Hello all! My name is Justin and I am a 20 year old college student up here in Fairbanks, Alaska. I have been seriously looking into a S2000 as a daily driver. Since I live on campus, this does not include any type of commute, but instead just the occasional grocery run and regular "aggressive" cruises. Thankfully theft is not really an issue at my location, so a soft top will not be a problem in that regard. We definitely get some brutal winters (sustained months of -30ish Fahrenheit) but we also have AMAZING summers in which the sun is literally up 24 hours a day during solstice. My current dilemma is deciding between a rather boring '14 Subaru WRX or an '02 S2000.

The S2k I am looking at is an AP1 with just under 60k on her. I absolutely love the idea of the superior handling the S2k offers, and if I do go that route I will definitely be investing in either a good hard-top or a discrete winter car/truck. The only real bummer about having a separate winter daily would be not getting to enjoy my fun vehicle for 6 months out of the year, so if possible I would really like to avoid that! I can't think of a time in the last two years that I had to haul anything more than a small suitcase, and have lots of friends up here with trucks so storage isn't a concern. Plus, with a two seater, no more being DD .

For those of you who live in colder climates, can a Stewie be a proper year-round driver with good winter tires? The idea of RWD on ice doesn't really bother me as the past few winters i've driven a 335i and Mustang GT without any problems, but hear that the AP1 can be "twitchy" on normal conditions which i'm guessing would only be amplified on ice. Thank you in advance!

-Justin

 

Sounds like the S and another winter beater is your best bet.
Levi

 

Just get a practical car good in snow.... At 20 you have plenty of time to get a fun car...
How much is the S2000??

 

All in all I'd be paying around 14.5, which is quite a bit less than the Subaru (25k) so I will have plenty extra saved up for a winter beater if needed

 

All in all I'd be paying around 14.5, which is quite a bit less than the Subaru (25k) so I will have plenty extra saved up for a winter beater if needed
[/quote]


My S2k is a 2002.... But my DD is a Subaru Outback.... Driving the S2000 daily and as you only car won't be that easy.... Being where you are at in life at 20..... I'd get the Subaru Wrx which is no slouch in performance department and enjoy the utility.... My S2000 sits in my garage most of time and is fun to look forward to....

 

It's hard to compare two cars with 12 years difference between them. Being in Alaska, I'd go for the WRX as a daily and the S2000 has a 17 days out of the year.

 

I live in the banana belt of Canada and I still could not fathom driving the S2000 in winter, doing it in Alaska would be much much worse. The real issue is that winter is hard on the car with corrosion on the engine and lower suspension parts, also, the front end turns into a snow plow, big snowfalls would be hard to navigate. Get the S2000 and a beater/truck. Best of both worlds.

 

Actually Canada can be worse than Anchorage and perhaps Fairbanks. The Japanese currents brings warm water up by the Aleutians and more of a temperate (relative) influx of frequent weather systems. That being said, your suggestion of getting the S and a beater/truck is spot on.

 

I drove an Ap1 through many winters with no drama.
Good snow tires made it very solid. It was a perfectly fine winter car.
It took a 16" snowfall in a single day to finally get me stuck and that was only specifically on a road in the back of a neighborhood that didnt get plowed or driven on much.
Otherwise, I was fine.

 

Thank you all for the replies! The roads up here really don't accumulate much snow, its often the case that there is just a few days of heavy snowfall during the "beginning" of winter before it dips down to the negatives. After that it's pretty much just packed dry snow and ice so thankfully clearance has never been an issue. As of now i'm leaning towards getting the S and hopefully saving enough during my summer job to be able to afford a funnish winter rig

One thing that I have always wondered about was the S2k's handling characteristics when NOT driven at the limit... Is the squirrely-ness something that can be felt at legal road speeds, or mainly just something that I will experience at the track? Thanks again!