Good Winter Car?

[SpeedDemon]

ok so the g/f is going to be driving to athens and back(almost 100 miles round trip) for school this winter and she was wanting a good car for snow(AWD) and that is cheap/reliable. she doesnt lead foot at all. must be automatic and less than 3000.

 

my thoughts were

jeep

subaru legacy(older ones)

toyota 4wd pickup

 

her picks

ford explorer

geo tracker

 

 

 

 

thoughts/input is welcome.

[Velocifero]

AWD Subbie I'd say. Or a hood 4wd truck/suv

[BrIaN EG2]

awd geo!!!!!!!!

 

 

[hiemsnox]

i like all ur choices and none of hers.. to find a decent/low maintenance jeep or Toyota truck is gonna be really hard... both of those cars keep their value like crazy... especially the Toyota truck... cause i was looking for one of those and ppl are still asking 5k for a '89.

and jeeps u can find under 3k but they will need work. im not sure on the subbie price or work wise... but it be a sweet older car

[DelSolSweetie]

you all have horrible ideas

 

 

 

toyota hilux or go home

 

that way she can drive to the north pole

[hiemsnox]

you all have horrible ideas

 

 

 

toyota hilux or go home

 

that way she can drive to the north pole

 

i have to agree 100% here

[Xeryon]

cherokee's are dirt cheap, come in 4wd and auto and are really easy to work on. downside is that the 4wd only comes on the i6 and at best you will get 18-20mpg.

 

for 3k you can get a pretty nice condition mid-90's, or get one for 1500-2000 and fix a few things yourself. my i6 4wd auto grand cherokee ran me 1500 with 160k on it. I spent 600 and replaced all the ball joints, tie rods and sway bars and bought a $200 set of A/T tires off ebay and spent $300 and redid the whole brake system and have been driving it for two years now.

[SpeedDemon]

AWD Subbie I'd say. Or a hood 4wd truck/suv

 

that was my thoughts. its a good ride height, so it wont run the risk of tipping, and its still practical

awd geo!!

 

 

 

haha made me lol

i like all ur choices and none of hers.. to find a decent/low maintenance jeep or Toyota truck is gonna be really hard... both of those cars keep their value like crazy... especially the Toyota truck... cause i was looking for one of those and ppl are still asking 5k for a '89.

and jeeps u can find under 3k but they will need work. im not sure on the subbie price or work wise... but it be a sweet older car

 

im still in the process of looking, i had a subaru legacy that i was looking at last year, and should have bought it. lol

you all have horrible ideas

 

 

 

toyota hilux or go home

 

that way she can drive to the north pole

 

toyota hilux = toyota pickup(the older one)

cherokee's are dirt cheap, come in 4wd and auto and are really easy to work on. downside is that the 4wd only comes on the i6 and at best you will get 18-20mpg.

 

for 3k you can get a pretty nice condition mid-90's, or get one for 1500-2000 and fix a few things yourself. my i6 4wd auto grand cherokee ran me 1500 with 160k on it. I spent 600 and replaced all the ball joints, tie rods and sway bars and bought a $200 set of A/T tires off ebay and spent $300 and redid the whole brake system and have been driving it for two years now.

 

we would be more inclined to get something and fix it. the cheaper the better. she drives a cavalier with 220,000+ miles on it. bought it with 215,xxx for $500 last year. so 160,000miles would be great.

 

me personally...pay the extra money, get a wrx/sti/evo lol

[drkyle96]

Speed Demon:

 

I am not that familiar with Athens, Ohio, but why are you only considering 4WD vehicles?

My concern would be what drive would your GF be in on the road, and most likely it would

be in a 2 wheel drive mode, especially with a Toyota truck, Explorer, Jeep. You simply can

not drive on pavement in 4WD, the differential won't let you unless it could slip.

Plus, even if there was considerable snow, you wouldn't want to risk messing up the drive

train if you suddenly hit a dry spot (not to mention the possibility of losing control).

 

Full time AWD vehicles like an old Subaru or a really old Eagle are possibilities. Those are

OK as they have a slipping center dif. My personal recommendation if you are really concerned

about driving on snow would be to get a reliable front wheel drive, but get a good set of all season

tires or even snow tires depending on the speeds involved in her travels. Tirerack.com has a nice

listing of traction of tires on different pavement types and I have found the info reliable. I had a set of

Dunlops that had horrible wet traction and later found the web site to be spot on.

 

Good luck.

[Xeryon]

^ I guess this guy hasn't had much experience with 4wd vehicles in the last 20-30 years. Full time 4wd has not existed since the 80's All 4wd trucks now use a part time limited slip system. So you can drive down the highway in 4wd at 85mph if you wanted to on totally dry pavement without any problems. Of course you will kill your fuel mileage and if you go to perform a sharp turn in 4wd mode you will exceed the limits of the limited slip and the truck will buck a little, but won't hurt anything if done once or twice. Jeeps are a shift on the fly system, yank or push down the level by your knee to engage or disengage at any speed, any time, any road condition.

 

The primary benefit to owning a cherokee in Ohio is that they were all made in Ohio. Literally, you can't walk 100 yards without tripping over at least one. They are everywhere. Every salvage yard in the region has dozens of them in good shape for parts because of the vast number of them still on the road as winter beaters and off road toys.

 

I spent 3 months shopping for one with a total budget of $3000. the one I got is certainly an eyesore, but I trust it to take me anywhere I wanted to go. We were thinking about taking it to NC this week so we could go wheeling on the beach orv park but decided against it for fuel expense reasons.

[SpeedDemon]

Speed Demon:

 

I am not that familiar with Athens, Ohio, but why are you only considering 4WD vehicles?

My concern would be what drive would your GF be in on the road, and most likely it would

be in a 2 wheel drive mode, especially with a Toyota truck, Explorer, Jeep. You simply can

not drive on pavement in 4WD, the differential won't let you unless it could slip.

Plus, even if there was considerable snow, you wouldn't want to risk messing up the drive

train if you suddenly hit a dry spot (not to mention the possibility of losing control).

 

Full time AWD vehicles like an old Subaru or a really old Eagle are possibilities. Those are

OK as they have a slipping center dif. My personal recommendation if you are really concerned

about driving on snow would be to get a reliable front wheel drive, but get a good set of all season

tires or even snow tires depending on the speeds involved in her travels. Tirerack.com has a nice

listing of traction of tires on different pavement types and I have found the info reliable. I had a set of

Dunlops that had horrible wet traction and later found the web site to be spot on.

 

Good luck.

 

dude..did you even read the thread?

^ I guess this guy hasn't had much experience with 4wd vehicles in the last 20-30 years. Full time 4wd has not existed since the 80's All 4wd trucks now use a part time limited slip system. So you can drive down the highway in 4wd at 85mph if you wanted to on totally dry pavement without any problems. Of course you will kill your fuel mileage and if you go to perform a sharp turn in 4wd mode you will exceed the limits of the limited slip and the truck will buck a little, but won't hurt anything if done once or twice. Jeeps are a shift on the fly system, yank or push down the level by your knee to engage or disengage at any speed, any time, any road condition.

 

The primary benefit to owning a cherokee in Ohio is that they were all made in Ohio. Literally, you can't walk 100 yards without tripping over at least one. They are everywhere. Every salvage yard in the region has dozens of them in good shape for parts because of the vast number of them still on the road as winter beaters and off road toys.

 

I spent 3 months shopping for one with a total budget of $3000. the one I got is certainly an eyesore, but I trust it to take me anywhere I wanted to go. We were thinking about taking it to NC this week so we could go wheeling on the beach orv park but decided against it for fuel expense reasons.

 

yeah no kiddin...where is he from?

 

 

ill see if i can find a nice cherokee for her. if i have any problems once she gets it ill just call you haha

[Xeryon]

i just searched columbus craigslist there there are several in great shape for $1500 and less.

 

I really liked this one: http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/1866850260.html

[SpeedDemon]

same,color,model,year jeep that my uncle drives haha

[mpearce1974]

Learn how to drive on snow and ice??

 

I have had from a 87 CRX up to a 77' Ford F-250 4X4. Never been off the road in any of my cars, or trucks! Had a different rig every winter for 18 years!! I never even had weight to back of my 2-wheel drive pickups. Good quality tires and sipping is all I have ever done. Never owned a set of studded tires in my life!! Hell my Del Sol's have done the best in winter driving conditions than all the others!

[SpeedDemon]

well the car isnt for me, hell ill drive about anything in snow. but the g/f isnt too great with snow/ice. so she is wanting to get something 4wd incase she has to travel in it. she will be going from commuting a total of 14 miles to school each day, to a total of around 90-100 miles a day

[Xeryon]

I bet that Del Sol of your sucks balls when the snow is deep enough that you have to dig out around the door just to open it to get in. Which I had to do on the Jeep, no less. The snow was up to the windows more the one occasion this last year. Once in it, a little 4lo action and i pulled right out of the driveway without lifting a further flake of snow.

[SpeedDemon]

you should have gotten a video of you roaring out of a snow bank like "LOOK WHO JUST CAME HOME!!!"

[BrIaN EG2]

toyota hilux or go home

okay well... im already there

 

haha made me lol

exactly what i was going for

[mpearce1974]

I bet that Del Sol of your sucks balls when the snow is deep enough that you have to dig out around the door just to open it to get in. Which I had to do on the Jeep, no less. The snow was up to the windows more the one occasion this last year. Once in it, a little 4lo action and i pulled right out of the driveway without lifting a further flake of snow.

 

move

[Xeryon]

move

 

if so the only place I'm going is where snowmobiles and snowshoes are required to get to the market.

[DelSolSweetie]

toyota hilux = toyota pickup(the older one)

 

 

so not even close

[Xeryon]

reading failure

 

she drives 14 miles now, she will be driving 90-100.

 

and a toyota hilux is a tacoma and always has been. the hilux is just the name the reat of the world uses.

[DelSolSweetie]

designed different

 

and drove to the north pole

 

and submerged in water for 5 hours

 

 

 

tacoma cant do that

[Xeryon]

they are the same vehicle. look it up. a stock hilux and a stock tacoma are the same product with slightly different styling to suit the different marketplaces.

[DelSolSweetie]

so i can drive a tacoma to the north pole?