I think at the moment there are no experiences driving the
new MINI in the snow, are there??
Probably we here in Austria will be one of the first to make this experience.
Through the winter I usually have a front wheeled VW Golf TDI (sponsored by a producer of snowboards) with ESP and I do thousands of kilometers in the alps on mostly snow covered roads every year. My experience: front wheeled cars are much easier to handle on snow than rear wheeled cars.
I\'m sure, that ASC+T will be very helpful for traction especially on snow or even on ice!
But I don\'t know if the traction control in the MINI is really helpful in critical situations (and i mean real critical ones) on slippy roads, cause ASC+T is not similar to ESP (ESP is great on snow!!). The ESP equivalent of BMW is called DSC. ASC+T is actually a slimer version of the DSC. Its acutally only a traction control, whereas ESP or DSC are not only a traction control but also help you if the car gets out of control by automatically breaking single wheels. Last february made the experience (in a BMW Z3 2.8 with M-sport supension), that ASC+T makes such critical situations (in my case on a road coverd with ice on some parts) even worse, especially in the winter. Had to work really hard to get the car back under control!!! Even if this situation was quite extrem!!!
Hope the S will have DSC as a standard!!!
mr. wildride B)
