Ice driving - Volkswagen experience

I took a new VW Golf 4-motion out for a spin today - quite literally.

Accompanied by a Finnish rally driver, we took the car for a drive over the Ylläs hill on its studded tyres, over the 'scenic' snow road and down to the lake at Ylläs Järvi where they had a test track laid out on the ice.

First of all the Fin took us round with the traction control off, to show what I had to do, then I had a few circuits of trying to do the same. First off was a 2nd gear chicane using the steering and accelerator to keep the car from sailing off sideways, then a brief acceleration at a line of cones, braking and steering round the cones to get between another pair of cones beyond. Lastly spinning round and taking off back down the course in a straight line for an emergency stop at the end to see how the car steered on the ice with the anti-lock brakes doing their stuff. A couple of circuits with the traction control and then one without to see how much the car was helping. All great fun and no cones squashed at my expense.

Sorry this shot is not particularly inspiring (not quite the full 'Top Gear'), but it shows a couple of interesting features. Firstly the speed of 88km/h on sheet ice and secondly, the gps showing our position in the middle of the lake.

And the verdict. Yup - we like the VW Golf 4-motion a lot as a nifty little run-around. Only snag is you can't buy one in the UK!

Our hire car, coincidentally is a 2WD Golf estate which feels rather uncertain on its feet by comparison even with studded tyres. The roads are all iced with a little grit in town and temps have been around zero. So grip is not at a premium.