What we expect our vehicles to do?

[NorthernRaider]

When you choose a vehicle to buy for your family have you considered what we as preppers often ask of our vehicles outside the commute and shopping trips to Tesco?

Off the top of my head are a few examples of what preppers often expect their vehicles to do, does’nt it make you want to think just that little bit more about what type of vehicle you actually NEED compared to what you want? And what sort of equipment you actually NEED in that vehicle?

Being the EDC drive in all seasons on all road conditions (work, shopping, school run etc)
Bring in Firewood / Coal / Oil drums/ Gas bottles etc
Transport building materials to repair or upgrade house
Doing the garden waste / council tip runs
Bring in gardening supplies like bulk fertiliser or bails of compost
Transporting entire family and comprehensive food/fuel/water supplies and BO Kits to safety
Acting as temporary mobile shelter in emergency
Recovering large game carcasses for food after TSHTF
Clearing obstacles from the road in an emergency (fallen trees, broken down vehicles etc)
Pulling other vehicles in your group to safety
Towing trailers or equipment/ logistics/camping trailers etc
Acting as mobile comms base or mobile kitchen on days out
Foul weather shelter when away from home in rural areas
Powering tools such as winches, Ham/CB radios, electric wood saws, tyre inflators, air pumps
Acting as a mobile office.

[Scythe13]

I was looking at an Ariel Atom for a fun drive about car for when my business starts making some nice money. Thankfully I already have a good enough vehicle to cover the above listed items. A good ol' Vauxhall Vectra 2.2litre TDI. I'll pull a caravan and the logs in the boot, all without breaking a sweat. But it turns out that sitting at 150mph (on the Autobahn...honest) will blow the turbo, even if it was an ex-police car (motorway use, so high mileage).

[bigpaul]

I always amazes me when ever I read about other peoples vehicles, you know "mine is a 3.8 turbo injected" or "a 5 litre V8"...why?? the MAXIMUM speed limit is 70MPH, as long as I can do 80 or 90 if I ever need speed to get me out of trouble why have a vehicle that will do 150MPH ??, my 2007 Berlingo 1400cc petrol driven MPV will do 80 or 90 without raising a sweat but its more useful to me as a CARGO vehicle given that I live 30 miles away from the END of the motorway system and mostly drive on unclassified back country roads.

[NorthernRaider]

Good point BP, Speed and performance are really secondary to reliability and utility ie how much gear you can carry, safely and practically and how far you can go with it fully loaded. My bias is always to vans or van based cars and 4x4s because of the huge cargo space, flat surfaces for mounting gear like racks, cookers and extra jerry cans to. I liked my Transit cos even fully laden with our kit I could still sleep in it without having to offload anything, and with its normal compliment of extra jerry cans on board it has a range well in excess of 1400 miles. I miss the vans but economics and reality mean I have to downsize but at least I can now access paths and tracks only 5 ft wide and and getting nearly 50MPG, Mid size and standard vans from stuff like Berlingos up to VW Transporters are bloody useful to our lifestyle.

[Skean Dhude]

Depends on the requirements. F1 and Rally Cars are not very reliable nor utility but they do perform their task well. It depends what you are looking for. Most of us would prefer reliability and utility and our choices of vehicles reflect that.

[bigpaul]

(3 December 2013, 10:42)NorthernRaider Wrote: Good point BP, Speed and performance are really secondary to reliability and utility ie how much gear you can carry, safely and practically and how far you can go with it fully loaded. My bias is always to vans or van based cars and 4x4s because of the huge cargo space, flat surfaces for mounting gear like racks, cookers and extra jerry cans to. I liked my Transit cos even fully laden with our kit I could still sleep in it without having to offload anything, and with its normal compliment of extra jerry cans on board it has a range well in excess of 1400 miles. I miss the vans but economics and reality mean I have to downsize but at least I can now access paths and tracks only 5 ft wide and and getting nearly 50MPG, Mid size and standard vans from stuff like Berlingos up to VW Transporters are bloody useful to our lifestyle.

that's why we bought a Berlingo, we looked at other vehicles but what we wanted was a "van with windows" which basically is what a Berlingo is! plus we have the "sit up and beg" type van Seats where you can see OVER hedges and stuff and see along way ahead and can tell when an obstruction is looming long before anyone driving a saloon or other car type vehicle can.also it has a large cargo bay especially with the seats up, even with 3 people in it it still has a large carrying capacity, carpets, tyres, pallets, firewood I've had them all in the back!! good MPG-never let it go below half empty!!!

[Lightspeed]

A trailer is a very low cost way of increasing the utility of a traditional family saloon car. Because its detachable it only gets deployed when needed.

A Ford escort type vehicle, with a suitably robust trailer and tow hook, would be able to meet pretty much all of the criteria you set out in the OP NR.

[NorthernRaider]

A very valid point LS, Trailers are useful additions to load hauling capacity, I find there are two totally distinct camps when it comes to trailers, either totally pro or totally anti. I think I'm in a minority being some place in the middle, IE I can see a use for trailers after TSHTF and when things have settled down, but I would not want to be trying to haul one behind me in a bug out situation. As an example three small but bloody awkward parts of my get home or bug out routes involve some very tight tracks with rough dug drainage ditches either side, I personally would not want to be getting stuck trying to reverse or try and get through some of the tracks with a trailer attached. Also I feel fairly safe in leaving a locked vehicle unattended in many places but would not be happy leaving a trailer unattended.

But I think I'm starting to drift off topic slightly, I was chatting about what we expect of our vehicles and the tasks we set them, sort of trying to reinforce the point about selecting very carefully the type of vehicle preppers may wish to buy, and to ensure they are very well maintained and fitted out.

(footnote) many modern car makers are specifically and categorically telling people not to try towing at all, especially many of these modern lightweight vehicles and many Audis that have very small clutches)

(3 December 2013, 12:36)Lightspeed Wrote: A trailer is a very low cost way of increasing the utility of a traditional family saloon car. Because its detachable it only gets deployed when needed.

A Ford escort type vehicle, with a suitably robust trailer and tow hook, would be able to meet pretty much all of the criteria you set out in the OP NR.

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I would add that even though my intent is now to bug in,I have recently got a small location in the dales I am renting to keep much of my prep kit in as a sort of poor mans retreat ( cold and dark but clean and dry). So I still need a vehicle that meets as many of the bug out criteria as possible and in my case for my family that means the ability to sleep either inside the vehicle or in a roof tent, without having to offload and gear if we do have to bug out, I have yet to come across a conventionally laid out saloon or hatchback that can carry a full bug out load and still allow on average two adults to stretch out fully to sleep.

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Ooer an excellent point to be made has just come through in an E mail pointing out that if circumstances allow there is no good reason why some folks could not put their BOBs and gear in a roof rack mounted basket (like you see on Landies) providing the vehicle is not left unattended, this of course leaves enough room in estate cars and van based medium cars for one or two people to sleep with the third and fourth outside on watch. False floors in estates can also be fitted over the top of supplies like jerry cans etc also leaving floor space free for sleeping.

[bigpaul]

in my own respect I wanted something that is suitable for traversing the narrow, deep Devon back country roads and farm lanes, the Berlingo is excellent for that, my second choice would be a Suzuki carry van, or a Piaggio porter van, an old Bedford rascal or something similar, something small which I can wang down the lanes and can get into field gateways or slide past vehicles coming the other way without having to stop or slow down(much)! large vans and huge great trucks are no good for farm tracks as they would get stuck on bends, also in Devon we have deep,deep ditches and granite walls which tend to have an adverse effect on vehicles if you decide to collide with them large vans and trucks would be ok on open fens or prairies or on 3 & 4 lane motorways but are not suited to West Country back lanes!! as many a trucker has found !!

[Lightspeed]

Sorry, I didn't mean to divert the thread, rather to open up other ideas on how things might be done.

Its quite a dilemma choosing a vehicle that can do everything we require of it.

The ideal would be a full expedition equipped Landrover 110 defender or the like. Ideally one of the 300Tdi's, before the level of electrical control became stupid. But such a beast would hardly be inconspicuous on the average suburban street, especially now that Chelsea tractors are being taxed off the road. Actually take a look at second hand Land RoverDiscovery 300Tdi prices.... they are a steal!....maybe bye an end of MOT and unlikely to get the next one type vehicle for a few hundred quid and just keep it SORN in a garage... spend a little money on making sure its repaired good enough to make an emergency dash in...and then just fire it up every now and then to make sure its prepped and ready to roll??