Choosing a winter beater

I live in Rochester NY, snow capital of America. So my winter beater finally died on me last spring and while shopping for a new one I ran across a deal I couldn't pass up. Now I have two Porsches, a 98 Boxster in sweet condition and 2000 C2 Cab in pretty good shape now. So do I dump the Boxster for $6500 and buy an unknown POS or attempt to brave the winter in one of my two girls? Anyone have experience driving these cars in extreme winter conditions?

Yes, I had a 2003 Boxster S that I drove in the winter a couple of years ago; it was a very cold one. I started getting that "ticking" sound from the engine, that sounded like lifters. Jake Raby said it could be scored cylinders too, which sounds the same. He said these cars do not like the very cold, and that he had several in his shop with this serious engine problem. I had the car scoped and compression tested, and there was evidence of scoring on one of the cylinders. For Porsches, I was very disappointed. These cars are supposed to be very robust. the M96 engine is a wild card.

PS, I lived 7 years in Buffalo, which is the real snow capital of the world (Southtowns actually, in the heart of the snow belt).

E46 3 series, get the XI for all wheel drive. Stupid easy to work on, drive really nice, reliable once common issues are addressed, and truly bulletproof motors (mine has 182k).

With that snow, I'd recommend a 4 wheel drive truck. Maybe a late model certified one with a reputation for reliability. Save the ladies for pretty winter days, assuming you get any. Great looking cars...T

I drove my 996 C4S in winter conditions for many years. This included time in the Midwest and in the Colorado mountains. It performed very well with proper winter tires, and it didn't have any significant issues with the engine by the time I sold it with ~140K on the odometer. My current writer car is a GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab 4x4.

This is kind of generic advice, but fits the M96 engine even more than other types. Int combustion engines don't like extremes in temp. Anything that can be done to minimize the extremes is worth the time and effort. I would say that cold soaking all day in an outdoor parking lot at below zero, followed by a start up, and drive off is going to be hard on the equipment. I've lived in some pretty extreme climates, and taking the effort to normalize the engine/trans temps before starting up will pay dividends. Garaging on both ends of the trip is the first thing. Even if it is only 25F higher in low conditions, it'll make a significant difference. Also, slow warm ups will pay real dividends as well in extreme cold conditions. About the worst one can do is leave a car outside below zero, get in start up, drive 15 miles, get out and let the car cold soak for 8-9 hours outside, then do the same thing again. I think this is even more true of tight engines like the M96. Pilots in Alaska keep their engine oil in a bucket, and keep it inside to stay warm, then they pre-heat the engine before putting the oil in and starting up. Sounds weird, but those engines will last a long time with some thermal conditioning.

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Hey, this sounds exactly what we do here in Quebec winter one year after the other. No snow for Porsche please!!!

nothing touches a subaru WRX/STI as a winter beater.

Audi A4 or wait S4

had a a4, I would still take my 06 wrx over it for winter duties any day.

Why? Test drove an WRX and got an Audi...

different strokes for different folks. I prefer no nannies, A4 would cut power and traction when trying to get out of anything aggresive. Subaru just ate it and spit it out via a rooster tail. miss that beast. as cheap as they are, nothing touches it for winter duties, IMO same experience with BMW x drive or whatever it is called. I have never driven anything in the winter that provides traction like a subaru does.

sold my STI, got an A4, sold that got an S4, sold that got a Golf R.... traction control in VAG cars is a piece of cake to dissable... and I couldn't stand Subaru interiors or how cheap they sound when you shut a door/hood or trunk... not that the 996 is much better interior wise OP- Get a European all wheel drive sedan and enjoy it

Lived in a place called Mammoth Lakes for 10 years . Before the drought snowfall averaged 25 feet per year (elevation 8000 ft ). Get yourself an older Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 6 cylinder 4.0 motor. Motor is bullet proof , had 188k on the last one and gave it to a family member who still drives it. The 4 wheel drive works well in hard pack and the soft stuff depending on tires .

Thats two votes for the Subaru Forester. Great fun in the snow and of course AWD. Stick some winter tyres on it and its soooo much fun, we have an XT which has LSD and its great fun, reliable and of course it too has a boxer engine.

Whatever you choose ,install a block heater -that is what they do in the really cold places.It is safer too because the car is warm,ice-free windows and comfortable.

We don't see Snow very often but when we do, you can't beat an H2! You can get the 06's & down at a very good price (if you're not worried about mpg). If you want More Power & don't care about paying more then go 08' & newer (waaaaaay more Power & the interior is sooooo much better).

I have a house at 8800' in CO, and cross the divide fairly often. My two snow cars are a Ford Aerostar AWD and a bright red Dodge Ram 1500 crew cab 4x4. I know, it sounds funny to still have an Aerostar van but it's long WB, and very stable. I've seen a lot of Subies up in the mtns, and they are never sunk in a snow drift. I know they're great in the snow, but I just don't like them. The Ford is super easy to work on, and I can get the chains on the front tires in about 15 min now. If it's really bad, I get out Big Red, and have never been close to stuck in that thing.

I bought an Audi 4000 Quattro a couple of years ago. It's unstoppable in the snow and has so much character it's a hoot to drive. So much so that I'm tempted to turbo swap it. They're all getting on a bit now though, and it took me a long time to find a good one. So I'd probably second the Cherokee suggestion. Or a Toyota 4Runner.

Pics and more details on Big Red? T

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audi makes the nicest interiors for sure but even with TC off, the computer still kicked in when you were trying to have some fun. my AWD IS is the same. I love the interior in my porsche c4s. dunno what you're talking about. miles ahead of my old subaru and it was 4 years older.

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I guess the point is that its about priorities. Some people want to get where they are going in winter. You seem to want to have fun in the snow. Two different goals, two different weapons.

Can't beat the Audi's interior, it grows on you so much, I'm in need for a third car and can't see myself getting anything else then another Audi. With ESP off , we're talking about Traction and Stability control - you can do pretty much anything a Subi does - spinning all four and throwing it around as much as you like. I have to admit though, they are nose heavy, and have tendency to plow, you need to do some weigh transfering if you really want send it

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I didn't want to get stuck. we get tons of snow here. DSCF3539.jpg having fun while owning snow all day long is just a bonus of driving a suby in the winter. yes, I'm a fanboi

I have purchased a couple of Subies in the past. They are very good in the snow, especially with proper winter tires. That being said, the best car that I've ever owned for winter conditions is an Audi Allroad Quattro with Nokian snow tires. That thing was fantastic.

Seems like we really getting into Subi vs Audi here One thing I may add - Audi's age way better than anything else, especially when exposed to that same Snow and Salt we're talking about. Hey, I see a ton for sale here with 350-400k km on it and they still look straight.

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Drove my 2002 Boxster in KC MO area winter conditions for a year or two. Didn't even have snow tires installed. I *would not* recommend anyone do this, I was just too cheap to put on a set of snow tires. With real snow tires the car would have been just fine the only thing keeping it from being perfect for the usage was its lack of ground clearance. All I had to do was the few times heavy snow fell was to wait for the roads to be plowed. Even with no snow I drove the car approx. 10 miles to work, maybe 5 miles to lunch and back, then 10 miles home every day. I also drove it more miles sometimes in the evening after and work on an weekends and the engine was fine. The only downside was an on the whim oil analysis found a lot of water (approx. 7%) after just 4K miles of winter driving. I immediately trashed the factory oil/filter schedule of 15K mile oil changes, 30K mile filter changes, and changed the oil/filter at 4K miles and then got on a 5K mile oil/filter service schedule which I have followed pretty religiously ever since. The engine was unaffected by the cold starts and now has over 302K miles on it. If you use the Boxster you must buy proper snow tires for it. You must use 0w-40 oil and my advice is start out with fresh oil in the fall and after the worst of the bad winter weather is over with change the oil/filter. If you drive enough miles in the better weather months then change the oil/filter again on a 5K mile schedule. My technique was to start the engine and let it idle until the secondary air injection pump shut off. Of course, in some cases I let the engine idle longer to get the heater working to clear the windshield of snow/ice build up. Then I drove the car rather easy keeping RPMs down below 3K until the temp gage needle has been at around the 180 hash mark for some time to ensure the engine was fully warmed up. Actually it was still pretty cool and I found out later by observation just how cold blooded these engines can be in cold weather. I bought a nice long towing strap and some appropriate sized lifting u-bolts to use with the tow eye -- in the tool box -- in case I needed the car pulled out of a snow bank/ditch. Never even unwrapped the tow strap from its plastic bag. For window washer fluid the gas stations, truck station stations, would set out pallets of window washer fluid. After a cold spell I'd pick up a couple of gallon jugs with *no* ice in them and use this fluid. I bought some canvas bags of sand -- 50lbs each IIRC -- and tossed two in the front trunk. The rear of the car is plenty heavy while the front is a bit light and the extra weight over the front tires gave the front end a bit more bite. (Proper snow tires would have helped, of course.) The side windows can freeze so when you open the door the window may not drop. This ain't bad but the window makes a heck of a noise when the door is closed because the top of the window hits the top rail. What I found is with the door open I could gently wiggle the top of the glass and push down on the glass when pushing the lower button. The glass then would go down and I could close the door. Afterwards the window would drop when the door handle was pulled. I experimented with trying to cover the car with some heavy plastic sheeting to at least protect the top/windows from snow/ice fall but dealing with the heavy plastic sheeting was a bother and I just gave up. It helped my decision that the heater was very good and it didn't take too much driving before the inside was warm. I'd aim the center vents up and this would warm the top and melt any accumulation of snow/ice on the top and the back window. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the Boxster was a fine winter car. It was no Subie but had I proper winter tires on the car I would not have feared taking it anywhere as long as clearance wasn't an issue. Remember it is not the going that is a problem, it is the turning and stopping that is the problem in snow/ice conditions. In this regard all cars have the same number of steerable wheels/tires and the same number of wheels/tires that are braked.

I drove my 996 all winter last year after changing the wheels and tires out to a snow set. Car handled better than most trucks and 4x4's in the snow. I had thought about getting a beater to drive, but then decided I would only get frustrated driving a beater and most likely having to fix things on it all the time.

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This was before newer all terrain tires. The rear seat is so big you can play soccer back there with the seat backs folded. I also put on some front tow hooks, and a longer skid plate under engine trans. Comes with LSD rear end, 8 bolt hubs, and shift on fly 4WD. I've pulled a couple neighbors out with it. Also tows a 28ft 9000Lb boat and trailer.

I hear what you're saying Astro about the junky beater. I had a 99 Ford Ranger for my previous beater. I spent more money repairing the Ford than my Boxster. So many things rusted off it was scary to drive. Finally just drove the thing to the junk yard. My Boxster in the winter

Very nice! You have a lift kit on that? T