I did some research for winter tires. If I got the same size everything including decent sipe tires, compatibility with the brakes,  nice looking wheels only $5 more than the cheapest alloys, tire pressure monitors, mounted, balanced and shipped from Tirerack.com, it’s about $1500. What I’d like to do is go minus 1 or minus 2 on the sizes for a narrower tire and if such a thing exists for compatibility, cheap steel wheels, though I suspect that might not be the case. But I’d really like to have Grappone do it all so I can make it part of the car loan. Also have to decide on a car cover which is an option for the car.

It’s gonna be impossible for me to keep my Buick for the winter, I have to trade it in. I hate that thought, but it’s that or no Mustang. Maybe in a year I could get a crappy very old used Jeep Liberty cheap for the winters.  To keep the Buick I would’ve had to start saving one or two years ago.

Including trade in value and cash saved, I have to come up with $8100 to keep the monthly payments around $400, which I can do. But that does NOT include snow wheels/tires or cover. What this means is I have to save $600 a month for the rest of the year. Tough, but theoretically possible. By December my Buick will be paid off anyway, so that’s done with before I trade it.

Last year I called Allstate to find out how much my insurance would go up with a 2012 and it’s not too bad at all, really. I think I might’ve called city hall to find out about the first year of registration cost and it was manageable.

I’m likely to get Kona Blue. I wish they still offered Lava Red, which is kinda the red version of Kona Blue as far as darkness and classiness. But at least this year they brought back Sterling Silver which is the darker silver that I like. They also have a new tri-coat green called Gotta Have It Green, which is pretty cool, does nice things with light hitting it. All the other colors don’t interest me so much. Black is cool, especially on a Super Snake because the whole car is blacked out and the style is super tough and I saw one in person. But black and regular silver and red are so freaking common.  I read somewhere that nowadays something like half of all cars sold in the U.S. are white, silver or black.

I really like the styling of the 2013, more ballsy than the 2012. The 2012 standard headlights were optimum for getting the max retro look, though. But I have nothing against the 2013 headlights, plus the 2013 taillights are better than the 2012.

I know it would be a challenge driving with the standard tires in heavy snow, would really try to get narrower tires for winter. But I successfully drove winters in the 442. Part of that time was skinny tires on steel rims, later was BF Goodrich all seasons the first year they came on the market. They weren’t as “all season” as tires are today, but I made it work okay, and they were fairly wide, about as wide or nearly as wide as the Mustang tires.

I grew up in the ’60’s so winter driving is not such a big deal.

I could probably get away with no winter tires the first year if I couldn’t make it happen while buying the car, especially if I was taking delivery in March or later.

With the Mustang I would not be able to drive to the Worcester in a slushy blizzard to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra like I did the night my brother and his family blew off their tickets because of stormy slush concerns. It was work at times with the Buick, but I could make pretty decent time.  With the Mustang I would likely have turned back after 30 miles that night. The 442 would be after 40 miles, 50 miles with skinny tires. The Buick is front wheel drive and heavy, though it has only one real drive wheel. Not as heavy as the original Olds Toronado with front wheel drive, but still heavy by today’s standards.

Summary:

I gotta plan carefully and watch myself to get up the down payment with not an awful lot of time remaining.
It takes about 6 weeks to get a car after ordering. So I wouldn’t have to drive it in snow or salt as I wouldn’t have it until almost April.
I would then have 6 months to prepare for the following winter.