The lease on the A8L is coming to an end in a few months and am now thinking about its replacement. Of course the S8 and the S550 are the usual suspects, but the QP remains such an intriguing option for me that I HAVE to consider it seriously - especially finding out that it takes 4 1/2 to 5 months to order one. I live in the northeast which means inclement weather is just part of the equation in winter. We do have an SUV that my wife drives and other summer driven cars that do not get driven in the winter months, so another "good weather only" car is out of the question. I always buy a set of snow tires for my daily drivers so that's what I'd do too if I did go with a QP. Does anyone have any experience driving the QP in winter? More specifically, driving the car in snow when equipped with snow tires? The A8L has proven to be great in winter and I know I'll miss the surefootedness of the Quattro if I don't get the S8, but I've owned RWD cars before so that's not a big concern. Any input, experience and comment would be appreciated.
As a fellow Jerseyite (Secaucus) I consider Jersey part of the Northeast, but only just as far as the winter weather goes I still have to bother with getting snow tires. I am always a bit surprised that US drivers make such a big deal of Mercs, Beemers and now Masers and snow. These cars all come from countries that have significantly snowy mountain regions, and that if driven with due care, should be just fine. Personally I would feel bad exposing such a beautiful car to the salt, and would rather use a winter beater with FWD, a $2k Buick Park Ave in my case. I don't have a Maser (yet) but my Alfas do not see the snow and salt if I can help it. THere is one Swiss www.maseratiforum.net member who drives his coupe through the snow. There are some pictures of coupes and grandsports in the snow on that site. FWIW, YMMV and all the usual apply.
