When snow starts to fall and the roads ice over most of us think of getting snow tyres, buying snow chains or finding another way to get to work. If you live in Sweden the cold weather’s a constant problem, so rather than choosing from the everyday cars like an Audi Quattro or Land Rover, you could find yourself driving a Volkswagen Snowareg.
The Snowareg is a basically a VW Touareg with snowtracks, but it’s not a conversion job carried out by an aftermarket company. VW Sweden produce the car using a rubber track provided by Mattracks of Minnesota that sits on modified suspension.
This VW has a 4.2 litre V8 TDI engine under the bonnet that’s good for a 0-62mph time of 5.8 seconds, although that depends on the surface you’re travelling on. The Snowareg’s tank-like tracks can be taken on grass, ice or tarmac. But with a top speed of just 40mph, we can’t see it doing as good a job on the road as the Touareg.