Q If you are buggin in do you NEED.........

[Scythe13]

If you plan to bug in, you just need a door to close and stay inside a building. You don't need a vehicle. I'm guessing it's a typo.

Okay, now we'll say we're bugging out.

You don't NEED a vehicle at all! Saturday saw me cover a total of 15 miles on foot. Friday saw me cover 482.2 miles. I see a huge advantage to having a vehicle.

I think there are enough petrol heads on here to recognise that Top Gear has answered whether you need a 4x4 to cross the deserts of Africa (for those that don't want Top Gear, the answer was a definite 'No'). However, for those that have continued to watch Top Gear, you got to see the amount of punishment a Toyota Hilux can put up with, and still keep driving! Oh my goodness, those are some strong vehicles!

The real issue is whether the suspension and other components on your vehicle are able to cope with the issues of the 'road' surfaces once you're off tarmac. A cute little street car will do fine, until a reasonable sized pothole decides to strip off some of the crank or the little gear thing that puts the power to your front wheels (or rear wheels if it's a rear wheel vehicle).

My first car was a little Vauxhall Nova, and I abused the hell of out it. But is did cope pretty well with it all. Poor little thing. My current Vauxhall has done 189'000 miles, and it's still running damn well.

But what you need, and what's worth having...very different questions.

One thought, many of the thin paths are still wide enough to fit a tractor down! I'd hazard a guess that 99.2% of cars are not as wide as a tractor.

If you're really concerned about getting down the paths, got a motorbike (touring style or motocross). Better yet, a pedal bike incase you run out of petrol, or even just use feet, incase you get a puncture.