After a snowy winter spent in Berlin in 2006 (minus 20 Dec night time temp) I decided to buy some winter tyres for use back home in the western Pennines. Living at 1,200 ft is great in the summer but can be grim at this time of year. I'm happy to report our family are all now converts to winter tyres that paid huge dividends in the recent snow and frosty weather. They don't just improve the grip in snow - there's a detectable difference in ice and wet conditions too. Family and neighbours cars benefitting from winter tyres at present are:- diesel Focus, petrol Panda, diesel Modus and my neighbour's has just fitted them to her petrol Micra. Of them all, the Panda seems to have benefitted the most and copes with snow and ice equally as well as our family Freelander (which is on standard tyres). In our area, you either have to drive up or down hills to travel anywhere and it never ceases to amaze me at the number of people who ignore their tyres then start grumbling when they get stuck in icy conditions (4x4s included).