I'm considering a move to chicago. The new workplace will be in downtown and I'll get a house somewhere in the suburbs near the EL station. What I enjoy about my current geographical area is that I can drive my year round. Obviously the same isn't going to possible if I move.

Question is - how many month does your car sits idle during a typical chicago winter? If anything like the upstate NY where the cars like ours often seat for six month or more, I'll be tempted to just sell the car and get something more weather resilient.

 

People in Europe drive these cars year round and so do I. This will be my first winter with my TT, but I also have a 1991 C4 that I have driven through 13 winters in a place that gets about 8X the snow Chicago does.

 

Is that with OEM or dedicated snow tires?

 

I drive my all year - any weather - you need dedicated snow's and it handles better than anything out there.

 

So the snow tires are a must then?

 

Yes.

 

What sort of drivablity period shall I expect for a car dressed in the OEM tires, 6 month, 8month, less?

 

I drive about 1,000 miles a month and my summer tires (Yokohama's Advan AD08) will last about 10-12 months if I am lucky - but I also track my car a lot. Not sure about Michelin's or other OEM tires. I would think they last longer (15-20K or more). Next year I will not run any street tires on the track and that should make them last a little longer.

I drive on snow tires between Nov and March

There are a bunch of people running Sumitomo's, but I would avoid them if you plan on going to the track. They are probably fine for the street. I ran them last year and was not thrilled with them at all. This tire has less than 4,000 miles on it and 2 or 3 aggressive track days.

 

So about 8 month of year can be driven on summer tires?

 

8 is about right.

 

Well, I guess I can tolerate 4 month of non-driving.

 

My car (a C2) went through it's first Chicago winter last season. I didn't have dedicated snows, so I wasn't brave enough to face the elements in that car, so it was a garage queen for 4 months. I keep telling myself I'll go do it this winter, but then I'm also thinking it's time to purchase a used Cayenne!

 

So, 4 month it is then.

 

Because you seem to be OK with 4 months of "non driving", I assume you have another car to drive. That being said, what a lot of people do(in MN) is drive their summer car in the winter when the roads are clear.. Which is most of the time during most normal winters. There are probably 10-20 days during the winter that are true winter driving days.. That's when the other car gets driven, or when the snow tires would be a must.

I will say that in MN the DOT has clearing the roads down to a science(literally), and my brothers who live in Chicago say that the DOT there is a bunch of buffoons, so my estimates may be a little of for that metro.

 

Yes, I'll have another car or two for which I'm already shopping for winter tires. I used to live in Louisville and remember that most of time the roads were drivable on summer tires. But Louisville is of course a couple hundred miles south and there was no lake effect.