Car vs truck for sea to sky mtb ppl

Any of you fellow sea to sky mtbers make the switch from a truck to a car? Regret it? Love it? 

My 26 year old truck has died, the idea of a smaller more economical car of some kind is appealing but worried I'll regret not having a 4x4 pick up anymore... 

I'm sure I'm similar to a lot of you, I bike+ski. Don't have a sled or moto or anything, commute within whistler mostly. Never shuttle anymore. Only make use of 4x4 on the snowiest days or a very rare bush camping trip. Very rare that I did 4 bikes +4 people. 

I'm a cheap bum so I'm looking at used vehicles that cost less than most of our bikes. Going to roll without a vehicle for a bit I almost never drive during bike season anyways.

I had a friend who was a ski instructor in Whistler and drove a 2001 Hyundai accent with the best winter tires he could afford, never got stuck. If you're willing to spend money on winter tires, I don't think that you need a 4x4 vehicle if you're not off-roading.

Maybe an awd subaru would work for you?  An older forester or impreza wagon or something. Could carry a bike or two and still be capable for winter driving. 

As a side note my mom is selling her impreza wagon with a set of winters as she just got a newer forester. It's a good car and cheap as chips if you don't mind driving stick.

I drove Whistler to Van 5 days a week in the winter of 16/17 in a 2000 Nissan Maxima with decent-ish snowies and never had a problem.  And it snowed a lot that winter.  An all-wheel-drive would be better, but more gas too.

Second rnayel

Just get a cheap front wheel drive car and good winter tires. I had a dodge colt, cost me 1000$ and it worked perfectly fine. Never got stuck, regularly passed SUV and pickup trucks in the ditch.

When I was in my early 20's I had a 91 honda accord with good snowies on it. It was possibly the best vehicle I have ever owned.

Posted by: Fast-Orange

Maybe an awd subaru would work for you?  An older forester or impreza wagon or something. Could carry a bike or two and still be capable for winter driving. 

As a side note my mom is selling her impreza wagon with a set of winters as she just got a newer forester. It's a good car and cheap as chips if you don't mind driving stick.

Please tell us more

Posted by: Brocklanders

Posted by: Fast-Orange

Maybe an awd subaru would work for you?  An older forester or impreza wagon or something. Could carry a bike or two and still be capable for winter driving. 

As a side note my mom is selling her impreza wagon with a set of winters as she just got a newer forester. It's a good car and cheap as chips if you don't mind driving stick.

Please tell us more

Check your pms

Well, I'll go the other way and say truck.  

You don't drive much, so increased fuel costs won't hurt the wallet much.  You're buying cheap so you can walk away if fuel prices climb enough that they do hurt.  This way, for the increased fuel consumption on the little driving you do do, you have the increased utility of a truck.  I really like mine for getting things done on the house, getting a little further into the woods for camping/exploring, taking lots of bikes and other toys on road trips, and it makes me a little money doing a little carpentry and landscaping work on the side as well.  Also, when the weather is shit, a car with good tires is totally fine, but a vehicle with good tires AND 4WD or AWD is freakin' awesome.

So, not the cheapest option, but based on how much you drive may not cost you much extra at all.  How much extra is worth the utility is your decision.  Personally I'm getting sick of how much fuel my DERGE uses, but I drive it more than I planned on and it has a big dumb 5.9L V-8 in it and I can't stomach the payments for a new, significantly more efficient truck.

Posted by: Fast-Orange

As a side note my mom is selling her impreza wagon with a set of winters as she just got a newer forester. It's a good car and cheap as chips if you don't mind driving stick.

More details on this one. Year? Mileage? Price? 

If you don't get a Quad Cab TRD Tacoma how will people even know that you mtn bike and ski/snowboard?

In Whistler/S2S area if you're not driving often I'd take a look at an older Subie with the head casket issue fixed already or smaller older truck.

Ed. 

I have a 4L V6 SUV, a Subie wagon and an Acura EL 5-spd that I picked up for $500 almost two months ago.  The Acura is my DD now at ~6.5L/100Km compared to the truck at ~13+L/100Km.  The Acura may get scrapped for an EV at some point though.

Maybe run the numbers on a couple of scenarios? Like buying a 4wd truck vs buying a subi vs buying a small economical fwd car and renting a 4wd truck x times per year?

I have an older Subi wagon which is great for our camping trips where we bring a lot of gear but the rest of the year it's basically just a car with pretty bad fuel economy.

Posted by: Endur-Bro

Posted by: Fast-Orange

As a side note my mom is selling her impreza wagon with a set of winters as she just got a newer forester. It's a good car and cheap as chips if you don't mind driving stick.

More details on this one. Year? Mileage? Price? 

If you don't get a Quad Cab TRD Tacoma how will people even know that you mtn bike and ski/snowboard?

In Whistler/S2S area if you're not driving often I'd take a look at an older Subie with the head casket issue fixed already or smaller older truck.

Ed. 

I have a 4L V6 SUV, a Subie wagon and an Acura EL 5-spd that I picked up for $500 almost two months ago.  The Acura is my DD now at ~6.5L/100Km compared to the truck at ~13+L/100Km.  The Acura may get scrapped for an EV at some point though.

2004, about 150 on the odo, head gasket and belt done at 135, dark green 

Asking 3500 obo

Posted by: [email protected]

Maybe run the numbers on a couple of scenarios? Like buying a 4wd truck vs buying a subi vs buying a small economical fwd car and renting a 4wd truck x times per year?

I have an older Subi wagon which is great for our camping trips where we bring a lot of gear but the rest of the year it's basically just a car with pretty bad fuel economy.

I'd second this, old AWD Subaru's may be the size of a small car, but they're heavy and underpowered so they tend to guzzle gas.  A 4-cyl Taco or Colorado and a AWD Outback may have pretty similar fuel economy, depending on the year and condition.  If fuel efficiency is your top concern I'd look at Civics, Golfs, Matrix's etc. - simpler small cars with more efficient engines.

Don't Subarus have a more robust frame for the hitch to mount to and better load capacity though? 

That is the one issue I've had going from a truck to an econo-box car, the low payload capacity makes the car's suspension struggle a bit with 2 big bikes on the hitch mount.