rslifkin said:90s Cherokee or Grand Cherokee maybe? They're pretty simple, just about everything about them is well known, lots of parts are common as dirt, etc.
I am admittedly not a huge Jeep fan but a Grand Cherokee is a contender
rslifkin said:90s Cherokee or Grand Cherokee maybe? They're pretty simple, just about everything about them is well known, lots of parts are common as dirt, etc.
I am admittedly not a huge Jeep fan but a Grand Cherokee is a contender
GameboyRMH said:¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:Whatever the oldest base model manual transmission 4x4 Toyota Pickup is that meets your ABS requirement.
Was thinking of this but they're costly now. Also remembered that some Suzuki Sidekicks/Trackers came with ABS.
My mom had ones years ago, I don't remember ABS being on it but I do remember it having some weird timing issues that no one could solve, and many tried
Pete. (l33t FS) said:EA82 era Subaru.
They are light enough to float over stuff, handle acceptably well, and they had a TBI version of LH-Jet that is about as simple as you can get for fuel injection. Maintenance is easy to do while wearing thick gloves, hell you can do the spark plugs standing up with a 3' extension if your back hurts too much.
Downside: They corrode audibly and are 99.99999% gone.
I mean, the real answer is Lada Riva/VAZ 2107, this is literally what they were made for, but GFL finding one...
That would be gl-10/loyale era right? Cool cars, I don't think I've seen one driving around in forever. It definitely doesn't hit the tire size I'm looking for although I know people lift them.
And I'd love a Riva!
amg_rx7 (Forum Supporter) said:How about a newer Explorer? :)
or the Chevy equivalent Tahoe?
I don't think you'll find anything simpler than your 97 K1500 but the newer stuff is still easy to work on. At least the Chevy gmt800 is
The problem with explorers is the newer they get, the worse they get. 2nd Gen is the best by far and I've got 3.
2002 ushers in the worst car ever made according to some and I have experience there, I'd rather have a dog sled.
Gmt400/800 Tahoe is a good choice though
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:1. Real answer: Any reliable 4x4 with good tires, realistically. Gen2 Montero is pretty solid and many have a factory rear locker, to boot. They can be found fairly cheap and are damn near as capable as a 4Runner, and almost as reliable. They haven't quite hit the appreciation curve the way Jeeps and Toyotas have, yet so can probably find a non-rusty one for a lot cheaper than those.
1.1 If you don't mind Bigger, 1st Gen Sequoias are damn near unstoppable in snow thanks to long wheelbase, weight, and good traction control. They don't really get hit with the Toyota Tax the way other Toyos do so can be found pretty cheap (just look out for frame rust), and are very reliable.
1.5: Sorry, as someone who has owned a WRX running dedicated winter/snow tires, I cannot agree with anyone who thinks any "car" anywhere near stock height (regardless of tires) can reasonably handle 2 FEET of snow for any distance - unless it's champagne powder. The WRX was unstoppable in a foot of untracked, but much more than that, or in heavier/rutted snow, high-centering becomes a real issue, even with AWD and snow tires. For deep stuff, only a truck-ish vehicle will handle, IMO. (cue stories of "my Ford Escort on bald tires could do 3' of snow easy, gotta know how to drive!)....
2. Alternate answer:
I somehow forgot totally about Montero's, it hits a lot of good points too so it's definitely on my list
1.5 I agree with wholeheartedly. Nothing car like is gonna work regardless of how well you know how to drive. The snow would be level with the dash, and you aren't going anywhere.
Sequoia is another interesting idea, I see a lot with huge miles still going strong, nice
Some great ideas here, thanks guys.
Keep em coming!
May be close on the 2' requirement but fits the simple and reliable part. Simple lift kit and there you go.
When I lived in Tennessee I was four miles from the main road that was maintained. Nobody plowed the gravel road I was on. For winter I had a very Rusty titleless Subaru justy that I ran to the maintained section and parked. I had it worked out with a guy up there that I could leave my truck in his yard for the winter and use it to go into town and everything. The dusty was just for the unmaintained roads. Is it snowmobile and an arrangement like that possible for your scenario?
Would any of the body-on-frame Nissans stand in as 'cheaper' alternatives to the Toyota? Frontiers that haven't changed since 1867, X-Terras, and pre-jellybean Pathfinders.
In reply to Old_Town :
Honestly, I hated my Xterra in snow. I would rather of had my Golf 4Motion over it every day. If it was enough that I couldn't use the golf, it was just a sign I needed to stay home. Both were on snow tires in colorado.
Tom Suddard said:A Model T is your answer--dead simple, plenty of ground clearance, etc. And it does have ABS since the brakes don't really work. Technically anti-lock.
I second this. And according to Jay Leno, if it's running correctly you can expect 30 mpg easily. Relative to everything else gas was more expensive 100+ years ago than it is now - especially to farmers and country folk. No water pump to fail, superb ground clearance, I'd say with a set of chains it'd embarrass a lot of AWD modern cars in the slop.
My XJ with a 2" lift and 31" AT tires was simply amazing in thr snow, crawling through and over deep drifts and anything else I could throw at it.
Waves of snow coming up over the hood, only navigating by the tops of the reflectors on the sides of the road, she gets me home. 29" studded snows are plenty in 2 feet of tahoe snow.
The smartass in me couldn't help it:
buzzboy said:Waves of snow coming up over the hood, only navigating by the tops of the reflectors on the sides of the road, she gets me home. 29" studded snows are plenty in 2 feet of tahoe snow.
I've had similar experience in the ZJ with similar size non-studded snows. Unless you get it high centered, deep fresh snow was a non-issue. And as long as they were soft, hood-depth snow drifts weren't too much of an issue either.
Sonic said:My XJ with a 2" lift and 31" AT tires was simply amazing in thr snow, crawling through and over deep drifts and anything else I could throw at it.
I had one of those. It'd get my vote for the best recently modern car that meets all the OP's requests.
The best car that I had though for pure snow busting was a bone stock '74 CJ5 with Firestone Town & Country Sno-Biter tires. That thing was almost like a tracked vehicle. Unbelievably impressive. Then later on I restored it and modified it a bit - mild lift, 32" mud terrains, ARB air lockers on both ends. And surprisingly, to me at least, was that even with both lockers locked, snow performance was diminished. It's all in the tires folks.
Two feet of snow? Simple?
Dusterbd13-michael said:When I lived in Tennessee I was four miles from the main road that was maintained. Nobody plowed the gravel road I was on. For winter I had a very Rusty titleless Subaru justy that I ran to the maintained section and parked. I had it worked out with a guy up there that I could leave my truck in his yard for the winter and use it to go into town and everything. The dusty was just for the unmaintained roads. Is it snowmobile and an arrangement like that possible for your scenario?
Did the call it Dusty's rusty Justy?
Dusterbd13-michael said:When I lived in Tennessee I was four miles from the main road that was maintained. Nobody plowed the gravel road I was on. For winter I had a very Rusty titleless Subaru justy that I ran to the maintained section and parked. I had it worked out with a guy up there that I could leave my truck in his yard for the winter and use it to go into town and everything. The dusty was just for the unmaintained roads. Is it snowmobile and an arrangement like that possible for your scenario?
Not a bad idea but not really great for my problem.
At the worst case it's 23 miles to the next town with a highway in-between. Now, they don't plow the highway all the time because apparently the world has forgot how to do things but they do do so sometimes, so it needs to be road legal. Good thought though
Antihero said:irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:1. Real answer: Any reliable 4x4 with good tires, realistically. Gen2 Montero is pretty solid and many have a factory rear locker, to boot. They can be found fairly cheap and are damn near as capable as a 4Runner, and almost as reliable. They haven't quite hit the appreciation curve the way Jeeps and Toyotas have, yet so can probably find a non-rusty one for a lot cheaper than those.
1.1 If you don't mind Bigger, 1st Gen Sequoias are damn near unstoppable in snow thanks to long wheelbase, weight, and good traction control. They don't really get hit with the Toyota Tax the way other Toyos do so can be found pretty cheap (just look out for frame rust), and are very reliable.
1.5: Sorry, as someone who has owned a WRX running dedicated winter/snow tires, I cannot agree with anyone who thinks any "car" anywhere near stock height (regardless of tires) can reasonably handle 2 FEET of snow for any distance - unless it's champagne powder. The WRX was unstoppable in a foot of untracked, but much more than that, or in heavier/rutted snow, high-centering becomes a real issue, even with AWD and snow tires. For deep stuff, only a truck-ish vehicle will handle, IMO. (cue stories of "my Ford Escort on bald tires could do 3' of snow easy, gotta know how to drive!)....
2. Alternate answer:
I somehow forgot totally about Montero's, it hits a lot of good points too so it's definitely on my list
1.5 I agree with wholeheartedly. Nothing car like is gonna work regardless of how well you know how to drive. The snow would be level with the dash, and you aren't going anywhere.
Sequoia is another interesting idea, I see a lot with huge miles still going strong, nice
I've had two Sequoias. My first gen was bulletproof, but sadly had terminal frame rust (came from a salt state and missed the frame recall by a year). My second gen I currently have I'm pretty sure can do 2' of snow in 2WD lol....and has 180k miles. 2nd gens aren't quite cheap yet, but early 1st gens (pre-VVTi and with the 4-speed auto) seem to be out there pretty cheap still. Literally, find one with a clean frame and the rest of the vehicle can probably go 300k easy.
I don't have a lot to add here, but long ago I lived in what would today be called an off-the-grid situation down about a mile of logging road - some of it pretty steep. I had a brand-spanking new Nissan Hardbody 4x4 and my neighbor had a POS old Jeep Comanche pickup. Normal snow - even pretty deep snow - no problem for either truck. But when it got ugly - and if you live in snowy places you know what I mean - the Jeep put my truck to shame. Locking diffs....
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:1. Real answer: Any reliable 4x4 with good tires, realistically.
On paper, I agree, however I have driven enough 4x4s in the snow and off-road to know that this just isn't really the case. I have never been able to quantify it, but some are just gooder than others. I had a 78 IH Scout Traveler that had the cheapest A/S whitewalls I could find, and it was better in the snow than my 84 Chevy K25 with Wrangler A/Ts. I had an AMC Eagle 4x4 with great A/Ts that couldn't grip a velcro road, and I had a Dodge Dakota with four brand new snow tires that got stuck in the snow an embarrassingly frequent number of times. My current 06 Express AWD with A/Ts is better than the Dakota ever was.
I'm sure it has to do with drive ratios, throttle bellcrank ratios, weight distribution, maybe even steering ackerman and suspension design, but it never ceases to amaze me how bitchin some things are in the snow while others are just helpless.
Having said that, I did use a 90s 4-runner with the locking diff one winter in Ontario. I was pretty impressed. Same vehicle as a Taco... butt end was way too light and it liked to try and leave the road. I had to buy a bunch of bags of sand to throw in the bed. Again, hard to quantify because they had different tires, one was manual one auto.... I'm just saying it's not always just what the paper specs are for any old 4x4. Some suck, some rock.
Has anyone suggested a Model T yet? Aside from the ABS requirement, I think it meets the criteria:
1. Can't get any simpler
2. Loads of ground clearance and skinny tires should be able to get through tons of snow
3. Not 4wd, but with chains it wouldn't have any trouble. If you're lucky you might be able to find a track kit
4. Not exactly a conventional auto or a manual, but I take that to mean you're cool with any transmission :)
5. Again, no ABS, but the brakes are too weak to lock up anyway.
The Model T is a seriously underrated rough road vehicle:
I rest my case.
In reply to AMiataCalledSteve :
Don't get me wrong, It fits more criteria than not but highway speeds are a necessity too
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:On paper, I agree, however I have driven enough 4x4s in the snow and off-road to know that this just isn't really the case. I have never been able to quantify it, but some are just gooder than others. I had a 78 IH Scout Traveler that had the cheapest A/S whitewalls I could find, and it was better in the snow than my 84 Chevy K25 with Wrangler A/Ts. I had an AMC Eagle 4x4 with great A/Ts that couldn't grip a velcro road, and I had a Dodge Dakota with four brand new snow tires that got stuck in the snow an embarrassingly frequent number of times. My current 06 Express AWD with A/Ts is better than the Dakota ever was.
I'm sure it has to do with drive ratios, throttle bellcrank ratios, weight distribution, maybe even steering ackerman and suspension design, but it never ceases to amaze me how bitchin some things are in the snow while others are just helpless.
Having said that, I did use a 90s 4-runner with the locking diff one winter in Ontario. I was pretty impressed. Same vehicle as a Taco... butt end was way too light and it liked to try and leave the road. I had to buy a bunch of bags of sand to throw in the bed. Again, hard to quantify because they had different tires, one was manual one auto.... I'm just saying it's not always just what the paper specs are for any old 4x4. Some suck, some rock.
Agreed. Ability to modulate the throttle and brakes well plus good weight distribution makes a huge difference in snow. Steering ackerman definitely is a factor as well. Not having enough leads to cars that push in the snow. Too much caster without enough KPI leads to enough camber gain at high steering angles that you can end up with a car that drives fine in snow at higher speeds, but will understeer badly if you turn the front wheels too far at 5 mph in a parking lot.
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