2008 Cadillac CTS V6 DI: Welcome home. Here's your shovel

Agree.

It's disturbing lately how many posts talk about rain like it is some strange phenomenom.

I noticed the traction control on my Mazda is pretty aggressive and noisey. It tends to grabs the brakes pretty hard which is jarring. I've been driving the folks' Impala LTZ this week and we had snow yesterday- traction control is much more refined in subtle in application. GM's systems seem to upshift the transmission and retard spark before they grip the brakes.

Yes, I believe a tour of duty in the Midwest is required. Hey Edmunds, I'd gladly take the R8 for a winter driving test here in Chicago!

I agree with Dan too: large, empty, snow covered parking lots are the best!

I think it should be noted that nowhere in this post does Dan mention the CTS having adverse affects from the cold temperatures like a certain Nissan. Of course, the GT-R was in a far colder climate. I mean low 40's, where does it ever get THAT cold? :)

Nice pictures.

Finally, a post not complaining about the millimeter of rain and temps in the 40s we're getting here in Southern California.

Good info, thanks. Glad I passed on Michelin.

Try Nokian WRG2's if you want all seasons that actually work in winter - made my Forester go places other cars feared. WRG2 may not be up to your summer handling requirements, though.

Slightly off topic (sorry!), it reached -25 here over the weekend with a wind chill of -65. It was so cold that the oil in my car had turned to taffy and when I called for a tow truck, they said they were out of commission because the pneumatic lines had frozen over.

More on topic, nothing beats a good set of snow tires.

the funny thing is arm51, the R8 fares pretty well in snow despite being a supercoupe. Quattro is great in the snow, almost as good as Subaru's AWD system.

Dorifto!!!

It's hard to say which AWD system is "better" without putting them to the test (calling actualsize! j/k).

Here's some cool info about diff AWD systems. From it, one can get a general idea of the "good" vs. the "weak sauce" ones.

http://www.geocities.com/gkurka2001/CarTech/tech_traction_4wd_2.htm

For those with 20 minutes or so to kill, here are some good videos of Subaru's symmetrical AWD vs. others' attempts at AWD. Sadly, Audi is not included in the comparison.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7dVFY5CxT0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t09ExAUgtyE

Wish there were some newer subie comparisons.

I would expect R8 to do well if it had winter tires.

All season? No season. I went with the Michelin Pilot Alpin3's (18's) on my G8, and they're confidence inspiring to say the least. Seriously good winter tires.

I dunno if the TC on the CTS is anything like mines' Dan but I found that when it came to driving on side streets with a couple of inches of snow it actually hampers progress. That being said, I hit a patch of ice mid turn at about 25-30km/h, turning onto a side street slight throttle, and TC smoothly sorted everything out before I rotated into someone's driveway, so no complaints there. No cars parked there, but still would have been unpleasant. Didn't even have time to react, just to watch it do it's job. Like you said, aggressive but smooth. What can I say snow tires or no, ice is ice.

Yay, a review about a car in real winter driving and it's from Edmunds! Thank you! Could you drive some more cars to Michigan? For science?

large empty snow covered parking lots are the best until you hit the side of them and knock the front wheel out of alignment... but I would't know anything about that???/ :X

Snow tires with 2WD is just as affective as AWD with performance tires. Tests have been done and the advantage of AWD is much exaggerated. Besides, most winter weather accidents happen when trying to stop where AWD does absolutely nothing.

Snow tires with 2WD is just as affective as AWD with performance tires. Tests have been done and the advantage of AWD is much exaggerated. Besides, most winter weather accidents happen when trying to stop where AWD does absolutely nothing.

That's pretty similar to my experience. Plenty of people around here (WI) have awd cars with worn out tires, or Subarus with 45 or 50 series summer tires, and it nets them no advantage but all the disadvantages of 4wd, and probably some overconfidence to boot.

Actually, I'd really just like to drive the R8! :)

I concur with g8gt north, in winter climate's all-season just does not cut it. On my g8 gt 09 I have Nokian Hakkapeliitta R's which are amazing on snow and ice. Also GM's traction control systems are great, not nearly as intrusive as other's I've come accross. I have not found the TC on side streets have hampered my progress, but I'll do some more testing, mostly in deserted parking lots:).

I concur with g8gt north, in a winter climate all-season just does not cut it. On my g8 gt 09 I have Nokian Hakkapeliitta R's which are amazing on snow and ice. Also GM's traction control systems are great, not nearly as intrusive as other's I've come accross. I have not found the TC on side streets have hampered my progress, but I'll do some more testing, mostly in deserted parking lots:).

After buying snow tires for my '03 G35 Coupe (Bridgestone Blizzaks), I wouldn't drive a RWD car in a snowy area without snow tires again. The difference is dramatic, and worth every penny.

All season tires don't cut it unless you have AWD.

Yes - this Michigan native also love the posts about non-Southern California weather. But having visited California often & lived in San Diego for 1.5 years, there are times I miss the golden weather. Like right now.

Dan is going to have more fun tomorrow because we're going to get dumped on again here in Detroit with 6-10" more snow starting tonight.

My 2009 Mercedes C300 4-matic with all season tires works just fine. Traction Control & Stability Control work smoothly, although I drive carefully enough to not invoke them too much in bad weather.

Thank you for bringing another car to a part of the country with more than one season.