D3VIL

Its really sad but i think due to the crappy winter weather i have to sell my car. I dont have 2-3k laying around ether to buy a 4x4 beater, im getting something more hill friendly since that all Lawrence has, and my car is joke when it comes to snow+hills.

Im deciding on between 2 cars probably, ether a Jeep Grand Cherokee or a Durango, there both pretty much the same car. My brother had a Durango not too far back, and we loved it, and my close friend had a Jeep and he enjoyed that alot too. My other option is to switch to the LS4 family. Power and the noise of the beautiful V8 and good millage. The problem is that i love the LS4 but they only come in automatic and i peronally dont get a kick out of it, not nearly as much in toned in the driving experience as a manual, which is what i currently have. On the other hand the 4x4s have the "i'll get through anything" type of feel to it and would be cool for trips and vacations.

Please help, any input would be greatly appretiate it.

71-Camaro-98

iTrader: (17)

Well man its up to you.. You can always do a T-56 swap

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

what kind of car do you have now? and id go with a jeep way before a durango.

TAtoad

iTrader: (22)

LS4s are front wheel drive. no go. i'd find a grand cherokee, durangos are uglyish in my opinion.

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

just FYI, my GF has a 99 Grand Cherokee Limited V8 with all time AWD and the gas mileage blows, pretty much 15mpg tops city or highway. I couldnt get the thing stuck in two feet of snow we had a couple weeks ago so thats definetly a plus and the interior isnt bad.

D3VIL

Currently i have a 98z28 M6. I like the look of both LS4s and the V8 BUT the V8 cant be enjoyed with an automatic unfortunately :/ the 20+mpg is a definite plus, and the interior looks pretty decent too. The Jeep's "i can go anywhere" appeals me to it the most and is the most realistic in the crappy hills of Lawrence covered in snow. I dont know if the front wheel drive alone can handle it. And didn't mind the durango's look at all, though i do think the Jeep has the upper hand. And i do know about the crappy mpg in these SUVs. I had a 5speed honda passport prior to my Z28 and it got my 14 at best on highway.

johnLs1camaro

iTrader: (28)

I use to have a explorer 5.0 awd. probably one of my favorite cars I have owned and its right up there with my camaro.. It was a awesome truck, very nice, quick, very reliable.. the thing that did suck, it got low to mid teens mpg, But I was always on the throttle too.

Sucks you have to sell your car though, has your winter been that bad?

D3VIL

My winter has been a nightmare, it was the same crap last year too except 10x worst. I was at KC for the fall semester and my biggest challenge was the neighborhood. Getting from my driveway into my garage took about 20min last night. And i'll go back to Lawrence back to KU next week or so and im really really fucked unless we start to see some Sun out, which unfortunately its not looking that way. So i'll be parking mycar infront of the dorms and it snows overnight and my car cant even get out of my spot until the sun does me some justice lol seriously im handicaped from december to february. And im the type of person that drives to everywhere and anywhere and always volunteers to drive and i cant stand being held back b/c i love LS1s :/

KENS_SS_4

I passed on buying a 96 ford ranger for 600 bucks. All it needed was brakes rebuilt. Good deals are out there.

When I hear people talking about not being able to afford a second car to handle different purposes it makes me nuts. If you need something for snow covered hills then buy something cheap for snow covered hills.

Right now my SS is in storeage for the 9th winter in a row. Last year one of my dumbass friends asked my opinion on snow tires for his SS. I told him he could find a beater cheaper then tires. He paid over eight hundred on snow tires for the SS. He could have gotten a winter beater cheaper. Just get a second vehicle and be done with it.

Thats my opinion and I'm sticking by it.

NC01TA

You are going to miss your car BIG TIME when spring rolls around unless you are just tired of it. It doesn't sound like you are. I would also look around for a beater for a few months then sell it in the spring. How much will you lose on the deal? Maybe nothing. Even if you lost $500, it wouldn't be worth losing your car over it. It doesn't have to be a $2,000 - $3,000 investment as posted above. I know you are frustrated but don't make a mistake unless you are really ready to leave the F-body ownership world.

slayerized6

iTrader: (12)

jeep 4.0

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

LS1 F-body + GOOD snow tires (Blizzak WS series) + 100lbs extra weight out back = totally driveable in the snow. I've had no issues with that setup. Might be more difficult with the M6 though. I would never own a manual, so my experiance is based on an A4.

veddersbetter

iTrader: (7)

You WILL miss your car. I had a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokeee with the V8 and all wheel drive. Very nice truck ...loved everything about it....Interior was really nice and when it ran good it had plenty of power. Drove great...handled nice.


But..... one thing after another man.. trans broke..viscous coupler in the AWD junk....paint peeled like a banana.
Was happy to see it ..and all its wallet sucking problems...go far far away.

Juicy J

iTrader: (5)

Like others said, you could just buy a cheap vehicle for winter driving. I remember looking at Cherokees, and I found one for $1100 with 150k miles. I am not one to take out loans , but if you don't have the $1000 right now, just get a personal loan. You should be able to pay it off rather quickly, and keep your car. Plus, its always nice having an SUV/truck to carry things around in.

D3VIL

oh if I sell my car I will definitely going to miss it, it'll be like putting my child for adoption because I couldn't take care of her myself. But I did some looking on craigslist and saw that I can find many beaters for around a thousand but they all mention how this has to be fixed and how that is leaking or it has 190k on it so it's death is right around the corner. I saw a decent shape suzuki trooper for 2300 but that's about 2x my budget lol but hopefully I don't have to sell my car because it's always a joy to have except when it gets stuck in it's parking spot bc of snow :/

RaggedRides

iTrader: (8)

You aren't looking hard enough. When I was looking for a beater, I found countless Cherokees, Explorers, F-150s, Broncos and S10s for under a grand. Get on Craigslist and search within 100 miles or so.

If you are hell bend on selling, look into the '98 Grand Cherokees with the 5.9 litre and AWD. They're cheap, strong, sound good and can be made fun with a few bolt-ons. The 5.2 isn't too bad either.

GothMetalForever

iTrader: (7)

Tbss?

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

beat me to it. thats an SUV id buy for winter use. plus theyre cool looking and move out.

T AM

iTrader: (5)

I definitely know what your talking about with the hill issue. KU is not a friendly place for manual transmission cars. Don't sell your car though man. When you think about it, the snow lasts for such a short time during the year that it shouldn't justify selling a car that you love/don't want to get rid of.

OSU Football Fan

iTrader: (23)

I feel your pain. My car was just stuck for an entire week.
M6 + Z-rated tires + 2-3" of ice = Very Very Stuck.
I pretty much had to put a ton of salt down & wait for the ice to melt.
Lucky for me I could drive my wife's civic to work.