VW R32: Stuck?!

Old Man Winter, 1 : R32, 0.

There's been winter storm warnings for the Washington DC area since yesterday and over to today. Predictions were for snow and sleet, but I wasn't too worried since the R had handled last winter's major snow with flying (and fun!) colours:

February 2006

Unfortunately, early this morning I discovered the R doesn't do nearly as well when there's a half-inch to an inch of ice beneath the snow. I managed to drive about 10-15 feet before becoming stuck.

February 2007

I ended up having to wait for my side streets to be cleared. Of course, once they were done I discovered I'd been blocked in by a pile of snow. Gee, thanks! Anywhoo, I cleared away the snow as best I could, turned off the ESP, and made several attempts before I was able to reach the cleared section of the road.

By that time it was 4pm and I decided it wasn't worth it to head to work (Shhh, Don't tell my boss!). It took me several attempts to get back into my parking space, but I'm fairly confident that even if it refreezes overnight (as is forecasted) I'll still be able to drive tomorrow.

In an ideal world I'd have sets of both summer and winter tires but due to storage limitations I've compromised with all-season tires: Pirelli Pzero Nero M+S. I wonder if in this instance winter tires would have made a significant difference.

Despite the annoyance of having a non-productive day, I was still a little relieved at not being on the roads. On the beltway there was a five car accident, and towards Baltimore there was an eight car pile-up.

Hmmm... if I consider last year then right now the R has a career record of 1 win : 1 loss. I'll see if the R can make a comeback tomorrow and take the lead against Old Man Winter.

Comments

  1. I noticed a couple of days ago the weather conditions stated "Ice Pellets"--that sounds a lot more painful than "hail" !

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't need to spend any money--I just needed to wait until they cleared the road of snow/ice.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2006 Honda Odyssey Navigation Screen Hack

Wheel-Tire size comparer

2006 Honda Odyssey - 9229 km - V1 radar detector installed