Ideal Vehicle for Wyoming? (Gillette: maintenance, tax, live)

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by Joe33

Any front wheel drive beater that when it breaks or you wreck it you can just walk away from in , hitch a ride to the next town and buy another one for $500.

$500? IT costs more than that here like a few thousand.

[Wyoming_Medic]

Wyoming is a bit of a conundrum when it comes to vehicles. You need something which can handle snow, ice, and mud; but you also end up doing a lot of interstate/highway driving.

My family (as in all hundreds of us in state) and I typically lean toward having a few vehicles. I prefer to have a large truck for towing and getting through the mountains, but then have a comfortable highway vehicle which gets decent gas mileage.

If I had to pick a single vehicle to perform as many tasks as possible, it would be something like a Subaru Outback or similar. All wheel drive, high(ish) ground clearance for a car, excellent reliability. If I had the bucks something like an Audi A8 or BMW would be my choice, but getting work done on them requires a trip to Colorado. Subaru can be handled most places or within a hundred miles.

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by Wyoming_Medic

Wyoming is a bit of a conundrum when it comes to vehicles. You need something which can handle snow, ice, and mud; but you also end up doing a lot of interstate/highway driving.

My family (as in all hundreds of us in state) and I typically lean toward having a few vehicles. I prefer to have a large truck for towing and getting through the mountains, but then have a comfortable highway vehicle which gets decent gas mileage.

If I had to pick a single vehicle to perform as many tasks as possible, it would be something like a Subaru Outback or similar. All wheel drive, high(ish) ground clearance for a car, excellent reliability. If I had the bucks something like an Audi A8 or BMW would be my choice, but getting work done on them requires a trip to Colorado. Subaru can be handled most places or within a hundred miles.

Which vehicle brands are most common and to get service locally-closest?

[Wyoming_Medic]

Pretty much limited to domestic brands like Ford, GM, Dodge, etc.

Casper and Cheyenne can get service on VW and Subaru.

Anything remotely luxury or exotic either goes to a small mechanic (and you take your chances), or Colorado.

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by Wyoming_Medic

Pretty much limited to domestic brands like Ford, GM, Dodge, etc.

Casper and Cheyenne can get service on VW and Subaru.

Anything remotely luxury or exotic either goes to a small mechanic (and you take your chances), or Colorado.

cOLOrado? How about Billings Montana?

[Wyoming_Medic]

Originally Posted by nowhereman427

cOLOrado? How about Billings Montana?

Maybe. But it would depend on what they have available. Colorado has multiple dealers for every make of vehicle, so there is pricing competition as well as things to do while you are there.

Billings is like going to a town just like Casper, but twice the size.

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by Wyoming_Medic

Maybe. But it would depend on what they have available. Colorado has multiple dealers for every make of vehicle, so there is pricing competition as well as things to do while you are there.

Billings is like going to a town just like Casper, but twice the size.

I see. I have always ordered cars the way I want them from the factory but for this occasion it maybe different with imports.

[Wyoming_Medic]

Originally Posted by nowhereman427

I see. I have always ordered cars the way I want them from the factory but for this occasion it maybe different with imports.

Not necessarily pricing of a new vehicle, but maintenance costs. Trust me. For certain work, it is WAY (think 1/2 price) cheaper to drive to Colorado instead of using local dealers.

As for buying a vehicle, same rules apply. You can price a brand new *insert vehicle of choice here* in a place like Casper, then price it in Denver and be quoted maybe $10K less.

An overwhelming majority of folks travel out of state to purchase vehicles. Colorado is popular, but Dave Smith in Idaho is a close second. If you are wanting a Dodge product, Dave Smith is (I think) the busiest Dodge sales dealer in the U.S., and they will undercut anyone in Wyoming by oodles and oodles of cash.

[Brian_M]

Lol... always funny when these replys are all over the map. There's a good reason though, everyone only thinks about their use and ignores the rest. Someone who lives in a town and never leaves paved (or at least graded) roads? My wife and I did brilliantly with a 4" ground clearance Jetta (and dedicated winter tires) for those uses. You don't need anything more.

But the guy who lives down a self-maintained road is thinking about mud, drifts, and the ability to get himself (herself) out of trouble.

The ideal vehicle will be different for each person. Why drive an SUV if you're single and don't need the space? Why drive a FWD car if you need to traverse non-maintained roads? Why drive a 4x4 work truck if you're commuting on city streets only? It's worth understanding that 4wd and AWD only help you get moving from a stop, all vehicles sold today have ABS brakes and most have some sort of traction control. Ground clearance only matters if you leave maintained roads, and that ranges from about 4" to about 9" (in stock trim, you can make a vehicle have more or less).

Our ideal vehicle was the Jetta TDI we owned. 50mpg for the copious driving that you tend to encounter in Wyoming, comfortable and plenty enough cargo for 2 + 2 dogs (or random/short times with 4 people), more than enough ability to get to any/every ski hill from Durango, CO/Purgatory to Whitefish, MT and everything in between. But we worked professional jobs, lived in town and just never found much need for the 4x4 truck that we also own. I'm pretty sure the only time I used 4wd was for summer recreation, Maybe I put it into 4lo to pull someone out of the ditch once or twice, but it just wasn't needed.

[Wyoming_Medic]

Originally Posted by Brian_M

My wife and I did brilliantly with a 4" ground clearance Jetta (and dedicated winter tires) for those uses. You don't need anything more.

I'm curious where you we living. We are in the third largest city in Wyoming and have never seen a snow plow. My wife runs a front wheel drive vehicle which we have to put heavy tire chains on just so she can take the kids to school. Last storm just a month ago was 18 inches of snow which was never plowed. My little car with 4 inches of ground clearance (Nissan Sentra) had snow up to the headlights, just like it did most of the winter.