Moving to Michigan - keep my car?

I'm moving from the windy, cold Great Plains to the Lansing, Michigan area at the end of the year.

Should I keep the Z4? It's my daily driver here with M+S tires because we only get a few snowfalls each year and usually after a day the roads are clear enough for the Z4 to make it just fine. I also have an '04 Accord that I can use when the snow gets pretty bad around here; I don't know how it does in the snow but it does have the correct drive wheels for it, at least.

How quickly do they clear the roads there? Or do they perpetually stay too icy or snowy for uncomplicated RWD driving? Also, low clearance driving is a concern. I'll be commuting up the highway to East Lansing presumably from the Holt area, depending on where we pick up a house.

On the "sell it" column is the fact that I'm on-call for IT and if I need to be there at work I NEED to be there; they have very strict uptime requirements. I don't have money to pick up a 4x4 without trading or selling the BMW. So if the Accord couldn't take a fresh snowfall there, I'd need something more robust.

Also how afraid should I be of finding unplowed roads 10-15 minutes outside the city?

Snow tires on the Accord and you'll be ready for anything they could expect you to be out in. 

In reply to P3PPY :

I'm closer to Detroit, but I have neighbors with a Z3 and others with a Z4 and they both seem to DD them year round. 

My experience is if you're worried about ground clearance, the streets have already been plowed. Parking lots may depend/be slower.

Worries about the speed of plowing the roads outside the city you should ask your real estate agent or whoever you've talked to about the job itself. That's typically done by the city or county itself and can vary, so someone local will know the reputations better

You'll be fine.  Lansing is equipped for the snow they get.  The roads are cleared quickly.  

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Snow tires on the Accord and you'll be ready for anything they could expect you to be out in. 

So there's usually not so much snowfall in one night that you'd need truck-like clearance to keep from plowing snow with your bumper?

Jalopnik and others like to beat the drum that snow tires are all you need and that the drive configuration of the car doesn't matter. There's some truth to it, as tires are the single most important thing, but I've driven every configuration of car in every kind of weather here, and I'm here to tell you that tires are not the ONLY thing. My AWD SHO on good all-seasons is light-years better in snow than my E46 or Contour were on snow tires.

Having said that, snow tires on your Z4 will get you there 95% of the time, and you'll have fun doing it. The Accord will be better, of course, and if you drive that you reduce the Z4's exposure to salt, which is always a good thing.

P3PPY said:

mazdeuce - Seth said:

Snow tires on the Accord and you'll be ready for anything they could expect you to be out in. 

So there's usually not so much snowfall in one night that you'd need truck-like clearance to keep from plowing snow with your bumper?

No. That's very rare, TBH. Even if there's deep snow, enough other people have driven on it to knock it down some.

Man you guys are making me feel so much better about this already. My new job won't make me rich but it will alleviate some of the financial pressure to sell the car for profit, so I had been kinda hoping to keep it. This helps

I never lived in Michigan but rather lived 10 miles outside of Michigan in Ohio.  I spent many years driving exclusively around MI for business.  These years included a '90 Prizm, '95 Civic, '96 Accord and '97 Nissan 240sx rwd.   Previous to that lots of winter miles in a rwd Chevy Astro.  None of them every had true dedicated winter tires.  Never any real issues. 

But, I now run dedicated winter tires and they really are a joy.  I originally considered the spending on them to be a "luxury" but now having had them I would not want to go back to without.  

However, your insurance premiums will go up.  I suspect quite a bit.  Michigan is an expensive state for auto insurance.   This has nothing to do with snow and all to due with Michigan being a "no-fault" state.  

John Welsh said:

However, your insurance premiums will go up.  I suspect quite a bit.  Michigan is [b]the most expensive state in the nation[/b] for auto insurance.   This has nothing to do with snow and all to due with Michigan being a "no-fault" state.  

fixed

I checked a site that gives estimates. Current zip code: $1,200 average per year. MIL's Lansing area ZIP code: $1,000 more. This is definitely going to affect our budget.

It's not as bad as Detroit, at least. Some of them are $7k a year.

https://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/zip-code-car-insurance.aspx

Hi! 

Grew up in Holt actually.  Still work in the East Lansing area.  

Proper snow tires and I'd say you'll be fine 99% of the time.  I actually commute from the Grand Rapids area and I've yet to own an all wheel drive vehicle.  I commute in with a RWD E90 3-series on snow tires.  The real destroyer of cars here is the amount of road salt they use, and the atrocious roads and potholes that open up from the corresponding freeze/thaw cycle.  The Z4 isn't ideal for battling that part.  

If you want any input or feedback on places you're looking at, or areas, etc. feel free to shoot me a PM.  

Those of us in SE MI should know that Lansing is very much on the edge of lake effect snow.  Not always, for sure.  But they are far more likely to get a lake effect dump than we are.

Still, get some snow tires.  I drove through some really bad snowy weather with a Miata and snow tires.  

I dailied an AE86 and a 1980 Celica through several southern Ontario winters of full-on lake effect. I had then-modern Hakka RSIs on the AE86 and some old-style knobby rally snows on the Celica. It was fun passing AWD trucklets on bald all-seasons in the ditch and taking every corner like a Formula D pro (albeit at 35km/h.) Don't remember having much trouble, but YMMV.

I live in Flint, 40 miles east of Lansing. I have daily driven , with snow tires, the following cars 87 Mercedes Benz 190 e, Volvo 242, 85 RX-7, 09 RX-8. I rarely have a problem. The problem usually is an unplowed parking lot or dead end street. The Lansing area plows the roads much more than Flint.

I live in Chicago, not Michigan, but I've driven lowered Miata's through 4 midwest winters. Other than that, my winter vehicles have ranged from a Crown Vic to a GS430 to a Mazda Tribute, my only AWD car that I've had. For the most part, weather forecasts are really good and cities/counties/states are prepared. 

Frankly, you'll be fine. I highly recommend you get snow tires for anything--my parents get them for their Subaru even--but in a RWD car it can get you stuck without them. AND it lets you have real performance tires in the summer, which are literally useless in the winter. But despite folks saying that all seasons are no-seasons, they're realistically pretty good in most applications (although I'd not include a RWD sports car as one of those applications). Just give yourself more room to stop and be smart. 

 

I'm a Michigan resident transplanted to the Detroit Metro from California. In my experience, you could daily a Z4 fine in the winter. You may have one or two days that you might be delayed by waiting for a plow but it's unlikely. I daily drove a Miata my first two years out here and only had one day where I decided to stay home but probably could have made it. 

You will need snow tires but the roads are usually clear, (heavily) salted, and there are very few hills. The bigger question is if you are willing to watch your car get corroded after a couple years of driving. 

Miata for ten winters  and now going into #7 with the FRS. Someone needs to explain to me why going off the road nose first is better than going off backwards?

Not that I have done either so far.  Both perform just fine in the snow. Buy snow tires.

My friend who never buys snow tires figures since rental companies don't worry about it, he wont either.

Pete

Congratulations on the new job. I am sorry it is in Lansing.

I am glad others who live in the area chimed in. I grew up there but have not lived there in quite a few years. They used to clear the roads fast enough that when every school district in area was closed for snow, the Lansing schools were always open.  It sounds like they are still diligent with snow plowing. 

The only time you might have a problem is during a heavy snow fall before the plows have had a chance to get there.

Might happen once a year.

Does your soft top have a plastic rear window or is it glass?

My buddy was a marine recruiter her in Michigan Ian’s daily drove his z4 coupe with snow tires. His coworker with a blazer didn’t make it in one morning due to snow but he’d did!

As for insurance, here’s mine. Full coverage with broad form in the ranger, and both st’s, and comp only on Miata. Thatws for 6 months

Your comp rate on the Miata is great.  I tried to do that with my Saab and it was WAY more than that.  Makes me wonder about our agent now.

To the OP- I wouldn’t be too concerned about the snow.  The salt and the potholes are far worse.