Fun, winter viable, under 10k. Bring it.

[iwaspiston]

I live in Sweden (warm to hot summers, very snowy winters down to -25 oC). I'm looking for a 2nd hand car for about £10k (100,000 kr) with sporty credentials. Here are my provisional top 3, based on Swedish prices - thoughts/advice/experience welcome:

- Nissan 350z
I love the looks. Can it truly handle the snow (would have winter, even studded tires)? How common/serious are those problems with 3rd gear wearing out? How much of an advanced driver would I have to be to get the best out of it in summer months? I've been driving for 10 years, but nothing sporty. Am I at risk of swinging that rear-wheel driven tail out and killing myself on a steep corner? Any other thoughts?

- 2006/7 Ford Focus ST
Clarkson's "mother of all violence", the Ford ASBO. Front wheel-drive a safer winter bet. Torque steer a problem? Are they reliable? As fun as the 350z? A Focus with some dials glued on? What else should I consider?

- 2008 Subaru WRX
4WD a winter advantage, but is it as fun as the above? Reliability? How much maintenance does it need compared to the above? I heard the Mitsu Evo needs maintenance every 6 months, minimum. The WRX? Same? Also, is it true the turbo fun kicks in with a delay, making the nat. aspirated 350z so much more fun?

Otherwise, what else what would you recommend? Thoughts welcome. I want great handling, winter viable, under 10k, low maintencance. Hit me.

[amstrange1]

I ran a 350Z through a bad UK winter (so probably no colder than -10°C, and just a few inches of snow - not Nordic conditions) without issue - but I did fit winter tyres. Our village never gets gritted or ploughed, and our driveway is a gravel slope, but never had any problems getting out and about. The ESP in them is fairly intrusive too, so if you're over enthusiastic it's pretty good at catching a slide as long as there's some grip to be had.

[talksthetorque]

IMO it doesn't matter which wheels are driven, if you have snow and a proper lever handbrake, you can have fun
(You cannot sue me if you hit any trees/furniture shops/mixed pop combos

[Mr Taxpayer]

I drive an Impreza WRX and the service interval is 10,000 miles for the turbo versions.

The Mitsubshi Evos are fairly similar in the 'standard' states of tune, i.e. ~270bhp. It's only the FQ series cars that needed more regular servicing, IIRC the FQ400 had an oil change every 3000 miles. Might be worth posting in the Japanese car section of the forum.

[Poopipe]

If you want to drive fast in snow then its got to be the subaru or evo really,

in my experience its a lot easier to recover from "moments" in the snow with rwd than fwd and its a lot easier to avoid them entirely with awd.

Also the lag followed by shove from the scoob is the best thing about them - smooth power delivery from NA or even a twin scroll turbo is much less exciting

[iwaspiston]

Thanks so far, everyone.

Amstrange1, did you have that 350z for any length of time? Can you comment on the 3rd gear and if it caused problems? I hear a lot about this wrt 350z, but hard to know objectively how common, problematic it is. How often are the service intervals?

Nice to hear they're every 10k for the WRX; that's the same as my Mitsubishi ASX. I could live with that.

[HertsBiker]

Any 9k car and a set of winter tyres, possibly steel wheels.. Some snow chains and a shovel. Also tow rope. If you want to go extreme, some snow spiders. Make any car an almighty unstoppable machine!! The spiders also work in deep mud about as well as a 4x4 would manage. So choose the car you really want.

[nickfrog]

I find RWD on winter tyres more predictable than 4wd because at least I know which axle will lose traction.

[v8250]

OP, you've missed one car from your list, the Subaru Forester XT.

227bhp in standard form. Hayward & Scott 2.5" exhaust and a change of air filter will give you 245bhp straight out of the box. The same brilliantly simple and time proven Subaru technology, as tough as nails, , greater ground clearance, more room and a later face lift SG9 car [2006/2007] with low mileage/one previous owner can be bought for £7-£8k [70-80K kr] which leaves some extra monies for the set of winter wheels + tyres. Take a look here to see why Forester owners rarely change their cars...

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/

Maintenance is simple, every 10,000 miles. They're a highly under rated Q' car...and will tow two tonnes at the same time

[Greengecko]

I own a Focus ST, with quite heavy mods.

Absolutely lovely car to drive, especially once you get into 3rd and press that pedal (although remapping makes a hell of a difference). Personally though, I wouldn't want to be taking mine out in the snow!