Question for you more experienced car owners.

Originally Posted by frost

We're still talking about this? Everyone is saying pretty much the same thing.

Originally Posted by silverpence

I've been driving my 350Z all year round for 4 years now and will do the same with the 370Z. We do get quite a lot of snow here "North of the border" but the roads where I live are usually well plowed reasonably quickly so most of the time driving the Z during winter is not a problem.

Of course the Z is not the best option for winter driving, and front-wheel drive cars like your Mazda or all-wheel drive cars like SUVs and such will obviously handle winter better. But like you I liked the Z and I'm not a winter beater kind of guy either, and I did not let the winter driving issue get in the way of getting the Z as my daily driver 4 years back (I already did have some rear-wheel drive winter driving experience from my teen years though). What do you think people did in snowy regions before front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive cars became quite common? They drove rear-wheel drive cars and did not have all the traction control aids that modern rear-wheel drive cars like the Z get these days. Again front/all-wheel drive cars are better suited for winter driving but rear-wheel drive cars like the Z can be driven during snowy winters too.

With a good set of 4 winter tires (a must), some common sense (e.g. the Z is not an SUV and steep icy hills are not your friend) and some practice on driving a rear-wheel drive car on snowy roads, driving the Z during winter is definitely doable and can be quite enjoyable too (e.g. purposely losing the end of the car a little around empty street corners and letting the traction control system do it's thing can be fun!). The 350Z VDC system is actually very good at keeping you on the road if you happen to give the Z too much power on a slippery road, but you have to remember to turn it off when trying to get going from an unplowed area with a significant amount of snow like a parking lot.

Just my .02 cents

Originally Posted by frost

We're still talking about this? Everyone is saying pretty much the same thing.

Originally Posted by Portlis

I really really appreciate the answer. This is exactly the kind of answer I was looking for. I work a late afternoon shift (retail) so I never really need to worry about unplowed roads unless its a super fierce storm. And the area that I live in is extremely flat, so hills are never going to be an issue.

After giving it a bit more thought, I'm really starting to think its not such a bad idea after all. Yeah, i'll fork out a bit of cash for the extra winter tires. That's not a problem. But considering I'd be paying at least 25 grand for any decent vehicle that I'd be ok with anyway, what's an extra 7 grand to get exactly what I want?

Now, I really just need to find a black on black, base model sport automatic for a reasonable cost. All the dealerships in my area are being extremely unhelpful....