“Where horsepower meets conversation”
By Paul Kramer · December 8, 2025
🎧 Checkout our recent podcast!
(Yes, It Can Survive Snow. Probably.)
Driving your Porsche in winter is like bringing a purebred show dog to a muddy dog park:
It’ll be fine… but everyone will judge you.
As I preparing my 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S for the F.A.T. Mankei Ice Races in Big Sky, Montana, I’m learning more from experts on what to do and what to expect.
Here’s the quick-and-dirty guide to making sure both you and your Porsche come back in one piece.
1. 🛞 Tires: The Non-Negotiable
All-seasons are not winter tires.
They’re “I like living dangerously” tires.
Get real snow tires or stay home and make cocoa.
Some of the top recommended tires for Porsches (studless ice & snow only) are Michelin X-ICE SNOW, Bridgestone BLIZAK WS90, and Pirelli WINTER CINTURATO 2.
Look for the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) symbol:
Or, find yourself spinning tires and going nowhere like we did on the Overcrest Rally in Utah last year!
2. 🎯 Add Weight (Strategically, Not Emotionally)
For rear-engine cars, throw a couple sandbags up front to keep the nose from wandering like a bored toddler.
For front-engine cars… well, enjoy your traction (until you get high sided…traction boards are a must!)
I wish I had traction boards in this situation. You can see the Jeep in the background. He was in no mood to help us out. I think he rather enjoyed the show of us scrambling to get off the snow/ice berm.
3. 🔥 Check Your Heat
Air-cooled owners:
“Heat” is a suggestion, not a guarantee.
Test it now unless you want your passengers to reenact the final scene of Titanic.
Of course, you can always hop outside and be towed on your skis to build some aerobic heat in your body.
4. 🛣 Traction Control AKA Your Right Foot
Most older Porsches only have two stability settings:
1. You.
2. The guardrail.
Drive like you’re carrying a bowl of soup.
5. 🚿 Wash It… Then Wash It Again
Road salt loves your Porsche the way seagulls love french fries: intensely and destructively.
Rinse often unless you enjoy seeing rust in places rust shouldn’t exist.
6. 👀 Accept That People Will Stare
Some will admire you.
Some will question your sanity.
Both are correct.
✅ The Bottom Line
Your Porsche can absolutely handle winter.
Just prep it, respect it, and don’t try to set lap times in a snowstorm.
Unless it’s fresh powder.
Then… maybe one lap.
— Paul Kramer
🎙️ Full Throttle Talk Podcast Plug: Tune in wherever you get your podcasts.
🎧️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/full-throttle-talk/id1797328371
🏁 Two Real Bargains: Cars That Sold 25–40% Below Market in 2025
By Tim Harris · December 8, 2025
Every week, someone asks us: “Are there still bargains on Bring a Trailer, Cars & Bids, or PCARMARKET?”
Short answer: Absolutely.
Longer answer: You have to know where to look—and you have to know what the car is actually worth today.
Below are two confirmed 2025 auction results where someone bought a car for 25%–40% under real market value, using Classic.com benchmarks as a fair proxy for “current retail.” No speculation. No guesses. Just numbers.
🥇 1. 2009 Porsche Cayenne S (957) — The 40% Steal
Auction: Cars & Bids
Sold: July 14, 2025
Final Price: $8,300
Current Market Value: ~$14,500
Discount: ≈ 42% BELOW market
This is the kind of buy that makes the seller question their life choices. A running, non-disastrous 957 Cayenne S for $8,300 in 2025 is wild.
Yes, it had 107k miles. Who cares? It’s a naturally aspirated V8 Porsche SUV that can still be serviced by normal humans. At today’s mid-$14k benchmark, this thing was bought at almost 50 cents on the dollar.
If you’ve ever wanted the cheapest possible entry into Porsche ownership that doesn’t involve tetanus, this was it.
🥈 2. 2013 Mercedes-Benz GL450 (X166) — The Luxury Discount Special
Auction: Bring a Trailer
Sold: April 28, 2025
Final Price: $20,001
Current Market Value (X166 Avg): ~$28,900
Discount: ≈ 27% BELOW market
35,000 miles. White. Clean. Not a project. Not a parts car.
Just a big, comfortable, V8-powered Mercedes SUV that someone scooped for basically Camry money.
Given the X166 market sits around the high-$20s, this was a real bargain—rare on BaT for clean, low-mile German SUVs.
🧠 So What’s the Play Here?
If you’re bargain-hunting in 2025, your best bets are:
✔ Older German V8 SUVs
Cayenne S, ML/GL/GLS, X5 4.8i/50i—these quietly hammer under reality all the time.
✔ Driver-grade cars with miles but no “stories”
A 100k-mile Porsche SUV is normal, not scary.
✔ Cars with big production numbers
They don’t attract emotional bidding wars.
✔ Clean but unremarkable spec
No aero kits, no weird wraps, no sketchy mods = safer buy.
✔ Auctions ending mid-week or off-peak
Yes, bad auction timing is still your best friend.
💬 Want More Bargains?
If you want, I can build you a recurring Full Throttle Talk “Bargain of the Week” feature pulling straight from BaT, Cars & Bids, and PCARMARKET—filtered for:
20–30%+ under benchmark
Porsches only
≤ $50k cars
Daily drivers you can “drive for free”
Or even “cars your spouse won’t yell at you for buying”
Just say the word.
🏁 Your Turn
Hit reply or DM us on IG and tell us:
What category should we hunt next?
⤴ Porsche bargains?
⤴ JDM bargains?
⤴ Under-$25k steals?
⤴ Supercars that dipped 30%?
We’ll build the next list from your requests.
Stay Full Throttle,
— Tim Harris & the FTT Crew
FullThrottleTalk.com
🏁 The Full Throttle Talk Team
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