2nd car for winter?

jaffa20

Hi all, i have an mx5 at the moment and i'm thinking if it is going to be a winter like we had last january/february, would it be worth buying an old reliable car for the winter months. I know i'm asking well in advance but i'm only considering it at the moment.

I'm sure this is a common thing among cabriolet drivers especially with rwd which is pretty dangerous on the snow/ice so i'm just looking at old ford forcus and corollas and thought one of these would be a good choice and i could keep the mx5 of the road for winter.

How would my insurance work here? Can i just transfer insurance over to a similar car or would there be other costs involved? Would they make me take out a new policy even though the mx5 will be of the road. It's really just like i'm buying a new car.... well for a few months:)

When i'm going back the mx5, i can just declare the car of the road for the months i wasn't driving it, right?

What are your thoughts? Thanks

Muckie

Your planing ahead. Best cars i found during the past winter was
the AWD Subaru always started and went thru every thing!

If you get a focus your stuck with 2wd still. Maybe get a set of snow chains and keep the MX-5.(nice car too)

But if your set on getting a "winter" car and having the MX-5 off
the road,

just be careful when your back driving it, fluids and rubbers perish and
parts seizing up.

Anan1

I'd just get a set of steel rims with winter tyres for the MX-5.

jaffa20

Thought about winter tyres alright but i'd also need to get a hardtop too for the bad weather. Thought of having a second car is cool too though as could do some work on it in summer months while i'm driving the mx5. Would prefer to work on an older car rather than doing any possible damage to the mazda.

Anan1

jaffa20 wrote: »

Thought about winter tyres alright but i'd also need to get a hardtop too for the bad weather.

I wouldn't bother, any good soft top will be more than able for our winters. Plus, there are days in winter when it's nice to drop the hood. I think it really comes down to whether you want a second car. I will say this, though - in my experience, older cars are a lot more fun in summer than in winter.

CiniO

jaffa20 wrote: »

(...) especially with rwd which is pretty dangerous on the snow/ice (...)

It's not a type of drive (rwd, fwd) or a car dangerous on snow/ice.
It's a driver who doesn't know how to drive in such conditions.
Obviously, driving fwd is different to driving rwd in slippery conditions.
Nevertheless both can be safe, if a driver knows how to drive them.
I don't think any of them is easier to handle then the other.
All you need to do is know how to do it, and practice it.

Some hills are virtually impossible to manage in rwd when icey, some journalist dude had a 7 series for review over the winter and couldn't get it out of his drive for 4 days iirc.

Anan1

RoverJames wrote: »

Some hills are virtually impossible to manage in rwd when icey, some journalist dude had a 7 series for review over the winter and couldn't get it out of his drive for 4 days iirc.

I heard similar stories about BMWs not being able to get over speed bumps in the ice, although i'd imagine an MX-5 on winter tyres should be able to manage most things.

djimi

On new years eve night/new years day early morning this year I had the misfortune of driving home from town in that heavy snow we had. We got stuck on the hills approaching Palmerstown along with many other cars, and when we did eventually get moving it was the big RWD cars like the Mercs and BMWs that were not able to get up the icy hills; as far as I could tell most of them would be there until the next morning. Made me realise that RWD cars are not all that they are cracked up to be, and in dodgy weather conditions like we are likely to get in Ireland from time to time Im more than happy to be driving a FWD (obviously would prefer a 4WD in conditions like that tho!).

keithclancy

Most cars are fine for Western European weather conditions, its more important that you ensure the correct amount of Anti-Freeze is in the coolant system and in the Washer fluid, also make sure your battery isn't too old.

My 10 year old Octavia started without any problems in -18 degree temperatures.

Winter Tyres make a big difference in snow alright. IMO most times you see someone having problems during the winter its due to not preparing for the Winter.

Also, Snow chains will never be of any use in Ireland, snow is never deep enough. (don't even know why they sell them)

voxpop

put some extra weight in the boot should help along with winter tyres. FWD work better because the weight of the engine is over the wheels. Also dont switch off traction control - if you have it - and dont rev the nuts off the car unless your idea is to melt the ice with friction

itarumaa

a cheaper option would just buy proper winter tyres to MX-5, I think it is 50-50 balance anyway so it should be ok in the winter.

if not, then old Volvo S40 would be a great winter car, no problems last winter what so ever. Except once when I decided that a little handbrake assisted slide would be nice in the roundabout, altough I forgot that without grip correcting the slide is a bit tricky:)

jaffa20

Thanks for the advice guys. Guess the sensible option would be to go for some good winter tyres then and a few bags of sand in the boot:D I might get an itch for an old closer to the time though. I drive to donegal in winter too and was pretty bad on back roads at christmas but the a3 was fine on it so i guess with winter tyres on the mx5, there shouldn't be any problems.

Matt Simis

CiniO wrote: »

It's not a type of drive (rwd, fwd) or a car dangerous on snow/ice.
It's a driver who doesn't know how to drive in such conditions.

Yeah... strong message there. Back in reality though powerful RWD cars are much harder and more stressful to drive in ice then FWD. Also I think the comments about the snow driving in this thread miss the mark entirely, the issue in Ireland isnt snow (which itself isnt hard to drive in), its invisible sheet ice that provides zero traction, to man and car alike. I could push my car sideways in the ice last winter and its 2tons, that is if I wasnt on the ground myself as even I couldnt stand up in hiking boots.

Wasnt as much an issue around highly populated and gritted areas.

I tried several cars and my own RWD (390bhp, 52:48 balance, near 20years old) was frankly lethal. Im hoping Winter Tyres will help next Winter, but I also have a 2nd car now. Im not sure how much better Winters will be in pure Ice driving though.

Anan1

Matt Simis wrote: »

Im hoping Winter Tyres will help next Winter, but I also have a 2nd car now. Im not sure how much better Winters will be in pure Ice driving though.

I'm wondering this myself. I have a set of rims for winters for my Forester, but as you say on clear sheet ice they might not make much difference.

swe_fi

OP "winter car" for sure in my opinion.

Although my neighbor has an MX5 that he drives year round it does not look much fun, maybe you have done it before and you are cool with it but for me it would not be an option.

You could buy a cheapish winter car one for lets say 1-2K (or even less, don't know what is cheap to you) and then even resell it come the summer if you like at a couple of hundred € loss, the cars you mention retain value pretty well - there is always a market for Focus/Corolla in this price range.

+ You'd keep your MX5 in much better condition as well + as you say you can maintain/upgrade/polish it during the winter, meaning you will actually look forward to bringing it out for nice days + you can work on it you have spare time / ****ty days during the winter, nice project

On winter tyres - i think they will help somewhat in general but on black ice - no difference - there is no winter worth mentioning here though.

ambro25

jaffa20 wrote: »

Hi all, i have an mx5 at the moment and i'm thinking if it is going to be a winter like we had last january/february, would it be worth buying an old reliable car for the winter months. I know i'm asking well in advance but i'm only considering it at the moment.

Muckie wrote: »

Your planing ahead. Best cars i found during the past winter was the AWD Subaru always started and went thru every thing!

We've had the same MX-5 for the past 10 years, and Subaru Imprezas as a family car for the past 6 to 7 years.

This past winter, with all the snow we got in the UK, I ended up preferring the MX5 over the Impreza (06 hawkeye, 2.0 R Sports), as having a more predictable behaviour.

The Scoob was fine and the AWD trying its best on snow/slush/slippy surfaces but low-profiles directional tyres just don't like snow/slush/slippy surfaces, regardless of whether mounted to a 2WD or AWD drivetrain. And don't get me started on the A-A-A-A-A-BS forever losing it and being about as effective as a chocolate fireguard.

itarumaa

Anan1 wrote: »

I'm wondering this myself. I have a set of rims for winters for my Forester, but as you say on clear sheet ice they might not make much difference.

a finnish magazine tested this, a braking test in ice, from speed 50km/h to 0, using abs.

studded tyre, 51 meters
non-studded winter tyre (nordic spec) 61 meters
M+S tyre(basically a summer tyre) 190 meters

but please notice that non-studded winter tyre used in nordics and in europe are different spec, nordic one is softer and better in snow and ice, europe one is better in wet.

jaffa20

Rang my insurance company today out of curiosity. Though the other car wouldn't be a problem but they advised i would need to take out a new policy and i couldn't use my current ncb...wtf? I told them that my mx5 would be off the road while i'm using the other car so it just like changing cars for a few months. They weren't prepared to insure me on it if i was still the owner of both cars and they knew i'd be changing back to the mx5. I should have said nothing as just said my car was being repaired or something. They'd have to change the policy then...

Ah well, i think to avoid hassle, i'm just get some winter tyres close to xmas and stick with the mx5.

JJJJNR

You should have no problem with the Mx5 with winters on.. why is there even a discussion :eek: about winter FFS!!!

mgbgt1978

My son blew the gearbox in his '94 Mini ( A Real Mini !!) and picked up a micra to keep him going for a couple of months.
When he rang his insurance company (Quinn) they asked him if it was a permanent or temporary change of car. He had to make it a permanent change because a temporary change wouldn't supply him with an insurance cert or disc.
They then told him that it would cost him an extra €90 to change cars. This was because apparently premiums have risen since he took out the policy. So, even though he still has the same expiry date ( and car class)
he still has to pay out.
This could cause the OP a problem as each time he switches between cars he could have to pay for the privilege