SUVs that never leave the pavement!

It's a well-known fact that the absolute best offroad vehicle is a rental car.

Any rental car will do. You'd be amazed at the places you can take a rented Lincoln Town Car to...
 
Hey Payback..... I love my Chevy Avalanche! Yes, she has been "off-road" well, ok, it was snowmobile trails in Wisc., but she sure came in handy yesterday when it snowed here. And the cladding actually serves a function too.... I ran over some kind of reflector thingie the other day. No dent, no scratch. Helps with the idiots who put door dings into your vehicle too. My truck is so darn versatile. If she got 30mpg, it would be the ultimate vehicle!
 
there are only two types of people in this world, people that drive a JEEP, and people that WISH they drive a JEEP:D
 
Originally posted by payback462
there are only two types of people in this world, people that drive a JEEP, and people that WISH they drive a JEEP:D

You forgot a third type: People who tow JEEPs out of ditches :-)
 
Bought a 2001 Ford Escape XLT in October...it has seen very little "off road" - save for driving back & forth from hunting camp.
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Our family "truckster", a Mercedes-Benz ML320 was purchased in 1998.

That first summer we got it, the wife and I(pre-kids) drove it out to from the SF Bay Area to Livingston, Montana and fly-fished through Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming (lots of offroad use).

Now, in the summers its always offroad on a 1/2 mile hilly, dirt road which leads to the wife's family's summer home up in Clear Lake, Calif. In the winters--though not technically "offroad"--it serves as the "Tahoe"-express (over snow-covered/icy road).

Here's a pic of it when it was new...my avatar is the license plate to this car. BTW, that's my '91 Jeep Wrangler (cutoff in pic on the right) that I still drive since my wife "commandeered" the ML320.
 

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Well around here (Rochester,just down the road from Buffalo)we get are share of snow from time to time.I must agree that many 4x4 drivers just don't get it,with winter driving.

A few years ago I first made this discovery for myself.I was filling in at a firehouse that covers an expressway(rt 490)it was one of those icy days accidents all over.We went to 2 vehicle flippped calls,both 4x4's.Didn't think much of it till I watched the news at home, every accident they covered was a 4x4.One jeep driver rolled onto his side,said on the news"I had it in four wheel drive and everything" :rolleyes: .

At work the next day I mentioned this,my LT.said that his friend in dispatch told him that 11 out of 11 calls for rollovers,cars in ditches ect. were 4x4.

Hey there nice vehicles,good for the few times a year we really get a lot of snow, if people would only learn how to drive them.Oh well as we say in the rescue busness,"JOB SECURITY".:D

Hey bae,thats funny and so true about rental cars:D .

BTW,San Juan islands as in Washinton State? I have a friend on Bainbridge island,but he rarely gets any snow,in fact a few years ago when he did he complained that none of the stores even sold snow shovels.
 
well here is my 2 cents worth
1 how many full frame cars are made any more? (aaaaah the crown vic and the marquis, the envy of the neiborhood) NOT!
2 how many cars have over 300 cubic inch engines and can carry Six passengers (legally and comfortabley)? (aaaaah the crown vic and the marquis, the envy of the neiborhood) once again I dont think soo.
3 I live in the snow belt (well not this year) and the 4x4 advantage is a + in the snow but these suv driving city boys havent figured out that 4 wheel drive dosent mean a thing on the ice ( always good for a laugh, epescially after one of these fools passes me and I see him in the ditch two miles ahead )
4 I work on cars from time to time not as much as I used to but enough to know that the suspensions on those little unibody cars dont hold up to the roads, potholes in ohio are like landmarks anyone who has ever driven a surface street in Toledo knows this. The suvs and trucks also feel alot more controlable as well as comfortable.Has anyone ever hit a pothole in a geo sized car and feel like the car is about to skip into the other lane?
5 saftey: More height = better visibility, a full frame (in most cases) and extra heitht offer less damage if struck by a little compact (which is what most beginner drivers are driving) Also the fact that these vehicles have suficent power to occasionaly accelerate confidentley out of a potential tight spot.

Soo to sum it up I suppose I couldnt hold it against anyone who drives a Suv or Truck They are obviusley a superior vehicle to anything that is offered.
 
Originally posted by Lone Hunter

BTW,San Juan islands as in Washinton State? I have a friend on Bainbridge island,but he rarely gets any snow,in fact a few years ago when he did he complained that none of the stores even sold snow shovels.

Yup, that's the place. It usually only snows a handful of times a year. The snow then melts, and ices over the roads at higher elevations. Nobody is used to driving on the ice, and they aren't expecting it when they climb the hill near my house. They almost always go off the road at the same two places, both blind curves. I suspect they are entering the curve too fast, tap their brakes, and go right off the road.

So, when it's cold, every morning on the way to take my daughter down to school, I have to pull folks out of the ditch.

This year we put up some of those "freezing conditions" roadside markers - we'll see if it makes any difference.
 
I drive a 98 Volvo S70. I've "massaged" the engine a bit, but other than that its bone stock. I take it off road all the time. I live in New Jersey, and we have a lot of traffic here, and me being extremly impatient, I frequently go off read and just drive around the traffic be that on the shoulder grass, mud or whatever else.
 
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