Is 4WD important in coastal Pacific Northwest?

[Electrician4you]

I buy 4WD vehicles even though I may only use it once a year or so. But I have it if I need it. The added maintenance isn't that much, ad the mpg is not enough of a difference yo really worry about it. If you're a outdoors type 4wd or AWD vehicle is really a must have. Can you get by with 2WD? In a lot of cases I never use 4wd because I gave a locker in the back and good tires. But there are times when 4wd is needed.
You can get in a lot of places with a 2WD truck, lots of throttle a locker and good tires. But in some of those cases you're beating up the truck pretty good

[DCMann2]

Unless you're planning on doing some serious off road driving on old logging roads in the dead of winter, I doubt you'll need 4WD. It would come in handy for driving on the beach or reaching some of the more remote trail heads (Usal comes to mind), but I've found that even my little RWD Ford Ranger is adequate even if it's a bit underpowered.

As for being part of the PNW, many people, myself included, do consider Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, and Siskiyou counties to be part of the PNW. We have much more in common with those folks than the rest of CA, that's for sure. Depends on who you ask really, and a lot of folks around here even go so far as to call themselves residents of the State of Jefferson, so I'd say there's plenty of flexibility

[tstieber]

I haven't been in that far northern neck of the woods, but it does seem like a transitional area between CA and the PNW, which is why the State of Jefferson thing seems to work well instead of trying to figure out if the PNW definition truly applies. I don't think any part of CA technically belongs to the PNW, but if Jefferson encompasses parts of far Nor CA and far South OR, then it works bc they sort of belong together.

Originally Posted by DCMann2

Unless you're planning on doing some serious off road driving on old logging roads in the dead of winter, I doubt you'll need 4WD. It would come in handy for driving on the beach or reaching some of the more remote trail heads (Usal comes to mind), but I've found that even my little RWD Ford Ranger is adequate even if it's a bit underpowered.

As for being part of the PNW, many people, myself included, do consider Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, and Siskiyou counties to be part of the PNW. We have much more in common with those folks than the rest of CA, that's for sure. Depends on who you ask really, and a lot of folks around here even go so far as to call themselves residents of the State of Jefferson, so I'd say there's plenty of flexibility

[Ragnar]

I would never buy a truck w/o 4WD. I may not run it in 4WD all that often, but it's super helpful to have when needed. The whole point of owning a truck is to do truck stuff.

If gas mileage is a concern and AWD/4WD sometimes useful, would some type of Subaru work for the OP? Ground clearance not as high as a truck, but good cargo volume in the wagon shape, and AWD could help on some sloppy trailways.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

San Diego county. You'd be surprised how rugged some of the terrain is in parts of the county. I've pulled a few non-4x4s out with my beast. It snows and rains so any dirt road turns into a mess.