What is the best weekend warrior vehicle??

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Messages 41 - 60 of total 82 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
bergbryce

Trad climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
Nov 19, 2013 - 03:20pm PT
Helps to read the OPs post before posting your preferred rig.
Dude lives in the Bay and is probably weekending it to the Valley primarily.

Jacked up Joe-Bob rigs and other large rigs need not apply in this discussion.
Dapper Dan

Trad climber
Menlo Park
Nov 19, 2013 - 03:22pm PT
Probably approaching $20,000 .

I just broke my upper shock mounting on drivers side , so gotta buy a welder !

It's a fun rig though .

Edit : Berg I'll take you crawling sometime !
michaeld

Sport climber
Sacramento
Nov 19, 2013 - 03:25pm PT
V-Strom 650.
bergbryce

Trad climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
Nov 19, 2013 - 03:45pm PT
I don't understand crawling. I can hike much faster than those vehicles can move. Is the benefit that you can listen to Skynard, drink cold beer and smoke cigs while going over the rocks?
I went muddin' in high school and it was kind of fun but I was 16 then.

Riding in a vehicle on a rough road sucks as it is. Why would I want to do that for fun??

Edited: I thought about it a bit and I imagine that working on your rig, tweaking it, getting it how you want it and for it to perform how you want it is probably a big part of the draw of crawling.
Dapper Dan

Trad climber
Menlo Park
Nov 19, 2013 - 04:03pm PT

Yea crawlin' might be pointless . I guess I like the mechanical and building aspect of it . Most serious 4x4 guys don't fit into those stereotypes either .

Edit: Cool Berg , love to take you on the Rubicon sometime . There in Tahoe you are close to some world class 4x4 trails .
squishy

Mountain climber
Nov 19, 2013 - 05:10pm PT
Helps to read the OPs post before posting your preferred rig.
Dude lives in the Bay and is probably weekending it to the Valley primarily.

ok then, I would suggest a Subaru forester. That's what I use for weekend warrior trips out of Sacramento and it has lovely seat warmers!

GhoulweJ

Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
Nov 19, 2013 - 06:19pm PT
SCseagoat

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
Nov 19, 2013 - 06:28pm PT
^^^^ Is that a Tepui tent? The headquarters is here in Santa Cruz and I do business right next to their location. I've looked at them and thought about them....if that's your rig any thoughts?

Susan
GhoulweJ

Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
Nov 19, 2013 - 06:31pm PT
Yes it's a Tepui Tent.
Yes, that's my rig.
I picked it up in Santa Cruz.
I love the tent. It's awesome.
Sets up in 2 minutes goes away in 5 minutes.

I did have some webbing failures. It was cheap webbing. I've heard that they have fixed that problem. I'll buy another one when this one dies.
Euroford

Trad climber
Louisville, CO
Nov 19, 2013 - 08:49pm PT
lol, yes rock crawlers are like SUPER DUPER MEGA POINTLESS.

just like rock climbing... its fun basically, what other reason do you need? for us i consider it an "off day" recreation.

the 4runner above is cool. yota's are out of the box probably the most versatile rigs around.

i'm actually swapping land cruiser axles into my 1950 jeep
julton

climber
Nov 19, 2013 - 08:57pm PT
These car/truck threads are all the same.
Kalimon

Social climber
Ridgway, CO
Nov 19, 2013 - 10:49pm PT
Audi Allroad . . . 'nuf said.
thebravecowboy

Social climber
Colorado Plateau
Nov 19, 2013 - 10:54pm PT
pork soda
thebravecowboy

Social climber
Colorado Plateau
Nov 19, 2013 - 10:55pm PT
Oh, I mean subaru or tacoma
the Fet

climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
Nov 20, 2013 - 12:54pm PT
Best vehicle for a restraining order? Beat up van hands down.






These threads are all the same. People post what they own, but usually they are all good choices.

Not enough information in the original post to really narrow it down (budget, drive in the snow, mpg wanted, etc.). But looking for 4x4 and good mpg Subaru and Martix/Vibe top the list. Of course they are AWD. If you want a true 4X4 with ok mpg then Tacoma/4runner come up.

As mentioned you don't need awd/4x4 for most Cali climbing areas. They are great for skiers because of chain control. Ground clearance is what is usually needed to get to climbing areas with rough dirt roads. A 2WD Tacoma prerunner will get you to places a sports car awd won't.

Euroford, you forgot to mention you need the 7.3 liter diesel, which people seem to think is worth $15,000 for a 14 year old truck. If you do cold weather camping a regular slide in camper may be better than a pop up if you want to stay warm. On the other hand if you want to just leave it on all the time a pop up is nice.

The back of the prius is too short to sleep on without some modifications or if you get the family truckster version.






Or get a prius camper






If you are going in the snow you'll want the Subaru.








If mpgs aren't much of a concern




If you wear leather



or



If you camp in the valley you want something stealthy.





But you may want something enviro






You may decide to follow Phish on tour






Or just get a venerable VW Bus




Euroford

Trad climber
Louisville, CO
Nov 20, 2013 - 05:04pm PT
Euroford, you forgot to mention you need the 7.3 liter diesel, which people seem to think is worth $15,000 for a 14 year old truck. If you do cold weather camping a regular slide in camper may be better than a pop up if you want to stay warm. On the other hand if you want to just leave it on all the time a pop up is nice.

good point. my commentary on how badass the ford superduty is applies strictly to the 7.3L diesel. the gas engines are for the most part underpowered and GUZZLE gas, particularly the V10 models. the 6.0's and later diesels have some minor maintenance concerns, like um, head studs and little stuff like that....

the 7.3 is a phenomenal piece of engineering though. its nice to be able to load up with whatever the heck we want and just hit the road. we've made better times on road trips with this thing than we have EVER made with other vehicles, and oddly enough without ever really speeding.

yeah... finding a nice one at a good price can be tough, i shopped HARD for over a year before finding mine. weird to think that a 99-04 pickup has become a modern classic.

we want to go with a pop-up type bed camper so that we can maintain clearance and center of gravity. we really do take this thing off road and need to maintain that capability.



commentary on others suggestions....

many suggestions by others are just "cars", as in.... nothing special on-road transportation. i am even going to lump subaru's and other all wheel drive cars into that same pile. honestly... you don't need AWD, just get some snow tires. so as far as that goes, just get whatever the heck you want. here in our family we like Fords, so we also own an Escape and a Focus. we like both of them a lot. the Focus has the zippy SVT engine so its a blast, and the escape is the 2.5L 4 banger with the manual trans. its astoundingly capable and gets great gas millage. good tires were key though, we like the Hancook Dynapro ATM on that one.

but really... as far as cars and small SUV's go. buy whatever you like! i'd recommend something from the US, but if you have the cheese those crazy germans make some cool stuff.

for a smaller 4x4 pickup/suv, i do like Tacoma's and landcruisers. super stout machines, older 4runners as well. my neighbor has an FJ80 w/supercharger and a bunch of other upgrades. gawd i love that thang...

living near boulder though, i really can't recommend buying a tacoma or a subaru. awfully hard to find yours in the king soopers parking lot.
Dropline

Mountain climber
Somewhere Up There
Nov 20, 2013 - 05:39pm PT
Did someone say VW tdi performance? With that itty bitty engine? Hahahahahahah!!

Oops. Wrong forum. :-)
ontheedgeandscaredtodeath

Social climber
SLO, Ca
Nov 20, 2013 - 05:51pm PT
In California you need at least AWD to get past the CHP checkpoints during snow storms.
illusiondweller

Trad climber
San Diego, CA
Nov 20, 2013 - 07:19pm PT
Just drove to Diego and back (Jersey) with my turbo'd wagon:

[Click to View YouTube Video]
Batrock

Trad climber
Burbank
Nov 20, 2013 - 07:36pm PT
Spent many years and owned many vehicles before i found my "perfect" vehicle. A 1988 Land Rover Defender 130 Crew Cab pickup truck. I am almost done installing a newer, bigger, better V8, should be done this week. The old V8 had 260k miles on it and was feeling a little tired. This truck carries my family and all my gear and if I am going solo I can sleep in the back. So far it's been extremely reliable.
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