Besides winning the coveted Audi Twin Cup trophy, we will now represent England in the International final next year, rumoured to be held in China! The team were delighted with their performance and result yesterday evening, and their elation continued this morning despite being snowed in at the venue. Im proud to have such skilled and knowledgable staff at my Finchley Road Audi centre.

Justin Howard

Head of Business
Finchley Road Audi

Winter Driving Tips

Winter is a difficult time for the driver. The frost in the early morning and late evening, snow showers and shorter daylight hours all combine to make the driving experience harder. Regardless of how prepared your car may be, it is equally as important to modify your driving style.

Here’s some advice on safe winter driving..

Stopping distances in winter

• When roads are slippery it will take longer to stop. Up to 10 times longer.
• So, drop your speed, and give yourself more time to slow down and stop.
• Drive with care even if roads have been treated.
  

If your vehicle starts to skid:

• Depress the clutch. Do not brake!
• Turn the steering wheel into the direction of the skid.
• When the vehicle straightens, steer along the road.
  

Driving in fog

• Use dipped headlights so other drivers can see you.
• If it’s really foggy (less than 100m visibility) and you can’t see much, then switch your fog lights on. Switch them off once conditions have improved so they don’t dazzle drivers behind you.
• Fog is often patchy so try not to speed up as visibility improves. You could suddenly find yourself back in thick fog further up the road.
  

Driving through ice and snow

• Check for snow on the roof of the vehicle before you drive off. It can slip down over the windscreen and obscure your view.
• If your tyres are making virtually no noise this could be a sign you’re driving on ice.
• If your vehicle skids depress the clutch and turn the steering wheel into the direction of the skid. When the vehicle straightens steer along the road. Don’t brake – it will just lock up your wheels and you’ll skid further.

Finchley Road Audi Team

As Head of Business at Finchley Road, I’m delighted to announce that my Aftersales team won the area final in the Audi Twin Cup last night for the 2nd year running!

In this competition, their technical knowledge and competence is tested to the max, but again their superior experience and training came to the fore.

We now represent one of six teams in the whole of the UK, fighting for the one place to China for the International final… my fingers are crossed!

Justin Howard
Head of Business

Driving in Wind and Rain

Here at Audi, we are in the lucky position to have access to some powerful cars but as the winter draws closer it’s no good driving a powerful car if you can’t use the power on a slippery road.

So, as the weather worsens and the roads become more slippery, here are a few tips to help you cope with changing road conditions.

Driving Tips: Wind and Rain

Driving in the rain

• When the road’s wet, it can take up to twice as long to stop so it makes sense to slow down when it’s raining.
• If your vehicle loses its grip, or “aquaplanes”, on surface water take your foot off the accelerator to slow down.
• Don’t brake or steer suddenly because you have no control of the steering or brakes.

Driving in windy weather

• In very windy weather we advise you to take extra care on the roads and plan your journeys by checking the latest weather conditions.
• High-sided vehicles are particularly affected by windy weather but strong gusts can blow a vehicle, cyclist, motorcyclist, or horse rider off course. This can happen on open stretches of road exposed to strong crosswinds, or when passing bridges and high-sided vehicles.

Floods

• If you can avoid it, it’s best not to drive through lying surface water as you might flood your engine. The deepest water is usually nearest the kerb.
• If you do have to drive through flooded roads, use first gear. Move forward immediately to avoid stalling the engine. Keep your revs high and depress your clutch when you need to.
• Test your brakes after passing through the water. If they work then you can drive on at your usual speed providing it’s safe to do so.

Winter Driving Tips

Hi, from the Aftersales team at Whetstone Audi.

Some top tips to keep you and your car safe this winter. Five practical steps to take. See below.

1. Ensure washer fluid is topped up with fluid able to withstand freezing temperatures. With autumn roads throwing up rain dirt you want to see clearly at all times. We have all experienced that lorry or bus that covers our windscreen with spray from wheels.
2. Wipe your headlights and tails lights with a wet wipe. You’ll be surprised how much better your lights are when they are kept clean. See and be seen!
3. Check you are running correct tyre pressures. Wrong tyre pressures cause premature tyre wear and more importantly, create unstable handling and increased braking distances.
4. Do you have enough tyre tread to stop in time. Tyres that have 3 mm of tread stop 25% quicker than tyres at legal minimum of 1.6mm. How quickly do you want to stop?
5. Does your car have the correct amount of anti freeze for a British winter? Most engine failures we see in the winter are because of low oil level or frozen engines.

Any questions? Please add your comments or questions below.

Alternatively, you can email the Service Team directly. We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Safety checks in our workshop

We held our first ever all Ladies evening at Whetstone Audi on 17th September which proved to be a roaring success. With the help and support of local business’s from the area we staged an evening exclusively for Audi Lady drivers. We invited Whetstone Audi customers to bring a friend to the evening event to see their own vehicles being safety checked in our workshops with the Audi trained technician team led by Paul lacy, our new aftersales manager. In the main showroom ladies learned about areas to keep an eye on during the time in between servicing with some of our Master technicians.

The Whetstone showroom new car area was turned into a posh car boot sale area where the boots displayed various goods from the beauticians from Pearsons store, Televisions from B&O and the customers enjoyed food and soft drinks supplied by the new N20 bistro restaurant with photos of the evening taken by Cameo photography of Whetstone. The evening also featured a prize draw of good from all of our co-hosts from gift sets, personal photography sittings to a signed Arsenal shirt from Emmanuel Eboue – We raised over £190 for Cancer research this evening and we will plan to do another event soon.

Whetstone Showroom