sdunham

The decision to get out of my 04' CLK500 wasn't too hard even though I loved that car for the 2 years I had it. It just couldn't hack it on the Mountain Roads during the Colorado winters so it sat in the garage all winter. I had a hard time choosing between the utility of the E500 4-matic or the HP/Torque of the E55, until this past weekend anyway... -22 degrees and 8" of new snow on top of several feet previous and Winter is here to stay until May... I drove my staggered 19" tire equiped E500 4-matic all weekend on ice, snow, snowed-on-ice, iced over ice, and oh yeah, sub-zero-ice on the mountain passes with no issues at all... Even got the chance to witness an S4 bury itself in a snowbank on the twisties heading to Cripple Creek when he thought he'd be "cool" and pass me on a curve with Black Ice... He's "cool" alright, prolly FROZEN actually...
Got to love 4-matic...

ericjburd

wow, lookin at that car I can't imagine driving it in those conditions. I left boston a few years back because I just couldnt take the winters. What tires are you running?

Long Islander

I drove our 4matic wagon in slush and snow for the first time last weekend, and the traction is just amazing. I've never driven an AWD car in the snow before, so I don't have anything to compare 4matic to. Are other brands' AWD systems as good, or is the Mercedes 4matic superior to most AWD systems?

sdunham

235/275 Bridgestone Potenza 960 AS's... They work pretty well so far but not quite as good as a dedicated snow tire...

Duc-Duc-Guzzi

I also live in NE and had the wagon out for it's firts snow day
yes I have all season tires but I did not think it was up to the standard set by my A6 wagon (the A6 had Toyo snows)
on a side note the E320 is better tan my wife's Disco II with real off road mudder tires