Smaller cars for chasing/spotting

[Tony Perkins]

I've chased in a 1998 civic for 7 seasons and have been happy with it. No one complains about the split gas costs at the end of a marathon session. The biggest problem is the handling on slick mud and the danger of getting stuck on a soft road. While neither has ended in getting stuck or in the ditch, I stick to pavement whenever possible. Some people also don't like how low you are to the ground if you're used to being in a SUV, or that you have less room for all the gear.

My other car is a 2010 Prius, and I wouldn't dream of taking it out chasing. The visibility out the side and back are pretty bad, and from my experience on snow (the 3 days we had some anyway) it was more squirrely than the civic. I wouldn't venture on wet gravel or dirt with it.

 

[Mike Miller]

SUBARU! Nothing drives better in bad weather, IMO. The only thing that hinders me is the ground clearance, but there are some folks that put lift kits on the wagons. Pretty cool mod.

 

[Jake Orosi]

No way - a wagon is much too light to put a lift kit on if the intention is to take the vehicle in proximity to severe-level winds. It may look cool but it increases wind profile and raises vehicle center-of-gravity, neither of which are Good Things in a vehicle of that weight class.

 

[John Fertsch]

2012 Dodge Charger
292 HP V-6 with VVT & 8 speed auto
19 City - 31 Highway - I average 29.5
Acoustic windsheild with dvr and pass
door glass acoustic as well (dual layer) Hows about the big ole LED Tail Light - can be scene in weather!!!

Full Size car with some muscle and with ECO car gas mileage - I'm not a little guy at 260 lbs

iPhone Floor/Seat Mount
2 inch hitch receiver
2 meter Yaesu FT-1900
MFJ trunk mount
Diamond 52 inch mono band antenna

Love this car !!!
my 2 cents worth

 

[Karen St John]

Well, Rhonda (my Red Honda Fit) did get some action yesterday, I deployed as a spotter for Washtenaw County, south of Ann Arbor, MI (Pittsfield Township, to be exact). She did very well in the heavy rain (thank you, Yokohama Tires) and managed to keep things together moving into position, through dime sized hail.

 

[J Tyler]

Karen, since you only have two people with you while chasing have you considered a Corvette? Blowing a forecast would no longer be a problem as you could reposition 400 miles in 2 1/2 hours. The top comes off so you can see the updrafts better from close up.

Kidding aside, I played with a Sonic for an afternoon and really enjoyed it. Nice car, and it was fun to drive! For chasing, the combination of Front Wheel Drive and the Sonics stability control will provide a LOT of safety net for you. The one big thing that would be a help would be to go to www.tirerack.com and use their information to find a set of tires for your new Sonic that perform near the top of the pack in the rain. HUGE difference over crappy wet weather tires. I have no idea what tire the Sonic is delivered on, but you can check it at that site also. My wifes MINI was delivered on Run Flats that are terrible. We looked them up at The Tire Rack, and sure enough they were ranked near the bottom in wet weather.

Anyway, good luck and let us know what you end up with! I want to see some pics too!!!

 

[Todd Renshaw]

2001 Pontiac Grand Prix. Low to the ground, fairly heavy, wide tires, supercharged. The supercharger is a blessing and a curse; it takes premium gas, which is a bit pricey these days. (At least you're supposed to use premium.) Fortunately, I don't have to drive it every day.

 

[Albert Rodriguez]

1991 honda civic hatchback for 3 years now. I almost got stuck chasing the Tipton tornado. So I decided no back roads for me anymore. Other than that 25 to 30 bucks to fill up is a win-win.

 

[Joshua Nall]

I've never owned a car and have chased in a Ford f250 for 5 or 6 years. Going to a small car would be a drastic change and I know I would feel really uncomfortable at first. However, with diesel over $4 now, it cost me over $200 to fill up. It gets 17 or 18 miles to the gallon. Not sure at what point I would look for a smaller vehicle. If the cost of fuel keeps going up probably just wouldn't chase as much.

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I usually rent cars on my chases, many of them solo. Gas is a MAJOR factor, but I found the Kia line of cars to be pretty good (compact) ... I've seen 40 miles per gallon, and it's about 10 gallons to fill up.

 

[ericjkelly]

Ford Escape Hybrid AWD!

LOVE LOVE IT

 

[Greg Campbell]

. I have the slushbox and it doesn't have as much power as I would like. The Sonic with the turbo gets better mileage, and with the six speed stick, is quite peppy. It handles better, too.

And it's even ... gasp... made here in the U.S. Looks like it has a bit more power than the Fit - the six speed sounds like a fun car!

I tend to agree that the best chase vehicle is whatever works best the other 8 months of the year. My Accord wagon gets mid 30's on the freeway if I manage to keep it below 65MPH. It's large for a daily driver, maybe a little too small for chasing (with maps, laptop, etc. sprawled all over) and just right for camping, road trips, etc. If I had more radio, weather, etc. gear, the small dash area would quickly become a limiting factor. What the heck, it's paid for...

 

[Seth Price]

I like using my smallish car. My car is an '02 Malibu (V6). After a tune up, I can get 28mpg on the highway. I like this car for several reasons:

1. Relatively easy on gas mileage
2. The V6 will keep me at a moderate engine speed at I-40/I-70/I-80 speeds.
3. There are a million of them out there (and thus, I've never been stranded waiting on parts if I have trouble on the road)
4. Electrically, it is semi-noisy, but not as bad as a lot of vehicles. I run HF amateur radio during down times, and eliminating noise is important.

Things I wish were better:
1. Seats can start to be uncomforable after 10+ hrs
2. The alternator is undersized (I wish I had a little more juice for equipment)
3. The brake rotors are undersized (mine eats rotors)
4. If the car is off, even minus all the computers, inverters and radio equipment, the car stereo and other idle systems draw WAY too much current (100mA)

I've never needed 4WD for chasing. I have had need for good gas mileage. I'd also rather use a car that I know pretty well (where things fit, where to mount things, how to make minor repairs, etc) than a new vehicle.

 

[Simon Brewer]

I'm definitely for the small car; started with a Saturn, loved my Honda Civic for a short period, now the Chevy Cobalt. Chevy Cruze will probably be my next chase vehicle. My ultimate chase vehicle would probably be Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen TDI with lots of space and 50-60 MPG on highway!

Simon

 

[Jake Orosi]

I've never needed 4WD for chasing.

I'm with you on this. 4WD vehicles are fun from a "neat toy" standpoint; but I can never imagine the function being some kind of necessity for chasing. It seems to me that a modicum of planning and situational awareness should be able to keep a chaser out of situations where 4WD would be required. How many of the most dramatic and significant tornado videos of the last five years or so have been taken from dirt roads?