Best Vehicle For Chasing

[William Monfredo]

...what you don't want in a chase vehicle...don’t have these things.
1) a moon or sunroof

Dang it, I really like a moonroof!

 

[Derek Weston]

My thoughts travel to what you don’t want in a chase vehicle. There’s a ton of great vehicles out there that would be just fine and dandy as long as they don’t have these things.
1) a moon or sunroof
2) only two wheel drive
3) a tight occupant area
4) substandard 360 visibility (no blind spots)

I wanna put my starlink under the moon roof. Need one. Never had the top of my vehicle destroyed by hail. Could always close it from the inside anyway. (should the worst happen)

 

[JamesCaruso]

It is a bit off topic, but can influence someone's decision in what they drive. But here's a few snippets on how fuel efficiency or gas prices with a $1.20 increase can affect the cost of a chase season overall. It's definitely not nothing if you're on a budget.

Total Miles 30,000
MPG 32
Fuel Cost $2.29
Total Fuel Cost $2,147

Total Miles 30,000
MPG 32
Fuel Cost $3.49
Total Fuel Cost $3,272

Total Miles 15,000
MPG 32
Fuel Cost $2.29
Total Fuel Cost $1,073

Total Miles 15,000
MPG 32
Fuel Cost $3.49
Total Fuel Cost $1,636

Total Miles 30,000
MPG 18
Fuel Cost $2.29
Total Fuel Cost $3,817

Total Miles 30,000
MPG 18
Fuel Cost $3.49
Total Fuel Cost $5,817

Total Miles 15,000
MPG 18
Fuel Cost $3.49
Total Fuel Cost $2,908

Total Miles 15,000
MPG 18
Fuel Cost $2.29
Total Fuel Cost $1,908

Thanks for providing these calculations, they are a useful reference!

True that it’s not nothing, and for a chaser that lives on the Plains it’s the primary cost of chasing so it’s a big deal. But it’s all relative, and for a chase vacationer like me the total fuel cost is still significant, but the differential, not so much… I usually do about 5,000 miles on a 2-week trip. Using your worst-case 18 MPG calcs, my extra cost should be a third of your 15k-miles difference, or ~$333. With a rental SUV of ~$1,500, $200+/night for hotels (even Holiday Inn Express costs that much now), ~$500+ for airfare, and daily meals and snacks, $333 extra is just not that much of an impact on the total budget. I hope to chase 4 weeks this year, so that $333 doubles, but so does everything else except the airfare, so proportionately it’s still not a big item. Cutting the trip short by a day or two can easily make up for it, and often a chase vacationer can do that without missing anything if the pattern’s not great anyway.