Anybody planning on driving your Z in winter?

westa6969

My previous ride was an RX8 with 20" Wheels and Summer Tires and my first bout with the slightest of snow and it became useless and it had weenie power compared to a "Z". Thought it was the most dangerous winter driving ever and had to buy Blizzaks - and $1200 later the car became quite good in snow and ice since it had good weight distribution - in heavy snow it became sort of a snow plow since it was so low. I had an 18 mile drive to work daily and would never risk my life with MI winters.

My current ride is a G37 going into my second winter and last year was a nightmare since the salesman told me I was getting All Seasons and come to find out I ended up with performance tires model (so much for trusting a sales rep in May when there's no snow - that'll never happen again) --- much as others noted there is so much friggin power to the wheels that what they call traction control kicks in and locks down the power to the wheels and makes it worse in many ways than the RX8 - got stuck five times in one day last yr but trying to hold out on the $1200 Blizzaks since I have 5 months left on my lease. It not just getting stuck in your driveway but when it happens in a major intersection and SUVs are flying around ignoring the elements it's cardiac arrest time, or sliding into a rural DEEP ditch and/or getting stranded in the elements during a blizzard --- all of this invokes many WTF moments on your purchase decision - no matter how Cool a vehicle when you find your life at risk and your approaching retirement age it means think twice and plan with the proper tires to match one's climate BEFORE buying/Leasing.

Seriously thinking of a Z fully knowing I need a blizzaks (or similar Winter tire) plan every year to truly survive MI Winters to work. If the Z handles anything like my G37 the waiting power burst it puts out simply locks traction with perf/summer tires in slightest of snow and wetness (I must say that Infinity TC is the screwiest system I've ever had as it robs all power/traction and IMO does the opposite as it = NO TRACTION when it kicks in) but I suspect the Blizzaks would do for the G37 that they did for the RX8 - the RX8 while a fun car to drive was a gas whore at 13mpg with that wankle engine that needs a quart of oil about every month and that's not an exaggeration. The car was a fun drive and I got loads of compliments on it which surprised me but would never buy another with that underpowered gas/oil hog engine.

Been trying to find testimony from Z owners experience with Blizzaks or similar winter tires to see if they do for the Z that they'd done for my RX8. I would not consider any vehicle for winter with Perf/summer tires - I saw a video posting where a guy bought an Audi Q7 Quattro with beautiful custom wheels and perf tires and he demo'd next to ZERO traction as a result.

Northern winters almost demand Blizzaks on sport/perf vehicles though my wife has an 08 Accord Cpe with all seasons and she had next to no problems with traction last winter - the opposite of my G37 which is very unlikely to lease another since while I think it's a sexy car and fast I've never once felt I was in a luxury vehicle as it has some surprisingly cheap components and the BOSE sucks big time compared to the BMW I used to drive with Harmon Kardon - the RX8 also had BOSE and it's got to be the most over-rated sound and sick of finding it in half the vehicles you buy now - my previous AWD BMW sound blew away any BOSE in car sound IMO. I guess I got spoiled with the AWD BMW with All Seasons and suddenly these RD performance vehicles/tires were shockingly dangerous when faced with MI winters.

OK I'm rambling and will vote for Blizzaks or similar for northern Snow/Wet driving from my G37 experience and RX8. (after all the G37 is basically a Z packaged in a sport coupe).

Mergnthwirker

I previously owned an RX-8 too. Very balanced, and as you say, good in the winter with appropriate snow tires. Unfortunately, the Z is not as well balanced, and with so much more power it is much easier to break loose the rear on slippery roads. Having the sport package with limited slip is a real advantage (my RX-8 had LSD too). At least with cars like these you always know what is going on at the road surface.

I do miss the RX-8 for being able to load the rear seats with the in-laws for more ballast in the rear

mjd77

I still have an RX-8 and use Dunlop winter 18's and that car does just fine in the snow. The lack of torque + traction control makes this car pretty easy to drive in the snow. I will likely end up in a 370 for my next car and the first thing I did was check tirerack.com for winter packages as this would be my only car and it says call for infor on the 370. Initally my big worry was that 18s wouldn't fit over the brakes on the sport package but that has been put to rest based on what people on here have said.