Off-Topic: I need a new car / truck / SUV

[geomorph]

Sheeeit - any vehicle short of a Lambo could make it up the roads in those photos. Including a minivan.

Great, now I am picturing a Top Gear/Grand Tour special with Jeremy driving a Lamborghini around Moab.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Great, now I am picturing a Top Gear/Grand Tour special with Jeremy driving a Lamborghini around Moab.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a4...in-new-teaser/

[toast2266]

While I agree that those roads don't look like they require much clearance, a lot of the lower clearance vehicles usually run relatively light tires that aren't going to hold up very well on rocky stuff. You can put heavier tires on, but then your car kinda starts to drive like a truck. The smaller cars also don't tend to have a full size spare, and I wouldn't want to be too far off the beaten path with only a donut as a backup.

Seems like the question is just what your 95% use case is: are you just hauling people, bikes, and bike / camp related gear 95% of the time? If so, maybe some small-ish SUV makes sense. Some of the newer hybrid ones even get non-embarrassing mileage. Are you hauling anything other than people, bikes / gear with any frequency? Get a pickup truck (and then get a beater commuter car so you don't have to drive the pickup all the time).

[North]

Have you spent any time with a soft topper? I despise them. It was the worst of all worlds. Two dudes can pull a fiberglass topper pretty easily.

Ha "Best of both worlds" was probably a stretch. Haven't owned one, so I'm relying on the 3 homies that have and recommend them. That group is stoked. Pulling a topper doesn't work for the trips where it would be useful to have it on (sleeping) and off (hauling motos, bikes, etc.) at different times.

[XtrPickels]

While I agree that those roads don't look like they require much clearance, a lot of the lower clearance vehicles usually run relatively light tires that aren't going to hold up very well on rocky stuff. You can put heavier tires on, but then your car kinda starts to drive like a truck. The smaller cars also don't tend to have a full size spare, and I wouldn't want to be too far off the beaten path with only a donut as a backup.

Seems like the question is just what your 95% use case is: are you just hauling people, bikes, and bike / camp related gear 95% of the time? If so, maybe some small-ish SUV makes sense. Some of the newer hybrid ones even get non-embarrassing mileage. Are you hauling anything other than people, bikes / gear with any frequency? Get a pickup truck (and then get a beater commuter car so you don't have to drive the pickup all the time).

Exactly. A prius could survive in perfect conditions.
Also, add a little water, or a car coming in the opposite direction.

Hauling:
Mostly Bikes, skis and people.
A few times a year lumbar or landscaping supplies for various home projects, certainly not on a weekly basis.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Exactly. A prius could survive in perfect conditions.
Also, add a little water, or a car coming in the opposite direction.

Hauling:
Mostly Bikes, skis and people.
A few times a year lumbar or landscaping supplies for various home projects, certainly not on a weekly basis.

Wouldn’t base the purchase around lumbar supplies. Pretty much anything should be able to handle one or two of these:

[toast2266]

Hauling:
Mostly Bikes, skis and people.
A few times a year lumbar or landscaping supplies for various home projects, certainly not on a weekly basis.

Is having the ability to carry more than 5 people important?

Is having the ability to carry more than 4 bikes important?

For your occasional lumb(a)r and landscaping projects, how opposed are you to owning a trailer?

[J. Barron DeJong]

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a4...-for-sale-usa/

[evdog]

The smaller cars also don't tend to have a full size spare, and I wouldn't want to be too far off the beaten path with only a donut as a backup.

That's why you see a lot of gotos'd out cars and crossovers with a full size spare strapped to a roof rack these days. The one add on that actually makes a lot of sense IMO.

[singlesline]

Been thinking about the full size spare for my wife's crossover.

The cargo-area floor has high/low positions and as far as I can tell you can fit a full size spare and the only thing you lose is the ability to drop the floor to the low position. It is already a full-width spare so you just need room for the extra thickness.

We keep it in the high position anyways because that leaves room to store "roll-up privacy guard" thing underneath along with some shopping bags and an emergency blanket. I've never once used that roll up cargo cover so I can just keep that in the garage...and the bags/blanket would probably still fit.

If I can get another OEM rim, I'll wait until it is time for new tires (probably going up to one of those "soft-road" tires for a little more piece of mind on rocky roads) and switch to a 5-tire rotation to keep the AWD happy.

[MarcusBrody]

Maybe I'm missing something, but that all looks fine in a Camry. Eco boost low roof transit would be sweet. Or a minivan with airbags.

The first picture could be potentially tough if you don't have enough room to get the driver side wheels on the rocks while the passenger side is still on the road, but overall, it looks doable.

Here's a few pictures of my long suffering Transit Connect camping after similar drives. They weren't taken to show the roads, so they don't show the parts where I had to be most careful, but they give you a sense.

I will say that I've turned back at times though as it was too close to the limit of my vehicle to cut it. Just last week I started out to a spot we'd been before, but desert rainstorms had caused a lot of ruts/erosion and I got worried about 4 miles in that we wouldn't make it and made a 13 point turn to go back out. I would love to have a van with a small lift/some underbody protection.

[XtrPickels]

I love you guys who think tires will explode if they're not DoubleDown saying to send it in a sedan

Well played on the lumbar, I can appreciate that.

[MarcusBrody]

I love you guys who think tires will explode if they're not DoubleDown saying to send it in a sedan

Well played on the lumbar, I can appreciate that.

Psssht, the bike I'm hauling on my van is riding on Exo+. I live for danger.

[shirk]

You're American, you'll need a solid axle swapped 4x4 E350 van with an 8L diesel on 40's to even consider thinking about approaching a dirt road as treacherous as those pictures.

[bodywhomper]

Sportsmobile!

[Ted Striker]

For the few times a year you do lumbar exercises and/or manscaping, you could rent (or even own) a utility trailer.

Whole fam, k9s, tents, bikes, and skis would be better served by an SUV or van, than a pickup, IMO.

[m2711c]

i don't think enough thought has been given to the obvious advantages of the geo tracker.






fact.

[toast2266]

Geo tracker is for posers. A discerning driver would bring over an older 4x4 Fiat Panda. Those fucking things will go anywhere.

Might need to bring a second one over for parts though.

[m2711c]

when i was stationed in sicily back in the ‘80s, buddy of mine had a panda. no fancy 4 wheel, just a regular plain ol’ panda. seeing as everyone else was buying one or another type of used euro-hotrod with their exchange rate inflated paychecks, i asked him why he decided on a plain old panda?

dude says “ i can rent a panda at any of the rental shops just outside base for round ‘bout $22.50 per day.”

turns out, dude would just rent a car for a day anytime he needed any parts. he’d be just swappin’ out batteries, brake pads, alternators, headlights, starter motors, shocks… anything and everything, whatever he needed at the time. then he’d just bolt the old shit back onto the rental car and take it back.

and that is your free DIY money saving top tip of day. you’re welcome.

[Pinned]

Another F150 vote here.

Kind of surprised to say it as I was always into sports cars. But I got a truck for work a decade ago and when I was forced to go down to a single car I kept the pickup. I wanted a fast wagon to work for me but between some off road access, bikes, dirty gear, etc it's just never been quite the right fit. Some day I'll be able to have a second car again and it'll be something fun to drive. But a pickup just works. It's a moderate inconvenience to park sometimes and it gets bad gas mileage, but it's also functional for the widest range of situations. The driving position is also better than anything other than a full size van for long road trips - so if you do any long drives that's a big benefit. With a shell on, it's easy to sleep in and you can lock your bikes / gear up in it with less worry than leaving the stuff on a rack for short periods too.

Also, for any truck owners, this rack has been sweet for bikes in the bed that you want to lock up. This is the F150 link but they have others: https://rockymounts.com/products/for...ck-system.html

[jono]

Just returned from southern Utah and I showed those "off-road" pics to the (FWD) CX-9. I think I can still hear laughter in the garage. Hoping it doesn't turn to jealousy, I don't need that.

We've been towing a tiny boat with it lately and the utility trailer is a distinct possibility. Since we care about the interior and all. FWIW, the Ford-branded versions of the Mazda CX line are extremely similar but Ford fills the long-discontinued CX-7 spot with the Edge. Every one I've been in handles and rides pretty well for their utility whether highway or dirt, just a question of how big vs mpg.

Obviously this is a compromise, though. A real man would have the balls to drive a lifted Sienna.

[tgapp]

Just returned from southern Utah and I showed those "off-road" pics to the (FWD) CX-9. I think I can still hear laughter in the garage. Hoping it doesn't turn to jealousy, I don't need that.

We've been towing a tiny boat with it lately and the utility trailer is a distinct possibility. Since we care about the interior and all. FWIW, the Ford-branded versions of the Mazda CX line are extremely similar but Ford fills the long-discontinued CX-7 spot with the Edge. Every one I've been in handles and rides pretty well for their utility whether highway or dirt, just a question of how big vs mpg.

Obviously this is a compromise, though. A real man would have the balls to drive a lifted Sienna.

paging doebedoe to the white courtesy phone

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[milestogo]

Another vote for minivan plus utility trailer. When I was in the same zone responsibility wise it was the absolute best combination. And I live 5 miles back on a dirt road in VT that is, at certain times of year, adventurous to say the least. The van was FWD with snow tires and never had an issue...except for the sliding doors which are notoriously problematic.

[skaredshtles]

<snip> except for the sliding doors which are notoriously problematic.

Honda?

[MarcusBrody]

Another vote for minivan plus utility trailer. When I was in the same zone responsibility wise it was the absolute best combination. And I live 5 miles back on a dirt road in VT that is, at certain times of year, adventurous to say the least. The van was FWD with snow tires and never had an issue...except for the sliding doors which are notoriously problematic.

I had my sliding doors start sticking and being a pain on a long, dirt road camping trip. After putting up with and working around it for a few days, I cleaned the track of all the accumulated dust and regreased with the canola oil, as it was my only available option. The doors slid better than they did when we bought the van. And more surprisingly, they continued to do so for longer than I'd have expected with that oil.