Mountain Tractors

Here in the Sierras, there's a lot of heavily modified Jeeps, but they aren't the most common 4WD vehicles. It's actually the Subaru Forester. This is a large tall station wagon.

They tend to be slow and heavy and lumber around in the twisty mountain roads with a motor that sputters and groans like an old tractor engine. Most are under-powered for better fuel economy, so they also tend to have a lot of traffic behind them, like VW buses used to back in the 1980's. The Forester is a good vehicle for moms to do the school run, or people with dogs to carry them to a mountain trail. They work well on gravel roads and snow, but they aren't fast.

Their best feature is excellent ground clearance so they can go up and down pretty rotten roads without getting stuck easily. I've always been annoyed with Toyota and American trucks for having straight axles and only a few inches of ground clearance under the rear transfer case which is exactly where the high-center of the rutted road is. Even slight rutting of the roads makes these get stuck, and many insurance plans do not cover damage on unpaved surfaces, meaning that off-road damage is your problem. And good luck getting a tow if you're in serious boonies. The Subaru avoids it, and can go cheaply to more places that require serious road maintenance to admit ordinary cars. This means they can do less and still get there and back, and opens up a lot of these ridge and canyon ranches, some with magnificent views down into the Valley, so they're very popular here in the Sierras. When Jeep says it is the Car of California, they're lying. It's this beast, sorry to say. Folks who like the outdoors put roof racks and carry bikes or boats on them. We're only an hour from Lake Tahoe, and about 90 minutes from Reno or Downieville, both of which have specialized attractions. Provided the owner drives safely, these cars last well. Provided the owner isn't in too much of a hurry, they last a pretty long time too.