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vehicle ground clearance - how much is enough?

published by dancrev on Mon, 2012-11-05 09:19

[From Reid Priedhorsky]
Mountaineers,

You all seem like the type of crowd who might be able to answer this
question.

We are looking at new cars, and one question we have is, how much ground
clearance is useful to get around dirt roads on the way to trailheads?
We're not thinking crazy epic jeep trails, but we want to be able to go
to reasonably out of the way places in something that also gets decent
mileage on the highway.

Another way to frame it: a couple of the cars we're considering are the
Honda CR-V with 6.5 inches of clearance and the Subaru Outback with 8.7.
Where might we be able to go with the Subaru that we couldn't with the
Honda?

Much appreciated,

Reid
 

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General Discussion

Submitted by admin on Mon, 2012-11-05 09:54.

I can get up to the El Rito trad area very easily in 2012 Outback, it's like riding a BarcaLounger.
zack

Submitted by admin on Wed, 2013-01-02 21:55.

Although, now that I think about it I 'Toyko-drifted' by Outback around a corner going up to Sipapu this week.  A scary 1/2 second!

Submitted by Zack User on Wed, 2013-01-02 22:07.

Ha!  Gnar gnar!

Submitted by dancrev on Wed, 2013-01-02 23:01.

Yikes! I once did a 360 (or maybe it was 720) on I-75 in a Michigan winter. Although somehow I didn't hit anything, not the best 5 seconds of my life!

Submitted by brett.kettering on Mon, 2012-11-05 10:02.

We have a CR-V, which is a comfortable vehicle and does well in the snow. We've driven it (and a Honda Element) up to the Trad area at El Rito without a problem.
 
I think I'd consider the higher clearance Outback, though. What I hear is that no one does AWD better than Subaru. I saw an older Outback (which I think has lower clearance than the current model) at the Arches National Park Undercover/MMI trailhead. There were a few spots where clearance was needed and there were some spots with soft sand. It made it in. And, when we got back it was gone and I didn't see it on the 25 miles of dirt roads back to I-70, so it must have made it out.
 
BTW, we had borrowed my Dad's Ram 1500 4x4 because of the description of needing clearance and 4x4 for this 2.9 mile section of dirt road. We could have made it in the Element or CR-V being careful over a couple bumpy sections.
 
I think the Outback is significantly more expensive than the CR-V, but you can check that out online.
 
Brett

Submitted by dancrev on Mon, 2012-11-05 10:34.

I would go with the Subaru (Outback or Forester). 2.2" seems like a lot of difference. Easier to have it and not know you are using it, than to not have it and be very aware that you need it!

Submitted by dancrev on Mon, 2012-11-05 13:58.

From Jim Sprinkle:
 
In addition to clearance u need to consider the distance between front and back wheels. A Chevy suburban has much higher clearance but longer wheelbase & thus has more trouble on irregular, potholed dirt roads than a little Honda that can steer around some obstacles.

Submitted by dancrev on Mon, 2012-11-05 21:06.

From Mike Fugate:

I had a 2000 Subaru outback and I now have a CRV.  I took the outback to several grand canyon trail heads that were way off the beaten path (northwest part of the canyon) down very rough and rutted "roads".  Another friend  took his Subaru forester.  We sometimes had to pick our way around places but we made it (there and back!) no problems.  

What I want to relate though is a time I took my Toyota 4WD pick-up out to Swamp Point (north rim of GC).  It was a very rough road and I was glad I had the high clearance.  We did our backpack trip and then when we came out much to our surprise there were 3 "big american cars" like Buick Le Sabre, no kidding parked at the trailhead.  They were probably rental cars but regardless they made it out this very rough road and rutted road with very little clearance.  Also, if you read Kelsey's books he went to all the canyon country hikes in his books in his VW rabbit.  You get the idea.  

Anyway, thought I would share this with you.  Drop a line if you have questions and good luck!

 

Submitted by reid on Mon, 2012-11-12 13:28.

Thanks everyone for the comments. Here are a couple more replies I received by e-mail:

8.7" is exceptional for a small SUV, and the Outback is a great and reliable vehicle.  It will be limited only due to the fact that it doesn't have a low/low gear (I don't think any small SUV has that feature).  What that means to you is that you won't be able to get up steep hills.

also:

For some reason I could not comment on your post about the cars.  But I wanted to respond as I as well looked at both of those cars and bought a Subaru (although I have the Forester, it has the same clearance).  But something else to consider aside from the clearance is that the Subaru has independent suspension as where the CR-V does not (or at least did not when I looked a couple of years ago) the front two tires and the back are on the same axle.  This makes a huge difference on going over rocks and so forth on trails.  Look into that as well when you are making your decision.  In addition the all-wheel drive is continuous where the CR-V kicks in when the tires begin to slip, yet the mileage is about the same.  Anyway those were some of the features that tipped the scale for me.

Reid

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