Upgrading Winter

I’ve always believed in winter cars.

Ottawa makes that decision for you. The salt, the slush, the frost-heaved roads and the months of grey grime aren’t conditions a proper sports car should ever have to endure. So for as long as I’ve owned summer cars, there has always been something else ready to take over - something practical, resilient, and willing to absorb the worst of it.

That part isn’t new.

What is new is the quality of that handoff. A new winter car that fulfils its role, not as a substitute for the Porsche, but as a necessity in the freezing months. It won’t try to be special in the same way, and it doesn’t need to. Its job is simpler and more honest: to be a decent replacement for a few difficult months, and to do so without feeling like a punishment.

And in that role, I think it will excel.

The Porsche still retreats for the season as it always has, stored away not out of sentimentality, but out of respect. It remains what it has always been, a summer car, saved for warm pavement, clean roads, and days that invite you to take the long way home. Winter was never meant for it, and that hasn’t changed.

What has changed is how winter driving will feel. For years, the winter duty fell to dad’s old Hyundai that has served faithfully and without complaint. It has been the perfect winter car: anonymous, reliable, and entirely unbothered by salt, snowbanks, or neglect. It did exactly what was asked of it, year after year, and did it well. That kind of service deserves acknowledgment.

Now, it’s being promoted.

The Hyundai isn’t being discarded; it’s being retired to barn-car status, a new phase of life where expectations are lower, tasks are dirtier, and dignity is preserved through usefulness. It’s earned that role.

In its place sits a winter car that feels like an upgrade. Not a rival to the Porsche obviously, but a more civilized way to endure the long months between autumn and spring. It should be a tad more comfortable, with a few more niceties, and just as reassuring when the city is locked in ice and darkness. It will make winter less of an ordeal, and offer us up a bit more comfortable and flexibility for off-season driving.

There’s some satisfaction in the three-way  balance. Each car has a role. Each job gets the machine that suits it best. The Porsche waits patiently for summer, untouched by salt or compromise, ready to carve the twisties. The replacement winter car steps in without pretending to be anything else. Solid, comfortable, reliable - and with a set of dedicated snow tires on rims! And the old Hyundai - frost-scarred and loyal - continues on in a quieter, humbler capacity as the dedicated workhorse for the sailing yard and the horse barn.

Adding a new garage-mate isn’t about replacing anything. It’s about continuity, and progress.

Welcome to the humble Acura CSX!

~ Luke