Does anyone take the 86 off the road during Winter?

[Takumi788]

Fellow Syracuse NY owner here. My FRS is a over prepped HPDE car but I do street drive it occasionally. I don't take it off the road but I do store it at my shop from the last track event in early November until the salt is gone. (Could be January or May....never know.)

I have worked on other twins that have been winter driven and the body may look great but the salt takes a toll quickly on the sub-frame, brakes and hardware. I have already run into broken skid plate bolts, rusty subframes, rusty exhaust and other PITA parts because of corrosion. It's widely known in CNY that if you want to keep a car nice, you don't drive it in the winter.

IMHO, between the 120" annual snowfall and 120" of annual salt accumulation, it isn't worth spending big bucks on a nice daily driver in Syracuse. If you must spend 30k on a daily it makes a lot more sense to spend it on a more practical AWD car. That is why there are so few BRZ/FRS owners in CNY and a ridiculous amount of WRX owners.

I am not saying its wrong to drive a twin in the winter bc it would be a riot! When they get cheap enough I just may buy another one as a daily....and maybe get that rally lift kit. lol

[NOHOME]

Why put it away? It is a car. It is a fun car to drive anytime. Winter driving the FRS brings a different kind of fun because the FRS chassis is so capable in the low friction environment. So why not drive it all year round?

The car will never be a valued collector's item. The cost of ownership for a second car exceeds the cost of replacing the FRS more frequently.

[Takumi788]

Originally Posted by NOHOME

Why put it away? It is a car. It is a fun car to drive anytime. Winter driving the FRS brings a different kind of fun because the FRS chassis is so capable in the low friction environment. So why not drive it all year round?

Easy to say when you get half the average snowfall as the op. CNY's winter roads are either white bc of the snow or bc of the salt from November till April.

I get that these cars aren't expensive and are easily replaced. However, some people want to keep their cars longer than the average 3-5 years. These people (me) have probably spend a lot of time and money modifying them so we do what we can to keep them as rust free as possible. We buy winter beaters. It's a way of life in CNY....every car guy (that can afford to) does this.

I daily a 08 honda fit. It cost me 1800 bucks. That is way cheaper than rolling over the FRS for another one every few years.

[NOHOME]

Originally Posted by Takumi788

Easy to say when you get half the average snowfall as the op. CNY's winter roads are either white bc of the snow or bc of the salt from November till April.

I get that these cars aren't expensive and are easily replaced. However, some people want to keep their cars longer than the average 3-5 years. These people (me) have probably spend a lot of time and money modifying them so we do what we can to keep them as rust free as possible. We buy winter beaters. It's a way of life in CNY....every car guy (that can afford to) does this.

I daily a 08 honda fit. It cost me 1800 bucks. That is way cheaper than rolling over the FRS for another one every few years.

I will drive this car ten years, same as I have every other new car I have owned. At the end of ten years it can go to the scrapyard as it will owe me nothing. I have an MGB GT and a Volvo P1800 ES that are toy cars, the FRS IS the beater.

[JohnnyWarlord]

Yes i drive mine all winter. I buy the car as for a bit of fun and as a cheap commuter vehicle.
You definately need snow tire it can't make turns with out them. But if you have them on your car it drives great Toyota offers a rust proofing and guarantee it for the life of the car.

I didn't buy it for my frs but did for the 86.