Rent, buy or lease a DD for winter?
 

Just ordered a Ox White 2014 GT! I need suggestions and the wisdom of the forum on what to do for a DD during the deep freeze in Chicagoland (Dec-March) that is cost effective. Should I rent a long term (3-4months) from a rental company, buy a cheap used car or lease a new/used car?

Thx!

I would say buy a used rental.

Thanks Syn, that makes sense too. Need to look into this option.

I bought a 1995 Honda Civic for $600, I have put 11,000 miles on it this year with pointless mileage that I would of put on the mustang. I am actually putting some money into it this year. I am having it re-painted OEM red, tinting the windows, new timing set, water pump, oil pump and stuff like that. The car has 220,000 miles on it now and to be honest I never expected it to last a year for $600 but the person I got it from had it serviced by honda for the life of the car.

That is amazing! Hope that I get that lucky with my DD.

get some snow tires and drive the stang all winter.

Thanks, what should I do about the road salt on the car? Rinse everyday or weekly?

While I can and have driven my '97 in just about everything Chicago weather can dish out I prefer to have a car I don't really care about so much cosmetically for that sort of thing. Such a car is good year round for everything and anything that can get a car dirty, dinged, worn, etc. Especially good to have an anonymous plain car for street parking in the city and so forth.

Road salt needs washing off. The more often the better. Cleaning out the wheel wells of snow and knocking off fenderbergs helps as well. Sub zero car washing tip: Hot water on a sunny day. The hot water keeps your hands from freezing and the sun plus the dry cold air evaporate the water quickly. Usually no/little ice, just evaporates.

Tires are everything for driving a Mustang in the snow.

I'd say buy a used 4WD SUV or Subaru....
Older Escape AWD, Jeep Anything, Pathfinder... that sort.

That way, its a nice DD, you own it, and you can use it for hauling things when needed. AWD will GREAT for snow too and the extra ground clearance will be nice!

I'm planning on buying a 240sx as my DD. Yeah it's RWD, but eh!

They are all over Craigslist and selling for pretty cheap

-Nick C.

I would think once a week in a touch less wash. I had a few winter beaters and sold them to go back to driving the stang all winter. Its no worse for wear. These newer cars do not rust like the older cars did before plastic bumpers. It just ended up not being worth the extra insurance, maintenance costs and not driving the car I wanted to be driving. Maybe if I had the extra cash to throw around but then again naaaaaa.

Seems cheaper to get a second set of wheels and tires. You can get the where's you really want, too. Cheaper in the long run compared to buying another car with all of those expenses. A second set of tires takes less space space than a second car does.
Hmm maybe have a Summer Stang and a Winter Stang?????

I'd drive it if you don't already have a 2nd car. If you are only going to keep the Mustang for 5 years or less you won't see any salt damage anyway ! Scott

Any recommendation for winter tires?

I drove my 2006 year round here in SE Michigan with no problems. Drove the 2013 last winter as well.

But with a 90 mile commute my wife suggested a commuter and winter car. Picked up a 2010 Mercury Mariner. 4 cylinder AWD.

I considered a lease as well. Check swapalease.com to see if there's something near you that makes sense. You can get a good deal on a short term lease that someone is trying to get out of.

I bought a used coke truck its got almost 190k now and still runs great

I even enjoy driving the 2.8 beast

what tires are on it right now? I run the stock all seasons that came on the car without any problems

It's the stock, Pirelli P-Zero All Season tires.

yeppers thats what I have also.

what you want is a ford five hundred awd. Good mpg, comfort and cheap. I have been seeing them on dealer lots for 6-9k.


get you some Blizzaks and you will be pulling trucks and jeeps of the snow.


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