Any good dealerships in Michigan?

MightyBobo

Well, multiple reasons, but these are mainly personal.

First, I feel its far too nice of a car to drive around in winter and get salt all over, rusting it up.

Second, its not particularly safe. Yes, Ive heard of many people driving RWD vehicles in the snow, including big heavy boats like Caprices. But, personally, I wouldn't want to if I had the choice. Winter tires/wheels ought to help considerably, but I still wouldn't want to do it.

Third, ground clearance issues. If you get more than a few inches of snow, that front end w/ the spoiler will be like a plow, and furthermore, if you somehow get stuck, getting out of it is going to be tons o' fun. And by tons o' fun, I mean, you'll need to get pulled out if you get high-centered on some hard-packed snow.

Long story short, I dont see this as being a very good winter car at all if you get a lot of snow.

On the other hand, if you just get "cold" in the winter, and not much snow and ice? Have at it.

__________________
I don't own a car anymore.

citycat

Drove my 330ci in the snow for 3 winters and only ever got stuck once, when we had about 9" of snow and the UPS truck ran me off the side of my street. Had winter rims and tires for it and had minimal trouble -- just had to adjust my driving accordingly. I live about 10 minutes from where I work, so I don't have a long drive, nor highway. We get about 3 storms a year for a total of 4-6 days where I'd keep the Z in the garage and bum a ride.

Ground clearance I'm concerned about with the Z. On the other hand, I compared clearance on the Z (about 4.8 inches per Nissan's stats) to the 135i (6 inches). I don't know how much practical difference 1.2 inches is going to make in comparing these two cars for snow duty. You're absolutely spot-on about exactly how these type of cars get stuck, though. Dug the bimmer out post-UPS and it sucked.

I guess what I need to hear is "Holy sh*t, no, don't even try, it's a spinning hockeypuck of death in the snow!" or "Give it a go, stupid."

I don't have the resources (financially or storage-wise) to keep a 3rd car as a beater, so whatever I get next has to be a 365-day car. I'm willing to make some sacrifices to stable a Z in the garage.

Oh, and one last entertaining side note. Stopped off at Tamaroff Nissan today and got a semi-lecture from a sales guy there about how I need to realize that a car like the Z is going to mean a big payment of 500-700 a month unless I put down a big downpayment, and he's really not going to let me drive one unless I'm seriously ready to talk those kind of numbers. I laughed, put my name on the list, and told him to call me when they get an AT in. I must be giving out a clueless-noob-with-no-money vibe or something.

ChrisSlicks

Why is this you?



I drove my G35 year round, it was just fine in the snow with winter tires. I don't plan on driving the Z in the snow because I don't want the salt eating away my undercarriage. If you got nice skinny snow tires I'm sure you could drive it in the snow if you had to. The LSD on the sport would help you in the snow but then you would have a hard time finding beater winter wheels to fit.

citycat

I don't have that much hair on my head.