jetboat

I get my cars broken. Sometimes get lucky and its a japanese car. But usually its a eurogarbagecan. Yes the subie 2.5 had head gasket issues and leak oil like an old ford truck. i made a lot of money fixing them but they could withstand severe overheats, very poor maintenance and still run like new for 300k miles easy. never even consider american cars as viable transportation and they r ugly yard art.

MikeCL

My 97 Subaru Outback with the EJ25D I changed the headgaskets year before last it really started overheating, it got so bad it would overheat almost all the time when I AC was on.. SO I pulled the motor myself and did the headgaskets, since I was off from work for a week and I already had all my parts why not? The best was was people walking down the street came up to me saying they were impressed which was kinda odd at first, maybe it was because the motor was still on the engine lift? Anyways got the new replacement gaskets from the dealer and had the heats resurfaced and now I'm a few hundred away from 250,000.

And this past summer I ended up dropping a lower mileage Forester transmission in because of an issue with 5th gear and it was just cheaper to get that then rebuild, took a drive up to NH and picked one up for $300 and had that installed in about 4 hours pretty easy stuff, next year I'm repainting and doing some other minor work.

I do miss my 03 Forester XS but I had to get rid of it

Toecutter

Last week after a day of steady snowfall my WRX was covered:

Attached Images

wrx snow.jpg (61.0 KB, 139 views)

MikeCL

Lucky! I'm glad it's been a little mild right now because I need new tires next month.

Zenhugh

Our mountain starts at city level so I'm just driving a Nissan Tida with studded winter tyres however next year we are thinking of upgrading to a Subaru XV crossover (in orange of course). I love the Subraru's and always hire them in NZ for the long climbs up to the resorts.
Has anyone driven the new XV's?

Toecutter

I'm trying out some new Continental Extreme Winter Contacts and they've proven themselves to be awesome. I highly recommend!

Sincraft

I have an 06 nissan frontier that I had the day they brought it down off the car carrier. I've had several sets of tires on this vehicle including studded snow tires. To date, my michelin all seasons seem to be the best for side to side confidence however, I do slip and slide a bit going uphill under packed down once plowed snow. IE: slick from being packed down, and still enough snow there to hinder tire > road contact.

I have to imagine there are better tires that I could use during the winter. My last set of winter tires were some continentals that were rated good but to me, the all seasons felt better.

my wife's altima, normally a car known to be good in the snow, SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS in the snow. I put blizzaks on there and they sucked. I then put the general brand on there which were top rated, and they were nothing great either. Compare to her all season, they are thousands of times better, but compared to other front wheel drive cars we have had, this is the worst one with or without snow tires in the snow.

I think it's because she has a lower profile (60's) and a wider tire than you would normally get on a front wheel drive sedan. Normally, these are 70's and thinner tires. Brand new tires and the treads just dont seem that deep, even with snow tires. Because of this, I will likely never buy another altima even though they are a good car for the money. I would likely pay the extra for a Subaru next time.

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mhaas

I recently "upgraded" to a 98 Fontier 4X4. She is somewhat underpowered going up the steep stuff, but I knew that going in. I wanted a four banger to save gas (23-24 MPG HWY) and I have a work truck I can use if I ever need to haul or tow. So far so good in the snow/ice when I put her in 4WD but the truck drives abismally on slick stuff in RWD. All season tires. Manual everything, no bells and no whistles. Less stuff to break down. Just the way I like it.

MikeCL

Year before last I ran some firestone winter force tires, those tires kicked ass! I was going up and down streets with 6-7" of snow, I made about $80 one night just pushing people down streets and getting someone home. I was driving once home and the snow was pretty much melted on the highway, but I was in the 3rd lane where it does not drain right and doing about 70 and I hit some standing water... whoa.. not only did it cover my whole windshield I never felt it hydroplane but I went from like 70 to 50 in like 2 seconds.

I hope it will stay kinda mild for the first few weeks in Jan because I will get the tires on they are down on the wear bars now I'm more concerned about stopping now then moving.

Tech420

Just got one about 2 weeks ago and I absolutely LOVE it. Took it up to Killington right after the heavy storm they got and had no issues. Car is perfect for all the things I do.