S13 240SX in the snow

I found these beauties on CL and will be looking at them on Saturday:

http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/cto/3337026985.html

Rare to find a hatch sans sunroof and power options.

http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/3337317248.html

The coupe is autotragic and had a moonroof, but it does come with a set of snow tires/wheels. If I got the hatchback, I would have to sell the knockoff coilovers and wheels and swap in stock suspension and wheels/snow tires.

Anyways, I need a winter car. I want another S13. With good snow tires and some extra junk in da trunk, how are the S13s in the snow? I had a basket-case S13 as a first car, but I rarely drove it in the snow and it had worn-out all seasons.

I have some FWD and AWD winter options that are GRM-approved, but... dat two-tone.

I'm sure that may here will show off their winter driving skills by saying that the S13 will be "fine in the snow if you know how to drive." It's true, virtually any car can "drive in the snow" but it's a matter of how often you want your 15-minute trip to turn into a 2-hour trip, I suppose.

But I've driven in the snow my whole life (I work at a ski shop!), and a good friend of mine had an S13 for years and it was downright dreadful in the snow, even with 200lbs of sandbags and other heavy crap in the hatch. IIRC he ran snow tires in the winter. I mean, it got from point A to point B on plowed roads, but it did it VERY slowly and spend alot of time sideways. I drove it a few times in the snow and found it WORSE than even my GT6 is in the snow (and that is bad).

Hell, that S13 was easy to get sideways in the rain, for that matter.

S13s are great, but if you have to deal with snow regularly I wouldn't make it your daily driver.

Get the S13, and then find some old beater FWD car for the winter....

I could use one of those. Preferably the hatch.

I like the coupe, minus the auto trans part. Too much for either of them though

corytate wrote: Too much for either of them

+1

If you really want an RWD winter beater, do like I did and find a SA/FB RX-7 that runs well but has mild storage bin rust (killing enthusiast value). With little 13" snows I was making my 12mi commute sideways at 40MPH daily...it was a lot of fun.

I ran my S13 hatch for years as a daily before I got interested in cars, snow tires and VLSD its fine.

I had an s13 for 7 years... Great car, but it sucked ass in the snow. After two winters an getting stuck a few times, I gave up and bought a FWD DD lol.

Will the 240 be your only car? (Not intending to start a rant here)

Weather or not it's good in the snow aside, why would you want one of these for a winter ride? They are rust free, (or very nearly). Snow = salt = rust. Why watch your investment rot away? By something else for the winter and save the S13 for summer.

I've said all this before. I lived in Central New York, land of near 200" per year. I've driven in storms through Canada on the way to Michigan when I could not see the road except for the treeline on either side. I've driven in storms where it has snowed one foot per hour. I've driven in Flint, Mi, where plowing is something of an option for weeks at a time.

I drove a long bed, RWD full size truck with no weight in the bed. Before that it was an 81 Camaro, with no weight in the trunk.

Am I a great driver? No. But now I can easily correct power-on oversteer. That was a great education.

I got stuck twice with the Camaro, both times in driveways before I got snow tires for Christmas (just the rear). I only ever ran into trouble with the truck when I was attempting to climb a hill on black ice. I got up as much speed as I could, sliding around the corner, and spun the rear tire all of the way up, and all the way back down. I tried 3x more and then went a different way. Never had to leave the truck. One time I passed a stuck 4wd truck up a snowy hill.

The answer is excellent snow tires. Cooper Wintermaster or something like that. I suspect the only challenge a 240SX would have over either of these vehicles is ground clearance. Get the skinniest tires you can, and pay attention.

If you have to. I did. I was too poor to get anything else, and I had to have the truck for moving things back and forth. If I had started from scratch, it would not have been my choice. I would, however, want RWD over FWD for one reason. You can both spin the drive wheels AND steer with RWD. I have seen many FWD cars slide into ditches climbing small hills because they loose steering control as they attempt to climb. With RWD, you just use the front wheels to keep the back ones where they belong. I climbed up a very steep snowy hill in the truck once where the front end of the truck was mostly in one lane while the rear was in the other. I passed stuck cars like this on the way up, which was a bit odd.

Rambling, sorry. I live in SC now. That's the solution. I have a steep driveway uphill out. My Dad saw it and said "How do you get out when it snows?" I answered "I stay home that day". So, I guess I am closing with "yup, the 240SX will work just fine, especially if you move".

Spoolpigeon wrote: I had an s13 for 7 years... Great car, but it sucked ass in the snow. After two winters an getting stuck a few times, I gave up and bought a FWD DD lol.

How long was that bad boy stock, though... post up a picture of the car for some context, sir.

I drive the Miata all winter and have a ball. No clue about the Nissan though.

RexSeven wrote: Rare to find a hatch sans sunroof and power options.

Not really, but perhaps they are now since they get smashed alot........I considered an sr swapped s13 in a trade until I realized it was more for liability insurance than my ion redline was for full coverage.....

A friend of mine has probably owned 25-30 s13/14's in his short time with them, he never had issues in the snow here in indiana.....then again, we don't have hills

Get some snow tires and stop worrying about it.

(says the person who drives a Miata with no LSD in the winter in a snow-heavy mountainous area (west MD))

Bigger worry about winter driving for me is rust!

DaveEstey wrote: I drive the Miata all winter and have a ball. No clue about the Nissan though.

Winter you say ? ? ? ? ?

Mazda you say ? ? ? ? ?

Fun you say ? ? ? ? ? ?

oh okay, makes sense :)

RWD + Winter Tires + Manual Transmission + LSD = Best winter combo

That being said the vehicles suspension will come into play. As I understand it, the 240's rear suspension was somewhat unrefined in comparison to say an FC or a miata. None the less, up here in Alberta I've seen quite a few 240's used as winter beaters and the only problem they seem to run into is ground clearance.

I would actually say no LSD would work better in the snow, because you'll only spin one. The loss of traction vs no LSD is not as much as most folks think, and when you only lose one rear wheel to the kinetic friction side, the rear is less likely to step out.

tuna55 wrote: I would actually say no LSD would work better in the snow, because you'll only spin one. The loss of traction vs no LSD is not as much as most folks think, and when you only lose one rear wheel to the kinetic friction side, the rear is less likely to step out.

Except when that one wheel is just spinning like mad on ice and the other wheel is sitting there on perfectly good grip while youre stuck in your driveway or something stupid.

fidelity101 wrote:

tuna55 wrote: I would actually say no LSD would work better in the snow, because you'll only spin one. The loss of traction vs no LSD is not as much as most folks think, and when you only lose one rear wheel to the kinetic friction side, the rear is less likely to step out.

Except when that one wheel is just spinning like mad on ice and the other wheel is sitting there on perfectly good grip while youre stuck in your driveway or something stupid.

OK, good point. That is indeed a likely scenario where limited slip can help.

A friend of mine knows the owner of the 2-tone. He says the car is well taken care of.

McTinkerson wrote: That being said the vehicles suspension will come into play. As I understand it, the 240's rear suspension was somewhat unrefined in comparison to say an FC or a miata.

The 240SX has the same nice multilink rear suspension as the Z32 300ZX. The FC RX-7 just has a semi-trailing arm design. So, its definitely Miata>240SX>FC.

I know a few people with E36 winter beaters. I might be driving my 325i out in the snow this year. Maybe I should find some non-sport package springs.

I definitely don't buy FWD being better than RWD for snow. I guess if your talking about a typical front-heavy car it might be.

The semi trailing arm design is great!***

*without the use of a rear sway bar, in offroad conditions and with the rear toe steer bushing eliminated.

If your goal is to buy a winter car, then I'd pass on them. The entire point of a winter car is to get you there when the weather is bad.

That means picking up an awd or 4wd vehicle and throwing snow tires on it.

Can you make a 240 work? Yeah, sure you can. However it'll be nowhere as good as an awd/4wd vehicle.

I bet an E36 318i w/ LSD (winter package) would be a great winter car (like 48%/52% distribution) and the little M42/M44 is like always on traction control. And some 318s came with cloth upholstery.

McTinkerson wrote: That being said the vehicles suspension will come into play. As I understand it, the 240's rear suspension was somewhat unrefined in comparison to say an FC or a miata.

Consider that the 'limits' in the snow are so low that the suspension barely does anything during cornering.

Matthew Huizing wrote: I bet an E36 318i w/ LSD (winter package) would be a great winter car (like 48%/52% distribution) and the little M42/M44 is like always on traction control. And some 318s came with cloth upholstery.

That should only exist before '96iirc......or did they continue offering lsd in the sedan/coupes after the 95 model year(when it was dropped for the ti)