Does Off Road Mode provide more grip in snow

[taycanstuff]

Having done my complimentary track day at Silverstone in the snow, all you need to do is take it steady and the car wizardry does the rest. As others have said, although you did mention you're a cautions driver already, just don't thrash it and you should be fine

How did you find the silverstone track day, I'm booked to go and looking forward to it.
The blurb says "Our tracks can illustrate every-day driving in wet or dry conditions or simulated ice and snow."
Do you get to put the Macan through it's paces on different surfaces?
Cheers.

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[SuperH]

How did you find the silverstone track day, I'm booked to go and looking forward to it.
The blurb says "Our tracks can illustrate every-day driving in wet or dry conditions or simulated ice and snow."
Do you get to put the Macan through it's paces on different surfaces?
Cheers.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I’m not really a girl racer, it I had a fantastic afternoon! It was icy in places anyway from the general weather, but we had several goes on the kicker, launch control, skidding, icy hill climbs with obstacles, racing around, emergency breaking and collision avoidance - all sorts. I got on really well with the instructor, and the food was better than expected too! You’ll have a fab time!

 

[colorpaulporsche]

Yep - so both motors are in play but the emphasis on power distribution / bias shifts to be predominantly RWD in Normal drive mode which is what. I said earlier.

No different to Macan ICE except the distribution / bias is greater as the Macan EV is much faster to react (electric rather than mechanical) should conditions require it.

This is very much my observation as well. I’ve been driving my Macon 4 in the snow quite a few times here in Colorado the last couple of weeks. In normal mode, the car keeps it in RWD,., but even the slightest slip causes both motors / axles to engage. I’ve not gotten into any trouble at all in the set up. It’s true that sport Will keep you in all-wheel-drive all the time, but it also lowers the suspension, which you could, in theory counteract.

Reaction time from RWD to AWD on the Macon 4 is so much quicker than my Macon 4S. The ICE car reacts much more slowly, as noted above it’s mechanical versus electronic.

 

[colorpaulporsche]

This is very much my observation as well. I’ve been driving my Macon 4 in the snow quite a few times here in Colorado the last couple of weeks. In normal mode, the car keeps it in RWD,., but even the slightest slip causes both motors / axles to engage. I’ve not gotten into any trouble at all in the set up. It’s true that sport Will keep you in all-wheel-drive all the time, but it also lowers the suspension, which you could, in theory counteract.

Reaction time from RWD to AWD on the Macon 4 is so much quicker than my Macon 4S. The ICE car reacts much more slowly, as noted above it’s mechanical versus electronic.

I have the same experience between Normal and Sport. I'm also in Colorado. In Normal mode the car will detect the spin and add power to the front wheels. I also have a Macan 4S and it did the same but took longer to make the adjustment. I don't really like the delay on the 4, even though it's small. I use Sport mode in snow. I programmed Sport to keep the normal height of the suspension.

I have 4WS and that has taken some getting used to in the snow/ice, as the car can feel like it's slipping in the back, but it's just the rear steering pushing the tires wider.

Also, in Normal model I noticed when applying brakes in slippery conditions the regen hits the rear drive first and can cause a little slip before the front regen engages. Again, Sport mode can aide this and distributes braking power more evenly front/back at the beginning of the braking action.

 

[PrudentOcean]

Given that the Macan EV uses permanent magnet motors on both axles, unless the motor is receiving current, it is acting as a generator using induction. So the all-wheel drive models (4/4S/GTS/Turbo) are ALWAYS delivering torque to the front wheels unless the brake pedal is depressed.

There is a difference in how aggressively the front axle is driven based on the drive mode you're in, but the car is always in all-wheel drive mode. In Normal mode the front axle is passively driven so the wheels are neither braking nor accelerating relative to the vehicle speed. In Sport and Sport+ mode the front wheels produce additional torque, which is probably what you're observing while driving in snowy conditions.

 

[MMR]

Car > Trip

The graphic is helpful to see if motor is on/off, power draw (blue lines to motor), or regen (green lines to battery).

I don’t seem to have this screen - maybe omitted from MY26?

 

[ColdCase]

My 4S has been very good in the snow. I have a steep winding driveway and have not had issues with it. But then I have a driving style that gets open diff 2WD cars into places other can't get their 4x4s to. The 4S has the OEM 20 inch Pirelli all season tires on it. I mostly use the truck on nasty days, however, as I wouldn't like someone to bang into the Macan.

Anyway, there was a particularly slippery day last week where applying too much throttle would cause the rear end to to quickly step out when PTV+ locked the rear axle. Lots of fun. When driving to avoid wheel spin it does very well. This was the type of icy/inches of snow conditions where you find many cars and trucks off road or struggling with traction up hills.

I wonder if the slightly different weight distribution between the 4 an 4S could explain some of the difference in the observed behavior. The rear motor is flipped on the 4S right?

 

[pm4s]

I don’t seem to have this screen - maybe omitted from MY26?

It's under Trip not Drive.

 

[MMR]

It's under Trip not Drive.

And where do I find Trip?
No tab on the Car screen, MY26 seems to have Charging where you have Trip

 

[W1NGE]

And where do I find Trip?
No tab on the Car screen, MY26 seems to have Charging where you have Trip

Was the same on the Taycan - screenshots are for the Macan EV:

 

[MMR]

Was the same on the Taycan - screenshots are for the Macan EV:

 

[MMR]

Trip appears to now have been replaced by Charging, and I believe Charging was originally on the main menu (pre-MY26) but now it is not

 

[SergeyIndy]

V

And where do I find Trip?
No tab on the Car screen, MY26 seems to have Charging where you have Trip

Let's figure it out as Trip menu has to be somewhere. Hard to believe in MY26 that would make this major of a change to the interface and the PCM simulator is not reflecting it. I am not really curious and will go to the dealer to check out the MY26 and the do have a MY25. I really like this feature on the Taycan (Trip Data and Animation) and certainly not happy if they removed it from the MY26 Macan that I have ordered. Animation is really cool, for Taycan at least, as it shows the usual power/regen flow but then it shows when a motor is disengaged and I also caught it with both motors disengaged for true coasting although not for long as it calculates what's better to coast or get some regen out of the roll - cool.

Anyone else with MY26 can help look for the Trip menu below:

 

[W1NGE]

Trip appears to now have been replaced by Charging, and I believe Charging was originally on the main menu (pre-MY26) but now it is not

Bizarre!

Looks like Trip Data is only visible on the right tube of the dash now on MY26 - nuts!

 

[MMR]

Bizarre!

Looks like Trip Data is only visible on the right tube of the dash now on MY26 - nuts!

Do you mean this!
A bit of a downgrade!

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