Where I grew up in upstate New York, many of us had what we called a "winter rat" - a cheap, almost disposable car that one would buy for a couple hundred bucks with the sole intention of driving it in winter.  This would spare your other car the ignominy of winter driving - salty roads, icy conditions, collisions, hidden fire hydrants under snow drifts, etc. You expected your rat to get banged up and barely survive one season - and in many cases you worked hard toward that end.  My buddies and I would spend countless hours driving our rats into snowdrifts and trying to spin out in icy parking lots, grazing light posts and curbs aplenty along the way. My winter rat was a Dodge Omni 024, which actually made it through two winters.

So, that leads to my questions now that winter is around the corner here in the northern hemisphere. Did/does this concept exist anywhere else (none of my friends not from there have heard of this term), and if so what was your rat? Second, what would be your RR3 rat? I think mine would be the Hyundai i20. Hardy enough to get around in those conditions, but one I wouldn't miss if/when it gets trashed.