So my wife is a 4th year medical student currently interviewing for a surgical residency. She really loved the Grand Rapids MI program and will probably rank it #1. They really liked her as well and it looks probable that we'll end up there as soon as this summer.

Regardless of the stress of selling our house, moving, buying a new house, me finding a new job....my biggest concern is the Z.

When the weather gets bad...what do you guys do? Park the Z for the winter and drive a p.o.s truck for a few months? Just slap on winter tires? What about all the gravel/salt on the roads...any problems with paint chips or undercarriage rust?

Sorry for the stupid questions but I don't want to sell my car and want to get an idea for what to expect. Thanks!

 

most of us pretty much store the z for the winter and drive the beater for the winter

 

I tuck my car away and continue driving my daily driver -1.5 ltr 1998 mazda protege.

I just can't imagine have the Z as a daily driver regardless of the climate I live in. Don't get me wrong, it's a great car and I love it, but I don't think the car could be any less practical unless then made it a one seater.

 

Real men slap on a set of Blizzaks and continue enjoying their Z. I did that for the last 3 winters. This year I splurged and bought a 1994 4X4 Pathfinder. But I just drove about 300 miles yesterday in the Z, and cold or not, it's still a joy. Believe it or not, there are only about ....10? days of crappy winter weather a year.

Get real. The Z is JUST a car, NOT a collectable KOENIGSEGG!

 

you could also tell the wife that to make up for having to move across the country you now need to buy a winter car and pick up an evo, sti, or s4.

 

Mine is put away. Why spend $1200.00 on a set of blizzaks to just rip your front lip off in a snow drift. Spend the money you saved on the tires on a beater that you can watch rot away from the salt all winter long!

 

collectable is one thing, practicality is another. RWD anything is not what I want to be driving around in winter. Why is that if you store yoru car, you think it's a collectable or putting it above its actual class level? Heck, my good friend stores his $15K mazdaspeed protege. Not because it is some fancy car that is too good to be driven in the winter, but because he doesn't want to have to buy winter tires for it, expose it to all the road conditons and salt and such when he has another car he can drive.

You hop behind the wheel of my car one day in sub 50 degree weather, without any snow on the ground, and you will understand. 480wtq doesn't make much traction in the cold, let alone the snow. you would have to strap on 3 sets of blizzaks in the rear of my car and still pray it hooks up in the winter.

 

I think as long as you don't have ice or snow to deal with it's OK.

I've considered the EVO or STI route but I'd still need to get winter tires for it and my wife is concerned that the salt and crap would beat it to hell.

Damn. I figured I'd have to garage the Z but I guess that might make me appreciate it more when I can take it out. A few weeks ago I had to drive my old man's 90 Accord AT....and when I got back behind the Z after that I appreciated the car all the more.