High Sierra Topix

If or when you drive to the Sierra, do you drive a 4 wheel drive or a regular car?

FJ Cruiser, 4WD all the time.

Desert 11/12/06


Sierra 11/22/07


Mammoth 2/24/08

Occassional 4WD......

Love the picture with the vehicle covered in snow almost looks like the vehicle is wearing a hat. I'm in the market for a car with no luck. A 2009 Chrysler Aspen Hybrid is coming out later this year. Maybe I should wait until then. Car prices near the end of the year are cheaper anyway. What type of 4 wheel drive would you recommend?

I live in the Sierra, my 1980 LUV 4X4 sits, I drive my two wheel drive Toyota pickup most of the time. The only issue I have, is when our private road doesn't get plowed of snow when it gets too deep and I have to try to get out. Only got stuck once in the last seven years or so. If my truck had better clearance, I wouldn't have gotten stuck. Funny, most people who come up here to go snow camping bring there 4X4's, I pull up in my two wheel drive.

Wifes car is a Subaru Tribeca.

Mine is Ford F-150 4wd extended cab, rigged for payload and towing. I can drive it anywhere except past a gas station.

dave54 wrote:Wifes car is a Subaru Tribeca.

Mine is Ford F-150 4wd extended cab, rigged for payload and towing. I can drive it anywhere except past a gas station.

Sooooooo true!!!

My "reliable" 1982 , puke-brown/gold, Jeep Cherokee...with 4-wheel drive, when needed.
Want to upgrade but it just won't die...and it is paid for.
Look for the HST sticker...(also an In-and-Out Burger sticker too) on the back window at many a favorite trailhead.

I've seen 2WD cars at Trailhead I thought I was abusing my lifted Toyota 4X4 on to get up to. It's all a matter of how much you can tolerate the bottom of your car scraping on rocks without turning around, I think.

Silver Canyon Road - going up slowly in 4WD, I had a 2WD suburban come flying at me as if the driver was on a freeway. Knowledge of the road helps a lot, I guess. The picture below was taken in 1992. My current ride is a 4Runner of 1993 vintage. When the going gets rough, air down the tires to 10psi and you'll do fine.

The answer to that question has changed over the past few years as the cost of fuel has risen and as concerns about the effects of overuse of fossil fuels have become clearer.

Until a few years ago I drove a four-wheel drive Dodge Durango. It got me just about anywhere I needed to go, short of really hard core four-wheel drive roads - and those just aren't generally a priority for me. It was big enough to haul sufficient stuff. I could sleep in the back. It handled will on the typical dirt, gravel, rocky roads found away from the pavement.

But it sucked gas.

I got a Subaru Outback. I get twice the mileage. AWD works great in snow and on gravel/dirt roads. Ground clearance is about the same as the Durango. I can go almost everywhere I could go in the Durango. I can - just barely - sleep in the back if I have to. Sometimes I miss the greater mass of the Durango, but I'll cope.

But I leave the Outback at home if I won't be doing significant driving on dirt.

We now also have a Prius. I can get to the Sierra crest and back from the Bay Area on 8 gallons of gas. There is plenty of power for all Sierra paved roads. I get 51-53 mpg on these trips.

The irony is that it now costs me about as much to go up and back in the Prius as it cost me to do the same in the Durango (15mpg... on a good day) a few years ago.

Dan