Which Van to Buy for Adirondaks?

[whitewolf3]

Trying to decide which type of van to buy for conversion to camper to use mostly weekends or possibly longer trips in future. I'm in Maine, USA now and will travel frequently to upstate NY, Adirondaks (Lake Placid area) and would like to venture to Blue Ridge Mountains and out West, too. MB Sprinter van 4X4 is expensive and evidently has a wait time and high price tag. Would 2 wheel drive be underpowered? I'm thinking something small like the MB 144 or Promaster 136? I'm a single gal and not sure I want to be messing around too much with tire chains. I plan to boondock, but not too far off the beaten track. At first I will be visiting friends and family and I'm used to AWD with my Honda. ADVISE please! I don't want to build out something that can't handle what I ask of it. Thank you for your assistance.

 

[rex_1_mn]

Are you looking for stand up head room? Pop top or fixed roof?

 

[Bbasso]

Driver's skills plays a huge role in getting suck and un-stuck and knowing when too much is in front of you.
With my current rig, proper tires, RWD w/ LSD and ground clearance has allowed me to get some awesome places.
Big power/ HP doesn't mean a lot when off road in compared to knowing how to use.

If you are staying near the trails and not going off to the middle of nowhere a basic rig with good recovery equipment will do in most cases.

 

[SDDiver5]

Check CL for used deals if you want to go the 4x4 already set up route. You may have to travel a bit to get it but its worth it in the long run as there are no build times and not as expensive.

 

[whitewolf3]

Looking for a high roof model preferably.

 

[whitewolf3]

Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[whitewolf3]

Thank you. I live in New England so I can handle snow in a regular suv awd. Not having ever driven a tall vehicle I'm wondering how that would be in bad weather, like snow. And, if a 2 wheel drive with studded snow tires in winter would do the trick. I live on quite a substantial hill at home and plan to travel into the mountains quite a bit, not in the worst weather. However in the northeast weather changes quickly.

 

[Corneilius]

AWD 1500 Chevy Express with a high top

 

[SDDiver5]

Boom

https://nh.craigslist.org/cto/d/bert-hakey/6214499878.html

 

[bdog1]

Since your questioning AWD, and you don't already have a vehicle, it really only makes sense to hold out and get something to meet your needs. Little more money upfront perhaps but no regrets.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bbasso]

AWD 1500 Chevy Express with a high top

I second the notion. Simple reliable just about anybody can work on it and parts are relatively cheap. While having an all wheel drive system and plenty of room to stand up in.

 

[borison]

Full size GM AWD seems easy.

 

[flightcancled]

I'm in the Adirondacks every weekend. For summer trips bombing around 2wd will be fine. 90% of people never see past the end of a DEC parking lot anyway. I have a quigley 4x4 which lets me go down the rougher logging roads and to the worse DEC trailheads.

Winter in the ADKs will pretty much force you to have a 4x4.

 

[Mat Mobile]

I used to be part of a hiking club and used a Safari AWD. Everybody loved that 8 passenger van because we were 6 people comfortably seated, chatting the whole way from Montreal to the Adirondacks and back. We also did snowshoeing and came back in storms a few times. The cool part is I got paid 13$/person for gas so I managed to do about 20 hikes in one year for almost nothing!

I agree with "flightcancled" that 4wd is not necessary most of the year but AWD would certainly be helpful in winter!

Basically, a Chevy AWD with high top is a good solution.

 

[Choff]

I have a AWD Savana, hands down the best in snow !!!!, drive it hard all winter in Wisconsin.
and its a conversion van with seating for 7