Just wondering if anyone who owns a gto and drove in the winter? I am lookin into taking over a lease on a black 6spd 2006 and help would be greatly appreciated…
why wouldnt it be okay in the snow? throw some snows on it…all the bmws and benzos are RWD and theyre okay all year.
No, but he is welcome to…lol
I drove mine all last winter with a set of snows. Other than the Oct storm where it spent about a week hiding in the garage while I let my wife’s Expedition get beat to shit by tree branches the GTO always got me to work.
I’ve always been a proponent of the idea that all season tires are good enough for Buffalo winters but this car changed my mind. A 245 performance biased all season is WAY too wide for snowy roads because it can’t cut through the snow to get traction on the pavement. The car was downright dangerous if there was any snow on the roads with the stock BFG KDWS’s. And talk to anyone who’s seen me autocross or drive at a track day; I’m not one of those idiots who doesn’t know how to countersteer. I’ve been called things like “captain slideways” and “dirt track racer”. 
With a set of snows the car wasn’t bad at all. The factory traction control is extremely aggressive so with that on (it’s on by default every time you start the car) and decent tires it’s hard to get into too much trouble. It’s still 400 hp, in a rwd car, so you have to respect it in the snow but it’s heavy enough that I would rank it well above my old 2WD V6 open diff Ranger in terms of snow capability.
Oh, and prepare for the majority of the idiots on boards like LS2GTO to act like you just kicked their mom’s in the face when they find out your GTO has seen salt. They seem to think these cars are 100k+ exotics or that they’re going to be worth mega-bucks as a collectors item in 40 years. I bought mine to drive it. I still get people who tell me to buy a <$1000 beater, but I don’t see myself driving some POS just so I can keep my much more fun to drive GTO sitting at home in the garage. If it was something rare I wanted to keep forever like a Ferrari or a 911 sure, but a GTO is “just a car”. When it gets up there in miles I’ll trade it on something else I can drive every day that’s fun.
I know a few guys on LS1gto drive them year round with Blizzaks. I don’t drive mine in winter, but I can’t imagine it being any worse then any other rwd car. Get some Hakkas/Blizzaks and you’ll be good. Leave the TC on and start out in 3rd gear.
hmmm thanks guys i might just go this way, really wish i still had the a4 quattro for the snow but shit happens =(
My friend had a gto for a couple years. He put blizzaks on it for the winter.
I drove with him to get the blizzies put on, it was snowing like a moo-foo, and his car was all over the place. He had to drive so so…so slow. Then we got the new tires mounted, and it was very driveable.
Even had to go over a snow bank in his driveway, he had basically no momentum, and I though for sure he was going to get stuck even with the blizzies, but the rear tires chewed through it well. I don’t think he ever got stuck or delayed for the 2 winters he had the car.
I >'d him in my escort though, winter parking lot auto-x WEEE, that was pretty fun.
But he’s got an a4 now. Even though it’s not as fast he says he likes it better.
If you enjoy changing clutches sure.
I drove mine this winter with all-season Kumhos and 100lbs in the trunk. Wasn’t that bad and I never even really had any close calls. Handles better than my V6 F-bod did with snows on. One thing is, if theres any decent amount of snow on the ground, you end up turning TC off because it doesnt let you get enough power to get going. :tup: to taking over a lease.
EDIT: oh, and like Jay said, fuck the haters. Spending a decent amount of money on a nice car to drive around in a shitbox >50% of the time is dumb.
Yeah, I had my T/C off so much last winter I was really tempted to do the mod to make it off by default.
It really comes down to the fact that some people shouldn’t drive any RWD cars in the snow. My wife is a great example. I wouldn’t trust her in a new 3 series RWD with snow tires and all the latest stability control features. Even with all the nanny features in the world there will be times in a RWD when you accellerate and turn in low traction that it comes down to you knowing how to steer into a skid and recover.
Your parents probably drove all kinds of RWD cars in the snow and the snow was a lot worse back then than it is now.
If the snow is that bad, what do you think is going to slip first, the tires on the snow covered ground, or the clutch that has a 400hp/400 torque engine propelling the car? My money is on the tires. Sometimes i am spacing out and accidently start from a dead stop in my car in 3rd. Doesn’t take off as fast as if I start in 1st and roll on the throttle, but no clutch stinky stink. Now, go buy that GTO!!!
$380/month 0 down! hows insurance?
Insurance, at least for the LS1 model, was really reasonable. As in, less than a '96 V6 F-bod reasonable.
You using swapalease or leasetrader? Mine is 267 a month, but its up in december
I pay $250/6 months on the 00 Expedition, and 290/6 months on the 05 GTO with Geico.
Not sure how I’d feel about 380/month on a least takeover. How many miles/months left on the lease?
my buddy wont buy another car for winter, he takes off his 19’s and throws the stockers back on
werd on the insurance thing… mine only went up about 100.00 a year from the buick.
as for snow… it all depends on the driver and tires. Alot of people think that RWD is bad in snow opposed to FWD. With a good set of tires and a good driver, RWD > in the snow… it’s a lot more responsive IMO, but you have to know how to handle it
edit: oh, and the manual should help him quite a bit too… just use 2nd gear when it’s really slick outside and don’t use full throttle. That much power run thru thin snowtires on ice cold asphalt WILL spin him out
Wow… 39 months left on the lease? You’re spending $15000 and you give it back to GM when you’re done.
05 6-speed with only 4000 miles, listed at 18900. Even if you only talk him down $900 you’re BUYING the car for $3000 more than you’re going to lease one for.
Not a big fan of blue on blue, but just posting that as an example that there are probably much better deals out there.
I would never drive one in the snow, if you dont give a shit about your car and its “just a car” to you, buy a fucking Grand Prix or Malibu or some shit thats the reason muscle car prices of 30+ years ago are so high now
Back then they “were just cars” to alot of people
GTOs had a relatively low production number and someday stand more of a chance of becoming a collectable down the road than 90% of the cars on the road today
Flame away