but had to sell it when we left.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Don’t know about ultimate but looking at your specs it’s a largish estate with 4WD.
If you see what the small Swiss farms have parked outside when you go over them on a lift it is often an Octavia 4x4 Estate or Scout. That was our basis for buying a Scout and with winter tyres it has been great. Never needed to fit chains yet. 50+ mpg burning filthy diesel.
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Best car I ever had in snow was a Subaru Impreza estate (non-turbo). These days driving a golf diesil estate. 55mpg and with winter tyres it's fine in the snow
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Haggis_Trap, thats what all the lifties and ski bums et al. drove in NZ. Must be bullet proof.
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@ster,
Depends how you drive them. Mine (big turbo) was reliable but @Thornyhill will tell you a different story.
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ster wrote: |
@Haggis_Trap, thats what all the lifties and ski bums et al. drove in NZ. Must be bullet proof. |
I actually had two Impreza estates. The first one I bought at 7 years old and kept running until it was 17 years old and 175k miles. Had just sailed through its MOT when someone crashed into back of me on the motorway and wrote it off. I was heart broken...
Absolutely magic cars (especially in snow). True definition of 'alpenwagon'
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'd agree about the Suburu, go for an Outback - saw one dragging a larger 4x4 out of a ditch in Canada, around 8 inches of fresh snow had fallen too. Obviously had decent tyres on and the gent knew what he was doing.
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musher wrote: |
@ster,
Depends how you drive them. Mine (big turbo) was reliable but @Thornyhill will tell you a different story. |
Why? Was he trying to run nitrous through it?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Btw … in terms of mad mileage our Touran has just done 240,000 …
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ster wrote: |
musher wrote: |
@ster,
Depends how you drive them. Mine (big turbo) was reliable but @Thornyhill will tell you a different story. |
Why? Was he trying to run nitrous through it? |
No, he just drives like he's from Somerset.
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You know it makes sense.
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It wasn't expensive for me as nothing much ever went wrong. Had a couple of wheel bearings at about 4 years but other than that it was pretty good. I think @scarpa was happy with his too, as I remember that was a non-turbo Forester.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I had the 2.5 turbo version, a lovely car with a bit of oomph. After it self destructed I went for an Octavia Scout 4x drive and remapped the engine to give a similar hp. To be honest it's coped with everything the Subaru did at half the running costs.
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Fri 15-04-22 23:21; edited 4 times in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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Superb Estate 4x4 or the Superb Scout.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Our A6 Allroad with full winters on regularly manages up to our rural house near tomintoul with absolutely not a flicker. We call it the waftwagon as you canneaft along in it. Does 650 miles to a tank if not more. Nice place to be as passenger and driver
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@orange, we’d say similar about our Octavia Scout. But interested to know what size of tank you have to get 650 miles from?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Weathercam, We run a mid-length Vito. 5 seats. RWD on fresh'ish Bridgestone full winters and it's fine. Just done a 2100 mile round trip. MPG in the low 40's carrying 2x families worth of kit, skis, boards and sledges. Also several boxes and bags that we were handing over to a Ukranian Aid Centre in Bourg St M.
Thankfully, as well as the kayak bars, I removed the roof rails before this trip. It was a very tight squeeze getting into the underground garage that came with our rental place.
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Hard to go past a Subaru - did 220,000 km from new over 5 years in an outback until a bus killed it, with a lot of rough mountain roads in winter, they are great in snow and surprisingly capable off road. Never had a problem with it. Got a forester now which is just as good. The latest outback looks nice.
In Nz so may be different but really cheap on maintenance if you avoid the main stealer. But there’s a lot of subies in Nz so parts aren’t hard to get.
The built in roof racks on the outback are shite though. Not all markets have them.
This is my other winter toy. Only room for 2 with not much luggage. Scary on roundabouts with a 2” lift, not quick up hills but will go up anything. The lights will vapourise a sheep from 1km away.
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orange wrote: |
Our A6 Allroad with full winters on regularly manages up to our rural house near tomintoul with absolutely not a flicker. We call it the waftwagon as you canneaft along in it. Does 650 miles to a tank if not more. Nice place to be as passenger and driver |
That was the correct answer there
We've similar wagon history to you Valais, mk3 golf (exceptional range as would get from Bsm to Calais on one tank of fuel) then Touran 7 seater, a really useful form for families and so adaptable for ski, camping, mtb etc etc, not too large in overall size either, not the, ahem, quietest cabin and with relatively utilitarian fitments, long lasting and tough is our experience.
But as above, A6 is a complete step beyond with longer platform giving some of the best rear passenger space in a versatile body. Ours was bought second hand and older than Touran with lower mileage. Quattro transmission with centre Torsen differential (makes the biggest difference in comparison to many others) very quiet and with Bose sound standard fit. Transmission (shared with allroad) is true 4WD all time with three differential and that Torsen facility on centre, mechanically designed to work without sensor, switching, driver input etc, works on braking as well as traction (many, Haldex type, don't) has many subtle attributes not readily considered (subaru is similar, but not on all iteration depending on spec) amongst them the tire wear is minimal with all four taking drive torque, it's probably the most effective at running winter type tires all season without any real compromise.
But those seats, both front and rear passenger's, will push that balance significantly in it's favour for the journey you consider to the Alps regularly. It's worthwhile trying one on road test for this alone, and primary in our decision given the other things that come with it.
As mentioned ours is an older version at such a lowered cost that it effectively has no depreciation to speak of, but made with a quality that it's no concern using it. A highly competent choice, but newer A4 Avant body is now exactly the same overall length as ours with car size creep and maybe a good alternative.
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An Audi RS6 has to be the ultimate alp vehicle, 4wd, tons of space for luggage and a delimited remapped one is good for 200mph on the German autobahn for the trip down from the UK. The only downside is you need deep pockets to buy and run one.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@JohnS4, @ski3, …yikes that makes a Quattro a car of interest…I had always put them down as complex and potentially unreliable - with air suspension and complex transmission - but you are saying that this complexity is a) good and b) dependable. Interesting….
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Our A6 Allroad (3l V6 diesel) was the best car for ski or climbing trips we ever had by a wide margin, go anywhere, in any conditions, in comfort, and when conditions allow, at speed. Running costs were fairly high though.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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This little number was purchased with long ski trips in mind and has not disappointed. In its eleven months it has been to Sun Valley, Snowbasin, Grand Targhee, Big Sky, Mt Bachelor and Mammoth. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Scooter in Seattle wrote: |
Lather, rinse, repeat. |
I think you might need to try a bit more Lather.
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It’s true - that’s a spectacularly mucky vehicle - top marks!
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