These Are The Cars That Deserve Dedicated Off-Road Trims
From family haulers to all-out sports cars, here's what you want to 'froad.
Who doesn't love the great outdoors? The scenic views, the sense of adventure, the chance to just get away from the daily grind — it's so refreshing. But getting really out there into the world can require a bit of specialized kit, things like knobby tires and additional ground clearance. Wouldn't it be nice if manufacturers could help out?
Yesterday, we asked for the cars you wish came in factory off-road trim. You gave us a king's ransom of answers, and we picked and pulled some of our favorites. Let's see what you came up with.
Welcome To The Van Life
Minivans. All of them. Soccer practice and Costco runs all week, overlanding all weekend.
I'm just saying, Toyota, there's a precedent here. Give us a jacked-up Sienna that can take the kids to soccer practice. In Siberia.
Setting Off On Safari
911 Carrera 4. Safari all the things... from the factory!
Rumor has it, Porsche may be working on this as we speak. Right now. Go check the homepage, it might have already come out! Check now!
And Other Porsches Too
Panamera and the Cross Turismo
Just pretend the green in that photo is grass. It kinda works, right? It works well with the green of the calipers, so I vote yes on this one.
Let The Bullitt Die
Instead of yetanotherBullitt, Ford needs to make a Thomas Crown Mustang.
The original Bullitt car is already rusty. Let it dissolve into dust, and all memories of that underwhelming movie with it. Let the Bullitt die, and give us an off-road Mustang.
Always The Answer
Miata. People are just making them left and right.
Miatas already look comical in stock form, adding big off-road tires and wheels just makes them even better. You can't take a Miata seriously, and they don't want you to.
Four Three-Wheeling
Impractical, improbable. Probably the correct answer...Morgan Super 3
Look, motorcycles make it around off-road just fine on two wheels. Urals, with the two-wheel-drive and the sidecar, do it on three. Why can't a Morgan?
Luxury, Speed, The Best Of None Of Those
Bentley Flying Spur, Lamborghini Huaracan, Suzuki Alto, Daihatsu HiJet
Mighty Car Mods, the greatest four-wheel-drive channel on the internet, beat you to the punch on the off-road-prepped HiJet. Still, it would be nice to see Daihatsu take that on from the factory.
Baja Blast
An all-wheel drive Challenger tearing thru the desert works for me. Thought up back in 2015:
Given how Dodge is up to what? now 150 diff special edition Challengers that have hit the market? What's one more as the Challenger goes out with a bang?
Challengers love to kick up tire smoke. Doing so with sand would just mean a slightly different particulate being thrown into the wind. I imagine it would be entirely capable in the dunes.
Add A New Dent
Camry. Because 99% of things with of road packages never go off road anyway.
There are plenty of Camries out there with undersized aftermarket tires already, leading to off-road-ready wheel gaps. Toyota should see the market appeal here.
GRrrrrrrreat
That new GR Corolla. It's already AWD. Make a rally trim.
No GR Corolla will ever see a spec of dirt, but why not build one for it anyway? Subaru and Mitsubishi built their performance reputations sliding around off-road, Toyota can lean back on the Tosco heritage for the same thing.
British Rally Heritage
Definitely Mini.
There's a long history of this as well – and nothing beats the charming awesomeness of seeing an adorable FWD Mini hauling ass on a rally course...
Everyone forgets the provenance of the Mini "Cooper" — John Cooper, who tuned Minis for rally stages back in the sixties. BMW could easily recapture some of that magic.
Mudding In Silence
Going to come out of left field and say the Jaguar I pace. With the relation to Land rover now that Jaguar makes SUVs it seems like a no brainer for jaguar to offer an off road SUV and what better choice then to go with the enthusiast electric SUV?
Range Rovers go off road. I-Paces go silently. Why not put the two together, and go silently off road?
Swap The Famed Suspension
Citroen DS. I'm pretty sure a lot of these exported to Africa rarely if ever saw a paved road.
I got a chance to ride in this during the Rally for the Lane. We didn't get a chance to test its off-road chops, unfortunately.
Is it sacrilege to swap the famed hydropneumatic suspension on the DS for a set of Fox shocks and knobblies? Asking for a friend, who is definitely not looking for Citroens on Craigslist.
Bring Back The Country
Golf r.... A slightly lifted golf r with some cool rally set up would be a game changer
Volkswagen used to make the Golf Country, a jacked-up 4x4 wearing a Golf's skin. It should bring that back, as something other than a Tiguan.
Pick It Up, Pick It Up, Pick It Up
Ridgeline. It's a pretty capable softroader already (see Sarah-N-Tuned's youtube review), but quite a few folks would like a version with another inch or two of ground clearance, despite the MPG hit it would take.
I'll keep mine as is, but I think Honda would sell a few more with the offroad package (assuming they can and want to build and sell more).
Anobody remember the R.O.A.V.?
The Ridgeline is a damn fine looking little truck, but its HPD package is mostly just cosmetic. Give us a Ridgeline Raptor, Honda. You know it would sell.