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Winter car suggestions, 4-8k

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If you worked on your own car, you'd understand. It's pretty clear that you don't. Painted body work is a small part of "rust" - there are many other places. For an appliance, it doesn't matter.
 
Thinking about it some more, the Mazdaspeed3 would be pretty good with snow tires and fun to drive. An AWD like the 6 would be better, of course, but FWD Mazdas handle just fine in snow... supposedly even the RWD Miata handles well in winter with the right tires :awe: [<- Miata face].

I've read about rust problems with Mazdas (not sure how prevalent or true that is - I have a newer, regular 3 here in NY and I hope that isn't the case), but if it's just an extra car for the winter it probably shouldn't be too much of a problem.
 
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pete6032 said:
What does road salt and "sludge" have to do with anything? Do you think all cars driven in winter weather automatically start rusting out? My car is a 2001 and it's lived it's entire life parked outside in Minnesota and Wisconsin and it doesn't have any rust on it.
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LOL. That's funny to me and I've spent my entire life in SoCal. I love how 20 year old cars look new underneath aside from dirt and oil.
 
Crono said:
Thinking about it some more, the Mazdaspeed3 would be pretty good with snow tires and fun to drive. An AWD like the 6 would be better, of course, but FWD Mazdas handle just fine in snow... supposedly even the RWD Miata handles well in winter with the right tires :awe: [<- Miata face].

I've read about rust problems with Mazdas (not sure how prevalent or true that is - I have a newer, regular 3 here in NY and I hope that isn't the case), but if it's just an extra car for the winter it probably shouldn't be too much of a problem.
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It will be my only car out there unless I bring the GX or 2 out for summer. Hatch is enticing for utility purposes - I really want to test drive a CTS though.

I actually did think about a Miata with snows, but I have family in NH so it'd be nice to have 4 doors for when I go visit them.
 
Bump .. let us know how your test drives go and what you end up with! I'm in the market for a decent fun and cheap winter car too, some great suggestions here.
 
How about rust proofing? fluid film or krown?

I'm in jersey. If you pick up an automatic accord or tsx, drive it up from arizona, use it, then want to dump it PM me.
 
monkeydelmagico said:
How about rust proofing? fluid film or krown?

I'm in jersey. If you pick up an automatic accord or tsx, drive it up from arizona, use it, then want to dump it PM me.
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If you want something from AZ, let me know. I'll be flying back to Phoenix for a week-ish in December and if you want me to drive something back for you, we can probably work something out.
 
Awesome offer your a good guy jlee. You are probably a better mechanic than most but I always do my own due diligence. Buying sight unseen scares the crap out of me.

Offer stands tho if you bring a rust free car to the dirty jerz I might be interested. Hell, even if I'm not I'll still buy you a beer.
 
So, I've moved to NJ for a job (I'm keeping my AZ house and the GX470 and MR2 are still living there, so they won't be seeing salt).

I bought a 2006 Mazdaspeed6 from black2na. He bought it with a blown motor, then bought a wrecked Speed3 with 27k on it and moved the motor over.

So far we've determined it has an AEM intake, Forge BOV, unknown aftermarket suspension and stainless brake lines. Brakes are in good shape, there's some rust which will be fixed before the end of the year, and I might upgrade the intercooler and rear diff mount for safety purposes (though the intercooler is more of an excuse to upgrade than a requirement). The rear diff in the Speed6 is not known for durability, so I will be keeping power at a sane level. The car isn't fast, but it's peppy enough for daily driving.

New tires (and alignment) happened yesterday - went from four very bad shape snows to new Dunlop Winter Maxx in stock size (215/45R18). It handles much better than I expected for snow tires.
 
So if you're driving with snow tires now, are you going to be able to pass up a Tortilla Flats run when you're back out in December? I'm sure exdeath can make sure the MR2 is still running.
 
XavierMace said:
So if you're driving with snow tires now, are you going to be able to pass up a Tortilla Flats run when you're back out in December? I'm sure exdeath can make sure the MR2 is still running.
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I hope they repave that soon...it's getting pretty sketchy. I'll have to drain the fuel and put some new stuff in, but I expect that shouldn't be a problem.

JEDIYoda said:
A Viper.....
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That's a summer car, silly.
 
jlee said:
I'm going to be in NJ next winter.

Re: RWD not being ideal for snow, I am aware. I was a police officer in northern NH for years. I'm not worried about RWD + snow...I did that for a living, during hours the snowplows don't run. 😛
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Sorry to hear that... D:
 
If you can find an 06-07 Sedan Accord V6 6-speed, it will last longer than you can stand to drive it. 30 MPG real-world on the highway, 240 HP without being fragile like the blown Mazdas, will tow 2000 pounds. Everything on that car is bulletproof and overall pretty easy to work on. Rear sway bar can be swapped for the thicker TL Type-S bar for $50, in 10 minutes, without even jacking up the car. The engine is a sewing machine and loves to rev. 17x8 TL wheels ($200 on craigslist) bolt right on with 235-50 or 245-45 tires (tons of summer/winter tires available in these sizes), and the center caps are interchangable. If I didn't already have a battle-tested 03, I'd go buy one myself.
 
jlee said:
I hope they repave that soon...it's getting pretty sketchy. I'll have to drain the fuel and put some new stuff in, but I expect that shouldn't be a problem.
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I might head out there this week and see how it's looking these days. Maybe we can barricade it so we don't get stuck behind old people with boats again. LOL.

Remind me what days you're out so I can see who else wants to go.
 
XavierMace said:
I might head out there this week and see how it's looking these days. Maybe we can barricade it so we don't get stuck behind old people with boats again. LOL.

Remind me what days you're out so I can see who else wants to go.
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The current plan is Dec 12-20.
 
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