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Winter Driving? [Merged 12-6]

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I wouldn't say it's "bad".. it just causes a lot more wear and tear on your car with cold starts, etc. If you get a lot of snow you probably don't want to run your car lowered (i.e. get coilovers if you plan to lower so you can adjust them in the winter), and just maintain it well (oil changes, etc) and it should be fine.

Over here, our streets get covered in salt and sand in the winter, so it;s a good idea to have an undercoating or just give it a good wash every week or so.

The TSi/GSX is an awesome car in the winter cuz of it's traction advantage. if i were to get a "beater" car, i'd probably end up getting a 1G TSi and just leave it stock with some decent tires :)

my $0.02....
 
i live in snow and salt country, actually right across the lake from abstraction, and most cars tend to rot in like ten years if you don't take car of them. find a car wash that has a five day guarantee, if you can, then you can go ten days and only pay for one wash. or save up 500 bucks and buy like an old civic or something.

just take car of the car and you'll be fine.
 
Originally posted by metalli-chris
find a car wash that has a five day guarantee, if you can, then you can go ten days and only pay for one wash. or save up 500 bucks and buy like an old civic or something.

just take car of the car and you'll be fine.

Five day guarantee car wash? Thats nuts! How does that work?
 
it snows so gadarned much around here that a few places have a "five day guarantee" on your wash. bring your car back in in the next five days and the wash is free. so, you pay for a wash on monday, go back on friday and get a free one, then wait til tues to pay for another one. ten days, two washes, one low,low price.
 
Hey guys. I am actually a Mustang guy.OMG

Probably moving to Chicago. Thought about selling my Mustangs and maybe getting a early 90's talon.

Question is:

Do any of you drive your AWD's during the winter months where they get snow?

What kind of power can these motors take?

How big of a turbo. I actually have a Turbonetics T72 Qtrim Ceramic bearing turbo that I was going to be putting on the mustang. I think that would probably be a little too big for the DSM but give me an idea of what these can handle. I can get a buddys 91 AWD that had a 16g turbo on it. I am not sure if that is right. I know it is the 16 something he upgraded from the 14 something. What kind of power can I get out of a turbo like that.

Sorry so many questions.
 
Oh yes... AWD in snow is mucho divertido :thumb:

Youve asked a few pretty broad questions, but Ill tackle em anyway. Depending on what condition your motor is in will make a big difference, but typically they support between 400-450whp on a stock motor/block. All you gotta do is read a little bit and talk to a few of the tuners and youll see what kind of potential these cars have, and that coming from a very open minded broad car lover :D

Depending on what type of 16 turbo he has will depend on power out put obviously... but most dsm's with 16g's (big or small) can make aroung 250-310whp (depending on supporting mods and gas type...etc). IMO, 16g's are such an awesome turbo and can turn your fun little quick boosting street car in to a 12 sec dragger or better. I have a Big16g with minimal supporting mods, and on a 140k motor Ive run numerous mid 12 seconds slips at the strip. There are much quicker ones that me also, Im by no means a limit.

Anyway, these are cool cars, and its good to see someone cross over and/or expand there interests.... good luck :thumb:
 
Just wondering. Even though I have a 4x4 truck, I'm gonna have the stock springs and rims w/snow tires put on the car for the winter in case I need to drive it. So i was just wondering if anyone has some experience or a situation where they could share how the car performs in the snow. Thanks:dsm:
 
You have no problem tunring. All you have to do is tap the gas. AWD is fun to screw around with but is not the best for winter. FWD is much better. I slide around in the winter when I am driving.
 
Originally posted by 92tsiawd84
You have no problem tunring. All you have to do is tap the gas. AWD is fun to screw around with but is not the best for winter. FWD is much better. I slide around in the winter when I am driving.

AWD is far superior to FWD in the snow if you have snow tires.
 
I've taken my 1G up to Tahoe a few times in the snow -California State Route 88 is the most heavily-snowed roadway in North America they try to keep open- and with Dunlop A2s and a bit of goosing around, I couldn't get it to do anything goofy. It felt like it was going to just hold and hold and hold..... which pretty much means that once it lets go, it won't be coming back.
I've taken the 2G up twice into snow, the first time was a pretty nasty storm and on Yokohama AVS Intermediates. They're known to be lousy wet tires, and I turned out to be smarter than the storm so I gave up and came back. It was dicey, but I just slowed down (what a concept).
I tried again the next month, up 50 instead of 88 this time, not much snow falling, but a few inches of ice on the road in many places. It did just fine on the same tires. Best part was the chain checkpoint when the guy asked, "All-wheel drive?" I said yup and he said "Take it easy".... as the guy in the BMW had to get out and put on chains.
I think for someone accustomed to driving in real weather would find the TELs do just fine in snow. With proper tires, all the better.
 
As much as I'd love a summer sports car and a winter SUV or eurowagon, college has kicked my ass and one car is plenty right now.
Living in Michigan I knew I needed something that could get around in the snow and that greatly influenced the purchase of my 2G :talon: AWD.

Actual handling is quite balanced. For me the car tends to understeer if thrown into an inertia drift. But you tap the trottle and the tail slips out nicely. A little left foot braking and throttle balance rewards you with an easily controlled drift that makes you feel like you're in the WRC.:thumb:

Traction has also never been a problem for me. Except the time I shit my pants as I slid down an icy driveway into the street, almost got hit, but managed to scrabble across into the oposite parking lot. (AWD saved both our asses!)

The only downside to driving a DSM in snow is when it accumulates and gets around 6" deep, the snow likes to pack in to the radiator scoop and sometimes pack into the intercooler intake. This has caused my engine to heat up a little bit. (And force me to pull over and dig icy crap out of her.)
Anyone else live in the M-I?

'Hope I contributed something to the discussion.
-Dave
 
Thanks for all the replies. I hope we can keep the discussion going, because these experiences are great to hear! I can't contribute a story yet, but living in NE PA, probably the most salt/cider area in the country, I've had my share of driving experiences along I-84. This past winter was real bad, and my 4x4 Nissan didn't give me any real trouble. Actually, many of the mornings during the winter, when my school was too stupid to shut down until noon, and there was a blizzard out there, i hardly used the 4-wheel drive. Just kept the hubs locked on my way there and back. One morning after we'd gotten out early, the interstates were so icy and compacted with snow, that one of the penn dot truck's plows had a corner broken off while plowing!
 
well i live in west michigan and this will be my first winter with the talon so i am actually kinda looking foward to seeing how it does in the snow! i know it sounds crazy because of salt and rust and all that crap but still its gonna be fun. ive driven in both fwd and rwd(cavelier and camaro) and ide have to say the cavalier was of course easier to drive then the maro but the camaro was waaaayyy funner to drive( LOL like doing massive dounuts everywhere and never getting tracktion) so im hopeing that the talon is both fun to drive and saver to drive in the winter
 
its fun as hell, i acualy look forward to large amounts of snow. ya got the ability to slide the rear around like a RWD.. with the control of a FWD
 
I have one and I drove it all last year in the snow it was my first year without a SUV and I got around just fine we had about 11-13 inches at one time and I drove on the interstate and on side streets un plowed and with sh**y nittos on the car
 
Just make sure that you get 4 new tires and not just 2 winter tires and 2 all-seasons so you don't hurt your tranny if you have the lsd.

You'll probably be fine with just 4 good all-season tires. I go everywhere with 4 Bridgestone potenza RE910s that are suppoed to be bad in the snow. No tire I've found yet (other than slicks) is bad in the snow with AWD.
 
I made it around fine in the snow last winter w/ my kumho ecsta supra 712's... and they're street/z-rated tires... with snow tires you should have no problems whatsoever
 
my room mate has a subaru legacy awd, and we loved it in the winter. he had some blizzaks on it, and we would go anywhere with it. and this was in the mountains of vermont. we were driving along a ice covered dirt road once, and came across a big open field. he wipped it into the field sideways, blew a few donuts in 3 1/2 feet of snow, and drove back out like it was nothing...awd is GREAT in the snow.
 
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