Spekkel1

Hey rennlist members, i'm new here but I happen to have some questions, I hope you can answer. I'm seriously considering to buy an 964 C4 as a daily, that's fair, yes. Problem is that i live 30 km (19 mi) from the 70th parallel north in northern Europe, where for 6-8 months of the year the temperature is bellow 0 °C (32 °F) and can get as low as -35 °C (-31 °F). I've owned '91 C2 964 before, when I was working in Germany. I sold the car soon after I moved back north. Hated seeing it the garage sitting, even though I loved the car. Salt isn't a problem this high north, as they don't use it here, but the reliability of the engine and accessories is something I'm worried about. I do own a garage but it doesn't have heating in it. So if there is any people living really high up in the north, with 964 C4, I'm all ears in hearing your experiences.

GeorgeK

I have driven my '89 C4 every winter in the last 10 years, until this last one (resoration - they do use salt here).
Issues: none.
Good winter tires, use a trickle charger on the battery.
You can aslo prevent rust even better if you leave the car in the cold, i.e. don't allow ice to melt.

Catorce

I have some experience with this since I was raised in Edmonton, Canada which is 53 degrees north but winters can be quite a bit colder than you'd think. The coldest temperature I ever saw was -60 degrees celcius, and it was very common for -20 to 25 degree temps to last for many months. I guess that's why the PCA region there is called Polar Region, LOL.

Back then we drove the 993 in the winter time with Bridgestone Blizzak tires and had no problems. The 964 case design being a dry sump doesn't lend itself to a block heater option, but you might consider a battery blanket for use in your garage to keep the battery warm. Basically your warm up is going to be critical and the health of the battery in those temps will be crucial.

Lots of 964s are used in ice racing and ice driver training events all over the north and they do fine.

Even though your garage isn't heated it'll be comparatively warmer in there because there's no wind chill, which as you know really drops the temps.

I'd drive that car there, I think it'd be awesome.

JohnK964

Windchill doesn’t affect inanimate objects they cool down faster but will not get any colder than the air temp.

Catorce

You're right of course, but what I was driving at was that the unheated garage would be warmer than the outside because every time the car was put away hot it would slowly cool down in the garage which would raise the temp in there, and you wouldn't have the convection of the wind to cool it down fast inside there.

In Northern Canada unheated garages are really common and leaving a car outside versus inside a heated garage makes a huge difference even though the temps are technically the same. Not to mention the snow / ice / sleet.

But yeah, wrong term there.

JohnK964

It’s gets pretty cold where I live I think as long as he uses the proper oil maybe keeps the battery on a tender while parked the right tires a C4 would be a beast in the snow and ice.

Goughary

I've driven my C4 as my only car for 10 years.

During the crazy cold months, i use brad penn 10/40 instead of 20/50 which i use in the spring/summer/fall - this seems to help on the -20 degree mornings, which haven't happened often, but we have had a couple of pretty cold weeks w sub zero temps during the last few winters.

My garage has no heat

Dead cold starts are not an issue- though there were a couple mornings when the battery barely started the car - big deal.

Here's what you do...

Get up, shower, dress, grab coffee, start car, drive. Don't think twice. It's the best car in the world in the snow.

If where you live, they salt the roads in the winter, get a bucket of salt away, and spray the car every so often. Try to keep the car dry.

I'm thinking to smear something around the windows next year- Vaseline or something to help seal the windows a little better from creaping brine, but so far so good. After ten years of only driving a 964 everyday, this year was my first rust bubble around the front window. So we are doing pretty well.

Anyway- long and short- it's a car, it's pretty bullet proof- it likes the cold. Go have fun and report back.

Spekkel1

Tires are not an issue. Where I live its mandatory to have proper studded winter tires or you get fined when caught. Nokia makes the best winter tires in my mind, and I have used their products for years in different automobiles.

Spekkel1

Thank you people for great looks on my situation! I think this sums it up nicely, now I just have to find the car that fits me and isn't too far away.

Mike Murphy

Why not look into a 0-40 oil for that season? I know AC folks like to run 10, 15, and 20w oils - I know I did when I had one. But the number one thing that kills engines is cold starts due to lack of oil circulation and pressure.

Take a look at the cold pour points (temperature at which oil doesn’t flow out of the bottle) of the oils under consideration and you’ll find some 15 or 20w oil at -33F, which is too thick.

Other than that, what others have already mentioned is good advice on the battery, salt, etc.

Only other thing to try is heating the garage by 10-15 degrees. That little bit can make a big difference for those really cold nights.

Foxman

Railmaster.

Are you sure about the -60?

"The lowest overall temperature ever recorded in Edmonton was −49.4 °C (−56.9 °F), on January 19 and 21, 1886"

But i bet a Porsche will fix it!

JohnK964