What kind of winter beater should I get?

kraynakadon · Post by **kraynakadon** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 3:46 pm

Having just moved to Massachusetts, I'm starting to get worried about the upcoming winter. The Miata, when shod with Blizzaks, kicks serious butt in the snow, but only until my ground clearance runs out. A Miata is not a great snowplow. Also, the softtop sucks in the winter, and silver hardtops are usually $1100 or more if you can even find one. I also have a feeling driving the car through a long winter of salt and sand will do some serious harm to an already old car. So I figure I have a few options:

A. Buy the cheapest POS I can find, the less fun the better. It will keep me from spending money on it that could otherwise go to the Miata. Find something that insurance will be super cheap on, that I can smash into a tree and laugh about it.

B. Buy a fun beater. Such as a 323 GTX, All-trac, Quattro, or anything rwd with enough ground clearance to do well in the snow. Downsides are that I will be tempted to spend lots of money modding the car.

C. Get a truck. I've wanted a cheap truck for a while now, I like to go camping and stuff like that, the ability to haul around car parts is also a big plus. One of my other passions is astronomy, the ability to carry a large telescope to a dark site would be wonderful. I've always wanted to tell the ladies about my 12 inch. Or, in this case, 16 inch! Downsides are that decent trucks aren't usually dirt cheap, I'd want a 4x4, driving the cost up more, etc.

D. Buy a hardtop, raise the suspension back to stock, and call in dick when theres more than 5" of snow. I guess that could work, Miatas with hardtops look sweet. That would probably end up being a lot of dick days, the way people talk about winter up here.

E. Move to Florida? This option is actually only half in jest, been thinking of moving down there for a couple years now, just worried about the job situation. Not having to worry about winter would be kick ass! So who's got a room, garage and a job for me?

jo · Post by jo » Sun Aug 15, 2004 3:48 pm

get a truck! you can use it to tow stuff.

or move to fl;) you'll be closer to us then!

djdorifto · Post by **djdorifto** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:00 pm

move to florida!!

or get a truck. V6 and 5spd, get to tow around ur car and supplies =D

down_shift · Post by **down_shift** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:02 pm

truck

kraynakadon · Post by **kraynakadon** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:11 pm

Heh, I get the feeling I should be looking for a truck

Any opinions on what to look for? I know precisely jack about trucks. I'm sure a late 80s import would probably be what to look for in terms of reliability vs pricing. Any particular info I should know, good models, bad models?

djdorifto · Post by **djdorifto** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:24 pm

toyota nothing beats it

turbofb · Post by **turbofb** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 4:48 pm

All you need is a beater w/ a heater. You should move out of the masshole state, people suck there. If you buy a truck have fun if its not a 4x4, i've always had front drivers for the winter, i hate geting stuck between 2 hills, really piss you off when you have to walk in that b.s weather. Oh...you can always find a pos subaru in the north, probably wont have any floor boards but they take a beating.

kraynakadon · Post by **kraynakadon** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 3:27 pm

Well, I might have found a candidate.

1988 323GTX
-low miles, bignose crank B6T from an XR-2
-KYB struts, new sway bushings and junk like that, ST springs
-new calipers, stainless lines, cross drilled rotors
-HKS catback, intake, up-pipe
-Reich racing ecu, turbosmart bov, Probe GT i/c
-upgraded VJ14 w/ VJ16 compressor wheel
-act clutch, fidanza flywheel
-15" Enkei RP01 with Toyo T-1s and 2 other sets of painted stock wheels and RE950s
-bunch of other misc spare parts
-decent body

$4000 obo.
If I can get it for 3, its mine in a heartbeat. Been for sale for a few months now at 5 grand, so we'll see. With these mods you can usually run the turbo up to 16-17 psi safely, maybe around 200 crank hp? I am a bit worried about breaking things, as the GTX tranny is somewhat fragile, and while I have lots of storage room for parts, I don't have a garage or place to work on a car. Since less than 1500 were ever imported, spares can be hard to find. Eh well, that makes it all the more exciting to walk on the edge! The car is about 3 hours away, gonna get some pics and maybe go check it out this week.