Best AWD/4WD Snow beast with mpg?

[Ragnarok Warrior]

Originally Posted by Miller88

Stick with the Cherokee. They're ultra reliable, you already know yours and you aren't driving it too much.

I recently had a 11MPG tank on mine! Granted - it was snow wheeling and I spent a lot of time at the red line getting through stuff.

I agree, I've had two Cherokees (for a total of 6 years). You cannot get any more reliable than a 4.0L (well ford's 300CI I6 maybe) body rust on the other hand...... These things are absolute tanks in the snow though, damn near unstoppable if you choose your speed accordingly.

How the hell did you get less than 10 mpg? I have put mine (stock) places that would scare any of the redneck lifted truck crowd and did so in 2wd, crawled through rocky woods roads in 4L, and forded rivers and still never got less than 12.

That Cherokee looks like its between a 94 and 96 so if you don't mind older vehicles, find yourself a 90-95 Geo Tracker 4wd (Suzuki Sidekick) with a 5-speed. My grandfather bought one new in 91 and killed it sometime in 06, it is incalculable how much fishing/hunting/exploring/dumb **** was done in the "Miagi Machine". I bought a 1990 Tracker in 05 (and crashed it in 08, oops.. six inches to the left and I would have missed the tele pole) Just as much if not more of a tank than the Cherokee and 30 mpg to boot. Usually saw mid-ish 20s in winter and low 20s woods crawling.

[Miller88]

Day long off roading trip so it spent a lot of time idling and crawling along. Plus, skinny snow tires realllllly don't work at all for snow wheeling - so in order for me to move I had to get a lot of wheel speed. Great in the snow on the highway!

The good to come out of it was - the engine stopped knocking?

[roosterk0031]

http://www.usautolinks.com/cgi-bin/w...to_id%3D349640

Love to get this if I could get my girls to drive a manual, there's one 2 block from work without the hail dents same color with auto at $8500 and 6,000 more miles. Can't skip the middle girl and get it for the 15 yo boy so I could use it on days like today. Got home fine, but getting the XFE moving and crossing plow ridges wasn't as easy or fun as it could have been.

[Hersbird]

I came from a 95 4.0 Grand Cherokee before the Forester. Gas mileage really isn't close the Scooby doubles the Jeep. I always recommend the 4.0 Jeeps for reliability. That said the Jeep lost it's motor at the same point the Forester is still going strong. I bought both with over 100K so who knows the prior treatment could have been the issue. I paid $3000 for the Jeep and drove it trouble free for 5 years and sold it with a blown motor for $700. Bought the Forester for the same $3000 and has been trouble free for 2 years, if it does the same as the Jeep I will be happy but also have saved about $6000 in gas over that 5 years so the Subaru seems like a no brainer.

[War_Wagon]

I have driven a lot of different vehicles. The best vehicle I have ever driven when it comes to snow is my friend's '87 Tercel 4x4 wagon. That car will go anywhere. If you get it stuck, you deserve to have to walk home. That being said, '87 is the last year of production and all of them are carbureted, and those carbs are crappy to say the least. A Weber conversion would be in order if you wanted to keep it.

As for a Sidekick, I liked the ones I had, but the 5 speed models come with 5:13 gears in the differentials, so don't expect any kind of good fuel economy out of them if you need to drive on the highway a lot. And make sure you get a '95-'98 to get the 16v engine, the 8v ones are scary underpowered.

[Ragnarok Warrior]

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

As for a Sidekick, I liked the ones I had, but the 5 speed models come with 5:13 gears in the differentials, so don't expect any kind of good fuel economy out of them if you need to drive on the highway a lot. And make sure you get a '95-'98 to get the 16v engine, the 8v ones are scary underpowered.

My Tracker got 30mpg all day long in the summer commute on the interstate and it was an 8v 85hp stock Suzuki 1.6l, top speed of 70mph on a really good day though. Had it to 80mph downhill one day SCARY! Used to tow a 16' aluminum boat or the 4-wheeler and snow sled with no problems, though downshifted a lot.

I had forgotten all about the SX4. Awesome little car- forgot they were/option-of AWD. Which reminds me an AWD Toyota matrix wouldn't be a bad car either. Friends mom had one with an auto and was getting close-ish to 30mpg. Tons of interior room and decent ground clearance. Too bad you couldn't find an old Izuzu Trooper with a diesel, now that would be the best of both worlds.

Uh-oh- the engine knocking stopped in a 4.0l? Must be broken, or hell froze over

[roosterk0031]

1986 Isuzu Trooper Turbo Diesel 4-door 4x4 5-speed manual 35mpg!

One of these.

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by Ragnarok Warrior

My Tracker got 30mpg all day long in the summer commute on the interstate and it was an 8v 85hp stock Suzuki 1.6l, top speed of 70mph on a really good day though. Had it to 80mph downhill one day SCARY! Used to tow a 16' aluminum boat or the 4-wheeler and snow sled with no problems, though downshifted a lot.

I had forgotten all about the SX4. Awesome little car- forgot they were/option-of AWD. Which reminds me an AWD Toyota matrix wouldn't be a bad car either. Friends mom had one with an auto and was getting close-ish to 30mpg. Tons of interior room and decent ground clearance. Too bad you couldn't find an old Izuzu Trooper with a diesel, now that would be the best of both worlds.

Uh-oh- the engine knocking stopped in a 4.0l? Must be broken, or hell froze over

Those SX4s were pretty neat little cars. Unfortunately, vehicles like the Aveo and Reno and other Daewoo captive imports kind of killed Suzuki. The SX4 and Kizashi were good cars, apparently.

I guess the knocking was a stuck lifter. It started to chatter again, so I held it at 3500RPM in neutral for a few minutes and it quieted back down!

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

As for a Sidekick, I liked the ones I had, but the 5 speed models come with 5:13 gears in the differentials, so don't expect any kind of good fuel economy out of them if you need to drive on the highway a lot. And make sure you get a '95-'98 to get the 16v engine, the 8v ones are scary underpowered.

5.13 gears!?! Wow. That engine must have been spinning super fast down the highway!

[Vekke]

If you can buy a Audi or vw passat 4wd with 1.9 TDI with manual gearbox that is the car you need if you want max fuel economy with 4wd capabilities. If there aint enough ground clearance for your needs just raise it with different springs. But as you can see from this video you dont need clearance if you have traction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d85AmkJpPRY

[elhigh]

I say keep your Cherokee. You're obviously familiar with it and comfortable with its abilities when the snow flies.

Chassis tune, engine tune, a few aero tweaks here and there - a Cherokee's aero performance is best described as appalling - and you can enjoy decent mileage when the roads are clear, and unfettered mobility when they aren't. Take care of the rust goblins before they get their claws into your body and you could drive it a good, long time.

That's your best return on your dollar. If you're determined to buy a new-to-you car, let me just warn you away from Subarus with the EJ25 engine. Just run. Forget it. Barring that, my Forester has been a beast in snow - slid into a ditch, drove back out - and I believe you couldn't ask for much better than a Fozzie for wintertime driving. But older models (pre-2010) never enjoyed great fuel economy, not much better than you're getting in good weather, and I think you'd be better served wringing better efficiency out of your XJ than picking up a car payment.