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Hi 993r's. I currently own a 1989 911 cabriolet which I sits in the garage when the Pittsburgh, PA weather is acting badly, which is often. Problem is that between rain and our winters with salt and cinders on the roads, I do not get to drive the cabriolet as often as I would like, to and from work or otherwise. End up in the family sedan (Volvo) -- not quite the same experience! I have been thinking that a solution would be a second Porsche (need to convince my wife of this, but that's another issue). In any event, I am considering buying a 993 4s coupe for year around driving, my daily driver. Any thoughts on this? Is the car capable of handling snow, ice, salt and cinders? What about the costs of maintaining a 993 as a daily driver? Any comments or advice would be much appreciated.

STLPCA

There have been many posts on this topic, among them comments in your post last month about a C4 as daily driver and your fellow Pennsylvanian Rezal's thread starter question: Drive my C2 in winter or get 2nd car?

FWIW, I've driven my daily driver C2 on Dunlop Winter Sports through St. Louis winters (probably comparable to yours) w/o any problems. AWD would, obviously, be even better.

There are a bunch of old posts - search "winter tires." Here are a few:
Winter tires and wheels
C4S as a winter car?
Winter tire question.

S3

Had the same questions before I got mine. The last few days have been cold - sub zero temperatures. Got some snow last night, but not enough to make the roads slippery, just wet. The car now has winter shoes on (Dunlops front and back). Hope it will be OK. Everyone I have spoken to has commented on the C4S as a great winter car.

Peter_G

Drove my 98 C2 Cab back from VIR DE this past April on I-95. Hit a late-season nor'easter in steadily dropping temperatures. Was watchiing the temp readout on the computer. When it hit 34.5F, just outside of Baltimore, just as I was starting to think about getting off and holing up for the duration, I hit a patch of slush (the road temp must have been a little colder than the air temperature), and was off on wild 720 degree rotation across 4 lanes of traffic. I am a veteran DE driver, and was going 55 MPH. No way I could have saved it and it cost a lot to fix.

My advice - keep the car in the garage over the winter and drive the Volvo.

stedge

Peter G.

What tires did you have on the car?

STLPCA

The 3 most important factors for winter driving are tires, tires, & ... tires.

High performance "summer" tires are about as ineffective in snow/ice as slicks are in rain. With proper tires a 911, to the limits of its ground clearance, is not merely good, but is an excellent winter car. Anyone remember the old (rear engine RWD) VW beetle commercials about how the snowplow driver gets to his snowplow?