[Schroder]

[DIYSteve]

Subarus are popular with skiers because Subie AWD system is superior to everything except Audi and (now) Mazda. I really like the Hondas I've owned, and Honda and Toyota make great reliable cars but IME Honda AWD and Toyota AWD suck on ice. Current Mazda AWD is great, as good as Subie IME, FWD bias but superfast hookup of all 4 wheels the instant it senses a slip. Car & Driver how considers Mazda the best AWD on the market. We just sold a 2012 Impreza, which we very much liked (but it was time to pare down to 2 vehicles). Kept our Mazda CX-5, which is very fun to drive, great snow car, handles like a sports sedan and gets pretty good MPG (30+ summer). I hope hit holds up like our Toyotas and Hondas did. We bought a 2017 Toyota Tundra 4x4 to replace our dead 1998 F150. Did a bunch of research before deciding on the Tundra. Tundra is the only full-size PU recommended by Consumer Reports because of history of poor reliability histories of Ford, Chevy/GMC, Dodge and Nissan. The Al alloy body F150 and better MPG appealed to me but the failure history scared me away. The GM AFM engines are a disaster. Toyota 5.7L UR engine is a stalwart, 6-bolt mains, forged crankshaft and rods, overbuilt, outstanding reliability history. Same re Toyota/Lexus trannies, which are tough as hell.

[Backpacker Joe]

2001 TDI Jetta 2005 CRD Liberty 1995 Cummins Dodge 1985 Toyota diesel powered Suzuki Samurai.

[Opus]

How does the Mazda ride on washboard roads? I used to have a Protege5 wagon a long time ago that I really loved. Fun to drive on paved backcountry roads since it had a stiffer suspensions than other little cars. Really jarring and bad for anything washboarded though. New CX5 seems really nice.

[tmatlack]

A good friend of mine who does tons of rough road trailhead driving sez that uni-body vehicles will deteriorate much faster than a "framed" vehicle like old trucks. I nodded my head a lot but have no clue what all this means. Is there a short, non-technical, non-inflammatory, thread appropriate explanation to this dichotomy: unibody vs. framed??? Tom

[Backpacker Joe]

He's technically right. Depending on the conditions, unibody vehicles have no frame to separate what the frame goes thru vs. what the body (much thinner metal) must absorb. I built up a 1992 Jeep Cherokee (unibody) and after researching it I found that under the most adverse (4x4 trail crawling) conditions the body would start to crack in stress areas over time. BUT we are talking about hard core wheeling over a long period of time. The thin body material fatigues under the stress cycles of the suspension flexing up and down and ultimately cracks. I wheeled every weekend for years and it never happened to my Cherokee. I know some guys it did happen to, but the wheeled the Rubicon (and other California trails) every year. I talked with a Jeep engineer about it once at a Seattle auto show. He told me that when they went from the Cherokee to the Liberty they fixed that problem with a much thicker metal unibody frame component. This will NEVER be an issue driving your car on logging roads!

[DIYSteve]

[markweth]

I've owned a Honda Element (2006) for a few years and have found it to be a great vehicle. They stopped making them in 2011, but if you can find a good deal on a used one I would recommend looking into one. Everyone I know who has one loves theirs, and the guy I bought mine from (original owner) regretted having to sell but they needed a car with better gas mileage for a long commute. I wish it had a bit more clearance (it is lower than a Subaru Forrester or Outback by 1.5 inches, I think) and got better gas mileage (only around 22 mpg mixed city/hwy in my experience), but other than that I've found it to be perfect. Comfortable to drive, plenty of room to sleep in, easy to clean interior. Great for getting to and from the trailheads for backpacking and cross-country skiing.

8-10 inches of snow fell overnight and it took a few minutes to shovel out of the small pull-off beside the highway where the trailhead was located.Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.

Gets around well on snow and dirt and with good all-season tires it can get to most trailheads here in Montana without any issues.

[Slugman]

I drive a 1994 Saturn POS. The good: you can get one for almost nothing. Mine cost even less than that. The bad: everything else.

[FootHiker]

2016 Toyota Camry. It's a dream.