What am I supposed to do until spring?

In all honesty I am wondering if there is a 12 step program I can join? Admittance is the first step of recover right? It was a little less than two years ago that I was forced to buy my first car. I had been driving the company Taurus for most of my professional career. With my move from sales to marketing I was losing my company car as well getting relocated. I thought to myself, I need a toy! So I did what any other 26 year old male would do I spent way too much money on a car... After watching BMW's short film with Madonna and an M5, I fell in love! I decided I need an M car. I was lucky enough to bypass the waiting list and took delivery of a 2002 Carbon Black M3 (pictured below) complete with SMG transmission... I was in absolute heaven until winter hit in CT. I parked the car bought a Jeep Cherokee and played in the snow. Well, so started my issues. Spring hit and while the M3 was an amazing car it really wasn’t toy enough to be a 2nd car. The roof needed to come off. I needed a 911 cabriolet. I looked at 996's for some time but finally decided a 993 would be a smarter buy not too mention a better looking car in my opinion.

After a little searching it was, ‘so long M3.’ I bought the below ’96 993 Cab (love the color) with only 13k miles. It was late October and winter was closing in on Chicago! The Porsche went almost straight to its winter storage spot in my garage. It has now been 2 months without my ride and I am craving a fun car to drive. I find myself searching Ebay and Autotrader for a new “daily” driver… I figure maybe if my daily driver was at least a little fun I wouldn’t miss my 993 so much… I CAN’T buy another car… People think I have lost my mind as it is J So I ask, ‘what is a guy to do?” How do I get my fix?

 

Here is the new prize!

 

Tray,

How about some details on the car, options, purchased from, any other history, etc.

Also, a you a menber of the Chicago PCA? and do you plan to do DE's, track events or concours?

 

What I do is ice race. Helps to tie me over to the start of next autocross season.
Hint: you can ice race a rental car.

 

MINI Cooper will make a fun daily driver.

 

Gotta know what to buy. I have a 1998 Audi A4 Avant and 1995 Porsche 993. About 80K miles on both now (Audi bought new; Porsche had 6K miles); guess I know what to buy (hate to see your bank account).

Might suggest a new Audi S4 (but then again you'd probably want something new as soon as you drive it off the lot).

 

You need a Carrera 4[S] for winter and the cab for summer. Although the audi quattros can be fun in the snow and ice.

 

Rich,

If I was still in Chicago I would certainly be doing / joining all of the things you mentioned. However, I recently moved to Louisville, KY. Actually my 993 is still parked in Chicago though. So not only do I not have it to drive, I can't even go stare at it in the garage... As far as info on my new toy… It has 18 inch turbo wheels, limited slip dif, Hi-Fi stereo, and maybe a few other options but I am not really sure. To be honest, I feel in love with the color combo and the condition of the car.

Grouchy,

I was actually thinking that a C4 would make a good daily driver. I was thinking I could make the cab my garage queen since it is BRAND new looking with only 13k miles, and I could use a C4 as a year round daily driver and maybe a car to track every now and again. Would this work out for me? I guess it might not be optimal but I hate to track my cab and I can’t justify having a dedicated track car at this time. My other question is how old can I go on a c4 and still have a good daily driver? What should I expect to pay? I hate to spend a ton of money. Also are there any other P-cars I might be interested in?

 

In this neck of the woods (note: folksy slang), a Porsche is easily supplemented by a Subaru -- any Impreza in a light, dirtless color and 5-spd. works fine, and for $17k or less you can have a WRX. J

 

I'll tell you what to do until spring:

Get a Rennlist membership.

 

I use my '95 C4 as a daily driver. I spent usd$40K on mine a couple years ago. One of my friends picked up a '90 964 C4 to use as his daily driver and spent a bit less.

Hard to say what yearly maintenance costs, too many variables. I have picked up a spare set of wheels with snows mounted, replaced the evaporator for the AC, had the wiring harness done, plus replaced my rear tires on the summer wheels. Have heard of people doing more or less.

Yes, all of them

 

Grouchy,

I saw a white 1991 C4 on Autotrader.com today. It is listed for $21k and isn't too far from my home. It has many pictures and appears to be in really great condition. It does however have 105K miles. Should I be concerned about this many miles (although still not many for a car that old) What types of things should I look out for. This is more the price range I would like for a daily driver.

I have always loved the 928 and feel that the 944 turbo would be a lot of performance for the money... However I guess neither of these would be too good in the winter :-( Any thought?

Trey

 

Trey,

I can speak to the 944. It is a perfectly ballanced car with the front engine and rear tranny it is almost 50/50 split on weight. That makes it awesome on dry and wet roads, it also makes it a bear to not spin out on ice. The turbos were of the kick in the pants type when they engaged so that also leads to some interesting moments on icy roads.

I would have to agree that the C4 is the way to go if you are going Porsche-in Maine I went to the Subaru for ground (snow) clearance, safety, and a lot of fun as a winter car. Great pick up and with the all wheel drive they are safe, although I don't have the WRX as it was advised against by the salesman. The higher gearing has evidently led to a rash of inadvertant "off road incursions" on our winter roads.

Al

 

Trey, if you search and read posts you can try and get an idea for costs and what people think of the older cars. Usually if they were well maintained and have all the records to show the work it is probably a safe bet. If not, you may need to have some decent inspections done to figure out what needs work right away, what may fail soon, etc.

My '87 944 Turbo was a garage queen from late october to about april every year. No idea on the other models.

Sounds like you are trying to convince yourself and might not be happy with the results. The awd on my audi a6q was really good. As long as you had power to the tires it was pretty much moving the direction you wanted. Lose the power and there might be issues. The C4 was very strange to me at first. If I wanted the fronts to engage, the rear had to slip a little, so sometimes you actually want the rear end to break loose so you will have all four wheels pulling.

I haven't had any problems with the snow being too deep, but have read about clearance being an issue. My snow tires were a pleasant surprise the first time we had to deal with icy roads, barely even noticed a difference from dry. Started out very cautious and slowly added a little extra speed and braking to test conditions.

HTH