Winter carnundrum

Winter takes its toll. Photo credit thetruthaboutcars.com.

It is now, in Canada at least, the middle of winter and despite all the snow and ice, people still need to get around the city.

Some switch over to public transportation, but it can be hard to make the change from the convenience and greatness of a car, to the bus.

I could go on and on about how much better cars are than buses, trains, walking, or even biking which some hardcore environmentalists continue to do even in the -30 degree weather. I could talk about how you can listen to your own music without having the yabo sitting in front of you blasting his "beats" drowning out your modestly volumed iPod, or the fact that in your own car you control the smells that come aboard.

I could spend a lot of time ripping on the bus, but today it's going to get off easy.

There is different group of people that deserves a tongue-lashing today. And they already know who they are.



You see, there is a great selection of vehicles out there for someone looking for a car. There are those out there who can afford expensive, convertible sports cars and it makes sense to put them away for the 6+ months of the year for winter to make sure the car does not get harmed by the salt and other stuff the cities put on the road.

These people generally buy "winter beaters." These are the cars that get them around while their pride and joy is sitting in a garage somewhere, safe from the environmental beatdown being given to any car that dares drive on the salt and grime. They are generally older, rustier, and overall worse cars. Makes sense right?

Apparently not. Some people feel the need to flaunt their wealth, even in the winter, by buying cars that have no business being on the road once the white stuff hits.

Now I know that I recently wrote a short piece about Porsche's winter driving camp, but consider this:  Those cars aren't exposed to the same salt and sand on the roads. Also, they are driven on a closed winter race course. Finally you don't own the Porsche that you drive there.

In fact I was recently driving on the highway through some nasty conditions only to see an M3 drive by the other way. This just doesn't make sense for a number of reasons.

A stock M3 has 414 horsepower. That's a lot of horsepower to have to get down on the slippery surfaces one would expect during the winter so it tries to do that by not having an insane amount of torque (295lb ft), but the fact of the matter is the Germans consider it blasphemy to take such a nice car and expose it to winter conditions. Too much throttle is still going to cause the wheels to spin uncontrollably and you'll end up in a ditch in a very nice, expensive car. Unless the Germans see you first. Then you'll be in a ditch without the very nice, expensive car.

This is winter. Get a car that handle it.
Photo caption dreamstime.com.

Speaking of expensive take a look at the cost. It starts at $70, 000 Canadian which is a lot to pay for a winter car. Heck, for that price you could almost buy two Toyota 4Runners (Around $36, 000 Canadian), or an AWD Subaru WRX STI with the sport package which would save you almost $30, 000 CDN.

M3s are rear-wheel drive which in itself is not bad for winter driving, but if you've got the money, why not get all-wheel drive? In fact, as shown above you can get it in a very good car for much cheaper.

But what really gets me is why would anyone want to drive an M3 in winter? These are cars made for speed. They are summer cars in almost every sense of the phrase. So what then? Are they planning on racing the other people fighting for grip when the light changes?

M3s aren't the only ones either. Porsche 911 Carreras are another favourite, and perhaps even more mind-boggling are the Corvettes.

I've got nothing against people buying a nice car,  and I understand people are entitled to spend their money anyway they want, but I simply cannot understand the logic of buying a car which is worse for the conditions outside, and costs more.