stickman

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of purchasing a friends 2003 Boxster S with 80k miles on it which I plan to use as a semi-daily driver here in NJ, and I was just curious if any of you folks use your Boxters in the winter weather without a hardtop, and how is it as far as keeping the cold out. Just trying to figure if its really necessary to buy a hardtop for it.

Also, how does the Boxster handle on the wet, icy roads during those pleasant months of January and Feburary.

Thanks.

jrj3rd

Daily drive my 2000S year round with no issues. Small cabin heats up quickly and seat heaters if it is really cold. No issues with snow, center of gravity makes it handle very well. You will need winter tires. stock high performance tires are worthless when it gets in low 30s and they lose all grip. Blizzaks hare excellent and I have never not been able to get anywhere I really needed to go.

Bought a hardtop this summer. Looking forward to the defroster and not having to worry about the plastic window in mine. Your 03 is glass so you are good to go.

John

VGM911

I drive my Boxster year-round, without a hard top. I don't want one, and I don't need one for, you see, the soft top is well-insulated and effectively blocks out noise and cold weather.

As for winter driving, I get by with good quality all-season tires. Are they as good as winter tires? No, but I have my reasons (limited storage) for getting by with one set of tires.

Good luck!

Dave H.

drive year-round, with winter tires and hard top November thru March. last winter when i had 8" of ice on the car i was glad i had the hard top.

go back through the classifies here and on 986forum.com, there have been several used tops for sale on the east coast.

its about time...

I bought my car last January, so I drove it first on 18" Michelin Alpins. Ice and snow were not a problem. I was plenty warm at 16 degrees with just the soft top (ladies love the seat heaters), so I think you'll be fine without the hard top.

Macster

Managed to get by rather nicely a couple of winters with my 02 without a hardtop.

A couple of additional comments based on my experiences: First I have to 2nd what everyone else said about winter tires.

Next while the heater works very well and gets the cabin toasty the engine can take a while to warm up. But except for all the shortest trips this is not a real problem.

However, I would advise you to consider a shorter oil change interval to keep water/unburned fuel build up down.

I found the rear window (plastic in my car's case) would clear after some miles of driving. To help this I'd aim the dash vents up high and this would blow warm/hot air along the underside of the top and the rear window and have even inches of snow/ice melted and the top and rear window dry.

A few minor problems. One when driving with wet snow falling or for periods in traffic where vehicles ahead kick up slushy and spray, the wipers tend to pack this stuff down at the base of the window shield and in one case -- over hours of driving in these conditions -- enough to almost block the cabin air intake at the base of the windshield.

The radiator ducts can collect an amazing amount of snow/slush too, but I never found this severe enough to affect the engine's cooling.

In some cases the side windows can freeze/stick to the rubber seals, so when you open the door be gentle. I do not think you'll rip the weather stripping off but be careful just the same.

Also, the side windows may not drop. This is bad enough when opening the door but if you do not note this and go to close the door the sound of the top of the window hitting the top rail can be scary.

What I do is leave the door open and get inside and use the lower button and with some gentle encouragement from my hand get the side glass to go all the way down. Then I raise it and lower it some to make sure it goes up and down on its own.

I leave it down a bit then close the door and raise the glass manually. In some cases I'll then open the door to ensure the glass now drops as it is supposed to.

Note if the top has some snow on it when you park the car this can melt and drip water down on the side glass. Then if the weather is cold enough this can freeze and stick the windows again.

Whenever you can visit a DIY car wash with heated rinse water to rinse the car and this includes the radiator ducts, the wheel wells/liners and under the car. I did this every so often to remove the considerable build up of snow/ice under the car.

Another problem is with any build up in the wheel wells when you park the car this melts from the residual heat and drips salty water down on the brakes.

If you leave the car parked up too long this can cause the brakes to stick. The parking brake can be especially scary when it pops loose.

When you move off be aware of this. As for the rust, use the brakes -- without bringing the car to a stop -- to scrape the rust away. Once you've used the brakes once or twice then of course you can bring the car to a stop.

Then of course when the snow/ice have gone for the season give the car a thorough washing/rinsing to remove any salt from the car.

Sincerely,

Macster.

provoste

I have on '03 S as my daily. The defrost rear glass makes the soft-top completely fine year round. I've been really happy with 17 inch blizzaks winters.

VGM911

What?

Dave H.

spam