I started thinking some time ago about what sort of vehicle I would want to have when the (flood, rockslide, storm, fill in your own emergency) made it difficult to get where I needed to go (home, hospital, hurricane evacuation center, fill in your own destination). Living and working in rural areas in the Pacific Northwest I've had to deal with many such situations. These are some of the features I looked for when I bought my own "SAK" (a 2002 Subaru Forester) a couple of years ago:

-fuel economy - this is a vehicle I drive every day and my big 4WD pickup just costs too much to run all the time (I get around 30 mpg in the Subaru and less than 15 mpg in my truck)
-all or 4 - wheel drive - lots of ice, snow and rain here, frequently when the road is blocked a logging road is the only other way around (the Subaru has all wheel drive which has delivered me through some nasty road conditions)
-roomy interior - not only did I want to be able to load up and go on long camping trips, I needed to fit inside as well (I'm 6'3" and built like Sasquatch)
-reliable - I didn't want to have this thing fall apart on me all the time (my friends who own Subarus spoke highly of its reliability)

I've been pretty happy with my choice (nearly 50 K miles on it in 2 years) but was curious what other people drive and how they made their choice. I've already picked out my next "SAK". Here's a link to it: Ultimate ETS Vehicle

Terry

Hmmm...

Kinda reminds me of Damnation Alley, eh?

So, whereabouts do you have to work? I operate in South Central Washington(Yakima/Tri-Cities area). I used to work in Seattle, but got tired of working in the rain all the time.

Besides a 77 4wd Suburban I had rebuilt and upgraded, I drive a pickup most of the time. Just 2wd, it does a decent job where I need to go with it, and I saved a bit of money, plus I can still tow my trailer and such with it.

Was that the big vehicle with the triangle mounted wheels that could spin like a paddle-wheel to propel the vehicle in water? Hollyweird at its finest...not.

Good story by Roger Zelazny, not done justice by the translation to screenplay.

David