So you’ve got an epic adventure planned. All the details are laid out. You’re ready to go. You’ve recruited the best people in the business to help you execute your grand scheme. And then you get stuck on the way there because you’re in a 2-wheel drive car.
We can’t have you getting stuck before the adventure has even begun!
A new series on Pack and Trail, AdventureMobile will focus on the best transportation to your adventure launch points. Whether it be skiing, hiking, running, biking or whatever else you fancy doing, you’ve got to get there before you can do any of it. We’ll give you a hand with that. There are reviews out the ying yang for every kind of car and truck on the market but there are a few that stand out again and again as being trusted and reliable but still getting you to those hard to reach places.
Each of the vehicles has it’s pros and cons and which one you choose depends entirely on what you’d like to do with it. A few examples are in order.
The Toyota 4runner is a very capable 4×4 machine. Sometimes they offer enough room in the back if you can fold the seats down to sleep comfortable. That depends how bit the vehicle is, how tall you are and how the seats fold down. It easily seats 4 people, maybe 5, plus gear. Parts are easy to find and there’s huge market for bigger, better offroad parts.The Mitsubishi Delica is relatively a relatively unknown AdventureMobile. It can easily handle most offroad situations but is a little top-heavy so you have to take that into consideration when you get into the gnarly stuff. There is tons of room in the back for a bed or lots of people and gear. Parts can be a little hard to find so make sure you have a good source before going out and picking one of these up.
The Toyota Tacoma is an offroad beast. Held by some as the greatest offroad truck in history, these things will stand up to anything you throw at them. You do have some decisions to make. You can go with V4 or V6, 2 door or 4, standard or automatic. All of these things will affect what you can do with your truck and when. If you go with a 4 door, some models only get a short box. If you get a V4 you’ll get better gas mileage but may not have the power to haul much up steep hills. Then you have to decide whether you want a canopy or not. It’s nice to have a secure, covered area for great but it’s another expense.
The Subaru Impreza is a mean little machine that can rally any smooth offroad area. It gets better gas mileage than most trucks, seats 4 people comfortable and still has room for gear. Throw a roof rack on it and you got space for more. The all-wheel drive gives you great traction on slippery surfaces, letting you get out in wet, snowy conditions. Downsides? Don’t put any sort of big rut or tank trap in the road, Impreza’s don’t have much clearance. Little bumps in the road can put big bumps into your great adventure plans.
These are just a few of the great choices for AdventureMobiles out there. Every manufacturer has a few good choices but there are always pros and cons to each. Stay tuned each week as we add the AdventureMobile series to the regular lineup here on Pack and Trail.