Cars that can handle cold weather

Hey guys! I'd like some help with choosing a car. In a few days i'll be moving to Finland, it gets cold there, up there, an average of possibly -6 for southern Finland, however lately iv'e seen temperatures up to -18 in the south.
I'd like some suggestions from people with experience here, what's a reliable vehicle to have for such an environment?
Currently I have a 2010 Opel Astra J, I wouldn't mind finding the same again in Finland however it is FWD and the engine may not cope so well in cold weather.
Thanks

 

Yeah mainly city and paved roads.
I do need to look into volvos, lots of those up there and for good reason surely.
That dacia is a good choice too, and iv'e never had a diesel or been fond of them so that's a good start
Thanks btw!

 

Have you seen how cities and snow are in finland?

4wd is needed more in their cities than in rural areas, snow is everywhere, horrible place.

Get something that has good battery and diesel, never had any trouble with antique diesel engine in cold, as long as battery is fresh and you keep tank full so no water gets into fuel. Something before electronic fancy engine management is best bet for cold.

Of course they are not very warm, but you can't have everything, there is no place where to put that everything!

 

Price range?

 

I guess around 5000 euros, cheaper is better, but if it's something I really like I'd save for it.

 

I think a compact SUV like the 1st/2nd gen Honda CR-V would do. Good enough in adverse conditions, reliable.

 

In cold snaps diesel fuel can thicken, so it might be better to go petrol.
Really any car can handle cold weather, but convenience is nice, having things like rear window heater is good.

 

That is why they change diesel type in pumps there and until it is -40C or below there is no issue of thickening.

I would ever consider petrol car for cold, those are so much of trouble when it gets cold compared to diesel.

Update: I explain bit more, which might be useful for some someday.

I have had starting issues only with petrol cars and I have kept my car's battery always in good shape, replacing it before it starts to become weak.

Now petrol car relies on having fuel air mixture correct and spark at the right time to start. With colder temps fuel spray with added ethanol becomes bit coarser, droplets are larger than optimal, so mixture is not quite so perfect, which makes it bit harder to ignite.

With diesel, it is actually enough that there is something that burns, compression is so high that if not quite immediately, then soon it will ignite. Also glowplugs pre-heat air so you got better conditions for starting. Also with diesel as long as your battery has juice, it just heats up more and more as you keep starting, that is because of high compression creating a lot of heat and you can use glow plugs twice to heat air more.

It makes diesel more fail proof in starting, but you have to have correct diesel fuel for the weather and good strong battery.

I don't trust fancy electronics though, with mechanical diesel engine I have had never issues with starting, coldest temperatures has been colder than -40C which made tires kinda square.

They are noisy and bit cold though, so that must be considered too, but diesels are quite common in there, so no need to be shy of such.

 

Thanks to all!
lots of good tips here, I checked a few choices, however most had pretty high mileage, above 300,000km mostly.
Just gotta find the right one.
But how much is usually too much in mileage? I usually think up to 200,000km is a limit to hit.

 

You are talking about Finland, where 200 000km is new and just run in, 400 000km was typical value for 2000 euro car, but for for some reason certain german brands are bit more expensive for that mileage. Or so it used to be, I'm bit out as haven't been there for many years (well now shortly suffer in this hell, don't ask). 500 000km is quite possible, lot of bushes and joints and such needs to be replaced for those miles, but body of vehicle will rust before anything else, better get younger high mileage car than older low mileage car.

Reasoning for that is that short trips wear car more, also rust is happening, in climate of Finland everything rusts.

This is main online car sales page, some older vehicles have too high prices there, but you get pretty good view from used car market from this site.
https://www.nettiauto.com/en

Secondary site is this, sometimes there are good finds, but I'm not sure about if there is language version that is understandable:
http://tori.fi/

Then there are car dealers, but most these days have ads on first site, it is like automobile.de or something.

French cars generally in Finnish winter have dark stripes on doors from lock antifreeze. Breather issues are common on some models as breather has not been cleaned, it freezes and shortly after cold start when you are driving engine pukes all oil out. Note location of breather unit and make sure to get it cleaned, some insulation foam might help a bit, some cars have heating in there, which helps a bit.

However you get usually best price/car ratio with French car as they are not valued very highly there. Opening door panel and lubricating stuff inside usually helps with door not opening issues, cleaning and lubricating latch helps door to stay closed, they tend to have too thick grease, good synthetic oil for the lock at summer and autumn helps with winter issues too.

One thing that might be international thing, but when you buy used car in Finland, it often has parts worn out so you need to spend 50-100% of price in addition to price you pay to have it in good reliable state, headlights are often not replaced bushes and joints can be at poor condition, timing belt change coming shortly, people seem to sell car when it has so many costs coming that it would cost half of the car's value to put in good condition. Try to keep this in mind when shopping for a car.

Best cars I got that way, I bought really cheap car and put car's price to parts, new battery, all fluids, filters belts, water pump, also alternator service or replacement, then it was trouble free motoring.

Oh and tires, I don't know how everyone has a barn filled with antique useless winter tires, but they seem to have, get some good Nokian or Conti to your budget, tires might look nice, but if they are older than 5 years they wont grip at winter.
Worst weathers are soon, smooth ice and all that.

Remember to eat lot of Mammi

 

volvo 240 much strong and steel.

 

I doubt that with his budget, those cost a lot there these days and they are taxed heavily. Some of those are better, but prices what are asked from those these days are quite insane it seems. 4000-5000 from somewhat ok condition.

Taxing goes by published co2 emissions and gets quite expensive at high consumption vehicles, also older vehicles were taxed by weight.

It is a tank and simple reliable mechanical parts, but I believe time has passed it as a commuting vehicle.

Then again you would not need a van if you would have 240 Wagon.

 

I live in Upstate NY, and we get a ton of snow and below zero temperatures.

There are 3 main factors in regards to car effectiveness. Specific models don't really matter, just these 3 main things.

Snow Tires: If you have snow tires, you will have far more control than not having them. A FWD car with snow tires is better than a AWD car with normal tires.

Garages: If you keep your car in a garage, it's far less likely to be buried under snow, be frozen solid by freezing rain (Major pain to get all the ice off), and the battery is far more likely to start up.

Drivetrain: AWD is obviously the best, but don't get too cocky or else you'll wind up in a ditch. FWD works quite well. RWD is the problematic one. It's possible to use a RWD car, but control and grip is going to be a lot weaker. And if I didn't say this already SNOW TIRES.

One other thing, if you like your car, always wash it. You've gotta keep the salt off or else the rust eats your car alive.

 

Rear tires go spin-spin-spin.

 

Rear tires without snow tires go spin-spin-spin all the way back down the hill.

 

Listen, an RWD front-engined car is shit for snow. The driven wheels aren't pushed down enough by the motor's weight.

 

*Angry hoonboys incoming*

 

My girlfriend's gas engine Fiat has glow plugs. They certainly help as when it's very cold here, like below -20C it will misfire a couple times on initial start up. First gas engine I've seen with that feature.
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He's not wrong. Just buy a pickup with 4wd. You can have fun in 2wd when you want (and also save your u-joints) and also you can use 4wd to actually go somewhere when you want.