E320 and Snow

Should I purchase an 4Matic or not?  I live in St. Louis and we have some snow.  Will good snow tires do the trick, without going to the 4Matic?  What snow tires do you recommend?

 

Regards,

 

Bob

Hi Bob,

I have a '97 E320 without 4-matic and I live in St Louis too.  I do not use snow tires at all, I have a set of normal Michellins.  I think the advantage of the 4-matic would play out better in a more mountainous region than we have here. 

The E320 has a lot of other "weather" features, traction control, ESP, ABS that help when you don't have to plow through a foot of snow.

Last week when we had the big freezing rain storm, a car in front of me lost control and spun around into a bridge on hwy 44.  I was able to avoid him as he spun into my lane (on a sheet of ice) because of the ABS and the traction control.  If I had the 4-matic, it wouldn't have mattered.... 

Come to think of it, everybody around me seemed to have more difficulty getting around than I did...the weight of the car helps a lot when its slippery too.  The 320/430 is a great car to have.  4-matic might give you a  little re-assurance when it gets nasty out there, but 4-matic or no 4-matic, you're getting a great car on the ice and snow.

My experience is with an 87 300E with ABS only. No fancy schmancy traction aids. I put on Bridgestone Blizzaks and it was better in the snow and ice than my current X5 AWD. Without Blizzaks I could hardly move. These tires transformed this car. I drove from central Ohio to Cleveland and then to Richmond, VA in a full snowstorm the entire way and never had a problem with traction. With your modern systems, the difference will likely be less dramatic. I am planning on Blizzaks for my up coming E320CDI later this year.

hell yea buy 4matic i got a 2003 e-320 and it is absolutly horrible in the snow!!! all it does it spin the tires

Just got a 99 e320 4matic and got to try it out in snow a couple weeks ago (hopefully the last winter storm of the year in the NY area). I don't know how to really qualify the performance w/ numbers or stats, so I'll just say was quite good, not as good as my Jeep Cherokee, but no problems whatsoever going up/down steep hills and stopping in about 4 - 6 inches of snow (packed & unpacked). It slips somewhat when you apply the brakes, but I just went with it and let it have the few extra feet it needs in bad weather and everything was fine.