Vehicles of western roadgeeks

[oscar]

While I'm not quite a "western roadgeek", I travel out west a lot from the East Coast, in my 2018 Subaru Forester (I'm allergic to flying for various reasons).

I wound up going with a Subaru for two basic reasons, when I had to replace a gas-hog full-size pickup which had three breakdowns far from home in 2017. First, Subarus (especially Outbacks) are hugely popular among hot springs enthusiasts like me. Hot springers often need something sturdy and reliable to drive off-pavement to their favorite backcountry hot springs. That capability also helps with my travels on often-unpaved Arctic highways, though I have driven my Subaru to the Northwest Territories but not yet the Yukon or Alaska.

Second, one of my sisters who lives near me on the East Coast used a Subaru as her "soccer mom-mobile". She loves it, and her two daughters later bought their own Subarus.

[Rothman]

Makes me wonder if Subarus are still known for having head gasket issues.

[Road Hog]

My ex drove a Forester with a stick when we met. I thought that made her a keeper, but sadly I was wong.

[Max Rockatansky]

My wife drives a Forester now.  Oddly she has had a lot of reliability issues but I haven't with my Impreza.  The AC fan clutch blew out in a Costco parking lot and a wheel bushing went bad off the top of my head.

[JayhawkCO]

I sold my Wrangler since I realized it was stupid to be paying those car payments for a car only driven three times a week. I got a late model 3.6L Outback. The 2.5 engines seem very underpowered to me.

[cl94]

Makes me wonder if Subarus are still known for having head gasket issues.

Not really. That was a late 90s - mid 2000s issue.

I wound up going with a Subaru for two basic reasons, when I had to replace a gas-hog full-size pickup which had three breakdowns far from home in 2017. First, Subarus (especially Outbacks) are hugely popular among hot springs enthusiasts like me. Hot springers often need something sturdy and reliable to drive off-pavement to their favorite backcountry hot springs. That capability also helps with my travels on often-unpaved Arctic highways, though I have driven my Subaru to the Northwest Territories but not yet the Yukon or Alaska.

IMO, backcountry access is as big as needing AWD to get around chain controls. Hiking trails, ghost towns, even old alignments of major roads are much, much easier to visit if you have something with decent ground clearance and a good suspension. You will have trouble with multiple segments of OG Lincoln Highway if you lack either one of those.

Lots of Tahoe residents drive Subarus and those are also excellent for the conditions and would be near or at the top of the list if I needed a new car soon.

The Crosstrek and Outback are probably the unofficial cars of Tahoe. Relatively inexpensive compared to other vehicles that are good for the conditions. Toyota pickups are up there on the popularity list as well. Those models may cover a majority of my coworkers.