Will I be limited in where I can go with Toyota Corolla? (Seattle: rental car, 2014)

[eugene_b]

Hi all,

My first winter in Seattle is starting and I am super pumped about this and can't wait to explore all the mountains and everything! I have a car question that has been bothering me: with Toyota Corolla will I be able to go to most of the places and adventures or will I be pretty limited on where I can get? I've used this car to explore North East extensively (all seasons) and even though some winter mountains passes I had to crawl at 10mph and then some other off-road roller coaster driving has cost me cosmetic damage (and sometimes scared passengers who didn't know car can actually take this punishment), the car has always delivered solid adventure. That being said, looking at the scale of things in PNW I am a bit worried and wondering whether I should be looking to sell my car and buy some sort of SUV or will I be fine?

Thanks!

[thatguy950]

Well you won’t be able to overland, but even guys with Land Cruisers, Jeeps, or dirt bikes can’t really either since the state is so restrictive about everything. I mean you can go get some REI clothing and hike in a single-file line like a disney land line on a hiking trail (after paying for a discover pass that is), but the Corolla shouldn’t be a limiting factor.

You will need chains in winter to go over passes, they’re EXTREMELY strict about that here and you will be stopped at a checkpoint, shook down for $500 or so and then executed at dawn if caught without, shot into the sun if you get stuck as a result

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by eugene_b

Hi all,

My first winter in Seattle is starting and I am super pumped about this and can't wait to explore all the mountains and everything! I have a car question that has been bothering me: with Toyota Corolla will I be able to go to most of the places and adventures or will I be pretty limited on where I can get? I've used this car to explore North East extensively (all seasons) and even though some winter mountains passes I had to crawl at 10mph and then some other off-road roller coaster driving has cost me cosmetic damage (and sometimes scared passengers who didn't know car can actually take this punishment), the car has always delivered solid adventure. That being said, looking at the scale of things in PNW I am a bit worried and wondering whether I should be looking to sell my car and buy some sort of SUV or will I be fine?

Thanks!

Try and take it up into the Cascades. Go up some fire road on a map until you can't go further. That's the limit, right? I've done that on a couple cars here.

When I got here in 1998, I had a similar dilemma. In my case, I promptly bought what they would call today an "Adventure Bike" though back then they were primitive. Not so today. Solved that problem, and I went hundreds of miles up goat trails and fire roads. Not in the winter, only summer.

Some Corolla will hit a mega pothole up there, bust a tire or worst, and you'll have to be towed out or limp home. I've seen people do interesting things with 2wd cars, when I had a Toyota 4x4 about 14 years ago now. I'd haul up some nasty places in that thing, though overall it was less than useful thus sold in a couple years for a 2wd X-Runner which is dry, flat land only. I never had AWD here until my 911 Turbo in 2011, that's 13 years after arriving. And useful it was, though with little clearance. My current 911 GTS is a C4 and loves about 2" of snow, after that I'm parking it since cost of mayhem would be unimaginable.

Depends:

1. Where you choose to live
2. Where you must be, day to day, in terms of kids, job, daycare, other to-do
3. Mass transit or work from home might, or might not, save you those few snow days/year we tend to have. It's always saved me, but I'm in IT.

[pnwguy2]

Unless things have changed dramatically in the past decade, Washington is not very strict about chain requirements. Checkpoints were rare in the 80's and 90's, but perhaps that has changed.

Fact is the main Washington Cascade pass (I-90 Snoqualmie) will more likely close than put up chain requirements these days. This perhaps has more to do with the ability to remove snow from the road quickly than the possible avalanche threats that create most of the closures.

Either way, a few things on any vehicle are important in driving over the Washington passes. First, make sure you have good tread on your tires, make sure you are driving "all-weather" tires, (which most are), and drive a front-wheel drive vehicle (which most are today). I-90 is passable most of the year, but as I mentioned, the avalanche danger is the wildcard. Higher passes, such as Stevens (US2), or White (US12), are a little more likely to create winter problems.

[Hemlock140]

It’s easy to check road conditions and avoid the pass when it’s nasty. The real problem is the rare lowland snow, especially if you are in the hills. Last winter we had snow here in Sammamish about 5 times, but it only stuck once and then not enough to cause problems. Most years there will be 2-3 snow “events” and there will be abandoned cars that can’t make it up a hill. Pretty much any snow and the schools close. Without a good 4WD just be prepared to stay home or walk to a bus on snow days. The main bus routes are plowed first, and they will chain up.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by eugene_b

Hi all,

My first winter in Seattle is starting and I am super pumped about this and can't wait to explore all the mountains and everything! I have a car question that has been bothering me: with Toyota Corolla will I be able to go to most of the places and adventures or will I be pretty limited on where I can get? I've used this car to explore North East extensively (all seasons) and even though some winter mountains passes I had to crawl at 10mph and then some other off-road roller coaster driving has cost me cosmetic damage (and sometimes scared passengers who didn't know car can actually take this punishment), the car has always delivered solid adventure. That being said, looking at the scale of things in PNW I am a bit worried and wondering whether I should be looking to sell my car and buy some sort of SUV or will I be fine?

Thanks!

As long as your tires are good, you should be able to explore quite a bit. You could always rent a 4x4 once in awhile when the weather/snow is more intense in the mountains. The value of having an all wheel/4wd around here is that you can drive to some truly spectacular places..

[Ruth4Truth]

Be careful, Eugene. Freak storms have been known to hit, people get buried under snow (in their cars), and aren't found until they're dead. Don't let it happen to you. Don't get overconfident and reckless. For weekends, you might be able to do a cheap rental through Enterprise car rentals; they have a weekend deal that only costs $30/day or so, for 3 days. You might be able to rent a 4wd vehicle from them.

[eugene_b]

Thanks for all the advise! I forgot to clarify: we use car purely for adventure purposes these days, and we use public transit for everything else. I think I'll start slow and follow the advise about rental cars: will rent some SUV and see how much difference it makes. Hoping to go to places like Stevens Pass on weekends to do skiing and other winter stuff.

I have one more somewhat related question that I've been curious about. I don't know much about SUVs and for a while have been wondering if cars like Toyota Highlander / Honda Pilot / etc are true SUVs that help with this type of driving or are they essentially a huge Corolla meant for hauling kids, groceries, etc on a perfectly paved road? I have lots of mixed info on this with some people recommending going for Toyota 4Runner or equivalents and saying that Highlander / Pilot / etc are just big family cars for paved roads; while others claim that those cars are pretty good off road too.

[Blondebaerde]

Originally Posted by eugene_b

Thanks for all the advise! I forgot to clarify: we use car purely for adventure purposes these days, and we use public transit for everything else. I think I'll start slow and follow the advise about rental cars: will rent some SUV and see how much difference it makes. Hoping to go to places like Stevens Pass on weekends to do skiing and other winter stuff.

I have one more somewhat related question that I've been curious about. I don't know much about SUVs and for a while have been wondering if cars like Toyota Highlander / Honda Pilot / etc are true SUVs that help with this type of driving or are they essentially a huge Corolla meant for hauling kids, groceries, etc on a perfectly paved road? I have lots of mixed info on this with some people recommending going for Toyota 4Runner or equivalents and saying that Highlander / Pilot / etc are just big family cars for paved roads; while others claim that those cars are pretty good off road too.

Nice.

So, I've been following this rather goofy, yet smart and interesting guy on YouTube as he buys what he calls "Hoopdies," meaning usually "the cheapest (whatever) in America, that he could find on Autotrader" or similar. Each car and truck is an adventure. His cheapest Ferrari, a 355, was awesome. With a little work fixed up then tragically caught on fire and was totaled. Stuff like that.

One of his most interesting hoopdies was an older Lexus LX470, end of the 1990s, with about 250K miles and a few interior problems (rips, tears, back door busted up). Otherwise, drivetrain and engine fine. I think he paid $2,500 for it.

Point? He threw a little money at it and created a serious contender for offroading. He forded a 3' stream and crawled some rougher roads (not rock crawling per se) in one follow-up video. Remember those are the near-twin to the godlike Toyota Landcruiser. I was all over southern Africa on a BMW GS motorcycle couple years ago, and I mean quite literally a thousand miles up interior of Namibia, Vioolsdrif border cross with SA and a detour west to Swakopmund and the Skeleton Coast, and guess what: vast bulk of vehicles are diesel Landcruisers or Hilux. Nothing else survives those gravel roads long, though most are in surprisingly great shape. And the Lexus, same thing: they export tons to Africa and the Middle East because they just run forever.

So maybe if your car is just for adventure purposes these days, consider a 10-15 y.o. Toyota or Lexus monster offroader. Something with >100K miles. It will run like new, as does my Tacoma with 116K miles at-current. With few, if-any, mods you'll have a vehicle that can handle most WA back roads and certainly snow. Heed other advice about chains, tires, etc, but I'm talking maybe consider a "Hoopdie" of your own. Point being, low cost of entry for such an experiment!

To do it over again, I'd probably do this. In fact when I retire, I may buy a 10 y.o. Hoopdie Lexus LX570 as my "only" and do some exploring of my own. Or, a 4Runner, like the 2006 Toyota 4Runner Sport Edition V8 4WD - $7,500 I just spotted on (used car aggregation site). Just a thought, if want something that can be tossed around for adventure and "probably" still has tons of life left.

[leastprime]

weather.com is your friend.
REI has a pretty good weather report on road and ski conditions
carry a set of well fitting chains if you do go up in icy-snowy conditions. Be sure that you well practiced in putting on the chains in cold and wet conditions. Our son goes skiing in his 2014 Mazda 3xi (low and limited wheel well clearance for chains). He stays on main/plowed roads.

You don't need an SUV unless you like to pay vehicle and fuel taxes.