[L~R~G nor cal]

Over the weekend I decided to head up to South Lake Tahoe to shred the mountain with my girlfriend. On Sat the weather was great, sunny and not windy. Today it started off nice, but became windy so I knew a storm was on the way. We left the slopes around 3 and went shopping. Right before we went shopping it started to snow lightly. By the time we were done there was 2-3inches of snow on the ground.

At this time I became quite happy with my decision of the car I chose to take up to the mountains. I chose my mothers Audi A8 over my gf’s Jeep Liberty. I just wanted something with heated seats and heated steering wheel over a cramped Jeep.

By the time I reached US 50 heading towards Sac, I saw the cars heading to Tahoe (from sac area) with chains. Sure enough by the time I started to reach the summit chain controls were in full effect.

I pulled up to the CalTrans guy and he said “ Do you have awd?” and I gave him a thumbs up and proceeded.

Just to let the guys that are not familiar with climbing or descending the summit, its only two small lanes wide with a cliff on one side (if you go over you’re a goner!) and a rock mountain about 3 feet off the road on the other side.

Most all cars in front of me had chains except an A6 behind me and a G500 in front of me. Even 4wd trucks had them on the rears.

To make a long story short, I never lost traction once! Not under breaking and not under acceleration. I was amazed that a “car” could be so great in the snow. I am use to driving my Lifted Jeep with huge tires that get traction on anything but not a completely stock car.

I did test out the breaking when I was on a straight and had no one close to me in the rear and I was in shock. My jeep would have locked them up for days, and the A8’s ABS was flawless. I was doing around 30mph downhill and when I slammed on the breaks, it only took two and ½ lengths to stop. As I kept driving more and more people were pulling over in their Chevy Tahoe’s and Toyota 4runnners. I was just laughing when I passed them as they waited for the storm to die down.

There was around 4-6inches of snow on the ground and more poring down.

Overall I am amazed of the traction of the A8. It is truly an amazing car in bad weather conditions. All of this bad weather with a toasty butt and warm hands!

Here is a pic from my Iphone of what the roads looked like. I’m sorry, I know it’s shitty.

[truong321]

pretty nice buddy