Don't Take The Back Road

[robwright]

Picture the scene. Faced with a massive queue of traffic coming off the roundabout I thought I know I'll take the back road shortcut. No sooner had I done this I was faced with a road like an ice rink. I immediately lost control but luckily stayed calm did everything I should and managed to regain control. Not before losing the back end 5 or 6 times in either direction. I very quickly cleaned out my undies, turned around and humbly joined the lengthy queue of traffic. Rain on already snow covered roads do not make good bed fellows. Be careful out there tonight and tomorrow gents.

 

[944Turbo]

I dont think there are any morons here so that is blimmin rude and that is the sort of attitude that gets you attacked - different views that's all, be boring if we were alll the same. Love driving my 44 in these conditions but cleaning the salt off properly afterwards is a chore.
Tony

 

[robwright]

+1 for that Tony. Tonight I made a stupid mistake and picked an unsuitable, ungritted road in my haste to get somewhere. Not the car's fault all mine and mine alone. Would have the been the same story in any car. I love driving my turbo everyday and it never stops making me smile. Yes in the wet IMHO they can be as twitchy as a 911 but that's all part of knowing the limits of your car. Or yours for that matter. You are only a fool if you exceed your own ability level.

 

[Frenchy]

Sorry Scooty but the moron count is on here is zeroish ! i have 2 944;s and i am fortunate enough to have another daily driver, some people don't so have to use them in this weather.
Have a word with yerself lad !

 

[Alpine]

mine is with yours Scotty, tucked up in the garage with the trickle charger, good luck to those who run them all year round, I have my daily driver old Jag for that

 

[Sifly]

I did a tour of the scottish highlands in my 944 turbo a few years ago in mid February. I took this picture heading for the isle of sky (just before turning around as the steering wheel was having very little say in the cars direction of travel)!!

Great trip though, and a fantastic car.

 

[robwright]

Great pic mate shows the car off really well actually and looks just like mine. I see you hail from Cheshire my growing up stomping ground. Whereabouts you from mate?

 

[Sifly]

Hi Rob,

I'm in the sticks, not far from Knutsford.
The 944 was a 1989 250 turbo in Velvet Red with cream leather. I regretfully sold it in 2001 to a guy up in the lake district. Then, low and behold, one night last summer, it turned up at our R5 club night with it's new owner who's from Bolton! It was fantastic to see the car again, still going strong and still pretty much as it was when i sold it appart from the Cup wheels and a private plate. So i managed to get some pics of it next to my recently purchased 964 turbo. [8D]

 

[robwright]

Lol I never grow tired of the fat arse of the 944. My mate has just bought a 964 in guards. Whenever I look at the back of it it looks weak. I and he agree it needs a turbo back end. But he got a good car for the money. It is a targa though so came with many of the usual targa problems[] Give him some help with his heater will you his forum name is dirtgod []

 

[ChasR]

Getting up my friend's drive was alot of fun! But besides that, in some respects it's a better daily driver than my other car (a Peugeot 306 DT. Except the pretty poor headlamps (the '44 is miles better here) it's a nice car to drive around in the snow. Maybe the 1000kg kerbweight and narrow (well, 185) tyres helps there compared to the S2 with it's 255 rears which are pretty old (try 7 years old).

 

[DavidL]

Scotty I think people are rapidly coming to the end of their tether with you. If you really have nothing better or constructive to say or do just leave. Simple.

 

[Hilux]

Love driving my 44 in these conditions

I dont mean to be or sound disparaging but I live in little village in North Herts where we have had it as bad as I can remember and your statement is all very well provided you arent going to get stuck and block the roads so the gritters excavators and ploughs cant get through or add to the recovery services misery.

Rear wheel drive cars on large low profile tyres are the worst possible cars to take out. They without question have been the ones primarily me and other 4x4 owners have been pulling out locally for days now so we can all use the (currently single track) road into the village. The little FWD`s with a bit of traction control or decent driving technique go anywhere in comparison.

 

[Wigeon Incognito]

I tried to get to Fort William from Blackpool in mine on Monday - it took me 50 minutes to get about 1 mile up the road due to traffic then I got stuck. Traffic was at a stop/start crawl so I couldn't keep any momentum going to get out of a dip.

Car abandoned on a side road, walk home, collect it later when the masses had given up then spend the afternoon having fun on the then traffic free snow covered roads.

I'm off out in it in a minute to have some more fun, and I'll try Fort William again next week. Snow plus rear wheel drive certainly keeps me grinning!

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Great pic of the '44 in the snow!
Its not what they were made for and there are certainly better vehicles for the job in the snow, but not everybody can afford to have a 944 and a winter car.

Mike

 

[TheFiend]

ORIGINAL: sc0tty

I already mentioned why I dont drive my car in this weather on another post, but the usual forum morons just started saying the usual crap "these cars are meant to be driven, blah, blah, blah" !

So according to you I am a moron and a retard because I use my 944 every day, come sun, rain or snow. I'm not a show and shine type of guy, I never will be. I prefer to drive cars rather than admire them.

 

[Pastry]

ORIGINAL: TheFiend

ORIGINAL: sc0tty

I already mentioned why I dont drive my car in this weather on another post, but the usual forum morons just started saying the usual crap "these cars are meant to be driven, blah, blah, blah" !

So according to you I am a moron and a retard because I use my 944 every day, come sun, rain or snow. I'm not a show and shine type of guy, I never will be. I prefer to drive cars rather than admire them.

Scotty seems to be the resident troll here; never misses a chance to repeat one of his small stock of personal maxims regarding Porsche ownership, repeating them on any topic possible, usually with derogatory comments on other more helpful forum users that don't share his opinion. Ignore him and the forum is pretty much a 100% nice place to be.

 

[ChasR]

Come on now chaps, let's not throw out toys out of the pram. Let's leave people to their opinions. Everyone will justify their opinions to the death regardless of whether it is right or wrong.

 

[cococola]

Hear hear...everyone has an opinion so I wont waste anymore time[]
I do find my 944 pretty bad in snow and ice which I compare to an old merc that I used to drive which was just as bad[8|]

 

[sawood12]

Sounds like the sort of conditions that caused Rob to turn round would have defeated anything but a proper 4x4 on appropriate tyres so why should people not use a 944 in these conditions. Some people love driving their 944's and driving them in all weathers and conditions appeals - I love driving cars in extreme weather conditions and loved it even moreso in the 944. Why on earth would you not drive your 944 in these conditions? Because you MIGHT crash? well if that is the case then why take your 944 out at all in any conditions as the possibility of crashing, or picking up damage is there whenever you take your car out. Don't kid yourself that you are exposing yourself to a huge amount of extra risk in wintry conditions. More people have accidents and die on the roadsin perfectly fine driving conditions.

Personally there are two types of people here - those who love their 944's for their driving appeal and just enjoy the thrill of driving it, and those who love the ideal of owning a 944. I have no problems with either camp, but each should respect the other and stop peddling the sort of rubbish like "These cars disintegrate into a pile of rust at the slightest sniff of rain or moisture on the road". That just isn't true. Garage queens suffer rusty sills as much as regular mile munchers and a whole host of other potential lack of use related issues as well.

I've seen a quote from Ferry Porsche himself that went something along the lines of "These cars are meant for driving, not polishing".

Many ski holidays over the past 12 years, trips to Moscow in the grip of winter (and they have proper winters) and a brother who lives in Norway has made me realise one thing - that these countries don't have a magic formula when it comes to getting around in all manner of cars in these conditions - they don't have massive fleets of snow ploughs and gritters ready to spring into action at the slightest sniff of snow (salt is banned in alot of European countries anyway). They susually suffer the sort of chaos we do for a few days after the first snowfall of the year. However the one thing they do have that we don't is a second set of wheels with snow tyres. They don't even try to clear the roads of snow,they just drive on top of it. And Ice - well there is nothing to can do with ice, they avoid it as well.

Be careful out there no matter what car you drive!

 

[Hilux]

Sounds like the sort of conditions that caused Rob to turn round would have defeated anything but a proper 4x4 on appropriate tyres so why should people not use a 944 in these conditions.

Cos rear wheel drive is absolutely pants in snow and on ice and large wide low profile tyres do not help.

With front wheel drive (weight over driven wheels) and a bit of traction control with your tyre pressures down a bit you will make some progress but not if you are behind a RWD car.

My wifes Aygo and my sons Mini One drove around mainly without issue anywhere non 4wd cars could access (they went to work and returned each day) while we had to repeatedly clear mainly RWD cars (and even a 4x4 Suzuki Grand Vitara with blacked out windows, lowered suspension and 18" gangsta wheels so wide they were just huge rubber bands [8|]) so the local authority could get the diggers and snow ploughs through!