I'm not really a car guy, so take this as you will.

I'm biased towards the Tacoma, Explorer (older generations), maybe the XTerra (I like it's looks, but it was too similar to the Explorer I was trading in), the 4-door Jeep, and maybe the Raptor or H1. Ideally, all in 4wd. If you can get it, the Toyota Hilux too. If security is a concern, buy a cap or camper shell. But realize no vehicle is 100% secure.

Lots of room in them, obviously various capabilities, but all proven platforms. Not great milage however - I think the H1 was 8mpg with diesel. By comparison, my Tacoma, 2wd/4wd and a 3" lift, gets consistent 21-22mpg highway. The Explorer I had (1998) got around 16mph.

If you're going something smaller, I'd go with the Suburu, just based on my experiences. I spent a month in AK a few years back (the thread is somewhere here), and they were everywhere. Pretty much, the town wasn't plowed, so the streets were ice. Everyone had on snow tires and was driving 20-30mph on the ice roads w/ no problems. Nearly every car was a Suburu, usually w/ a lot of snomobiles and ATVs too.

Good choice on the Rav4,it rides over icy snow so that aspect is covered. Dont know about the miles on it,but I think you will find it ideal for what you want,good choice.

Dont forget to get chains asap so if it hits asap you will have em.

Spuds, I've never seen chains since moving out of California. My wife, from Wisconsin, looked at me all cross-eyed when I mentioned them once. Seems everyone just holds on for the ride ... of course, I pointed out that in So Cal, sliding off Big Bear is kind of a big deal. In the midwest you just whack a couple of corns talks

Chains-
Here in Colorado semi-trucks have to carry them during Fall & Winter. I've seen them stuck on I-25 at Longmont where it appears flat but where the road climbs out of a river valley and there is a slight grade. On ice, the unchained trucks get stuck. (Heard on the scanner as I was bailing out of work during a blizzard- 5 trucks stuck in the right lane, 5 minutes behind me the left lane got blocked by an unchained semi and the road was closed for the next 12 hours)

Some vehicles cannot accomodate chains on all wheels. The popular Jeep Cherokee (XJ) cannot take them on the front wheels because there isn't adequate clearance between the tires and the tie rod ends. This info is in the owner's manual (as well as being something visible to you if you spend time under your vehicle as I do).

I spent most of my life as a desert flatlander,whats chains?

Then moved to snow country,did some traveling.....what,you dont have a 4x4 and chains, LOL!

Never know,could wind up in snow country....so for your BOV,I would pack chains,when you need em they cant be bought,like generators.

Got relatives there,pretty state.

The foresters I've worked with over the years (who have 4 wheel drive vehicles and special mud tires, special suspensions, etc.) spend a goodly amount of time as part of their job driving on forested off-road trails and though rugged terrain. They laugh at themselves at how often they get practically irretrievably stuck (I mean bottoming out and then some) in the middle of the wild. They say that the better suited off-road vehicles with the more experienced off-road drivers, including themselves, get stuck in these off-road areas as often as ordinary vehicles with ordinary drivers — it's just that the ATV or 4-wheel drive vehicle occupants have a longer walk out than the ordinary vehicle occupants.

In the past I've come across quick-sand areas, where there was no way to tell it was quick-sand or gumbo. The surface in those areas seems solid, but if you leave your vehicle or tractor overnight on what you think is solid ground, when you come back in the morning, the vehicle will have disappeared.

On one project we had a "drag line" that was completely lost in a quick sand area - it was never recovered. A major effort was made by the underwriter to retrieve it but to no avail. Other heavy equipment was also lost in the recovery attempt. Coincidently, about 20 years later I was involved in a 3-D seismic shoot of the same area. I have the processed data and thought some day I’ll check to see where the drag-line (and the wagonload of gold they were searching for) is now.

Speaking of getting stuck, there's a military training base (a permanent Fort) where part of my job was to work with the Fort to identify hazardous areas in regard to third party oil & gas exploration. I was amazed to find notations at engineering and through interviews that a number of "tanks" got stuck 60 or 70 years ago so deep (subsurface) in the middle of dirt roads that it was then determined that the cost to recover them was greater than the value of the tank. So the army just covered them over with dirt and otherwise forgot about them. Many of those buried tanks are still located under these reservation dirt roads, exactly where abandoned - but driving on these roads today, you'd never know you were driving over tanks.

In the early 70s, I directed an archaeological project in Canyon de Chelly National Monument. We drove in the canyon daily, during the "good" part of the year when the canyon floor was deemed drivable, in a vehicle well suited and well maintained for the task. The best advice I ever got was, "You will get stuck. It is inevitable. Don't worry about it."

Sure enough, I got stuck, and more than once. We always stopped and assisted others, since we had a front-mounted winch that was invaluable in such conditions (your tax dollars at work). Likely as not, they would return the favor, sometimes the next day. I was amazed at the skill of the local Navajo inhabitants, who could get standard sedans places where I needed a FWD. Skill and experience count as much, or more, as equipment, gadgets, and doodads.

The beds of quicksand shifted unpredictably, so that staying in the established vehicle track wouldn't always work.

Thought #2. Wow, WWII era tanks completely buried in known locations? Sounds like a job for historical archaeologists and ground penetrating radar.....

RNewcomb - thank you for providing the excellent and well thought out (comprehensive) listing of the emergency items you keep in your vehicle.

If I could only choose one item from your comprehensive list to keep in my own vehicle, it would be "Fix a flat".

My only suggestion would be to carry at least two cans of it and to be sure to get only the highest quality (usually the most expensive) "Fix a flat" type product that is available. I've had good luck with NAPA's premium fix-a-flat. From my own expiernce (plenty in regard to flats in remote areas - due to the hazards of my business), there's a big difference between the high quality Fix-a-Flat type product and the standard. Even then, I use two cans of premium for each flat.

No matter what anyone says, don't worry about fix-a flat causing the tire to get out of balance in a major emergency.

Fix-a-flat tire fixer will get you home . . .

The stuff works good for that.

I've used it on four occasions and it has not worked for me once. Apparently I'm a slow learner. I've used the "Fix-a-Flat" brand for large tires.