I recently drove my 99.5 A4 Quattro in the first northeast snow of the season, and must say that I was disappointed.
The "forward traction" is excellent--I would not expect otherwise from Quattro drive, but lateral traction is the pits! I almost took out a few mailboxes while taking relatively gentle curves at fairly reasonable speeds. The rear ends tendency to break seems excessive. I was stunned. Heck--the whole heavy box wants to break and slide,
Please tell me that this problem is do the usage of Potenza RE950 all weather high performance tires. My old 89 Saab 900S had only average all weather Michelins and didn't have nearly the tendency to break free and slide in turns. That FWD Saab handled snow like a manic. I'm assuming someones going to suggest real snow tires will fix this problem. The RE950s don't get stellar snow performance ratings at tirerack.com. They are fab in all other conditions.
And oh yes---those stinking ABS brakes. This is my first experience with them and they psychedelic. I can't tell if the system is actually improving braking performance or not--in a juicy slushy situation, you're virtually out of the loop, only providing primary break pressure like a drone, waiting to see what magical horrors are up ABS's sleeve. What a bizarre sensation as that thing takes over and induces a sense of no control whatsoever. That gritty unpredictable pumping sensation. Can ABS be disabled? Bleech. Dave