Hello all, I bought a ST earlier this week as a daily driver. FYI I work for a food company and clock around 1200 miles a week going from site to site - my normal daily driver is hopeless in the snow so I decided to buy a cheap truck to get around. 3 months ago before this weather you could have bought a knackered old Disco or Shogun for sweeties. However, since the freeze there has not been a decent 4x4 north of Leeds on any forums for under 1200 quid! Having had a chat with a farmer make of mine he suggested a four/sportrak as a solution. Now I have been aware of these cars for a while and know them to be tough lightweight trucks with capable drivetrains. Logging onto ebay on Monday am I found a nice example of a 1996 ELi Sportrak for £500 in Southampton - problem bering I live in Edinburgh. So I clicked Buy it Now and headed south on the train on Tuesday to collect it. Picked up on Tuesday evening and then drove it back through the blizzard on the M3 to my place in Hertfordshire.

In short this week I have clocked up 650 miles - a mixture of deep snow and country lanes and motorway. I have had the car in high 4WD for most of those miles - last night 400 miles worth of freezinf motorway and - yes you do slide in 4x4 as well but it is easier to get pinting int he right direction again! mind you does like a drink in 4x4 mode but as I have been used to running a Daimler DD6 over the summer - anything is efficiant!

The only problem I have had in the freezing temperatures has been the wiper blades icing and the window washers freezing on me despite using 100% washer - I am thinking about installing jet heaters like on my Citroen XM and also upgrading the size of the washer bottle.

cracking wee truck though - always gets me home - will probably order a set of chains for it just in case!