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An older Trooper with a diesel conversion.
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Year range?RAV4 with center diff lock.
About as good as you're going to get in a car based wanna-be ute
If you're talking about collapse such as happened in Bosnia for several years, no police or any order whatsoever, most everyone driving will probably be shot up as soon as they drove into view.
So my sincere answer would be no on-road motor vehicles whatsoever. This idea of driving around during chaos is I'm afraid pretty unrealistic. When it goes sour, you're gonna see a whole lot of different people who used to seem normal and now behave like Charlie Manson. Or worse.
Perhaps a quiet off-road motorcycle, a mountain bike, something that will get you away from the cities without getting hosed in the first five minutes. Something that will work without roads. Small and quiet.
Not an SUV. However hear me out.
Toyota yaris. Pre 2010.
5-6" ground clearance. FWD with a short drivetrain is just as good as 4x4.
40-50 miles to the gallon.
400-500 mile range. 10 gallon tank with 2 gallon reserve.
Basic. I repeat basic car. Timing chain lasts 200+ thousand. Auto trans fluid 100k. Radiator fluid 100k. Oil every 5k maybe more in a pinch. Exactly 4 qts too.
I think people don't really consider how much ground clearance is enough, at the same time, they also don't consider how much is too much. Your BOV is going to be loaded down with everything (hopefully even a collapsing vinyl kitchen sink) which may take that 5-6" clearance and turn it into 2-3" probably less. When you build a rally car, the first thing you do is go in and tear out all the weight, that means seats, windows, the whole interior, door panels, as much of the sheet metal as you can, and then you rebuild what you took out with a tube frame, you bump up and stiffen the suspension, and then you go to work on the rest of the car.
On the one hand, I definitely think there is some validity to this approach, however, at the same time there are many practical things that are being overlooked her. The classic Hot-Rodder "rule of thumb": for every 100lbs you lose 10HP. So bolting on skid plates, and stuffing the car full of gas, weapons, food, and family you're going to run out of HP pretty quick without some performance intervention. At the same time, that 50MPG is going to go away. If you're plan consists of "grab backpack, grab rifle, throw on tactical vest, load handgun, get in car and drive as fast as possible to BOL" I think your plan is perfect. For everyone else, or for those who need to either cross, or bypass some crappy areas, I'm not sure this is as great. I don't know how well a yaris drives over looters, but I know how well my jeep drives over coyotes.
2ND gen up.Year range?
Wife got involved, result being a brand $panking new Subaru Outback with the ( a lot of people hate it) CVT tranny. I like it so far but haven't gotten it too dirty yet.
Not a serious off-roader but better than my focus I'm sure!
I know, I'm about as opposite from the typical Subaru owner as it gets. I maybe need to get a big fat NRA sticker or some other conservative flag waving slogan affixed to it just to irritate people.
I don't want to risk retaliation from these pseudo hippies in my neighborhood though. Plus I like to keep my car exterior plain and blend into the crowd as much as possible.