Moving to Denver..?
 

I am seriously considering a move to Denver from my home in Phoenix. Going trough a divorce and looking at starting with a clean slate. I’ve lived in Prescott, AZ (5000’ elev) for many years which has similar but not quite as wintry weather as Denver.

I realize I’ll probably have to a get a four wheel drive with winter tires for winter driving. My brother lives up in the Morrison/Conifer area and insists I’ll need it (that’s not where I’d be living, though). My job would be at the Denver Internantional Airport (very close by) and I’d like to live over on the west side. This might involve getting on I70 each day : (

I currently have too many cars, at least one will go, possibly two. I’ve got two air cooled 911s, an ‘04 325i and a ‘13 128i. I love the 325i but I was thinking of putting winter tires on it initially. Would this be sufficient for winter driving? Then pick a used all wheel drive down the road. My brother says no. I’d like to keep the 128i for nice weather, it’s too nice to get abused.

Also, he says that you just don’t see many older sports cars around. Phoenix has year round driving weather, are the old 911s hidden away up there?

Thanks in advance.

My brother lives up near Conifer, I wouldn’t be living there but I’m thinking I’d like to be on the west side of town, within 30-40 minutes of DIA.

I enjoyed a few trips to Colo in the last few years, when I was based near Prescott.
Late spring, and late Summer's offered great conditions for enjoying the SC . Did many hundreds of miles in Colo. on each trip. Saw very few older 911s.

Now in Fl panhandle, doing a good bit of exploring this area in the SC over the last 10 months. Can only think of a couple of older 911s sighted.

They must all be parked in garages, what a waste, even if they have gone up a bit in value. The real return in owning them is enjoying driving them, for me anyway.

You will be happy to have one there to enjoy cruising the mountains with.

Sorry to hear about the divorce, Kurt. Hope you are able to move thru it smoothly.

Cheers Richard

Might want to move to Lakewood or Morrison. Drive to the RTD light rail station in Lakewood and take the light rail & airport train to DIA. Less stress.

Best wishes on getting through the divorce. I lived in Castle Rock south of downtown for a year back in the early 2000's. I miss the weather there. I'm sure there are plenty of air cooled 911s that come out of hiding in the spring :-) They do such an amazing job of taking care of the roads there in the winter but you may ultimately decide you need a Subaru or similar. You can kill two birds with one stone (fun and practical) with a WRX or STI as a daily driver!

If you're looking to buy, you won't get nearly as much home for your money here, versus where you're coming from - and the closer you are to the foothills the higher the numbers often go. If you're looking to be within forty minutes of DIA you can live anywhere along the Front Range that's north of Roxborough all the way up to Boulder. Go a little farther east, and you can extend your north/south options.

As for all wheel drive: certainly better but certainly not an absolute if you're not in the foothills.

Oh, and don't tell anyone, but the front range is the best kept weather secret in the country.

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I go to the Boeing office a lot at I-70 and Pena which is on the way to the Airport, the Airport of course being at the end of Pena. I would say the opposite about the light rail, avoid it all costs, it's slow, I mean terribly slow. It's mismanaged, underfunded and stands riders frequently.

https://denver.streetsblog.org/2017/10/18/rtd-cant-market-away-low-r-line-ridership-and-shouldnt-fund-empty-rail-over-full-buses/

I'm not a fan personally since I no longer live in the city, but a lot of Boeing guys live in redeveloped Stapelton area, it's right on I-70 and about 25 mins from the airport. It has a lot of housing for single guys.

Oh and I don't think you will have any issues with a set of good tires and your BMW. Plenty of those around here running all year round.

It's almost exactly 90 minutes from the Golden station to when you exit the train at the airport. Not that bad of a trip, actually. Throw in the expected four year I-70 construction project that's about to kick off and all bets are off when it comes to driving. Ya, ya, I know they say there will be only 10 days of total interstate shut-downs ...

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Are they rebuilding the elevated deck portion by the coliseum?

Thanks for all the good info, keep it coming. Yeah, I’ve noticed home prices are higher up there. And thank you for the well wishes.

Agree with others, with 2 wheel drive + real snow tires (e.g. Blizzaks) you should be fine. There will be 6-10 days a year when the commute will be ugly because of snow. Most of the time you can work around that. The real issue is the other drivers, who frequently don't demonstrate competency on slippery roads. 4WD won't help much on evasive maneuvering so 2WD is fine to get around the city. Probably smart to carry a pair of chains just in case you swap ends and find a ditch.

Now I'm biased, but I think the weather is better on the western edge of the metro area. Not as much severe thunderstorms in the summer, although some may debate that. Morrison is up to 5 degrees cooler in the summer, and the cold air doesn't pool as much on winter nights. Lots of great recreation in the mountains, so having 4WD is really helpful for recreating.

I live west of the Hogback (6400') so we get considerably more snow than central Denver. If you are looking for easy access to the mountains move closer to the foothills, will cut 30 minutes or more off your trip each way.

Sorry to hear about the divorce. Been there -- better days are ahead, and a change of scenery may be refreshing.

Yup, total and complete redesign. And many, many days of a total and complete cluster are a certainty.

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Fast_e_man,

Sort of what I was thinking about being further west and closer to the mountains.

In AZ I don’t have to run my ‘84 911 through emissions if it is on Classic Insurance. What is smog testing like there? Also, what do they use to clear the winter roads? Does it play havoc on the car with rust issues?

Emissions required on an `84 here - both sniff and visual. Mag chloride is the ice-melter of choice.

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My employer allows us to Telework from home at various times. If I transfer I believe they will allow or probably even encourage Teleworking during nasty snow days. Will have to check out and confirm.

Sucks about the emissions testing but the ‘84 should pass.

Actually, it's going away... they're going to put I-70 underground there and build a park at ground level over it.

The elevated deck will be totally gone.

They say they'll finish underground before they tear down the elevated. Work at night, etc.

That’s going to be awesome! Fantastic idea. Oh on the emissions you can get collector plates at 32 years and older with an initial emissions test, then a test every five years after. They changed it a few years back so my 80 is grandfathered in. I had a terrible time every five years taking the SSI’s off and putting the CAT back back on to pass the dyno test at Envirotest. Thankfully the county I live in now doesn’t test at all.

So, how bad is the Magnesium Chloride used on the roads during winter on your daily driver? Are you simply giving the car more frequent washes?

My impression from previously living in the Denver/Boulder area and regularly visiting there since then is that a lot of stones get kicked up when driving in the highways there. I picked up a few small dings on my cars that way, and one cracked my old 73E’s windshield bad enough that it required replacement.

Before magchloride we used a lot of cinders on the roads since we never used salt and those resulted in a lot of broken windshields, or at least a lot more.

If you live on the west side of town near Golden or west Lakewood you're an hour to the airport on the very best day.

I don’t like the mag chloride. Wipers smear it across the windshield, need to use a lot of washer fluid to clear the splash back. Not good for the undercarriage. I pressure wash the undercarriage regularly during the winter. More corrosion issues than pre mag chloride, e.g. stuck nuts/ bolts.

Sand/cinders still in use at times, every winter use vehicle gets cracked windshields if you are a skier doing mountain driving.

My 911’s don’t get driven much from mid November to late March. Just my choice to avoid rock dings.

I travel quite a bit. From my Morrison home to DIA parking garage in 50- 55 minutes, slightly more than 50 miles, provided it is not during rush hour. I typically drive 70+ mph if not impeded by traffic. For sure the pending I70 elevated section replacement will degrade travel times.

^^^ Incorrect. I'm a half-mile from the arch in downtown Golden; from my driveway to the parking garage or pick-up/drop off ramps is right at 37 minutes on a typical day. Only one time - out of literally hundreds of trips - did it take over an hour. If I-70 is backed up (good to check in advance with an app like Waze), an easy detour is I-76 (up to either 96th, if you're willing to take a chance on getting stuck behind a train, or 104th if you don't), which increases drive time to just a shade under 45 minutes.

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If I ever moved back to Denver, which I never will, I have two rules. First, I want to be within view of the mountains. The furthest out I got was Arapahoe & I-25 and they were just tiny little things way off in the distance.... Coming from Crested Butte / Gunnison that sucked. It was like the Talking Heads "How did I get here?" That's not Colorado. Particularly when I'd always lived in the mountains... Second, commuting sucks. I'd want to be reasonably close to work... 10 minutes max... The last place I lived there was Golden, which was OK, just get on C-470 and zoom around...

^^^ Anything east of I-25 is essentially just Amarillo with a (often barely) mountain view.SmileWavy

I appreciate all the replies. If I do make the move (I’m leaning towards it, we’ll see) I think I’ll sell one of the BMWs and put winter tires on the other. I’d like to live near Golden or at least closer to the mountains, my brother has given me the name of a realtor he knows well, I am contacting her tomorrow to get a feel for home prices.

Still not TX.. :p

How are ya Norm?! Lost your number.. shoot me a PM! New targa in your life?!?!?!

Anything south of Loveland no thanks.....

Just kidding, sort of. I can walk into the foothills as my house is pretty far west for Fort Collins.

If I was moving to Colorado now and had to go to the airport as often I do (weekly), I think I would go north of Fort Collins even and buy land. Of course, I do not have to make the drive every day, so I can see wanting to be closer.

I25 is a nightmare more often than not and you will break your windshield and get rock chips, it happens. Snow tires will be plenty. Unless you get something on gravel or an unimproved road.

Bill