I know some people use the (relatively) cheap boxster as winter "beater." With the prices of 964 C4s now, I am considering doing the same thing but with a C4 or maybe a 3.2. You know, to have a fun winter car. My '87 is too nice to drive and subject to our long and nasty winters with the gravel (they call it sand
) and poor driver covered roads.
I have also considered a 3.2 Carrera for this duty. The only thing is that the all wheel drive of the C4 in deep snow in a low car could prove to be invaluable. However, I have found that even in my Jeep with real winter tires in deep snow at anything higher than parking lot speeds, its four wheel drive was more of a hassle with an amazing amount of under steer. Two-by was far easier to steer around city blocks with a quick accelerator stab. I suspect that the all wheel drive of the C4 would handle this better than a locked center differential SUV, though.
Proper winter tires would be worn by whichever car I should choose to purchase and a Carrera would likely morph into a rally looking type car with some extra clearance. Perhaps a C4 would be modded like this, too. Hell, it might even turn into my weekend camping trip vehicle with a Yakima rack.
I'm not terribly concerned with the cosmetic appearance of the car, as well as mileage. That's kind of the point - I don't want something pretty or too nice that would concern me with moron drivers and seasonal road hazards. Mechanical reliability would be key, however.
Winter here is mostly frigging cold - freeze the nuts off a steel bridge kind of cold. It's generally in the range of 10F to -20F from December through to the end of February. How will the cars handle cold with starting up in these sub-freezing temps? There is no block heater to plug in, but I suppose one could use a large magnetic oil pan heater stuck to the side of the oil tank. Would that make enough of a difference to the oil temperature on start up? Will they actually get up to full operating temperature? How about the heater? The other thing is that it wouldn't be a daily driver. I have a work truck I usually use, but not on weekends or for putzing around town after work.
Anyway, this is just a plan forming in my brain right now with the cold just around the corner. Thanks for any input.