Car Question

[mattp]

We're car shopping. My wife and I share a single car, and we want a city car. We live in the city. But ten or maybe fifteen days a year I want to drive on a logging road or a snowy highway (the rest of the time I make the other guy drive). Sometimes those logging roads can be pretty bad.

 

A regular street car would be better 350 days a year. What's a good car that can handle driving over water bars and snow and such?

 

[Figger_Eight]

Don't know if you can get much better than what you guys are driving now. Subaru just came out with a hybrid crosstrek, but it doesn't really get that much better gas mileage (I'm guessing that's what you mean by city car). Maybe a diesel?

[Water]

Hear great stuff about Honda Fit.. An old corolla has been our city and woods vehicle for a long time. Though not sure corolla is as competitive for cost these days.

[genepires]

maybe those really bad road days need to be car rental days?

 

Or maybe own two cars. buy a real beater used car for those logging road trips and a squeaky clean ultra high mpg car for the 99% of the driving.

added benefit is that the other person will offer to drive when you pull up in the beater.

[keenwesh]

I have a buddy who put a lift kit on his Prius...

[Pete_H]

I recently bought a crosstreck. It doesn't get as good mileage as a non-awd but it's not bad and great on logging roads and snow and ice.

[Jason4]

I've struggled with the same dilemma, not exactly a city car in the sense that it needs to fit into tight parking sports but a commuter that gets good fuel economy. I drive ~20,000 miles/year, I'd guess 95% is on paved and maintained roads that don't require any extraordinary ground clearance but a very small percent of my usage is on rough road. I lifted my previous Audi wagon a few inches and should have kept that car despite it only getting 22 mpg. My current Golf gets ~45mpg but is limited to which roads I can drive. I'm currently looking for a truck that I can use when the Golf won't cut it but will keep the Golf for commuting duties and regular ski area trips.

 

Lifting the Golf has crossed my mind but for the cost of doing that I can buy a beater truck.

[JoshK]

My Lesbaru Outback gets 32 mpg (which is stellar for AWD) on highway drives to and from trailheads, unfortunately in the city, it's more like 22-55mpg.

 

The idea of a city car and a beater trailhead car (or renting for those few days) is definitely an idea to look at. That way you could get a Nissan Leaf for in the city. They can be leased quite cheap if that's your thing (reduces worry about battery life too) and obviously the mileage is off the charts compared to any gas car.

 

For high mileage and long-distance driving to remote area capabilities, diesel over hybrid any day, in my opinion.

[tvashtarkatena]

My Scion IQ rocks the logging roads better than the battleship heavy Pubaru Outback ever did - nimble avoids the potholes. Excellent on packed snow. Lower clearance, of course, so it depends on how big a berm you're planning on humping.

 

For the city - AWESOME. I can park that thing where they store shopping carts if need be. Tightest turning radius of any car on the road - not a feature people think about until you've got it.

 

36/37 mpg sticker - but not really. 4 seater, but not really. It's a two person spacecraft. A rocket box makes it a road trip machine.

 

Regular gas, unlike Smart, Fiat, and other modern urban toy cars which require premium.

 

 

Sticker price, reliability, and maintenance - AWESOME.

 

If you want sofa seats for the loooooong drives - it does OK, but there are plusher choices out there.

 

Most backcountry folks woudln't consider making such an urban leap, but so far, it's been an improvement for me.

Edited July 28, 2014 by tvashtarkatena

[hasbeen]

Another Crosstrek owner here. Gets up to 38 mpg highway. If I drive it in the city, I can get upper 20s but if my teen/twenty-somethings drive it they get low 20s. It's been good in the snow and with a roof box, good for long ski trips with a car full of my son's friends. Plenty of ground clearance. It's smallish and easy to park, etc. in the city.

[Water]

to reiterate I've had my corolla back some pretty bad roads--40kms up canadian mining and logging roads, down miles and miles of washboard, dirt roads where I've spanned a many-foot deep rut, etc.

 

Truly almost any small city car (honda civic, fit, toyo corolla, IQ (apparently ), ford fiesta, etc etc), if driven carefully, can be taken to just about all snoparks or backwoods spots. The amount of attention and speed of driving will be a factor, as will the ease (AWD vs putting on chains..etc).. My personal experience is small cars can do about 98% of what a brand new subu outback can do as far as getting to the trailhead (or as close as possible). Gear storage, ease of driving (AWD is nice..), lack of worrying about hearing a scrape, etc are other factors. But getting to the TH.. If a small car can't do it driven with some skill, you probably want/need a truck or jeep.

 

 

[Pete_H]

I would say buy a Jetta TDI. Those cars do quite well in snow and ice, especially if you've got decent tires; and could handle most logging roads just fine. If a roads really bad just make the other guy with a suby or pickup drive.

 

I love my subarus, we have two, but I live in snow and ice land and need to commute over the pass in the winter a lot.

[dkl]

I'm not as adventurous as some I suppose, but I can't think of a single time I've been stopped by my car's abilities. I've definitely had to go very slow on a few occasions though. My vote would be to get something good for 98% of your driving, just deal with going slow occasionally, and for that last 0.2% of the time, make someone else drive.

 

Snow tires on any car will get you at least as far as an AWD car on all-seasons.

[ScaredSilly]

to reiterate I've had my corolla back some pretty bad roads--40kms up canadian mining and logging roads, down miles and miles of washboard, dirt roads where I've spanned a many-foot deep rut, etc.

 

Truly almost any small city car (honda civic, fit, toyo corolla, IQ (apparently ), ford fiesta, etc etc), if driven carefully, can be taken to just about all snoparks or backwoods spots. The amount of attention and speed of driving will be a factor, as will the ease (AWD vs putting on chains..etc).. My personal experience is small cars can do about 98% of what a brand new subu outback can do as far as getting to the trailhead (or as close as possible). Gear storage, ease of driving (AWD is nice..), lack of worrying about hearing a scrape, etc are other factors. But getting to the TH.. If a small car can't do it driven with some skill, you probably want/need a truck or jeep.

 

 

This, I have taken some low clearance cars up some roads that many would not. Careful and skill full driving will almost always get you to where you want to be. Though I have a 4x4 truck that just means I can get myself twice as stuck as 2wd car.

[Pete_H]

Snow tires on any car will get you at least as far as an AWD car on all-seasons.

 

That's definitely not true.

[curtveld]

My vote would be to get something good for 98% of your driving, just deal with going slow occasionally, and for that last 0.2% of the time, make someone else drive.

Pretty much my thinking as well.

 

One more factor is how many pavement miles you pile up. If it's not very many because, maybe you have a short commute or take public transit, then maybe a the reduced MPG of a small AWD rig isn't that big of a deal.

[Figger_Eight]

I'll just add: because you can doesn't mean you should. I've crushed a few suspensions in my time driving passenger cars to places they shouldn't go. It'll get you there for sure, but not necessarily a good choice in the long run. That said, I'll go with VW Sportwagen TDI.

[genepires]

another logic for having a beater logging road climbing car is that you don't care if it gets broken into at TH's. Leave the windows rolled down. maybe an old used 2wd pickup.

 

[JoshK]

My Scion IQ rocks the logging roads better than the battleship heavy Pubaru Outback ever did

 

Is this why we always take my car then? ;-) And to be fair, your Pubaru wasn't exactly the best representation of the brand.

 

 

Lot's of good suggestions here. Certainly increased ground clearance is nice, but not necessary. As for 2WD vs AWD: somebody validly pointed out it has as much to do with tires and driver, which is certainly true. But an AWD with snow tires is going to be more pleasant to drive in the snow than 2WD. It also gets you past the chain requirement on particularly bad condition days.

 

Personally, I prefer more cargo space (e.g. a wagon, or truck) so I don't have to play Tetris to fit everything in the car. I also like the ability to sleep in the back if I want. The Jetta TDI is a really good suggestion; those are awesome cars that get great mileage. I think they may finally be importing the AWD TDI version to the states, but I'm not certain on that.

 

Overall, optimize for the 98% case like others are saying.

[mmeyers]

Would you consider another option entirely?

I've been in a similar situation for a long time. I finally bit the bullet and bought a 4WD truck. Its +15 years old, +200k miles, and it was cheap. I took my time looking, since I wanted it in good condition.

So, I kept my small city car, and bought a cheap truck. Overall, it's far less expensive than buying new anything, even if the truck needs a big repair.

[Woodcutter]

Whatever car you really want, a used one so you don't consume a new car and a bicycle in the city as much as you can, thus alleviating the higher mpg deal.

 

Maybe of interest; I think it's coming to the point in Seattle where it's nearly quicker to ride a bike than drive since the traffic is spiraling into hell.

..and it keeps you fit, nonpolluting, sets a great example, sharpens your senses etc etc.

 

use the bike whenever you can & it justifies the higher mpg

[JayB]

Buy a used version of whatever works best for the city then use the savings to add-on the ~15 year old Toyota Tacoma accessory package. Looks like the going rate for a '98 is ~6-8K.

 

Taking a car that you actually need for essential day-to-day commuting places where it's not designed to go and where the cost and hassle of repairing the damage that you are/will-be doing has always been so unpleasant to me that it more than justifies the cost of a dedicated beater IMO.

 

 

[boadman]

I'm surprised no one is recommending a city car with a rack and a decent mountain bike. That will get you basically anywhere, and be kind of fun to boot.

[Figger_Eight]

http://wenatchee.craigslist.org/cto/4540860533.html

 

The original Outback!

 

 

 

[Figger_Eight]

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/gear-shed/covet/MINI-Paceman-Adventure-Concept.html