Winter car, take two...

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Jarlaxle

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My wife's friend is looking for a second car, to keep the salt off her Z28 SS. With Plan A (Subaru Impreza) a rotbox, it's on to plan D. (Plan B was sold before she saw it, Plan C was an Escort that the seller wanted about twice what it was worth.) Plan D is a 1997 Hyundai Accent...it's about as basic as they come: an Accent L 3-door hatch, about 105,000 miles. It looks to be what you got in 1997 if you went for the car mentioned in the big newspaper ad: white, 13" steel wheels, 5-speed manual, manual steering, no ABS, no tilt, no cruise, and I think no A/C. So...I know little about these things. What do Liz and I need to watch out for?

And if she needs a spare key (you know, to wind it up every morning), do I need to go to a dealer or would Rock Auto have it?
laugh.gif
 
Frankly I would be looking for a Spirit/Acclaim/Dynasty as a spare car.....smooth ride,roomy,excellent traction with snow tires,easy to find mechanical parts,simple to fix and make a Accent look like a go cart in comparison.Stick with the 2.5/3speed auto,Base model (no ES or luxo edition) and look for 80,000 miles or so.Will last for years with careful attention to any underbody rust.
 
You should get a crown vic with pep boys four for $99 tires.
laugh.gif


But seriously I had a 99 accent and it had AC and manual steering. Sprightly little thing. Was back when they still copied 1980s-early 90's Japanese econoboxes, a good thing. You can get 155/80/13 tires and find deals on them in the newspaper. Actually just go to a junkyard; they'll give them to you as they have more than what they know what to do with. The skinny pizza cutters are fine in the snow. The car is geared to rev but still pulls good MPG. Make sure you do a timing belt; a lot of hyundais, kias, and daweoos wind up in the junkyard b/c they blow engines: interference, every one of them.

My sister also had a 2001. One frustrating thing is they'd put a steel bolt into aluminum whatever without antisieze and they came out hard.
 
Look at plan A again (subie). You're in New England somewhere right, AWD Subies are great in snow. I wouldn't even have a plan B-D for a winter car. Yes they are that good.
 
Just re read your other post about the Subie being rotted out in the rear...I stick to my above post, look for another Subie.
 
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Frankly I would be looking for a Spirit/Acclaim/Dynasty as a spare car.....smooth ride,roomy,excellent traction with snow tires,easy to find mechanical parts,simple to fix and make a Accent look like a go cart in comparison.Stick with the 2.5/3speed auto,Base model (no ES or luxo edition) and look for 80,000 miles or so.Will last for years with careful attention to any underbody rust.


The Lebaron did good in the snow last year. Its the for door, so its
same platform as the spirit and the acclaim.

Had doral tires with less than 10k on them
 
I never drove the early ABS vehicles, but so far my ABS vehicle has been just fine. Or maybe it would stop faster in snow if it locked up the tires--been too long since I didn't have ABS and was able to really drive in the snow. Anyhow, since it's not for you--are you really after a non-ABS vehicle for your wife's friend? For snow? An absolute beater that won't be driven while it's dumping snow, or after there's a foot on the road, I could see that. But for myself, I was glad to see my wife get ABS--and I'm not sure I could entertain a winter beater w/o ABS anymore for myself. I'm too used to ABS now.

Maybe the friend is perfectly fine with non-ABS, but I figured I had to ask.
 
My ideal winter beater:
-part time 4WD so you can stop like a brick
-part time 4WD so you can drive slowly out of any snow filled ditch
-has winter tires to keep you out of that ditch in the first place
-Ford so you never have to worry about getting it through emissions
-under $1000 so that even with the added cost of four winter tires you can junk it in three years and still make out
-under $300 so you don't care too much when it gets smashed up by a driver who: isn't paying attention; is transporting children; is driving a Volvo; can't see; is from Mexico; etc.
 
It's _very_ easy to get most Fords to pass an OBD emissions test even when they're very broken. If you've got a tailpipe test to deal with, well, Fords are right up there with Hyundai and GM as far as being easy to get through.

I'm not trying to say that anyone at Ford made it work that way to help with fleet sales or anything, this is just from observation....
 
Again, if you are familiar with the splendid area of Oswego, NY, I know people who have drove there with FWD sedans with all-season tires and did just fine. Throw some snows on there and you'd be in great shape. Obviously a Subie with good tires would be nearly unstoppable, but you may not need unstoppable.
 
Originally Posted By: Barkleymut
I'm still wondering how 4wd makes you stop like a brick? Pretty sure its the brakes, not the drivetrain that does the stopping.


In snow, part time 4WD keeps the wheels turning at the same speed. Full-time 4WD and AWD won't do that. ABS should do that, and some systems do, but some can be very hit-or-miss in snow.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
I never drove the early ABS vehicles, but so far my ABS vehicle has been just fine. Or maybe it would stop faster in snow if it locked up the tires--been too long since I didn't have ABS and was able to really drive in the snow. Anyhow, since it's not for you--are you really after a non-ABS vehicle for your wife's friend? For snow? An absolute beater that won't be driven while it's dumping snow, or after there's a foot on the road, I could see that. But for myself, I was glad to see my wife get ABS--and I'm not sure I could entertain a winter beater w/o ABS anymore for myself. I'm too used to ABS now.

Maybe the friend is perfectly fine with non-ABS, but I figured I had to ask.


Her Z28 is her first vehicle WITH ABS, not having it is no problem. She doesn't care either way.

Not to mention: the Hyundai Accent will get MUCH better mileage than a Subaru.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
How does a Ford get through emissions, unlike other vehicles?


I have to answer and agree with the previous answer that fords are honey badgers of the emissions world, they just don't care.
lol.gif


My 97 contour didn't even mind (running-wise) that it was missing its MAF, I put it back on and the readiness monitors clicked in. I've had a couple fords running just on battery (no alt) and no CEL. In fact that contour had no power to the dash and it was just, "derpa derpa derpa" soldiering on.
wink.gif


(no dash power = no CEL but it was happy when power returned.)
 
No Joke: Jaguar X-Type, with manual transmission.

They are all wheel drive. They are CHEAP. They are rot resistant. And, the biggest problems with them are easy to fix if you know how.

Yes, they have transfer case problems. But, $100 worth of bearings fixes it perfectly. And the job is quite simple.

Also, the throttle by wire system goes haywire. Throttle body spray cleaner fixes this too.

The car is based on a Ford Contour/Mondeo. It's main components are Ford parts and commonly available at reasonable prices.
 
If the price is right, the Accent should be a pretty good winter vehicle. The biggest thing to watch out for on this car is the timing belt. If you do not know when it was changed, then it is a MUST to have it changed right away. There are lots of 80-100k mile Hyundais in the junkyard because the timing belt was not changed. Other than that, throw some good snow tires on and you have a fuel efficient winter vehicle.
 
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