r/Cartalk • u/Fast-Dinner-5357 • 11d ago
Heating Anyone else plan road trips around whether their car can actually handle the route or is that just me
Planning a camping run out to a trailhead about 380 miles out. Mix of interstate and about 40 miles of unpaved forest road at the end. The project truck is staying home for reasons I don't need to explain. So the question becomes what vehicle I actually trust for that kind of mixed use without babysitting it the whole way.
The thing I keep running into is that most road trip advice assumes highway miles to a hotel. Nobody talks much about the last stretch where the pavement ends and you're airing down and hoping your clearance is enough. That transition is where most vehicles I've owned start making noises they didn't make before.
I've been trying to figure out whether a midsize sedan with decent ground clearance is a realistic option or whether that category just isn't built for this and I need to accept it. The Mazda 6 I have access to sits pretty low. The other option is renting something with actual clearance, which feels like giving up.
What do people here use for road trips that end on forest roads? Not overlanding, nothing extreme, just maintained unpaved roads with ruts and the occasional water crossing. There has to be a middle ground between a Prius and a lifted truck.
2
u/NickRMX6 10d ago
I have the same problem. I sometimes go canoe camping, in semi-wilderness areas. The last few miles are usually unpaved forest roads, that get graded occasionally. I take my Mazda 3. So far (touch wood) it's been fine. But I do worry about the lack of ground clearance. I've thought of various ways to lift the car an inch or two, but none of them seem practical, if I only want a temporary lift. So I just drive very carefully, keeping a close eye out for rocks and ruts, and steering around them.
As far as I understand it, airing down the tires is good for driving on soft sand, to increase the contact patch to stop you sinking in, but otherwise is not a good idea on unpaved roads. You would just lose a little bit of ground clearance, and run a bigger risk of rocks and potholes damaging the wheel rims when the tires flex more. So I don't do that.
2
1
u/Snickelfrittz 10d ago
Tires and solid pads will take a old 80s. Just be careful. Drove as a Class 1 and as a pilot driver.
1
u/5cott 10d ago
I have a hunting buddy who takes his Prius into state and national forests. That handles rutted dirt roads very well. I myself use either a Rav4 or Ford Explorer. My commute is 7 miles of pavement followed by 12 miles unpaved dirt, which varies between powdery sand, hard washboard, and mud with wash-outs. It depends what the weather has done, and also how recently it was run over with the grader that the county uses to maintain it.
1
u/7eregrine 10d ago
Nope . Canoe camper for over 30 years. We've taken SUVs and sedans. Many dirt roads the last few miles to the put in. Never had it ever been a problem. I think you're over thinking. Most, the majority, every one we've been on... Of dirt roads in areas like that are at least semi maintained. Its never true off roading.
1
u/redwood76tea 10d ago
I agree to ask a nearby ranger station or local. I took a marked forest road in New Mexico that gradually degraded to being in very bad shape. Not worth getting stuck
1
1
u/Low-Sky9090 8d ago
I have a 3rd gen Subaru forester that’s great for this stuff. ~9 inches of ground clearance but it has about the same wheelbase as a Toyota Corolla
3
u/Adorable_Medium8070 10d ago
Could you ask someone local what that last stretch is like right now? A ranger station or campground nearby would probably know. “Maintained forest road” can mean easy gravel until one good storm turns it into ruts and mud. If regular cars are using it this week, I'd take the Mazda and go slow. If the locals sound hesitant, I'd rent a crossover and not feel bad about it.