Will I be limited in where I can go with Toyota Corolla? (Tacoma: to buy, low cost)

[thatguy950]

Originally Posted by Blondebaerde

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.

ah Hoovie’s Garage, yep saw that episode.

I’m a huge fan of the 100 series Land Cruiser, as well as the 4runner. They hold their insane resale value for a reason, the 120 series runner you mentioned is also an excellent choice, cheap to fix IF they do need anything in the first place, but they’re excellent trail rigs and great in deep snow when stock with some nice tires

[Ultrarunner]

My friends living in the Alps don't have AWD but they do have fantastic winter tires... with the option of adding studs.

Aside from ground clearance issues... tires make or break your vehicle's abilities...

If venturing off the beaten path all of the usual precautions apply... keep season appropriated supplies on hand and tools... shovels, blanket, full tank of fuel, etc...

One of my friends never goes anywhere off road without a Satellite Distress Beacon... I think it came from REI...

Don't want to end up reading about you in the Spring.

[travis t]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RengHXbcAB0

[Transmition]

One problem I used to have with my Corolla was that the engine was so light that the front wheels couldn't always get the grip they needed.

[brown_dog_us]

I happened upon this thread while looking for something else, and since I live in Colorado and ski a lot I might as well add to it....

I'm a little confused about what you want to do, but I'll assume you want to drive to the ski resort on paved roads and sometimes in the summer go on rougher dirt roads like fire roads.

If you put real snow tires (not all season) on your car and carry a set of cables (modern version of chains) you will always be fine. I took my Toyota Prius skiing 100 times and had to use the chains 3 times and when I used them the 4wds weren't getting out. Snow tires are almost as good as AWD for propulsion and make a big difference in braking.

If you have solid regular tires and a set of cables you just need to stay away from the storms.

SUVs without AWD won't be any better than your corolla. A SUV with AWD will be a big difference. A SUV with AWD and snow tires is amazing.

Subaru makes great AWD cars that are very popular in mountain towns.

You mentioned 4runners, so here goes...

The current 4runner is really old and needs an update. Great vehicle but it's 12 year old technology. Go drive one and the new Tacoma and you will see the difference. Both of theses vehicles are great for summer off roading. The 4runner is very popular but more and more I see Tacomas at the remote trailheads because of the difference in the interior and handling.

One of my cars is a Highlander, and it's great. It has nice clearance and will get you to 99% of the places you might want to go, but it's soooooo big. Unless you are hauling a bunch of people you will probably like a Rav4 or Subaru a lot better.

[brown_dog_us]

btw, the youngsters, I'm 46, all want a Tacoma extended cab with a roof top tent.

[Diana Holbrook]

A good front wheel drive will get you a long way... in high school I made it up to the ski resorts most weekends with a front wheel drive. I can count on one hand the number of times I have EVER put chains on even crossing the passes regularly. If it's that bad, nothing's fun anyway. We just didn't go.

Little note about 4x4s I wish more of them understood... they can't STOP any better than anyone else. When you see them going faster, that doesn't make them better.

[Seacove]

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.

We've been using 4Runners for decades and so far, so good. They hold their resale at trade-in too, even though our first was so stripped down it had roll-up windows.

[Ultrarunner]

This thread reminded me of someone my parents new that was an Olympic Ski Team hopeful... he did well... but never medaled...

His vehicle to get him to and from in all kinds of weather... a simple VW Bug with German Snow Tires... no All Wheel Drive... no 4WD or traction control, etc... and a ski rack on the back...

Can't over emphasize where the rubber meets the road... dedicated snow tires are hands down the best for winter driving.

[Stonepa]

The Corolla, properly maintained, is a great car. Make sure you have good tires and brakes and you can get to pretty much any trailhead in Washington State in the summer and fall. Winter and spring? I'd stick with the all seasons in this case as they will keep you from going too far and getting your car into trouble. You can park and walk the rest of the way.

In Seattle, we really don't have winter. We have rain and mist, with maybe one day of snow and ice where I'd take the day off anyway. If you want to go skiing then you could just get a set of winter tires. Look on Craigslist first. Those will get you to lifts with no trouble.