We have purchased a home in the GA mountains. It is very steep and I want to know what some suggestions are for what type of car would be best. New or used. Thanks.
Are the roads paved?
How wide are the roads?
What is your price range for this vehicle?
How many people would the vehicle need to carry?
Will the vehicle ever be carrying cargo, or towing a trailer?
Pretty much any car could do the job, given the criteria you have given us.
If you are interested in a SUV, consider a 2010 Chevy Equinox. It gets 22 city and 32 highway MPG with the 4-cyl. Edmunds thinks the engine is adequate. The AWD version gets 20/29; do you really need AWD in Georgia? You’ll have to decide if the ice and rain lead you down that path. The 2WD 4-cyl Rav4 gets 22/28 (4WD is 21/27). The CR-V gets 21/27 as AWD and 21/28 as 2WD. The Equinox and Toyota have 6-cyl models, too.
Can you drive a stick? Add some other lifestyle descriptions. If you are working and will drive in snow no matter the risk, you need a 4WD.
Hills, slippery conditions and FWD don’t mix. Any awd will do if that’s what you’re facing. Much depends upon driving conditions and local road maintenance.
The roads have asphalt paving.
Narrow two way traffic - residential in a steep mountainous terrain
15 - 25k Used
4 people
cargo, no trailer
Um, folks, annual snowfall in Georgia including ice is zero inches…
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/snowfall.html
"Um, folks, annual snowfall in Georgia including ice is zero inches… "
javajay said the mountains. They are north of Atlanta on the border of NC and SC. Annual snowfall in Asheville, NC is 15 inches. It’s probably not that much, but more than Atlanta (2.1"). It’s not Syracuse, NY, but it is more than any listing for GA in that table. I suspect that ice is more of a problem than snow.
Given all of the criteria given so far, I would suggest that the OP look at used RAV4s and Foresters. If he is going to be driving on steep mountain grades that have even occasional ice or snow in the winter, he will not make it to the top without AWD and good tires, preferably winter tires.
I can drive a stick, but I’d prefer not to. Driving on steep hills (mts of N. Ga) like in San Francisco is a bit too challenging with a stick. This is just a vacation home. I don’t have to go if the weather is too bad.
Yes, I do believe it will be the slippery, ice conditions more than snow. Someone told me some of the people who live up on the mountain full time use chains on their cars. Would that be better than getting a new car? Sounds lots cheaper, but a bit drastic.
It’s a low cost option to try. You can get them for about $50/pair; maybe less. I wouldn’t use them full-time. See if you mind putting them on and taking them off. If you can stand them, you won’t need a new car. Unless you want one.
Make sure that you can actually use chains on your present (or future) car.
You might be surprised by how many Owner’s Manuals state that tire chains should not be used on that particular model car.
As I usually advise, if you don’t read the Owner’s Manual, you can get yourself into some expensive situations.
Guys, Geogia is south of the Carolinas. The highest average snowfall in any of the listed towns in Georgia was in January and it was 1.0 inches INCLUDING sleet and ice. The average January total for all the towns listed was .45 inches.
Look at a US map and you’ll see Georgia in the sunbelt, bordering Florida.
"Look at a US map and you’ll see Georgia in the sunbelt, bordering Florida. "
And if the map has topographical features, you will see that there are mountains in the northeast corner of the state. javajay said that is where he lives (see above). He also said that he is more concerned about ice than snow, but I’ll bet there is a lot more snow in his neck of the woods than in any of the Georgia cities listed. It would be more like Ashevile, NC or Greenville, SC. Snowfall would be between 6 and 16 inches annually. But that doesn’t account for ice. A quarter inch of ice covering the road is easily enough to cause accidents. BTW, there is ice in Florida all the way down to Rte 75 - 50 miles north of Miami. This area in Georgia is about 500 miles north of Rte 75.
There’s even been snow in Miami. I have that first hand. My ex was from Miami, and her family all called when it happened. But it’s rare, and the ground is so warm it doesn’t create a problem. For that matter, there’s even a Hawaiian Island mountaintop that gets snow. There’s a ski slope there.
Hey. all I have to go by is the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration data. I figured they must know.
Besides, the OP never brought up weather concerns. He was looking for something that could climb on paved roads. It was the respondants that assumed snowy weather. He even commented in response that “This is just a vacation home. I don’t have to go if the weather is too bad.”