So. I want an A3 quattro with stick shift. My options however are 2.0T with stick and front wheel drive, or 3.2 with quattro and paddle shift. I want quattro because it will be a mountain mobile and I want stick because I love stick. Any enlightenment? Will paddle shift give me enough control of the car? (i like full control), or will front wheel give me enough control in the snow where I can deal with not having the quattro and the extra HP? Ive been wanting to get out and test drive so I can figure this out for myself, but there is a foot of snow here in portland and dealers are closed.

 

I have my 2.0T FWD here in Montana and It does great with snow tires on. I did live in the Salem/Portland area for 5 years and the amount of snow that actually falls in Portland isn't much so a good set of all seasons and then getting a good quick on off chain ( http://www.spikes-spiders.com/ ) would work perfect with the FWD if your heading up the mountain to go skiing. Also if you are looking new as in 09 the do have a 2.0T quattro option but not sure if you can get it in manual. I think & don't quote me the quattro only comes with the DSG tranny.

 

Either will work. However you can only paddle shift one gear at a time so you can't go from 2nd to 4th or back without going thru 3rd.

 

My FWD is fine in the snow around Boston, though I haven't made it to NH just yet. (soon).

I had originally sought out a manual transmission too. My DSG gives me plenty of control and it shifts so fast that shifting two gears at a time is no problem.

JEdward02

 

Actually, I'm pretty sure you can do that. However, it is slower, because you will be engaging the same clutch that is already engaging the gear you are in. Also, in D mode on my 08 TT (and i'm 99% sure the same on the a3) when you hit the kickdown it drops two gears, and there is certainly no feeling that it is actually selecting the gears sequentially before getting to the 2nd gear down. (e.g 6-4, never engages 5)

If any automatic transmission will satisfy a stick lover, DSG is it. I love mine and I had driven stick for 16 years before I switched and don't regret it one bit!

 

Me too!!

 

I drove 3 hours through a snowstorm on 95, 91, 84 and the mass pike yesterday and at times I was the only one in the far left lane cruising at about 55 when traffic in the right two lanes was tight and moving at about 45. Quattro and snow tires are a truly amazing combo. I have no doubt fwd even on all season tires works well in most situations, but having driven through some serious snow now with the quattro and winter wheel combo I doubt I'll ever drive anything but in the future. I wonder what studded tires on a quattro would be like...