Bullshot
Well-known member
Ha ha! I received a few such looks myself there…. There were a couple of those more memorable “roads” over that way. That craggy one was “fun” but there was another I may never psychologically recover from. SXS pilots and dirt bike riders would pucker hard on a few mile stretch of it. I think this NR would get a lot more respect from those western residents if they had seen me go down that one, at sundown, into the complete unknown, by myself, no cell service, 2000 miles from home, loaded down with gear. I wish some local boy had come upon me and seen my New Jersey plates…. it was stupidly impressive. 4runner is a great truck but damn I feel it overachieved on that one. I was fully expecting to have to pry off my VIN and abandon it in a mudhole or after I slid off down in the trees. But I made it.The issue for me was towing capacity. I need to tow just under 2000 lb. All regular Crosstrek models have a max towing capacity of 1500 lb.
If you're not concerned with towing, a non Wilderness package with a 2.0l engine will give you the most fuel efficiency. Lifts can give you more ground clearance as well as larger tires.
I never had an issue with ground clearance without a lift on the 2018 base Crosstrek, but I also didn't attempt to drive where I shouldn't. The wheelbase being narrower than a truck allows an intelligent driver to straddle the normal truck ruts. That can be a big advantage on two tracks & trails. The shorter length than a truck also allows for more maneuverability. I inadvertently went down a mountain "trail" in Colorado a couple of years ago that @Bullshot told me not too (poor map reading on my part). It was miles of rock at a crawl. I wish I would have had a dash cam to show you the looks of on the faces of the people in SXS coming up as I passed them. They probably think I'm still up there
It was a different story in Idaho where I chickened out and had to back the Toyota down an off camber cliff-side road after pushing it too far up beyond where any sane person would have, and realizing I was out of anything resembling a road, had to back down boulders with shit visibility and that I really was probably inches from death with any mistake or slide. That was a little terrifying. By the way - I think the MVUM had that one listed as “passenger vehicle” or some similarly innocuous rating. WTF???
