Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire SUV Options?

Thinking about a Subaru Forester or other SUV for hunting ect. Want something with room to sleep in when needed? Any ideas about what is a good SUV that is mid 25,000?

Subaru's are to small to sleep in!

what he said

I figured unless I was 4 feet tall? Hmmm???

I hope Good Life has better roads than the ones I use to go hunting lol.

You must hunt in some mighty smooth country if a Suburu would do it. There could be nothing smaller than a Suburban for me and I'm a small guy. I just like plenty of room .

A used 4-Runner 4x4 or equivalent.

I'd personally rather just take up golf if it came to that, but a Subaru wagon is tough to beat for a "practical" vehicle.

My vote is pickup with a camper shell. That's how I frequently roll if/when I sleep at my rig.

Dave

You can just barely get a twin mattress in the back of an 84 Ford Bronco when u take the backseat out. I left it in there the entire summer.

I had thought about an old Bronco?

Esox357:

A Subaru Forester is a poor excuse for an SUV. Very little ground clearance. The bed is too small. In fact everything about it is too small.

The Jeep Cherokee and the Toyota Forerunner are both better alternatives.

KC

Most of the stuff being sold under the SUV label today are what were termed "crossovers" a few years back. You can ask Doc Rocket about Foresters because I think he had or has one. They look more like a station wagon to me.

I've owned several real SUV's. You either are leaving out some of your needs or they are few. If you go Bronco, you are either talking about something really limited, because they are really old, or one of the new ones. I've not heard what price the new ones will be or when for sure, they will be out. I doubt there will be any in your price range though.

Ford's mid-size Explorer series, before they went crossover, would be a good choice. I'd say you could get a loaded one, several years old with very low miles for well within your price range. Either the 6 or 8 cylinders will get 20 mpg on the road. The 8 will drop off sharply in the city. The 6, not so much. The 8 is a lot snappier. The 6 is adequate. They ain't something for competitive four wheeling but should go through stuff that would stick a two wheel drive post-haste.

If you go full-size, a Yukon/Tahoe, is a great option. The ones I've owned will be akin to the 8 cylinder Explorer. They have lots more room than the Explorer. If gas was not a big deal, I'd go with one of these. They also are not as maneuverable or easy to park as the smaller Ford, but it's a tradeoff. You'll have to buy a used one but a good low-mileage version should be available for what you want to spend.

The old Bronco's will eat your lunch on mileage too.

All new aluminum body 2018 Ford Expedition, due in dealer showrooms this fall. Available in both regular and Max extra long versions.



2018 Ford Expedition

Nowadays many of the small to mid size 'Crossover' SUV class vehicles advertised as AWD (all wheel drive) do not have a select-able transfer case with a low gear.

Moot point if you're OK with a hunting vehicle without a low range 4 wheel drive gear.

You need a suburban

The Subaru Forester gets high ratings for function, comfort and reliability. It also has one of the best AWD systems of anything in the mid $25,000 price range. If you move the front seats forward and tilt them forward, and then fold down the back seats you may be able to sleep in it, depending on your size. You should be able to check that out right in the showroom.

If you expect to go off-road one thing to be aware of is that many of the newer vehicles use a fuel air sensor and an oxygen sensor, usually two pairs of them even in 4-cylinder engines in order to tightly control the lean fuel air mixture needed to pass EPA regulations. There are two problems; first the fuel air sensor uses a heating element to maintain working temperature, and some oxygen sensors also use such elements. The reliability of element heated sensors is not that great and they crap out without warning. The second problem is that once any of these sensors craps out you get an engine check light, and the engine management computer reverts to running the engine in open loop mode (no feedback). While that keeps the engine running, the resulting rich fuel air mixture can damage expensive catalytic converters, so to motivate you not to drive any more than necessary, the computer disables cruise control and AWD, at least on some Toyota models.

If you get far enough off road to need AWD you're only one burnt out sensor away from being stranded in back country. I'm thinking Subaru's AWD is mostly mechanical and hopefully they are not as stupid as Toyota in disabling AWD to motivate drives to get the problem fixed.

You clearly missed his price range.

This. Get an extended or quad cab with at least a 6.5' bed, put a shell on it, and you're miles ahead.

for hunting? I have pulled several of mud and deep sand in the Osceola and Ocala National Forests. They are NOT 4X4
Also, if you buy a used one, it will take a few days to scrape off all the liberal stickers plastered all over it.