Best Car for Climbers

Good one Steve G.!  I would add this, having had two, Westfalia Syncros are Valley Giants!

I drive an XC90. Between 2009 and 2012 there was 0 deaths associated with it. That's either because it's super safe, or because they're all broke down and no one was driving them. Hard to tell. 

86 Toyota P/U 2.4l 22r 5spd  kinda like an Original Friend, reliable.   

Tomily ma wrote: Takeaway.
Subarus are C4s.
Landrovers are totems.
Tacomas are dragons with thumb loops.
Minivans are tricams.
Everything else is an old Metolius.
And I only like my cams. 

As a Land Cruiser guy, Land Rovers are CCH Aliens, not Totems.

Lovely, legendary, and likely to explode at any moment.

You know, the best car for a climber is a car that you whisper to "Hey, car. What should I do today?" and the car says back to you "I think you should go climbing."

Slartibartfast wrote: As a Land Cruiser guy, Land Rovers are CCH Aliens, not Totems.

Lovely, legendary, and likely to explode at any moment.

Land Cruisers can't be Totems because they are not originals, they are copies. So yes you could call Land Rovers CCH Aliens and Land Cruisers Fixe Aliens - or (good or bad) copies of the original. I'm not a Toyota fan myself - although if I had to have one I'd get my Aussie mate's diesel Land Cruiser pickup with the canvas top.

M Sprague wrote: How do you guys do the minivan thing? I would just die inside.

I guess it's all relative to what you're used to.  The minivan seems spacious to me, because before that my wife and I were sleeping in a Subaru Outback.  I'm sure once you go Sprinter/ProMaster Van, you can never go back.

Mini vans may get a bad rap but at least it's not the preferred mommy car anymore. All the soccer mom's drive Subarus now.

. Mobes wrote: Mini vans may get a bad rap but at least it's not the preferred mommy car anymore. All the soccer mom's drive Subarus now.

This must be geographically specific. Where I live they drive Priuses and Teslas. 

Rod Shaftmoore wrote:

I guess it's all relative to what you're used to.  The minivan seems spacious to me, because before that my wife and I were sleeping in a Subaru Outback.  I'm sure once you go Sprinter/ProMaster Van, you can never go back.

I actually drive an ancient 2005 VW GTI, which has been a great car over the years despite me destroying oil pans regularly from overly aggressive off roading ( last time had to have a farmer haul me out of the woods with his backhoe, lol) It is getting long in the tooth so I'm looking around for something with some more room & ground clearance, but is still fun to drive & gets reasonable fuel mileage

for the money nothin beats this

Rod Shaftmoore wrote:

I guess it's all relative to what you're used to.  The minivan seems spacious to me, because before that my wife and I were sleeping in a Subaru Outback.  I'm sure once you go Sprinter/ProMaster Van, you can never go back.

Yeah, I could believe it. I made the mistake of sleeping in a one man tent once, and I could never go back to sleeping in the Tacoma.

Patrick Shyvers wrote:

Yeah, I could believe it. I made the mistake of sleeping in a one man tent once, and I could never go back to sleeping in the Tacoma.

I made the mistake of sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag while falling asleep stargazing, the vehicle is now only for storage and rain.

I'd also recommend a Sienna. I've taken the middle row out and keep the back row stowed when using it for camping. I typically get 20mpg.

The room available in the back is amazing. You get nearly the width of a queen size mattress in the back and the versatility to haul bikes, motorcycles, lumber, whatever. It's much easier to load the van than put stuff on a roof rack. 

Matt Himmelstein wrote: 4WD crossover.  Just about every manufacturer makes one.  I bought a gently used Volvo XC60, but I looked seriously at the Audi and Acura RDX.  I have friends who love their Subarus.  I can sleep in the back of my XC with the seats all the down with an inflated mattress for support.  I tend to need to move most of the gear out of the car if I sleep in it though.

How reliable and expensive to mainatain is the vulva/Volvo?

Señor Arroz wrote: I'm about to sell a 2007 Subaru Tribeca. You should buy it. About the size of a Highlander. Three row seating. AWD for Colorado winters. Sleeping length in back for dirtbag adventures. Fly to CA and drive it back via Red Rock. 

How much?

other wrote:

How much?

Just sent you a PM.

JackWeaver wrote:

I'd also recommend a Sienna. I've taken the middle row out and keep the back row stowed when using it for camping. I typically get 20mpg.

The room available in the back is amazing. You get nearly the width of a queen size mattress in the back and the versatility to haul bikes, motorcycles, lumber, whatever. It's much easier to load the van than put stuff on a roof rack. 

I like the old Yamaha 2 stroke

How often do people actually need 4WD or AWD on shitty approach roads or in ice and snow? A few of these recommended vehicles have it, most have AWD or 2WD. Do you 2 wheel drive folks get stuck or have to turn around early to not destroy the bottom of car? Do vans have adequate ground clearance? I smashed the oil pan once in a compact low ground clearance FWD.
Another time got stuck in a poser Toyota 2wd prerunner Tacoma.

JackWeaver, is that an 1975 RD250?