Do you daily drive your nice car year-round?

[VroomPshhTsi]

Just wondering what your "nice" car is and if you DD it all year. I read a thread on LS1tech about people daily driving their 400 rwhp cars and saying it's their favorite dd ever. Not sure where these people are living but it can't be too far up north.

I know there are people who will say having something like a 350+ rwhp dd is retarded while others say they couldn't be happier with their choice.

So for those with a sporty/fast car for their year-round dd, how do you like it? How are the Winters?

[Prince Valiant]

the insight is great. some people might be intimidated by 55fwhp, but hey, some people are just pansies in my book.






:goof

[Yooformula]

when I lived in fla, I dd my car but not here for obvious reasons. If I did dd my car, it would have to be an auto. There is too much traffic during my drive times and it really gets old shifting.

[fly5150]

I drive mine year round. :)

[lordairgtar]

Year round here! No choice

[johnny--2k]

I drove my jeep year round, loved it!

[TransAm12sec]

A reminder that wheel wells rust, then water leaks through them.

But I am very happy with rwd and winter tires. I just don't want to do it with my first car which I'd like to hold onto for a long time.

[Russ Jerome]

Since my "nicest" ride (and most dependable) is a 11hp scooter from 1986 I cant drive it in winter. Luckily for me my "pimp" ride is another 1986 vintage truck, roller paint job and an honest 132hp to the ground (unless its damp out and misfiring, 90hp to ground).

[lilws6]

last time i got kinda stuck in a last minute snow in the trans am i hated it but i guess thats what i get for rocking 335's in the back snow was now my friend was a fun sideways drive home tho. i wouldn't drive my car in the winter but if i had a nice beamer or something and had no choice obviously i'de rock snow tires :)

[Neal Steffek]

If you can aford a "nice" car you can aford a beater for winter. If you do not have a beater, then you should not think you have a nice car, becasue it wont be for long.

[BR3W CITY]

I don't know about that; I'd qualify a newer cts or gto/g8 as a "nice car" and see those driven year round around downtown.

[jbiscuit]

If I had a new Mustang or Camaro I would drive it year round. The seasons are too short here to store a new car

[Karps TA]

I've never driven my fun car year round. Even in high school I had beaters. Winter sucks here too much to drive something you care about. Too much salt and shit on the roads. And too many idiots who can't drive in bad weather.

[wrath]

My Silverado gets daily driven. It probably won't if we ever live in Michigan again as I have a fleet of 6 automobiles to choose from that are currently keeping concrete from floating away. All of them probably need brakes by now and some probably need belts.

The G6 will probably continue to be the "winter beater" as I don't really consider it more than a fast-depreciating appliance to get from point A to point B. While I will continue to maintain it very nicely I'm not going to try to "save" it.

[British_Ben]

I drive my junk year round, but that's kinda why I bought it. AWD with a staggering 220awhp. :goof

[TheRX7Project]

Fuck no! I drove my RX7 ONCE in the winter, to move it between storage spots. Every intersection I felt like I was going to end up doing donuts.

[animal]

04 mustang GT for a DD no abs or trac control. I'll drive that shit in any weather and never have a problem as long as the snow isn't over the hood :)

[BoosTT]

I've drove my Audi TT as a DD for a while... But I average 6k miles per year. AWD and 6-speed was awesome in winter... expect for the ice bolders the size of a wheel hitting the bumper.

The TT is now retired to semi-nice weather and the bike only in perfect weather.

[Feature Pony]

I've never driven my fun car year round. Even in high school I had beaters. Winter sucks here too much to drive something you care about. Too much salt and shit on the roads. And too many idiots who can't drive in bad weather.

Sounds like me, I was the only kid in high school that had 3 cars when I was 16, granted 1 was a project 71 cuda and that didn't run, but my mustang gt saw snow twice when I owned it and then I bought a winter beater, but that car was nice too!

[Waver]

If you can aford a "nice" car you can aford a beater for winter. If you do not have a beater, then you should not think you have a nice car, becasue it wont be for long.

Your statement is only partially correct. I bought my 04 in 2008 with 23,000 miles on it in febuary, drove it through the rest of that winter, stored it the next winter, and fund that I was driving the 04 more this past winter than I was driving my truck, so I sold the truck (it was a regular cab any ways so I felt really cramped). When I took the car to Dr. Buicks to do the x pipe, some of the people there were surprised as to how clean the underbody of the car was, as well as the exterior of the car. No rust and the factory h came off easy. Really you can drive anything all year round as long as you have the ground clearance and use caution. To avoid rust, I just washed the car every week (sometimes twice) and always got the underbody flush. This comming winter, the car will be stored again, and this time it will be away from where I live (I found that having the car in the garage of your house causes too much of a temptation for me.)

One thing that I find in your statement that I believe to be horseshit is that if you think you have a nice car you done because it wont be nice for long. Untrue, because if you take the time to take care of it in the winter and dont use the excuse "it is too cold to wash it" then it will remain nice for a long time.

[Karps TA]

Sounds like me, I was the only kid in high school that had 3 cars when I was 16, granted 1 was a project 71 cuda and that didn't run, but my mustang gt saw snow twice when I owned it and then I bought a winter beater, but that car was nice too!


Looking back my "nice car" was a turd and could have been driven. But at the time I thought my Cutlass was Concours D Elegance cool. :rolf Little did I know underneath all the bondo was, well more bondo.

[xxsn0blindxx]

It's all relative to your own preferences. Porsche fully expects 911 Carrera4 owners to drive in the snow and many do. On the other end there are guys who won't drive their Dodge Shadow in the snow because it's their nice car. It all depends on what a nice car is to you, how nice you like to keep it and how long you want to keep it.

[animal]

Once my GT goes to the junkyard in the sky, i will be fully considering a DD termy :) Only pain in the ass part is 17" snow tires are hella more expensive. I can get away with 15's on the GT.

[British_Ben]

Once my GT goes to the junkyard in the sky, i will be fully considering a DD termy :) Only pain in the ass part is 17" snow tires are hella more expensive. I can get away with 15's on the GT.

Deals are to be had in spring on 17" snow tires. That's when I bought my 17" blizzaks for $89 a piece from Tire Rack.

[IcePickFreak]

Set of 18s with Blizzaks and I'm good to go. I spent too many winters in shit box beaters.

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv24/IcePickFreak/0209001629.jpg

[animal]

Deals are to be had in spring on 17" snow tires. That's when I bought my 17" blizzaks for $89 a piece from Tire Rack.

I buy all my blizzaks from tireslist, er CL. :)

[BAD LS1]

Once my GT goes to the junkyard in the sky, i will be fully considering a DD termy :) Only pain in the ass part is 17" snow tires are hella more expensive. I can get away with 15's on the GT.

bleh just swap out brakes along with snow tires.

[johnny--2k]

If my termi didnt have such low miles, I would drive it year round without a problem...

[Voodoo Chick]

Absolutely no way in hell. My '79 Camaro has been, over the last 2 years, built up enough that daily driving that one would just not work out, and the Olds........HELL NO. I don't trust people's driving, and those two are just too precious to me to risk. As for my '89 Camaro, right now she can be daily driven, after the restoration, not so much. Then I guess I'll be on the look-out for a beater-with-a-heater.

[Feature Pony]

Once my GT goes to the junkyard in the sky, i will be fully considering a DD termy :) Only pain in the ass part is 17" snow tires are hella more expensive. I can get away with 15's on the GT.

you can only drive it if its a comp orange vert 1 of 72 made and make sure it has low miles LOL

[0TransAm0]

i drove my car 2 winters with a stall and a cam. full exhaust. and lowered.. was easy only got stuck once trying to get in a parking lot that was not plowed but other than that didn't have a problem. just have to be smart and good tires...

[brotherbenn83]

Beaters suck, I DD my GTO and don't care. Blizzaks and t/c make it hold the road just fine. Besides, I get too spoiled by my comfortable seats, 6 disc changer and the power to be driving some POS front-drive turd half the year. This last winter was particularly easy, the amount of decent weather/no snow or ice days far outweighed the bad ones.

[95 TA - The Beast]

Well, I would never drive either the Trans-Am or the Camaro convertible in winter, as that is just stoopid...

I also don't drive the T/A when there is rain, but have no problem driving the convertible in rainy weather...

To that end I also have the conversion van (RWD auto with a chevy 350TBI) in the winter as I have Nokia WRG2 all-season (actually the only tire also given a snow certification like true snow tires) and it just goes like it was a 4wd once it is in motion... Only issue I have ever had (or shall I say the wife ever had) was getting out of a parking spot once someone plowed her in. She didn't realize you just go forward as far as possible, gun it in reverse and let it plow it's way out. She tried gently backing out and it started going sideways on her.

Now, the new luxo-cruiser, the Lincoln MKS is an AWD and I just put 20" wheels/tires (Nitto Invos) on it so I can get snow tires for the stock 19s (talk about some expensive snow tires). That one will be driven year round, but with summer tires and snow tires for the appropriate times. I expect zero issues with it in winter and will probably enjoy driving in winter weather much more because of it. I will just be sure to take it through the touchless car wash at least once or twice a week. Sure, gets expensive over the course of a winter, but to keep a car nice you have to spend money to do it.

Now, I fully expect to either trade this car in within the next 5-6 years, thus keeping it nice will pay off on trade-in time. If I wanted to keep it permanently, I would try to find some sort of winter 4x4 and just drive that and park the MKS most of time, taking it out when I want to go out to dinner or such. For a daily, if you want a nice car, you either spend to keep it that way or get another car.

[ND4SPD]

I drive my CTS-V year round, a couple of sand bags, snow tires... piece of cake.

[Silver350]

I drove all of my vehicles that I owned year round. Even my old silver truck that is in my signature.

[Force4]

Never drove my mustang in winter. I did however once take it to school 2 years ago and while in class a random snow storm hit and made the drive home a nightmare.

[IcePickFreak]

If my termi didnt have such low miles, I would drive it year round without a problem...

Does the convertible top actually go up on that thing? :goof