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Since I am in the Texas flood region (but safe for now), it has crossed my mind such a predicament.
For me, Subaru Forester or F-250? Probably would take the -250 because it's not as loaded with junk right now and it's probably better for unpleasant terrain (but what is "better" in these situations). But on the other hand, it doesn't yet have the radios installed, it is more expensive to operate (diesel) but on the other hand, it is the more expensive of the two.
So how does one decide such things........as I ponder do I want to put a car trailer and a Zodiac in my future buying decisions.
Gulf coast has hurricane boxes. We do a hard plastic storage box for such things as canned food, flashlights, battery powered radio, and spare batteries. You should also consider photo albums (or digital storage device), insurance papers, birth certificates, marriage licenses, social security cards, photos of property (home, auto, TVs, appliances, and other electronics), and a camera. If your property is damaged, use the camera to quickly take photos to send to your insurance and to keep for your records. Make sure you have an up to date phone number of your insurance agent and the insurance national toll free number. If you're area is damaged then your agent's office may also be damaged. You might want to consider bringing with you a chain saw (not electric). Even if you don't have trees, trees can be washed away in a flood and be jammed up to your home or vehicle. To help recover from flood damage, pry off your baseboards and run a few dehumidifiers. Don't set them to maximum dryness. One former co-worker rented about ten dehumidifiers and set them all to their lowest dryness setting then stayed at a hotel for a week. His home was so dry it warped and damaged the wood of the home.
Since I am in the Texas flood region (but safe for now), it has crossed my mind such a predicament.
For me, Subaru Forester or F-250? Probably would take the -250 because it's not as loaded with junk right now and it's probably better for unpleasant terrain (but what is "better" in these situations). But on the other hand, it doesn't yet have the radios installed, it is more expensive to operate (diesel) but on the other hand, it is the more expensive of the two.
So how does one decide such things........as I ponder do I want to put a car trailer and a Zodiac in my future buying decisions.
What are you asking? Best vehicle? Subaru vs F250? Best to tow a trailer? Best offroad? Gas vs Diesel? Something about radios?
........ You might want to consider bringing with you a chain saw (not electric). Even if you don't have trees, trees can be washed away in a flood and be jammed up to your home or vehicle..........
Chainsaws scare and worry me.........need to find someone to teach me how to properly use one. But before that, hence the reason why I permanently carry a bow saw in the truck and a folding camp one in the Forester.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kbeefy
What are you asking? Best vehicle? Subaru vs F250? Best to tow a trailer? Best offroad? Gas vs Diesel? Something about radios?
No, to you the reader if you have more than one car.
For your cars, how would conditions help you decide which one to bug out with, which one to take? Would you decide differently if the waters were rising vs a wildfire? Things like that.
Not that it applies in this topic but these last 24 or so hours have made me rethink getting winches on both cars.
I'd take the F-250 if I had to bug out. If you have any advance notice, fill that puppy up with diesel, and if you have one, if not get one, of those auxiliary tanks that look like tool boxes in the bed, fill that too. That F-250 has the ground clearance you may need, and once you clear out of the area, like everybody else, fuel will be at a premium and you'll have plenty. If flooding is any issue.....life preservers in the truck, Rope, and a Center Punch to take out any window
The F250 will also have a capacity to help rescue others and clear debris.
The Subaru might be able to hold more personal items and keep them out of the weather.
Given choice and forethought, the F250 could be made into a much more capable vehicle for the purpose. Is it 4wd?
I'm in central Texas as well. Got a hella lotta rain this weekend, but all is good.
In the 1998 flood, I had a 4x4 1ton dually that I put to work helping others. Did some volunteer road clearing, dragged some flooded cars from the road, moved some people in the bed across flooded areas. There were some cutoff pockets by where I live and it was quite useful. It was horrible offroad though. The size, weight, power, just a bad combination for getting stuck.
These days, a vehicle I own and would bugout in would be my Jeep Rubicon. Front and rear locking axles, winch, auxilary lighting, front and rear hitches, host of recovery gear that is always in it (tow strap, tree saver, winch block, shovel, hi lift jack, boards, fire extinguisher, gas and water cans,flares, rain gear, etc). I have used this vehicle for weeklong expeditions and have all the other camping type items for that. Given an hour, I could have that vehicle ready for self substinance of a week or longer and would just need to make my way to high ground.
I'd take the F-250 if I had to bug out. If you have any advance notice, fill that puppy up with diesel, and if you have one, if not get one, of those auxiliary tanks that look like tool boxes in the bed, fill that too. That F-250 has the ground clearance you may need, and once you clear out of the area, like everybody else, fuel will be at a premium and you'll have plenty. If flooding is any issue.....life preservers in the truck, Rope, and a Center Punch to take out any window
FIRST OF ALL, let me say that the purpose of this thread was not for people to state which is better, Forester vs F-250 but rather to see what drives their decisions of which car to take if they had more than one car. But that said.............................
.............................isn't it amazing that so many people have a Forester and the F-250 as their pair of cars?
That aux fuel tank for the truck bed sounds incredible. Carry 90 gallons for the loss of 13.5 inches in the bed. For someone like me who can go compulsively overboard in a second, what would that be (tank cost aside), $300 in a blink? Still, something to look at, especially from ranch considerations.
With the gear I carry as a standard in one or another, people might think that I'm a traveling dominatrix. Ropes, choker dog collars, leashes, etc.. But as it is, I come from a kind heart family, always concerned about lost animals. The thing about animals was one of the items, early on, that got me looking at, and then buying a crew cab. Ie, if bail out was in the cards, I probably just want to grab the pet taxis and toss them in the back of the cab.
As for the ropes and tarps, there's that compulsiveness again, especially when walking through the outdoor section of Wally World. Hence, so it is explained, the 3 5 gallon drink coolers and the 3 6 gallon water jerry cans. I've been boiling my water as a precaution, but if I really needed a source, I've got those things around, filled. Am I prepper? Not really. My old apartment complex would have sudden water outages (to dig up and repair old pipes) and I just got use to have a full water cooler always around.
Also have 2 or 3 of those center punches, for the cars, for the back pack I take to work. The latter was a recommendation at a school shooter lecture so to be able to break windows for an escape. As far as life jackets, it is probably more that I'm a biologist than a diver that I have a few of those around as well. Many years ago, I was out collecting samples alone on a barrier island jetty, and I figured if I slipped, knocked myself out, and landed in the water, I could be drowned before a stranger decided to fish me out of the water. So as foolish as I might have looked to the unknowing, there I was out on the rocks in a preserver. Of course, now it sits in the garage along with my scuba gear, gets taken alone for those .......and other.....trips.
I have an Forester XT and a 2500 Dodge Ram with the 5.9 Cummins Diesel.
Be interesting to see what drove us to such decisions.
One of the reasons why I got into SUVs is that in the flood of '98 (or '99 as my boss says, our memories are bit confused on that), I was trapped in my apartment complex. My car at the time, a Corsica, just couldn't get out of the driveway. At least with a SUV, if I didn't have the height clearance, then I could jump the curb and play in the mud (there were other, more important reasons).
But the demands of the ranch and, at the time, seeing all the good on the surplus economy, which while I now have the means to move but not the means to load/unload, pushed me to getting a super pickup.
In the early days of ranch buying, truck dreaming, I was even "thinking" about those surplus huge Army trucks which would have been a "dream" of a bug out vehicle........and of course a nightmare up and down the path for a dreamer that does not have a clue of what she is getting into.
Still, so far, can't complain much. I mean, I did get a 2009 used with under 8K miles on it, used but almost practically new.............and only one filler pipe to the fuel tank, too!
Haha.... I have a Diesel F350 and a Subaru Legacy wagon.
If I was worried about water fording the 4x4 F350 wins, Even stock the air filter has to be 40"+ above the ground. It weighs 3x the subaru so it won't wash away quite as easy, and while it doesn't get the mileage of the subbie, it does have a 38 gallon tank. That gets me 600 miles pretty easy, as high as 800 miles if I try. Also, adding fuel storage is much easier... the aforementioned in bed storage, or an aftermarket under bed fuel tank by transfer-flow. Also, I had a F550 tank that replaces the spare tire and adds 40 gallons. And speaking of fuel, Diesel lasts alot longer than gasoline. So finding good diesel 2 years after the zombie apocalypse is alot easier than finding good gasoline.
If your F250 is new enough a rear Electric diff locker was an option. Thats definately a plus to the ford. And the part time 4x4 is better off road. The ford obviously wins in storage capacity. A shell can easily be added to turn the bed into dry storage.
I like my subbie for ease of parking, great AWD system, and 30 mpg. If manual then I love driving in the snow with the 50/50 center diff. A forester can be lifted and fitted with bigger tires to gain 4-6" of height for ground clearance and water fording, but this hurts driveability, mileage, and parts longevity. And still falls far short of the ford.
All that is great, but if I had to choose it wouldn't be either of those choices.
My 3rd vehicle is Vanagon Syncro 4x4 with a pop-top and camper interior. It also has a Subaru 2.5 motor, selectable 4x4 and a selectable rear locker. In addition to being pretty capable off-road, it has decent clearance, a factory snorkle for water fording, it also has ample storage, the rear bench folds down into almost a queen size bed, it has an upper bunk for storage or sleeping, a fridge, heat, water storage.... If I wanted it to be a bug-out vehicle I would probably swap in a VW TDi Diesel modded to run on waste oil/biodiesel.
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