driving your summer only pcar in the winter

So - how many of you do this: you keep your 911 garaged for the winter to avoid getting it alll gunked up, and then spend all day saturday reading rennlist to get your porsche fix. By about mid day sunday you can't take it anymore, head out to the garage & take your 911 for a spin and wind up getting it all dirty anyway. I pretty much do this every weekend.

Yes. Good for you. I started driving mine last winter, and now I'm driving it more this year, and don't mind getting it salty and dirty as much. Each time I start my 911, I'm glad I made the decision not to put my Porsche in hibernation for the cold months.

I just drive the car. Contrary to popular belief, it's not like a Ming vase that's going to fall apart if driven in moisture. I used to think that I should "save" the car or something, and then one day I realized that sticking it in the garage for a third of the year while treating it like some kind of rare machine was silly and only added stress to the ownership of the car. Owning a Porsche is supposed to be a hugely enjoyable experience and staring at it in the garage with an overwhelming desire to drive it while forcing yourself not to doesn't seem very enjoyable or rewarding. It's like forcing yourself to quit smoking every year, except that in this case there's not really a downside to giving in to your urge.

front bumper (taken 10 minutes ago) I seem to recall washing this last weekend.........but I have more Ziano car wash

Oh believe me, if I could get it out of my neighborhood, I'd be driving it! Calgary has this weird snow removal policy called "wait for a chinook" which is a blast of warm air that gets rid of a lot of our snow but leads to the formation of ruts in the residential streets that dont' go away until spring.....high centering and chopping out the p-car with an axe is no fun (don't ask me how I know)

tgt40: I lived in Calgary when i was a kid - I learned to ski at paskapoo before they turned it into a ski-jump. My father still lives there. Great town! BTW - please tell your country that they need to start releasing trailer park boys movies in U.S. theaters.

I was just thinking about taking the 996 out..... it's been sleeping since December

DO IT!!! I'm about 30 minutes away from doing it myself.

I have been driving Porsches since 1973 and have had 6 of them. Everyone has been a DD and I have always driven them year round, rain, snow, sleet or sun. My current car is a 2000 C4 Cab. The best one I have owned, and I specifically bought it for the advantages in year round driving (4 WD in the winter and Cab in the summer). I have never really understood owners who don't drive their cars.

I'd take mine out today if I could - after about 90 minutes shoveling my place and our older neighbors, I dug out the Xterra and made the 4 LOW earn its keep. I was barely able to get down my street, saw one other 4x4 in the neighborhood and nothing else is moving. About 20-21 inches by calibrated eye and still falling! Enjoy and be safe out there gang.

My Porsche is my daily driver and sees every type of weather, except snow. Summer tires and snow just don't mix! Thankfully, those days are few and far between in this area; I don't think I could stomach daily driving anything else after getting constantly spoiled. Plenty of top-down days here, though, even in the middle of winter!

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Could not have expressed it better myself We're not driving Lambo Gallardos.

Good for you, enjoy the car, life is too short to worry about getting the car dirty.

My lack of winter driving is mostly due to my wanting to keep salt off the cabrio top, my summer tires and the fact that i work in the loop and have to drive that moonscape also known as lower wacker on a regular basis. Next year I'll have the winter rims/tires/hardtop & it'll be a year-round car. Having said that, I'm heading out for a spin right now!

Mine is a daily driver. Haven't had this much fun with winter driving in a long time. Actually look forward to snow on the ground now..... pic from last december

I PREFER driving the 996 in snow to the Cayenne. Its just soooo much more predictable.

I should add that I do have a set of summer wheels and tires and a set of winter wheels and tires. A must for year round driving.

Hey, My car is for nice weather only. That doesn't mean summer, but I just don't like driving it when the roads are full of salt and sand. Sandblasting the front end doesn't help the paint. I manage to drive it least once a month during the winter, enough to keep the battery up and the fluids circulated. Barry

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Maybe so Barry, but salt, sand & gravel sure give the front end a nice "patina"

I picked up my 996 on tuesday and drove it home and havent been able to stop thinking about what fun it was...Im testing my patience by the desire to change the oil and filter before I take it for another spin...its killing me. This car isnt going to be my daily driver but will drive it....hopefully splitting the cummutes with the 996 and the saab. I also really really wanna wash this thing, Stupid Winter.

Thats it.... today I am finally taking the 996 out.... I need it for my mental health and the 996 needs the exercise! However it will be a mellow ride on the summer rubber, it's cccold out!

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Good for you! Enjoy your Porsche...drive it.

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He's jerking our chain........ well, maybe not? DO IT DO IT

Henry (my dog) and I went for a nice drive in the 996, gave it a good workout. I guess I was not the only one with the idea, saw a MK1 996, 986, A really sweet brand new 911 Turbo in GT Silver and a Ferrari 599... Handling was really squirrelly with the cold but it was fun. Just wiped the car down, put it away and put the cover on. Busy next couple of weeks and than a trip to SoCal so I guess March is when I get to play next, Hopefully the weather will be good and I cant start using it all the time again.

worthy of your own thread

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I can call the thread, " Hey all I actually drove my Porsche, It's not a piece of furniture after all! "

I hope all the other guys understand cold tires are slippery. Even during warmer weather tires not up to operating temp wont get max grip. Just jabbering here. Super bowl time!

My 996 was supposed to be a summer toy. Bought it and ordered a cover right away for when it gets cold. I never unpacked the cover. I drive it all the time.. its just too much fun to leave behind.

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Virginia year round driving with the top down? And I thought it was cold today when it barely got to 60 degrees!

I feel for ya man. It hit 59 F a couple of days ago. Instant thoughts of moving someplace warmer Oh yah. Word is mid east late Tuesday is due for another snow dumping on them.

I don't even like driving my 911 in the rain or to run errands in the city. It draws too much attention and is prone to curb damage. I love the peace of mind a lifted truck's clearance and utility gives me.

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Man, if it hits 60F, the top's going down! With heated seats and a long sleeve shirt, I'm comfortable with the top down as cool as about 50F. I modified the cab top relay to let me raise/lower the top while driving slowly (eg, stoplight, stop/go traffic or in a parking lot), so it's pretty easy to put the top back up if I do happen to get a bit chilly.

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Cars aren't prone to curb damage--drivers are.

too much debris on the roads from the plows and it hasn't been above 40 since november.. the summer tires wouldn't be too happy.

I took my car out today for its first play-date in the snow. This first photo was yesterday as I was leaving the office and the snow just began falling. The next is when I ran to the grocery store - as you can see the snow starts melting here quite quickly. And the final photo is the inevitable...You park your car far away from any other car and when you return you have company. Of course there were about ten parking spaces to the left of the cars shown here and they would have been closer to the store as well. But it's expected now. Generally I try to keep my car clean but its been impossible so this is the end result!

...and here I am again, reading rennlist on a saturday, itching to take the cab out. I think I left my monitor on at work - I'd better hop in the cab and run down to the office to turn it off. Wouldn't want to waste ALL that electricity, you know.

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So did you go and save some electricity after all?

I went to the storage garage today and warmed the car up - does that count? LOL. I have taken it out when the roads have been dry and salt free about 3 times since December.

Took mine to work today....she will get a bath tomorrow...120miles roundtrip....what a blast. Salt film still on roads but decided in my head that I bought the car to drive it and not look at.

For me winter driving requires a vehicle capable of dealing with the significantly deteriorated skills of other drivers due to poor weather, road surface and light conditions. If the only risks were the weather impact on the car, I would drive it every day. One can always purchase snow tires and wash the car, there is no cure for "stupid", however.

I did take it into the office on Saturday. Nice day, mostly dry roads. BTW - I agree - half the problem with winter driving is the other jackasses out there. Some SUV owners don't seem to understand that 4wd doesn't translate to better stopping on ice.

as long as the roads are dry and salt free Ill take it out. I don't really "store away" the car for the winter.

As soon as snow falls I'm not taking my car out.

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It's .... it's not??