[instarx]

I have played with the winter mode on my volvo and its a really strange sensation to use it. From a standing stop the engine roars and roars (but stays under 2000 rpm) and after about 3 seconds the car has moved about a foot! After that it begins to accelerates more quickly. This is probably great in slippery conditions because the Volvo throttles are kind of sensitive otherwise.

The winter mode is therefore too slow to use in traffic when there are people behind you. What I found was that if I moved off in normal mode and after a few feet I pushed the W button the car immediately went into third gear. This could result in fuel savings but I did not test it.