Help needed choosing winter beater
 

Made a huge mistake selling my e90 bmw 325xi at the end of last winter and now im looking again.
I do live in canada so snow is a factor and fun is too. I don't wanna get a car i don't need so budget is 5k. I don't want a car older than 2006 nornor a rust bucket

Im currently considering :

1) 2006 bmw 330xi
2) 2007 audi a3 3.2 Quattro
3 ) 2007 mini cooper (not an S but so fun and tossable )

My winter car is a Suzuki SX4. Cheap and goes like a tank in snow. I use it to tow small sailboats to the lake in summer. It feels like a toy after driving my boxster

I was actually looking at a vitara years ago. How is it getting parts for them since they went out of business?

They are still produced and sold globally. I have a dealership near me still selling parts. I haven't needed anything yet. Most parts stores have basic replacements too.

I drive my Forester like a hooligan in the snow. Decent on fuel and easy to repair.

Subaru! I got a legacy for $400 with 100k two years back. My wife and I have put 80,000 trouble free miles on it since. Beaters are great. I joke with my wife that if it breaks down that I'm leaving it where it is with the keys in it.

Whatyear legacy did you get for $400!! Then again your car connections are extreme lol

Do you even get winter in Texas lol

1999. Yes the all wheel drive is a little useless down here. It was nice to have at the beach though

My winter / dog transport is a 99 Outback. We have had three other Subarus. ('10 Impreza, '04 Forester & a '16 Impreza my wife currently drives) They have been pretty good to us.

My only gripe with this one is that it is auto (Free from a family member). All others have been/are 5spd.

https://i.imgur.com/oLUXU3Vl.jpg

Those are not winter beaters.The rig I drive to abuse is a 96 Dakota V8 4wd. 251000 and runs and drives like it's barely broke in. I've even had it in the snow, pretty wonderful handling.

Thread dead. Bought a B7 A4 Avant Quattro. Sadly the snow is gone lol

good luck. gf has a 2002 c5 a6 allroad w the 2.7t. 10x more work than my boxster. full of 15 yr old electronic geewhizzery and doodads. prepare to spend a good part of your spare time chasing failed cold solder joints, and the rest chasing oil leaks. and no time left for the boxster. i mean, how can the electronics in three of the four door latches fail!?!?!

All road was a badass car when new. The turbocharged 6 and the air suspension is something I wouldn’t wanna get involved with.

Few years ago I had a b6 a4 1.8t. Bought it with a noisy cam chain tensioner and ended up swapping motors. Oil leaked and leaked. I said never again until today.....

yeah, the air suspension is a bear. doesn't like the cold (car is slammed to the ground every morning) but hey, neither do the injector o-rings. saved myself a world of hurt by buying a compressor rebuild kit - 1000% improvement. and quattro is good (especially w a new set of studded tires). and the air suspension is great when working. 15 year old car, and is met w admiring soccer moms everywhere it goes. and, while full of problems, parts costs are closer to vw than porsche (like you said - got a problem? just swap engines).

What do u drive in the winter? No way u got the boxster and snow tires!!

nissan titan. frontier before that, and frontier before that.

Titan is a beast. I can't deal with the V8 gas. The utility of that truck is awesome

yeah, you know when i was running my old v6 frontier, it was getting the same fuel economy as my work truck - a much younger ford v8. modern v8's are greatly improved from the old days. the problem is, the titan is not really a modern v8, and doesn't have a modern transmission, so fuel economy is not best in class for sure. really, what i liked the most about it is that it was at the end of a 15 year production run, so all bugs had been worked out and i have a reliable truck that won't strand me out in the middle of nowhere (which is where i happen to spend most of my time).

Easy. This

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1516947361.jpg

With these

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1516947455.jpg

Not my winter DD but could be and does see winter action with my snow tires.

Since in Canada, i would consider the JDM route. Anything older than 15 years is an option. Not all JDMs are RHD, especially if you pick German.

OR

Jeep TJ