OK,, we are fulltime but not on the road until Nov. or Dec. We are debating about which car to take as a toad. We have a 2012 jeep wrangler unlimited, lifted with 35" tires (at $350 each) and aftermarket bumpers and winch along with added under armor and rock rails. A fun thing to drive and all ready to tow. The downside is it gets 14mpg in our area which is alot of hills. We also have a 2012 Prius which will require us buying a tow dolly in order to take it. But it gets a average of 45mpg. Insurance is about the same,, both have good tags until 2015, both are basicly new with few miles. We can adjust to either. We like to offroad but in reality while we are traveling to see the US just how much offroading will we really do. Probably not that much. We do plan to hit Quartzite for a couple weeks thsi winter. So with this in mind what would you pick to take? We plan to be on the road at least 1 year,, hopefully longer.
Technomadia said
03:29 AM Aug 12, 2012
If only a Prius could be flat towed *sigh*
We're huge Prius fans, in fact - we met on an online Prius forum because we both used to own them (ok, end of sappy romance story). And if they could be flat towed, we would have totally gotten a Prius for behind our motorhome... it would have been perfect for us!
But for us, we really like the simplicity of not needing to deal with a tow dolly. Especially because we tend to move fairly often (sometimes every couple days, sometimes once every month or so). So many of the campgrounds we like just wouldn't have room to store a dolly/trailer either.
But the delta between your two options is quite huge. I guess it would come down to what pace you're planning to travel at, what type of campgrounds will you be at (ie. how much of a hassle will the dolly be)... and how much you anticipate off roading in the Jeep vs. touring around where high fuel economy could be a huge plus?
We actually seriously considered getting a Jeep to tow behind, they're such fun! We used to have one as our tow vehicle when we full timed in a small travel trailer, and loved taking it off-roading. But in the end, we went with a high fuel economy small car (Mini Cooper) to flat tow.
- Cherie
NorCal Dan said
05:00 PM Aug 12, 2012
The Jeep gets my vote. More fun.
RVRon said
07:22 PM Aug 12, 2012
We had a similar decision to make when we started our fulltime life... the Honda Fit or the Jeep Wrangler? Both could be flat towed and the Honda got WAAAYYYY better mileage than the Jeep did. We finally decided that the Jeep was the best bet because we wanted the ability to explore the offroad opportunities in the western states. The money we made when we sold the Honda will pay for the difference in gas for as long as we'll probably be on the road! In your case, the Jeep will be a lot easier to flat tow and you won't have the hassle of finding somewhere to put the tow dolly when you're in campgrounds. Go with the Jeep... you can always trade it in on a new Prius in a few years if you don't like your decision!
-- Edited by RVRon on Sunday 12th of August 2012 07:23:36 PM
injunear said
08:17 PM Aug 12, 2012
The Jeep gets my vote also. If you go to Alaska or boondock in the desert southwest you'll be glad you have the 4X4 for sight seeing.
Wayne
Cindy T said
12:51 PM Aug 13, 2012
My vote is for the Jeep too. Much more versatile than a Prius.
Terry and Jo said
02:29 PM Aug 13, 2012
I'll agree with the Jeep as well. We were in Colorado week before last and went out in a couple of Jeeps to do a couple of "primitive" roads. They were not so primitive that one couldn't drive them with our full sized F150, but it would have been a lot harder to pass other vehicles.
Jeeps will take you to places you may not want to return from.
We have a 2012 jeep wrangler unlimited, lifted with 35" tires (at $350 each) and aftermarket bumpers and winch along with added under armor and rock rails. A fun thing to drive and all ready to tow. The downside is it gets 14mpg in our area which is alot of hills.
We also have a 2012 Prius which will require us buying a tow dolly in order to take it. But it gets a average of 45mpg.
Insurance is about the same,, both have good tags until 2015, both are basicly new with few miles.
We can adjust to either. We like to offroad but in reality while we are traveling to see the US just how much offroading will we really do. Probably not that much. We do plan to hit Quartzite for a couple weeks thsi winter.
So with this in mind what would you pick to take? We plan to be on the road at least 1 year,, hopefully longer.
We're huge Prius fans, in fact - we met on an online Prius forum because we both used to own them (ok, end of sappy romance story). And if they could be flat towed, we would have totally gotten a Prius for behind our motorhome... it would have been perfect for us!
But for us, we really like the simplicity of not needing to deal with a tow dolly. Especially because we tend to move fairly often (sometimes every couple days, sometimes once every month or so). So many of the campgrounds we like just wouldn't have room to store a dolly/trailer either.
But the delta between your two options is quite huge. I guess it would come down to what pace you're planning to travel at, what type of campgrounds will you be at (ie. how much of a hassle will the dolly be)... and how much you anticipate off roading in the Jeep vs. touring around where high fuel economy could be a huge plus?
We actually seriously considered getting a Jeep to tow behind, they're such fun! We used to have one as our tow vehicle when we full timed in a small travel trailer, and loved taking it off-roading. But in the end, we went with a high fuel economy small car (Mini Cooper) to flat tow.
- Cherie
We had a similar decision to make when we started our fulltime life... the Honda Fit or the Jeep Wrangler? Both could be flat towed and the Honda got WAAAYYYY better mileage than the Jeep did. We finally decided that the Jeep was the best bet because we wanted the ability to explore the offroad opportunities in the western states. The money we made when we sold the Honda will pay for the difference in gas for as long as we'll probably be on the road! In your case, the Jeep will be a lot easier to flat tow and you won't have the hassle of finding somewhere to put the tow dolly when you're in campgrounds. Go with the Jeep... you can always trade it in on a new Prius in a few years if you don't like your decision!
-- Edited by RVRon on Sunday 12th of August 2012 07:23:36 PM
The Jeep gets my vote also. If you go to Alaska or boondock in the desert southwest you'll be glad you have the 4X4 for sight seeing.
Wayne
My vote is for the Jeep too. Much more versatile than a Prius.
I'll agree with the Jeep as well. We were in Colorado week before last and went out in a couple of Jeeps to do a couple of "primitive" roads. They were not so primitive that one couldn't drive them with our full sized F150, but it would have been a lot harder to pass other vehicles.
Jeeps will take you to places you may not want to return from.
Terry