Why Are Mercedes so Difficult to Drive In The Snow????

[loftylewis]

Last year in our C220 in the snow, the onboard management system just 'took over' and stopped anything happening and grinding the car to a halt and then refused allow any meaningfull traction before the 'clever bits' stopped anything happening again.

this Year same thing in our E220 and even worse, the inner rear would spin and 'drag' the car into the deeper snow on the side of the road getting further stuck!!

I am a careful driver, engage 'comfort' setting in the snow, have tried both traction control on and off with little difference to be honest, and this morning the only cars that seemed to be having significant problems were all Mercedes - why?? even my daughters ancient Peugeot 206 manual was able to get along quite happilly!!

Any thoughts or comments anyone??

 

[Silver_Star]

Rear wheel drive and engine at the front = No weight over the driving wheels.

The wide tyres on most modern cars make things worse!

 

[st4]

Its RWD.

Try weighing down the back of the car, full tank of fuel and a full boot will weight down the back wheels to give more traction. The car should move off in the C mode without any pressure on the go pedal. They can be driven in the snow if treated with care

 

[loftylewis]

True enough Dan, but other rear wheel drive motors such as 5 series and Jags seemed ok, think that the nanny state traction control system adds to the difficulties too

 

[loftylewis]

funnily enough, the only thing not included in your suggestions was the full tank of fuel which was only because the blinking garage had not opended due to the snow!!
cheers for the comments, gotta go rescue another daughter shortly, and have since brimmed the tank so will see how we get on!!

 

[drmw]

Last year in our C220 in the snow, the onboard management system just 'took over' and stopped anything happening and grinding the car to a halt and then refused allow any meaningfull traction before the 'clever bits' stopped anything happening again.

this Year same thing in our E220 and even worse, the inner rear would spin and 'drag' the car into the deeper snow on the side of the road getting further stuck!!

I am a careful driver, engage 'comfort' setting in the snow, have tried both traction control on and off with little difference to be honest, and this morning the only cars that seemed to be having significant problems were all Mercedes - why?? even my daughters ancient Peugeot 206 manual was able to get along quite happilly!!

Any thoughts or comments anyone??

Key word to driving in snow - GENTLE

If your traction control kicked in, it's likely you were being too heavy on the throttle. If switching it off made little difference, then you were definitely being too hevy on the throttle!

If your wheels were spinning, you had switched it off and that, with a heavy right foot, gets you nowhere.

Let the car do the work - tickover engine speed in drive will get it moving with the lightest of touches on the throttle to help.

 

[loftylewis]

unfortunately the problems were mainly occuring on an incline where the car would not move forward of its own accord in 'C' as you would generally allow to happen, so gentle pressure on the pedal was required to have any opportunity to move off, and then all the spinning etc as reported - i fully understand the need to be very gentle with both pedals in these conditions, and have driven numerous marques over the years without as many difficulties as with the Mercs it would seem.

 

[Silver_Star]

The car is only as good as the driver. You mentions 5 series - A couple of weeks ago in the last lot of snow I was coming home from Sheffield and had to go up a rather steep hill that most people were avoiding and going on a long detour, there was an abandoned BMW at the side of the road that had given up 1/3 of the way up, I made it all the way up in my Merc. Slipped it into 'W' left the ESP ON let the engine idle start to pull me up and then just kept the progress steady, not to fast and not to slow with no sudden movements.

Only in extreme conditions would it be beneficial to drive with the ESP turned off.

Other things are bags of sand etc in the boot, slightly lowering the tyre pressures, having winter tyres. There has also been talk of snow socks which seem to get good reviews for more 'extreme' road surfaces.

 

[Iain the gadget]

Last year in our C220 in the snow, the onboard management system just 'took over' and stopped anything happening and grinding the car to a halt and then refused allow any meaningfull traction before the 'clever bits' stopped anything happening again.

this Year same thing in our E220 and even worse, the inner rear would spin and 'drag' the car into the deeper snow on the side of the road getting further stuck!!

I am a careful driver, engage 'comfort' setting in the snow, have tried both traction control on and off with little difference to be honest, and this morning the only cars that seemed to be having significant problems were all Mercedes - why?? even my daughters ancient Peugeot 206 manual was able to get along quite happilly!!

Any thoughts or comments anyone??

Been out in 6" of the white stuff this morning with the cold weather tyres with no problems whatsoever.
I whole heartedly agree though with other posts that you do have to modify your driving style to suit the conditions. A large proportion of hold ups are caused by drivers, if you can call them that, that don't have a clue!
Just think a little bit further in front of yourself and apply a little bit of simple science and you won't be a danger or nuisance to other road users that do know what they're doing.
If all else fails. Stay indoors.

 

[Telviking]

I live on a hill and decided I was not going out in the Merc this morning, I watched as the snow got packed down and cars were struggling like mad to get up it, I spent 2 hours digging my VW van out of the drive so that I could get the 4wd Mitsubishi out of the Garage...then it was Snow?.. what snow?

 

[loftylewis]

I resent the implied suggestion that I am a danger and a nuiscance to other road users, and my comments are made to raise a debate about the traction control system and rear diff setup rather than if i can drive in snow or not - assumptions are never clever.

 

[twistedsanity]

i have been driving for 25 years, i spent 15 years as a field service engineer driving all over the country on a daily basis, my merc is undoubtedly the worst car i have ever tried to drive in the snow, in fact it is useless, tc on or off it goes nowhere as soon as there is a slight incline in the road, it is an embarresment when every other car on the road glides past with ease and your traction controll decides that it will just deny you any power at all, i love my mercedes but i think its gonna have to be sold

 

[deanrc]

Been out in 6" of the white stuff this morning with the cold weather tyres with no problems whatsoever.
I whole heartedly agree though that you do have to modify your driving style to suit the conditions. A large proportion of hold ups are caused by drivers, if you can call them that, that don't have a clue!
Just think a little bit further in front of yourself and apply a little bit of simple science and you won't be a danger or nuisance to other road users that do know what they're doing.
If all else fails. Stay indoors.

Ignore him , he knows everything there is to know about everything , attitude sucks also , just had him boring me on another simple post. Go play in the snow Iain and stop annoying people theres a good boy ! :Oops:

 

[Michael G 2]

i have been driving for 25 years, i spent 15 years as a field service engineer driving all over the country on a daily basis, my merc is undoubtedly the worst car i have ever tried to drive in the snow, in fact it is useless, tc on or off it goes nowhere as soon as there is a slight incline in the road, it is an embarresment when every other car on the road glides past with ease and your traction controll decides that it will just deny you any power at all, i love my mercedes but i think its gonna have to be sold

Can I ask do you know how to drive in the snow successfully?
If not its your fault you don't have the skill to drive in the snow not your cars.

 

[Rory]

i have been driving for 25 years, i spent 15 years as a field service engineer driving all over the country on a daily basis, my merc is undoubtedly the worst car i have ever tried to drive in the snow, in fact it is useless, tc on or off it goes nowhere as soon as there is a slight incline in the road, it is an embarresment when every other car on the road glides past with ease and your traction controll decides that it will just deny you any power at all, i love my mercedes but i think its gonna have to be sold

A C-Class estate (W204) was being driven behind me today closer than I would have liked, and just generally seemed be pushy for the conditions. I thought maybe he had winter tyres. At we approached a set of lights which have 3 lanes for left / straight / right I slowed, took the middle lane and he charged up the inside into the left lane. The junction is on a slight uphill slope.

As the lights changed he sat there with his rear wheels spinning and I drove off serenely (in wifey's Honda Jazz).

 

[Telviking]

Can I ask do you know how to drive in the snow successfully?
If not its your fault you don't have the skill to drive in the snow not your cars.

Fighting talk Michael...

These Snow threads are really Snowballing out of Control:lol:

Have you ever driven in the Snow Michael? I think not.

I will tell you a true FACT: a good car will make a bad driver look good in the snow.
a not so good car (or not set up for winter) will make a Good driver bad in the Snow.

I have driven 3 vehicles in the Snow today and only 1 was any good and it was not down to my skill as a driver but down to a car designed for all weathers..it even has 3 buttons on it for different road conditions...Tarmac, Gravel, Snow.

But when the Sun's out my Merc is more comfy..

Horses for courses as they say.

 

[6pot]

took the w124 to work, only a couple of inches of snow, i found the traction control helpfull. seeing as my last car was manual and id never driven an auto in the snow i was expecting a nightmare, instead i drove to work with a minimum of fuss or slides. Plus the benefit of a warm behind, thanks to the heated seats!

 

[Michael G 2]

Fighting talk Michael...

These Snow threads are really Snowballing out of Control:lol:

Have you ever driven in the Snow Michael? I think not.

I will tell you a true FACT: a good car will make a bad driver look good in the snow.
a not so good car (or not set up for winter) will make a Good driver bad in the Snow.

I have driven 3 vehicles in the Snow today and only 1 was any good and it was not down to my skill as a driver but down to a car designed for all weathers..it even has 3 buttons on it for different road conditions...Tarmac, Gravel, Snow.






But when the Sun's out my Merc is more comfy..

Horses for courses as they say.

I don't like to 'sugar coat' things I'm straight to the point. (I'd make a good politicion )
I haven't driven in the snow, but reading plenty of posts on how to drive in it sucessfully has taught me how to drive in it. Though I do see your point.
It seems a bit contradictory that statement in the some posts here people have said. 'My E class was rubbish in the snow' Others have said. 'My E class was fine in the snow'
Preperation plays a big part when driving in these conditions.
What were these cars? The one your talking about with the 3 buttons sounds like a Mitsubishi Evo, which has a rally background and has AWD so suited different conditions.

 

[drmw]

Fighting talk Michael...

These Snow threads are really Snowballing out of Control:lol:

I will tell you a true FACT: a good car could make a bad driver look good in the snow.
a not so good car (or not set up for winter) could make a Good driver bad in the Snow.

Horses for courses as they say.

Only one suggested change of word (and hair splitting at that!), otherwise agree 100% !!

 

[47p2]

This thread's better than a Glasgow wedding