We had 20-30 inches of snow in the last 24, depending on where you were. I have the all-season 17's and this was my first time out in the snow with the GTI. It handles fairly well with those tires on, but obviously won't win any hill climing races. Stopped pretty well in the snow and ice and handled pretty well once up to speed. We were very lucky this year to be having this conversation about the first real snow storm in mid-February, but I won't gamble next year. I'll pick up a set of snows on cheap alloys either off Tire Rack or ebay.
The ESP actually got me up my snowy/iced-up driveway, but at a near crawl. Impressive though, how it just kept inching its way along. It actually gets a bit annoying once you are up to speed or close to up to speed. I've started turning it off when I'm not climbing a hill..
Another observation, as the garage was so cold last night that the ice and snow didn't melt off the wheels, I got a real bad shake from the wheels when I got up to 30 mph this morning. Had to pull over and chip the snow and ice off the wheels. Once I did, it was as good as new.