Sell my Land Cruiser to daily my C4 in winter?

Hope you�re all having a great weekend! Currently, in the middle of a bit of decision making with my vehicles. I own a 2007 Land Cruiser, 2001 996 turbo, and 2000 996 C4 cab with hard top. The C4 has 17 inch wheels with Michelin Pilot All Seasons. I�m used to some surprise bills being in the Porsche world, though they are definitely very solid vehicles and pretty reliable. While there�s some nickel and dime repairs, that can be expected with anything 20 years old. However, that typically excludes rust related repairs from my experience. While my Land Cruiser has served me well and has been pretty reliable, the last 6 months has been a bit rough with corrosion/rust related repairs on things such as brake lines, ac lines, the hydraulic suspension struts, etc. Sure, I guess maybe it could be �beater� status soon, though I don�t really like having to put significant money into a car with some corrosion issues, nor keep going down that rabbit hole with doing underbody treatments, all that stuff. I am almost at 200k, so other things might soon need a refresh as well. Considering selling the Toyota and just having the 911s for now�..maybe I would trade the C4 for a Macan or Cayenne later on once we have a child. From searching on this forum, I know some people definitely daily drive their cars here in the Chicago winters. Any opinions or advice would be appreciated, thanks

You certainly can drive the 996 in the winter. Really, the only rust on my car are exhaust components from the salt. Otherwise, 7 years of winters hasn�t been bad at all on anything else.

Just find yourself a good touchless car wash that you can visit on warmer winter days to get the salt and muck off of the car and you will be in good shape. I would also give the car a good lookover to make sure you don't have any exposed body metal from dings, scrapes and chips. If you do, make sure its covered with some touch up paint. If you have a local indy, you can always set up a time to get it on the lift and give it an annual lookover to see whats deteriorating on the car and in need of replacement. Better to get it early than late. The 996 is pretty durable.

I�m going into my 4th harsh Canadian winter with my RWD C4S and it�s fantastic. Gotta love the traction provided by the RR platform.

The only issue would be ground clearance at the front bumper if the snow starts piling up, or if there's big piles of ice.

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At stock ride height I didn`t have any issues and we get quite a lot of snow in Montreal.

Yea, its less about how much snow falls and more about how well managed it is, I would expect in Chicago they're plowing enough that it isn't building up huge frozen drifts.

Snow tires make a difference. I just got a set of MAS4s on my second set of wheels to try out this winter. with snow tires, I found that my 996.2 C2 was good in 3 inches of snow. At 4 it started to plow a little. If you run a front spoiler, you may be more limited due to snow build up. But in all reality, the only time you are going out in fresh 3-4 inches if snow is if you want to have some fun doing donuts in a parking lot, which is a hoot. Chicagoland is pretty quick to plough the snow so you just gotta get thru patches of snow and slush.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful information. Pretty sure the 17 inch wheels are to my advantage as well Not sure if anyone here also owns a Land Cruiser or LX, though it�s shocking how bad these vehicles do when exposed to salt. For such an expensive vehicle, it�s very surprising.

It depends...... which vehicle you want to be sitting in when that uninsured 18 year old with bald tires hits black ice and you're in his cross hairs.

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LandCruiser for the win!

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This is what I think of nowadays. I can handle myself even with heat-cycled 200tw 295's in 2" of Baltimore snow, but I don't trust anyone else around me to. A cheap, unremarkable large-ish car (eg. a minivan) is my vote for winter activities. Keep it till the frame rusts, then throw it and onto the next.

I have a 4Runner and I definitely kept it and didn't sell it even though I also have a Turbo and a Carrera. This is not the car I want to have to RELY on for winter driving, even if it can do it. But, my situation is different. Edmonton, Alberta with -40 days often enough... -Matt

I guess another option would be possibly putting the cruiser on just liability insurance and �beater status� haha. Or look for a cheaper cayenne v6 or diesel with CPO.

Our first 996.1 C4 was my wife�s daily driver for years. With snow tires it was as good or better in snow than our Grand Cherokee, except for ground clearance. Assuming you would enjoy driving the 996 more, it seems like a no-brainer to use it year round. No need to retire the 996 with kids either, with a good car seat it works fine until they are much larger. For any car that�s used in salt, use Salt-Away (available on Amazon) in a foam gun under the car to remove salt and leave a protective coating (takes only a few minutes extra during a car wash and makes a big difference).