Sorry, I didn't clarify properly. I was not cold at all during the daylight hours, the Precip worked really well with the layers and the baselayer that I was wearing. My cold problem was purely at night, first of all waking up in my tent cold, then moving to my car, falling asleep again and then waking up cold again. It was one of those occasions where my day choice worked extremely well and my night choice worked out badly. I'm not an experienced winter camper but I would like to become one.
My Precip actually did fail me (from two years back) because the waterproofing internal covering had rubbed off in the hood, (I then suffered from a cold wet back when it rained) but this problem was caused mostly by me and a design error. I didn't notice that as I rolled the hood up into the collar the small securing Velcro patch scratched the waterproof surface away. If I'd rolled it the opposite way I don't think the problem would have occurred.
My reason for using the Precip recently was to find out if it could become a 'heavyweight' wind jacket for the winter, which in fact worked out very well. I think it will now be my winter wind jacket of choice so I'll just keep my lighter Rab Vital wind jacket for the warmer months. The day before I drove to the Lakes I cut the hood off of my Precip, then secure the useless edge of the material with a lighted match. The Precip now works in a different way for me. It didn't rain during the day I was there, but if it had I would have just slung my cheap waterproof coat over me to stay dry.
I think I'm like so many people, I've bought stuff of my hiking time, most of which works well but I am trying to adapt my 'turkeys,' like the 'waterproof' Precip, rather than thinking that I must my completely new again.
I haven't decided what to do with my Alta 2 yet but I'm not going to get the zip repaired. Even if I did I would still be disappointed with it, so as it stands its not worth me laying out the money.