New Vehicle

We used to have an Outback and there are tons of Outbacks and Foresters among our friends here in Alaska.  When I last checked, the Outback had the highest clearance of any of the compact-SUVs, most of the full-sized SUVs and many of the 4WD pick-ups.

Something we considered, since my wife was a medical resident, got very few weekends off, and we tried to leverage those, was being able to sleep in back.  The Outback is noticeably longer when you fold down the middle seats and try to sleep.  Sometimes I’d drive while she slept and/or we slept in the back if it was hot, cold, or wet at the trailhead rather than setup a tent the night before starting a hike.

We’ve now got a RAV4 which doesn’t have as much ground clearance but does get better mileage (like 28 mpg versus 24 – it’s 500 pounds lighter) and sits a little taller on the road for better visibility in traffic.

Any vehicle can be made much more off-road capable by

• good tires
• tires chains (they aren’t just for snow)
• a shovel (to remove bumps and fill holes
• a few 2-foot and 4-foot 2x6s
• a tow rope
• a come-a-long (not the wire cable ones, but the one that pulls 1/2″ rope continuously).
• a pulley or two to redirect a come-a-long or tow rope.
• a few people along can push you out of a lot of situations more quickly than anything else.

I’ve used all those tricks and gone down dirt roads and over mountain passes in storms with my 2WD Corolla that few SUV drivers could handle.

Not related to your question at all, but an extension of David’s answer, but if you think you might sleep in the back, and if you get one with a sunroof/moonroof/whatever they call them these days, get some of the netting that you use to repair screen doors, cut a piece to about 3″ longer on each side of the size of the sunroof, and get four magnets to hold down the corners. Now, when you want to sleep in it in either warmer weather or skeeter weather, you can open the sunroof fully, ‘attach’ the screen over the opening, and have that nice fresh air, and an escape for your body heat, without letting the bugs in.

The magnet and screen idea is really good…never thought of it.

I like Doug’s bug screen idea.  The other thing I’ll do is just idle the car and run the A/C (I park the tail pipe downwind).  Oh, no! exclaim the greenies, but a 4-cyclinder car only uses 1/4 of a gallon per hour.  So an 8-hour night is a LOT cheaper than any hotel room or paid campsite.  Yeah, I’ve got a tent and sleeping bags along, but north of Fairbanks in the summer when the sun is up for 21 to 24 hours, a tent gets really warm – you know how you can get baked out of your tent when the sun hits it in the morning?

If choosing between the Outback and the Forester, I would go with the Forester. They have the same ground clearance, but the Forester has a better approach angle and a shorter wheelbase. The approach angle and limited wheel travel is what seems to limit my Subaru Crosstrek. It’s got a decent 8.7” of ground clearance, but I’m frequently up on 3 wheels due to having to approach some obstacles at an angle. It’s small size does let me take easier paths sometimes.

I have a subaru crosstrek. Its cool. 30mpg. Small for the city but t gets me to the th. Same ground clearance as a jeep. I wish it had about 40 more horses, but i guess its for fuel ecomy. … it will do 90 fully loaded (with a cargo box,too)… its not weak, i just came from a 5.4liter to its 2.2 liter, so…

I loved my 2007 or 2008 Forester so much until it started to fall apart around 65,000 miles. The I had to replace the clutch, engine oil seals, suspension components and I forget what else. The three years from 65k to 100k cost me in excess of $3500/year in repairs.

Did I have a lemon? I’m curious if other people have had similar experiences with their Foresters. I loved the driving experience and practicality of the vehicle but did not enjoy the cost of ownership.

I don’t really want a beefy truck or SUV so have narrowed it down to a subaru Outback or Forester

If you’re willing to consider other options, take a look at the Toyota Tacoma. The Tacoma definitely does not have the feel of a “beefy truck” or an SUV (it’s noticeably more compact than a Tundra). It’s not much less mileage than a subaru but it does much better on 4wd roads. You can also get various toppers, bed liners and popup tent options for the Tacoma for sleeping in comfort if you like. My wife and I have a Bed Rug and SnugTop topper for our Tacoma that we use for camping and love it.

And don’t forget a Honda CRV all wheel drive. Brilliant in snow. A friend built a sleeping platform that he could lift from the floor in back and extend over the front seats. Allowed him to completely stretch out.

The 2017 Honda CR-V’s were raised back to 8 inches ground clearance.

We had a Subaru Forester. Loved it. My in-laws had the Outback. While there was more leg room in the Outback rear seats, there was significantly more headroom in the Forester. It got traded in after about 8 years (and 190k miles) for a Honda Pilot. We needed more room for the growing kids, and the Pilot seats 8 with a decent third row.  I have also very much appreciated both the all wheel drive AND the four wheel drive capabilities of the Pilot. Switching into four wheel LOW got me out of some ice&snow situations that the all wheel drive couldn’t.

But oh, I do miss the Forester’s manual transmission! :(

Don’t know if they still offer that or not.

Thank you for all of your replies. Can anyone comment specifically on the ability of these vehicles to make it to the trailheads I specificed? I don’t think I would do anything more gnarly than split.

Yeah man!

For Subarus, and the others mentioned trailheads are no problem.  Especially with a manual tranny.  (can you still say “tranny”?- no offense intended) The first gear is usually lower in manuals than in automatics.  All of them have adequate ground clearance.  All of them get awards for some reason or another.  In my opinion, It comes down to styling, but mostly, to the way they go about their respective AWD systems.  I think Subaru has it dialed, but I see CRVs and Rav4s at trailheads as far back as you wanna go.  (on crappy dirt roads, not 4×4 tracks, obv.)

We have an 2008 Escape AWD with a 6 cylinder and automatic, and a Suby Crosstrek.  I prefer to take the Suby off road because even though the 6 makes more power, the automatic transmission gets hot and I can smell it overheating at the end of longer off-road sections. the Suby I can leave it in a gear and feather the gas.

I think these days though they are all pretty close… its more to do with your tires and driving skill.

@ Steve

FYI:  My recollection from about 9 years ago is that you do not need AWD to get to the White Mtn trailhead at the Barcroft gate. You probably do need a high clearance vehicle for some of the other routes. The road from the Barcroft gate to the Observatory is closed to public except for the periodic open houses sponsored by the Research Station. Further on while the trail to the summit is routed over the path of a former jeep road that went right to the top of the peak, it is mostly single track.

If you want to also do Boundary Peak or other peaks in the area, an AWD vehicle with high clearance would be highly recommended.

Cheers

We got a RAV4 a year ago and it has been great. We can sleep in it, but it’s small for two. Measure between the wheel wells if this is a feature you need. the Rav4 is about an inch wider than a twin mattress at floor level.

Ground clearance is 6.5″. Traction is good and you can lock in the AWD at low speed.

Toyota Landcruiser is VERY standard in Australia. Various models, various prices, and I don’t know which ones are available in USA.

That one is a short wheel base Toyota L/C, diesel, BJ70 (1988), late autumn, in the mountains. We were NOT expecting the snow, but stuff happens. (Yes, with chains.)

Cheers

Long live the FJ-40! You will find them here with fuel injected Chevy smallblock V-8 engines.

Outback all day. 30+ miles per gallon, manual mode (paddles) with auto LCVT, lots of cargo space, AWD is awesome, boxer engine, smooth ride. Would not fault you for choosing the Forester, but Outback is my choice because:

Almost double the towing capacity — 2,700lb vs 1,500 lb for Forester (no idea why the Forester is so low, but this is huge for me); more fuel capacity — 18.5 vs 15.9 gallons; more spacious interior; optional 6 cyl (Forester only has option for turbo 4 cyl); integrated cargo rails; and I like the ‘wagon feel’ vs ‘SUV feel’ of the Forester.

Someone mentioned wheelbase being shorter for the Forester. Yes, but the Outback is only 4″ longer, and it is 2″ wider, 2″ shorter height, and 200lbs heavier…that’s what gives it the stable ‘wagon feel.’ The Forester feels less stable because it is a taller car on a smaller platform, and I did not like it (just my opinion). The tradeoffs? Outback fuel economy is nearly the same, handling is better, more cargo room but 2″ less interior height, slightly lower eye level (but still well above most cars and wagons), turning radius is similar (18′ vs 17.4′), and more passenger width.

The comment about approach/departure/breakover angles…the Outback is 19.3/22.7/20 vs Forester is 23/25/21. You may notice, you may not. But how often are you maxing out this capacity? If these angles are driving your choice, a Subaru is not for you anyway (try a 4runner). For reference, my other car is a ’06 Baja, which has the same wheelbase, width, and angles as a Forester (after a spacer lift). There is a slight difference going over a 20′ section of primitive road on the way to a local trail head, but otherwise I have not noticed.