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- First Name
- Michael
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I drove several RWD ICE vehicles growing up in Colorado in the 1970’s that were like pigs on ice. I’m no professional winter rally driver, but those days taught me reasonably well how to drive in the winter.
In December 2024, I experienced the Macan AWD on the Porsche Experience Center’s three low friction surfaces and was impressed deeply with its capabilities. The Macan’s AWD and electronic aids are miraculous.
Still, here is a recent experience worth sharing. My Macan is on Pirelli all-season tires (no need for snow tires in Arizona 99% of the time). I went skiing a few weeks ago in the middle of a winter storm in the Arizona mountains. The ski area road is a six mile, downhill, twisting route when leaving the ski area (as most know, the highest risk is when going downhill). The road surface had been plowed, but was icy in sections. A jeep was off the road at one corner. Initially, I used hill descent control, but it has a limited top speed. Traffic in front of, and behind, me was going faster than this top speed and hill descent wasn’t needed on most roadway sections. I did not think to use off-road or sport mode. Rounding most icy corners, I found traction was fine. Maybe electronic wheel modulation aided directional control, or maybe the road just wasn’t very icy on those sections (there was a bit of sand down in places). Yet, on one corner the Macan’s traction broke loose and it skidded sideways across the road, 10-15 feet diagonally, into the oncoming lane (which was empty, so no big deal). There it regained traction quickly. In the skid, I noticed gravel in the other lane and so knew I was not going off the road and it would be a non-event. I want going very fast. The slide was over in a couple of seconds (but long enough that my passenger said, “Are you doing that?”). I simply steered into the slide, and moved back into my lane once I was able to do that.
So, what happened? The friction on the ice in that spot obviously was low. I can’t recall, but think I might have been braking in the corner. Did I break loose because I was braking? Would I have slid if I wasn’t on the brakes (would driving under power through the turn have helped)? Did ABS modulate or not, and even if it did, maybe it didn’t help once I was sliding laterally. I think the slide stopped not only because friction in the opposite lane was better, but because I instinctively came off the brakes to allow wheels to steer better (start spinning?). It wasn’t a one-off event. This same sequence happened 12 months ago on the same road, a bit less dramatically with a smaller slide.
Now my processing. If in doubt, I think I will be using hill descent control and off-road mode in snow, and especially when going downhill. Of course, in any vehicle, I should keep the speed down. High speed was an issue here, but it was high enough to be a contributing factor. Maybe also there’s a “corner” of the design that makes the Macan a bit more prone to skidding under certain operating parameters. That’s the question: why did I slip here? Maybe it was a combination of factors: tires, road, braking, design/programming, etc. I guess it’s the old saying, “any vehicle can lose traction.”
In December 2024, I experienced the Macan AWD on the Porsche Experience Center’s three low friction surfaces and was impressed deeply with its capabilities. The Macan’s AWD and electronic aids are miraculous.
Still, here is a recent experience worth sharing. My Macan is on Pirelli all-season tires (no need for snow tires in Arizona 99% of the time). I went skiing a few weeks ago in the middle of a winter storm in the Arizona mountains. The ski area road is a six mile, downhill, twisting route when leaving the ski area (as most know, the highest risk is when going downhill). The road surface had been plowed, but was icy in sections. A jeep was off the road at one corner. Initially, I used hill descent control, but it has a limited top speed. Traffic in front of, and behind, me was going faster than this top speed and hill descent wasn’t needed on most roadway sections. I did not think to use off-road or sport mode. Rounding most icy corners, I found traction was fine. Maybe electronic wheel modulation aided directional control, or maybe the road just wasn’t very icy on those sections (there was a bit of sand down in places). Yet, on one corner the Macan’s traction broke loose and it skidded sideways across the road, 10-15 feet diagonally, into the oncoming lane (which was empty, so no big deal). There it regained traction quickly. In the skid, I noticed gravel in the other lane and so knew I was not going off the road and it would be a non-event. I want going very fast. The slide was over in a couple of seconds (but long enough that my passenger said, “Are you doing that?”). I simply steered into the slide, and moved back into my lane once I was able to do that.
So, what happened? The friction on the ice in that spot obviously was low. I can’t recall, but think I might have been braking in the corner. Did I break loose because I was braking? Would I have slid if I wasn’t on the brakes (would driving under power through the turn have helped)? Did ABS modulate or not, and even if it did, maybe it didn’t help once I was sliding laterally. I think the slide stopped not only because friction in the opposite lane was better, but because I instinctively came off the brakes to allow wheels to steer better (start spinning?). It wasn’t a one-off event. This same sequence happened 12 months ago on the same road, a bit less dramatically with a smaller slide.
Now my processing. If in doubt, I think I will be using hill descent control and off-road mode in snow, and especially when going downhill. Of course, in any vehicle, I should keep the speed down. High speed was an issue here, but it was high enough to be a contributing factor. Maybe also there’s a “corner” of the design that makes the Macan a bit more prone to skidding under certain operating parameters. That’s the question: why did I slip here? Maybe it was a combination of factors: tires, road, braking, design/programming, etc. I guess it’s the old saying, “any vehicle can lose traction.”
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