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plance1 wrote:heaters are for wimps.
Did that ONE winter with a vw beetle.. And one winter (one of the coldest to date here) with a Fiat spider. The beetle was not TOO bad.. at least you were out of the wind. The spider always had a draft across the back of my neck and down my right arm
last winter was my first with a heater in a long time. had no heat in my previous 3 winter vehicles.
Audi 90 Quattro? Great in snow, dirt cheap, 5 cylinders engines go forever. Of course minor electrical issues will drive you to drink.
Best heater I had was in a Ford Truck, which had two settings Off and Inferno.
Snow? Can't help, I haven't seen any in 12 years. :D
i had a 98 jetta with a 2.0, not a wolfsburg, though. (dang rear drum brakes!) anyhoo it had stock suspention and with blizzacks i could drive through anything. i parked it for a minute in 10 inch deep snow, came back out of the house as the plow drove by and plowed me ino the side of the street. me and 3 others jumped in and we drove right out of the snow bank. great snow car. good heater too. too bad the rest didn't want to stay working/connected to the car, but thats a first car for ya.
I'm on my second 1st gen neon. With Good studded snows, they have been virtually unstopable.
My E36 with Blizzaks was a great winter car. Only issue was in deeeeeep snow.
Old Subaru? A first gen Legacy or 2.2 Impreza(OBS, particularly) makes for a great disposable winter beater. Cheap, plentiful parts, fantastic traction, and cranking heat. Not everyone needs AWD, but it sure is fun.
Test drove the Jetta. The rear brakes/axle had an issue. Not sure what it is, but it made scratchy sound even w/ brakes disengaged. Stuck caliper, perhaps? It also had some sort of exhaust issue...
The contour guy never called me back. I've got an appointment to see a 99 Protege this afternoon.
Looked at the Protege... It was all sorts of sketchy. The deal breaker on it was a fairly heavy smoky smell.
Tom, gravel rally tires dont work so well in the snow. Besides, most are not DOT legal
Going to pay for the Jetta this evening... I got a good deal on it. The owners didn't even negotiate my offer.
The Jetta is MINE! All mine! 
go for a Volvo 240. i found one with a seized a/c pulley for 400 of the green stuff on kijiji somewhere south of Toronto
I will sell you my pick up. It does OK in the snow. and by OK I mean it is a lot of fun.
Sorry. Deal is done. Now expect a thread on junkyard swaps for a VW jetta Mk 3.
You should have gone awd or 4x4, you'll see what i mean in the deep snow...
BTW, would a LSD improve snow-driving performance?
I'm picking the car up friday...
patgizz wrote:last winter was my first with a heater in a long time. had no heat in my previous 3 winter vehicles.
one winter I delivered pizzas in my car w/no heat. My grassroots solution? Well I was working for a pizza place that started using heated discs in the bottoms of the pizza bags to keep the pizza warm while theyre out for delivery. I found out that about 10 of those in the backseat would keep the windows clear and the interior temp of the car at least 55° or thereabouts...enough to be comfy in your coat. Just swap a few out after every run! Was a waaayy cheaper option than $68 for a new heater core and another $20 for hoses
AWD or 4x4 means you can go further into the snow bank before you get stuck. 4 winter tires and 2 wheel drive is all most of us need.
Our new dd has heated seats... I must be feeling my age!!!
impreza....impreza RS if you can find one in that price range, but with a couple suspension tweaks the non-RS, late 90s Imprezas are still fun to drive. Plus you can (for the most part) just get all the RS guys' stock stuff when they upgrade...
