What car to get with good clearance?

[SkaredShtles]

<snip>
That said...the ones in our '04 Forester only blew at around 190K miles. At that point, almost any vehicle is going to become a money sink to some extent and should probably be replaced.

Unless it's a Honda. <knocks on wood>

[cschmidt1023]

The last year of the problematic 2.5L Subaru engine is 2009 allegedly. I would venture to guess a lot of 2010 and newer Subaru's have not hit 150k miles yet though, so perhaps time will change that notion.

This is one of the primary reasons I bought an H6 Outback

[jsdratm]

My last car was a Toyota Matrix and it had zero mechanical issues as I drove it from 20k to 100k miles, but it handled like hell on rough roads. I traded it in for a used 2011 Subaru Forester and it hasn't had any mechanical issues in the 3-4 years that I have owned it (currently at 45k miles). I mainly only drive it on weekends since I am able to walk to work. IMO the Subaru Forester is a great overall car for a place like Colorado and there is a reason it is rated so high in Consumer Reports.

The Forester is also big enough that you can put the seats down and sleep in the back at trailheads, which I do frequently. It would be nice if there was a little more length, but it is good enough if you are less than 6' tall.

[Matt]

Lack of routine maintenance on a boxer engine vs lack of routine maintenance on a V6/V8, the V6/V8 is going to last longer when neglected.

That sounds sensible to me. I didn't say anything about lack of maintenance. I enjoy driving cars hard, especially on mountain roads.
Also, the replacement Subaru engine was shitting the bed after less than 10k miles and spurred my getting rid of the car for good.
There's another anecdotal data point for the discussion.

Yeah, there are tons of Subarus in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. It's not surprising. They are actually really good cars that provide a balance of everything.

Do you have some more information than two anecdotal datapoints?

...

[SkaredShtles]

The last year of the problematic 2.5L Subaru engine is 2009 allegedly. I would venture to guess a lot of 2010 and newer Subaru's have not hit 150k miles yet though, so perhaps time will change that notion.

I suspect, like every other claim just like this one at every new generation of 2.5l Subaru... you're probably right. NTTAWWT.

[astramiello]

I had a 2005 Nissan Xterra with a 6 speed manual. That along with the low range gear box and lockable rear end made it damn near unstoppable.

[Robzilla]

I currently drive a 2005 Xterra. It looks inside and out like it was built in the Soviet Union by angry people who eat a lot of turnips. But he's not kidding, that thing is a beast. Especially for the money. Mine ended up costing about 60% of the comparable used Tacoma I test drove and was a manual vs the Toyota's automatic. (Nissan automatic transmissions in the Xterra, Pathfinder and Frontier had issues that generation but their manual transmission was solid).

It eats a lot of gas and the only woman who ever complimented me on it was a high strung German lady. But it has room to stretch out and it carries a crap ton of outdoor toys and at 125K has only required routine maintenance I can do in my driveway.

[ezabielski]

Yeah, there are tons of Subarus in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. It's not surprising. They are actually really good cars that provide a balance of everything.

Do you have some more information than two anecdotal datapoints?

...

Haha, you got me.

[Somewhat of a Prick]

I currently drive a 2005 Xterra. It looks inside and out like it was built in the Soviet Union by angry people who eat a lot of turnips. But he's not kidding, that thing is a beast. Especially for the money. Mine ended up costing about 60% of the comparable used Tacoma I test drove and was a manual vs the Toyota's automatic. (Nissan automatic transmissions in the Xterra, Pathfinder and Frontier had issues that generation but their manual transmission was solid).

It eats a lot of gas and the only woman who ever complimented me on it was a high strung German lady. But it has room to stretch out and it carries a crap ton of outdoor toys and at 125K has only required routine maintenance I can do in my driveway.

My 05 xterra is sitting on 129k, and I agree with everything you said. Especially the part about turnips

[pmeadco]

There is more to offroad ability than just ground clearance. To add a relevant example, in American Basin there is a small water crossing near the upper trailhead. I drove through this in my stock Frontier which has 9.1" of ground clearance on factory tires (something close to this). We witnessed 2 outbacks (8.7" of clearance) struggle with the water crossing- not because of clearance, but because when climbing the bank, they would pull a wheel off the ground- and it would spin- they would lose power. Took them many tries to get out.

So besides ground clearance, approach and departure angles, breakover angles, you still have to consider wheel articulation and low range gearing as well.
Just because a truck may have a similar ground clearance to a CRV, doesn't make them at all comparable in offroad ability. Also the GC on a truck is measured generally from the bottom of the rear differential, which sticks down 3-4" lower than almost anything else underneath the truck.

I have to agree with this. I currently own a Forester and previously owned a CRV. I've taken them into a lot of crazy places, but I don't consider them to be off-road vehicles. The lack of interlock and low-range gears (4WD-LO) make them poor choices for serious four-wheeling.

But, I don't want to own a separate off-road vehicle. I know these cars aren't serious trail monsters but I still go with the cross-over SUVs because of their versatility. They are good highway cars, are well-behaved in the city, get me pretty darned close to most places I want to go on the rough roads in Colorado, and don't cost a lot of money. For me, they have the right trade-offs.

[boleslav]

Thank you for a great discussion here!
Have to concur that Subaru Forester is spacious, has good GPM, but is pretty sluggish when you need to accelerate.
It's our main car, sleeping is comfortable, as we are not that tall, but we would not dare to take it on rougher road. (would love to drive one like the Mosquito pass one day)

Tacoma- it may be great for lots of people, but the new car would be for me to drive and I am not that comfortable with big cars, and doubt my husband would want to trade it for his Subaru.

Looked at used Xterra, surely is very comfortable.

Jeeps- my good old Jeep Cherokee is back from the shop, the guys there were able to fix it, I suspect the issue was initially caused by them, but the bottom line for us was that the Jeep may last few more month, so it's time start looking.

I do not know much about the cars, what is good to have on them etc, but I do have a little bit of common sense to know that when the sales rep at Boulder Pollard tells me that Wrangler Sport has a clearance of 19 inches he must have been having a good time smoking....

So, dear guys , could you, please, lend me a hand a bit here and make suggestions what features are useful to have on a car? Some of the features may not be available, but it's better to be educated and hear pros and cons.

Once I hear the terms, if I have no idea what they are I can do a research what they mean, like skid plates, till last week, I had no idea...
Since I am the one who will do all the ground work, I do not want to look like a lady who you can sell the worst lemon as long as it has pink color.

[oldschoolczar]

Have to concur that Subaru Forester is spacious, has good GPM, but is pretty sluggish when you need to accelerate.

A lot of good suggestions in this thread. If it's your daily driver and you're only going up in the mountains occasionally, then any of these 4WD/AWD vehicles will probably be fine.. you just might need to hike a little further if you get something that's not geared for offroading (Xterra/Tacoma/Jeep). Most people will be doing 95+% of their driving on pavement, so get something that's comfortable for you around town too...

Ever driven the Forester XT turbo? My wife got one of those and it is not sluggish at all! I love driving that thing.. it gets up and goes!