What kind of winter beater should I get?
Posted: 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?
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?
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?