What makes the best storm chasing vehicle?

[Zac Goode]

I finally got a 4 wheel drive vechicle... Ive had a 2wheel drive 97 explorer that has been very reliable...i hope my nissan we'll be as good as the explorer was....im just ready for SPRING!!!!!!!

 

[David Drummond]

As for power it has a 5.8 that gets around 22 mpg around and 28 on the highway.While it is 2wd I carry chains but have never had to use them even in several ice storms here in Wv. It can be viewed along with the Areostar and my first ever storm ride a Ford bronco. At

Weather Technologies Just click on the pix of the van to be taken to the page.

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Wow, that's quite a feat there Tom considering brand new from the factory they only got 14 mpg city and 19 mpg hwy at best. So what are you doing that your gaining an entire 8-10 mpg over factory (new) specs? Share so we call all benefit!

 

[Blake Michaleski]

yeah if you can show me a 351 windsor that can get 28 highway I'll quit chasing.

new vettes get about that but they weight probably half of that van and run a steep overdrive. not to mention displacement on demand.

 

[John Erwin]

The nice insurance co. (State Farm) replaced it with a full size ford country club,4 laptop, 3 Cameras ( some night vision), A lettering job, 2 lightbars,A new OS cabled weather station,and paid to have everything put in by a pro shop includeing power center ,3 inverters. It would have cost $5000 to fix the old one. It cost them over $15,000 for the whole job.
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I'm curious what kind of shop would do such an installation. I'm also curious about that satellite dish on the roof; does it fold down when you're driving, or can you use it on the go? Does it align automatically (GPS), or do you need to spend some time lining up your van for azimuth and elevation?

 

[Nick Parker]

Good gosh...im doing something VERY wrong if that van can get 28 MPG out of a 5.8!!! Hmm...I had one of those very blocks myself. Was in a 1995 Ford F-150 Ext. Cab 4x4...best I EVER squeezed out of it was 17 1/2 mpg highway (down a hill with the wind pushing!!!!) Shoot, I've even got a 99 Chevy 4x4 nowadays only getting 16. Is there a midget in the back on a treadmill connected to the driveline or what!!??!!?? Could use that milage myself!! :lol:

 

[Mark Farnik]

It is official. I am getting rid of my Mercedes 300TE wagon. Love the comfort, bodystyle, cargo room and AWD, but with gas threatening to go up as high as $4.00 per gallon by Christmas (and that's depends on if we don't have another bad hurricane in the GoM), 18 mpg just is not going to cut it for my 50 mile total daily commute, let alone any chasing. I believe it cost me over $200 in fillups for the 800 miles I chased this year. We have filed the complaint with the state dealer licensing board against the dealer that sold it to us for lying about an odometer rollback of over 60,000 miles. Not kidding. :angry: So we're waiting to hear back from them. The dealership broke a few Colorado laws, so we should get our money ($8,100 all told) back in about three to four weeks. I am looking at Subarus, Audis, Volvos, Saabs and BMW's for the most part. Right now I'm wracked by indecision. I'm looking at a couple different vehicles. They are listed here in no particular order:
1998 Forester S Red/Silver Stick Mileage: 121,000 Price: $6,200
2000 Outback Limited Dark Green/Tan Stick Mileage:124,000 Price: $8,000
1997 Outback Red/Tan Stick Mileage:122,500 Price: $6,000
1999 Saab 9-5 SE Red Mileage: 83,000 Price: $7,400
I'm either going to go one of three ways: Buy a $8,000 vehicle and save for a few years to get a WeatherWx system and a decent video camera; buy a $6,000 vehicle and be able to use the two grand I'd have left over to buy the WeatherWx system and video camera this fall, or buy a $7,000 vehicle and buy one or the other. I'm leaning toward buying a cheaper vehicle. I'm looking hardest at either the 97 Outback or the 98 Forester. I'm thinking the Forester because it has the S package which includes heated seats/windshield wipers(nice to have in the winter!) and bigger alloy wheels/tires. But at the same time (and you all may feel free to laugh at me for this) I'm going to be looking at a 1997 BMW 528i sedan in Fort Collins on Tuesday. It has only 132,000 miles, has traction control and the guy only wants $7,000 bucks for it, which is way below book. It has a gold exterior and tan interior. It's a really pretty, very well maintained one owner car. And I can already hear what everyone is thinking: he's bug ass crazy to even be thinking of buying that nice of a car for a chase vehicle, even if it is 10 model years old. And to tell the truth, you're probably right. B)
In the end, though, it's probably going to be either a Forester, an Outback, an A4 or an A6. Possibly a Volvo XC70 Cross Country if I find one with the right miles and price.

Just out of curiousity, what do you Jeep Cherokee owners get in terms of gas mileage? Just wondering.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Actually Mark, I'm wondering why you are choosing older cars that get mid 20s mpg. With that many miles, I doubt any of those choices will net you over +5mpg in the real world. You state you have a 50 mi commute. I'd say AWD be damned, it's time to focus on mpg and the rest later. Get a used civic or something that will get you 30+mpg easy. Then you'll notice an impact on your wallet... netting in more chase trips.

Aaron

 

[David Drummond]

No doubt Aaron. With gas prices still on the rise, I believe once we see nation wide over $3.00/gal for a week or more, we probably won't ever see it go back below that. MPG has got to be a HUGE factor in vehicle selection now. As cool as it would be to chase in some vehicles, the cool factor takes a back seat to having to choose between a chase or not because of the gas cost. I am already wondering how much crap I can cram into a Saturn Ion with it's over 30mpg.

 

[John Erwin]

It is official. I am getting rid of my Mercedes 300TE wagon. Love the comfort, bodystyle, cargo room and AWD, but with gas threatening to go up as high as $4.00 per gallon by Christmas (and that's depends on if we don't have another bad hurricane in the GoM), 18 mpg just is not going to cut it for my 50 mile total daily commute, let alone any chasing.[/b]

Mark, I think there's a lesson to be learned here from your first vehicle. You need to take a long hard think about your choice of vehicles and listen closely to what some of the seasoned veterans here are telling you. Think MILEAGE not luxury, AWD and optional accessories. Of course you will want dependability.

Good luck on whatever you choose.

 

[Mark Farnik]

I never should have gotten that damned Mercedes. That was the biggest mistake I've made thus far in my life. Never again.
As for the question of compact cars... I hate most of them. You will never catch me driving a Civic/Ion/Cavalier. First off, they are too small for me (I'm 6' 1"). Second off, I have a lot of photographic equipment which I haul around. I also play the baritone in school and community band, which isn't exactly a small instrument. I carry too much stuff to fit into one of those washing machines on wheels. Third off, I do not feel safe driving them. The only FWD compact cars I am even considering are the Saturn S-Series/Ford Focus/ Mazda Protege5 wagons. They have decent room for small wagons (especially the Focus) and at least the Focus has good crash test ratings. The Saturn and Protege5 aren't bad in that department either. Also the Focuses had available traction control. It would be especially funny if I got a Focus because I'm a professional photographer (a photographer driving a Focus, get it? :lol: ) If I got one it would have to have a stick (I like driving stick better, besides they get better mileage).
I am still seriously considering that 1998 Forester S. It has AWD, heated seats, a stick, and has been well maintained, which checks every box on my checklist. The mileage is not really that high, considering it is a 9 year old vehicle. I called the guy and he told me he gets 30 mpg on the highway, 25 in the city for 27 overall. The price is right at only $6,200. And to top it off Subaru's are well renowned for going 200,000 miles or more without needing a major overhaul. I personally know a guy who has an '88 Loyale AWD wagon with 275,000 miles on the original engine and tranny with less than $700 in repairs since he bought it new in 1987. The Subaru engines and powertrains are pretty much bulletproff. Basically as soon as I get a check from the Dealer Licensing Board and they take that Mercedes off my hands, I'm probably going to go down to Denver and buy it. It's the perfect blend of great gas mileage, ultra reliability and AWD capabilities. Trust me, I know more than you all give me credit for about Subarus. My mom inherited a little red 1990 Justy AWD two door hatchback from her mom after she passed away 9 yers ago, and though that car was tiny it was mighty. Where the big '85 Ford E-150 Conversion van we had at that time would bog down in two inches of muck, that Justy would plow through it without batting an eye. It also handled loose sand and rocky surfaces well; too bad Subaru didn't do a rally version with raised ground clearance and bigger tires/wheels. The only reasons we got rid of it was the fact I outgrew it, plus it had no A/C and a black interior. It doesn't require much imagination to visualize how scorching hot that would get even when the air temperature was just in the 80's, let alone the multiple strings of 95 plus degree days we have every summer.

If you are ever up here in northeastern CO during a bad snowstorm and you try driving on Highway 52... you'll know another big reason why I need a car with AWD. It has lots of curves, two hundred feet elevation rises and drops as well as several steep hills... this road is more typical of a highway that you would find in Wisconsin, not the eastern plains of Colorado. You do not want to attempt to drive this road in a bad storm if you don't have AWD/4WD. I became an official AWD convert after I smashed my mom's Malibu into a wooden guardrail coming back from a school concert in early December when I hit a patch of ice coming down a hill. If we'd been driving something with AWD, I don't think it would have happened. There were a couple of times last winter where we had to drive the Mercedes to town because the weather was bad, and where that Malibu my mom used to have would be all over the road like a hockey puck on ice, that Mercedes was practically glued to the road. I drove that sucker through 3'+ drifts during the 18 inch blizzard we had in March and it just plowed through them without even hesitating for a second. That was the one thing I really liked about that 300TE. Another factor in my need for AWD is there are three miles of gravel between our place and the highway, and it turns into absolute pig grease after big rains or winter storms. If you don't have a vehicle with AWD/4WD you may not get home. It's happened a time or two.

Well I think I've rambled long enough about this. I've made up my mind and I'm getting a Subaru. More than likely that '98 Forester. Ask Verne Carlson about his; he absolutely loves his red '99 Impreza Outback Sport with 5-speed tranny, he gets 35 mpg with that sucker is what he told me. If I remember right it has 130,000 odd miles and he has no problems with it that I know of. So I'm not the only chaser who think Subaru's are great chase as well as everyday use vehicles.
Thanks to John, David and Aaron for your comments and suggestions; they are appreciated and not taken lightly.
This is an interesting topic, for sure.
Cheers.

 

[Brad Berry]

I have bought my newest truck, and I am so satified with it, I am getting rid of my other cars. I am the proud owner of a 1999 Ford Explorer XLT. It features leather seating, CD changer, rear AC, sunroof, V8 engine (5.0L, 302 CID, hard motor, not modular), and Full-Time AWD. This truck glues itself to the road, and is fairly decent on gas for a V8 (18MPG). I am happy and proud to have this as my chase ride.

Prior to this, I have owned a 1989 Jeep Cherokee Limited, a 1984 Ford Bronco, a 1991 Pontiac Sunbird LE, and a 1981 Jeep CJ-7. With the exception of the Ford, I can say the rest were junk.

 

[Tom Burgess]

Tom, I like the fake radioshack camera up front with the GPS reciever on top. What exactly is it being used for?
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I get that a lot. It is a $200 color wireless camera I got off the internet. I do not shop at rat shack for anything but weather radios. Made an antenna out of some cable and have got the same reaction from folks until they see their self on the monitor. I use it to record while driving. Has paid for it self when some dummy pulled out in front of me. He had the cops ready to take me to jail until I showed them the tape. ;}

Wow, that's quite a feat there Tom considering brand new from the factory they only got 14 mpg city and 19 mpg hwy at best. So what are you doing that your gaining an entire 8-10 mpg over factory (new) specs? Share so we call all benefit!
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I dave I wish I knew. The mech. we have says that he just keeps it trimed and tuned. It goes down to about 15 with a load. And you are right it did not get that new. :huh:

I'm curious what kind of shop would do such an installation. I'm also curious about that satellite dish on the roof; does it fold down when you're driving, or can you use it on the go? Does it align automatically (GPS), or do you need to spend some time lining up your van for azimuth and elevation?
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We had our own folk to do it. I only found one local shop that would do it. They gave us the check and we kept the overage.

Did have 2 dishes they do fold down and have to be pointed by hand. They are easy to set up.

Good gosh...im doing something VERY wrong if that van can get 28 MPG out of a 5.8!!! Hmm...I had one of those very blocks myself. Was in a 1995 Ford F-150 Ext. Cab 4x4...best I EVER squeezed out of it was 17 1/2 mpg highway (down a hill with the wind pushing!!!!) Shoot, I've even got a 99 Chevy 4x4 nowadays only getting 16. Is there a midget in the back on a treadmill connected to the driveline or what!!??!!?? Could use that milage myself!! :lol:
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Get my wife to peddle. It does have a different tranny from new and it is from something else has a very high OD.

 

[Gaetan Cormier]

Speaking of chase vehicle, I just bought myself a "new" used MiniVan.

I bought a 2002 Dodge Sport Grand Caravan. It has only 65000km on it and I still have a 1 year bumper to bumper warranty from Dodge. Basically it just look brand new!!!!

I'm totally happy, it's my first vehicle with such low age and mileage....

Here's a pic:

 

[Matthew Havin]

Screw safety.

This baby will get me 75-80 MPG.

 

[Paul Stofer]

I get that a lot. It is a $200 color wireless camera I got off the internet. I do not shop at rat shack for anything but weather radios. Made an antenna out of some cable and have got the same reaction from folks until they see their self on the monitor. I use it to record while driving. Has paid for it self when some dummy pulled out in front of me. He had the cops ready to take me to jail until I showed them the tape. ;}
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Thats quite incredible. Because I have the exact same camera you have on your dash with a 9 volt battery in it to make the red LED on the front flash sitting in my garage... I knew it looked familiar...