Well, I've been increasingly uncomfortable driving my S2000 2,000 miles a month while commuting, mostly on wet, dingy days. I enjoy the time in the car, but it seems kind of silly to beat up a fine car in traffic every day, and to expose it (and me) to the chance of being bashed by someone who can't stop in the rain.

The problem, of course, is what do you get that might still be fun to drive half the time (I've got to get my fix with the S2000 a couple days each week, plus weekends), but be safer in the wet and occasional snow?

With a good deal of prodding from my son, I have just purchased a 1988 Toyota Celica All-Trac--185bhp of AWD Toyota reliability, with "only" 96,000 miles on it (only early middle age for a Celica).

This shoudl be fun, and I'll worry a bit less about beating up a beater!

 

Good stuff! My beater is a 136K 1994 Z turbo. None of that fancy four wheel drive stuff and when it snows I'm sweatin bullets

 

nice beater but isn't winter almost over?

 

AHHHHHHHH!!!! I had an All-trac Corolla! I bought it from a friend with "mild" damage. Replaced the panhard bar and a few other minor suspension peices. I had it on the road exactly FOUR days before I was involved in an accident. Four F#@$*% days!!!! Still, it was the perfect winter beater for those 4 days. The same friend bought it back from me for the same price (we decided we had "equal cost" damage, LOL!) and got it running for the rest of the winter.

May you have better luck than I!

 

Damn...those are impossible to find. Where did you get it from?

 

Well, this isn't just a winter beater. Besides, it should rain here until mid-to-late June, and All-Tracs don't come available at beater prices very often.

 

My son goes to college in Portland, OR, and his car is a 1990 All-Trac, so he's plugged in a bit. A guy was selling this one; my son test-drove it for a couple of hours, and pronounced it strong, and I bought it. He's going to do a few things for it (like put a proper boost gauge in), and I'll take the train down to pick it up next week.

 

Sweet

 

Beaters rock!

 

[QUOTE=124Spider,Mar 3 2005, 05:25 PM] My son goes to college in Portland, OR, and his car is a 1990 All-Trac, so he's plugged in a bit.