Last winter, I sold my beloved BMW 325Ci after 10 years of ownership to buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The Grand Cherokee is actually a fantastic vehicle and I'm extremely pleased with it, but I miss having a responsive, manual-transmission car. It doesn't help that a friend of mine just bought a BMW 335i convertible.

I've always wanted a Porsche and am considering buying a few-year-old Boxster S. The only issue is, I live in an apartment and only have space in my garage for one car. At least in the winter, I will want to keep the Jeep parked in the garage so I don't have to mess with scraping snow and ice from it.

The BMW held up well being parked outside through 4 years of college, but I am hesitant to spend a bunch of money on a convertible with a soft top and leave it parked outside all the time. I live in Colorado - we can have hot summers (with plenty of UV radiation, due to the altitude), and messy winters. Can anyone chime in with their experiences storing their Boxster outside?

I could get a car cover but I always expect those to get dirty real fast and scratch the paint.

 

Just do it. No cover.

But first...

Be sure water drains are clear.

If snow/ice is on the car the side windows can stick/fail to drop. Not a real big problem when you open the door but a big problem when you go to close the door.

When you open the door check the window drops and remains dropped.

If the window doesn't drop gently push down on the glass while at the same time pressing the lower button.

Once the glass goes down then close the door and raise the window. Confirm the glass drops ok now.

(If the glass drops then raises that's a door lock/latch problem not related to the snow/ice.)

Be sure you have proper tires on the car. If available get a set of cables/chains for your car just in case. Also, I carried a heavy duty tow strap in the car long enough to use to have someone pull me out of a ditch/snow bank just in case. But drive so you don't ever have to unwrap the strap box.

Be sure you fill the windshield washer tank with a non-freezing washer fluid. When I lived in the midwest I'd buy gallon jugs of the blue stuff at the local 24 hour truck stop. These jugs were on display outside in the cold. I'd wait for a few cold days and then select jugs with no ice or slush. Buy extra to have around.

Every once in a while when the temp is above freezing visit the local DIY car wash and treat the car to a thorough rinse with the heated water. Rinse the wheel wells, the underside of the car, the radiator ducts.

Be careful leaving the car wash. The drive ways can have a coating of ice that can have you screaming NO NO NO as the car slides down the driveway with a truck coming.

Porsche ABS rocks!

 

I had my Boxster out in the elements in NJ and my 356C parked in the garage. No problems at all and it was my daily driver.

 

The 3ft rain gutter needs to be attached from the top's shroud to the rear firewall. Some guys, and even shops, fail to correctly replace them.