People love cars that have even just a dash of off-road credibility, and off-road packages aren’t limited to dedicated 4×4 trucks and SUVs anymore. You can get a Subaru Forester and a Nissan Rogue with a little bit of off-road kit, and the Ford Bronco Sport is an entire model that revolves around being a crossover that can handle some mild off-roading, or what some people call “soft-roading.”
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Soft-roaders are controversial because some executions of the theme come off more like soulless cash grabs than credible efforts at improved off-pavement performance, but some softies are surprisingly capable when a measure of off-road prowess is called for. Andrew Martin is going up to bat for the soft-roader in the piece Thomas wrote about the Nissan Rogue Rock Creek:
Maybe a controversial take, but I’ll happily defend “soft roader” packages.
My wife and I love driving around forest service roads / fire roads. There are loads where we live. We go foraging and mushroom hunting, dispersed camping, and just drive them for fun with our kids in tow.
We have a Forester Wilderness. I have no delusions that it’ll do what a 4Runner or Wrangler will do. But, its real competition is our minivan. It has a decent AWD system, a heck of a lot more clearance (9.2” vs. 4.5”), and WAY better approach and departure (I doubt anyone knows or cares what those are on an Odyssey). We’ve run out of clearance a few times, and turned around when the roads are really (really) bad. But that’s fine by me. It has great gas mileage for what it is, and the road manners are good enough to make it a “do everything” shuttle.
We put some Toyo Open Country AT3s on it after the stock milder tires had quite a few punctures. Next up is a tougher skid plate (we broke the clips on the stock one).
Some day, I’d consider replacing it with a hybrid 4Runner, maybe.
Back in 2021, I beat the everlasting crap out of a Subaru Forester Wilderness. Sure, it wasn’t as capable as a Jeep or my old Volkswagen Touareg, but it made the fire roads seem like a Sunday drive, which is more than enough for many people!
Speaking of off-roaders, Lewin wrote about the headache Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator owners are going through over corrosion. From Trust Doesn’t Rust:
It sounds like a lot of owners selected the David Tracy Appearance Package when buying their vehicles.
Shooting Brake was firing shots:
Does “Stellantis Product Suffers Serious Quality Issue” even count as news anymore? Seems like it’s more in the vain of “Dog bites mailman” than “‘Mailman bites dog” by now.
Finally, let’s stop at Lewin’s post about a Cybertruck crash. The driver of the Cybertruck said he was blessed because the polygonal truck did its job in protecting him. Vanillasludge comments:
Jesus took the wheel. Unfortunately he never went through driver’s ed
Mondestine responded:
Jesus took the wheel – it’s just a shame he drank some of his own wine before driving.
Chris Wright corrected:
Nah, it’s just that the Cybertruck is very different from the Honda Jesus drove but didn’t talk much about. (John 12:49, “I do not speak of my own Accord…”)
I come from a religious family and that line always made me giggle growing up. Nobody understood me when I tried to joke that the line was a clear reference to a Honda. There’s also the one about the hot rod Jesus rolls in.
Have a great evening, everyone!
We bought our soft-roader (Subaru Crosstrek) primarily because many of the surface streets around here (Greater St Louis) aren’t much better than off-road trails in other parts of the country. Plus, the potholes and street plates have a nasty habit of sneaking up on you, unexpectedly.
Most soft-roaders will likely prove more than capable a few years down the road when they’re cheap enough on the used market that people are willing to give them a real beating. Cherokee Trailhawks may eventually end up in as many off-road shenanigans as their XJ older brothers but right now they’re relied on more for daily use.
Unless its a Subaru.
Then the engine will just lock up from oil starvation due to a head gasket leak.
So they’ll be found in the wild with trees growing through their open hoods with skeletons of their thirsty former owners nearby.
They’ll be right alongside Ford Exploders and Death Wobble Cherokees.
Well, my comment may not have made it, but I initiated the Cybertruck crash comments seen here so no biggie…????
When I was a wee lad, Dad would take us up to our property up near Grass Valley in our Chevy II wagon.
Yes – the only way to access it was via heavily rutted fire roads.
So he’d drive with one side of the wagon on the crown and the other side on the ground next to the path.
Only got stuck once, when the car slid sideways off the crown and became high-centered.
There were no such things as skid plates or plastic cladding back in the 1960’s.
You just drove till you couldn’t drive any more – then someone with a Blazer or a Power Wagon would come along and drag you out.
I did the same thing with a Corvair in the ’70s in the Colorado mountains.
Softroad packages are the equivalent of Ford’s Eddie Bauer trim option for the Explorer and Expedition. Is it a shameless cash grab by the manufacturer? Absolutely, but the people buying them seem to be happy to pay extra. To each their own.
I’m a partisan for the era of the sport coupe – we knew they were just tarted up economy cars and that graphics packages or fog lights didn’t do anything for performance…but we absolutely would shell out for the “rallye package” or whatever, just b/c fun.
I miss those cars too. Why buy a Honda Civic with no backseat and a roof that will eventually leak? Because the Del Sol rocked. Either you get it or you don’t.
This past weekend, I came across a guy motoring down the expressway in a good condition Del Sol. He had the roof panel off, radio on, and was, as they say, living his best life. Surrounded by Teslas, SUVs, and a Charger, he sure seemed the happiest.
Having taken my Odyssey down a dirt trail to a crystal mine, I can attest to the ground clearance issue off road. My undercarriage has the scars to prove it wasn’t the best idea lol.
My issue with the soft roaders is 80% of them have never seen even a gravel driveway. Why live with off road compromises, if you never go off road?
Plus no one has ever utter the words “cool Nissan Rogue”
The way I look at them is to assume that the buyer might have purchased something with more off-road capability if there weren’t soft roaders. So they’ve ended up with something that is less compromised than they might have.
The compromises are minor. Most of the changes are cosmetic, maybe an offroad-ish capable but mainly highway tire. It doesn’t alter the driving character too much from the standard version.
Woohoo, COTD! That makes my day.
If one has certain musical tastes, Jesus built that hot rod. I feel Adrian would back me on this.
All he could do was ding a ding dang his dang a long ling long
Not sure how good of a driver Jesus might be in his Honda but his pops is well known for driving folks out of places in a Fury.
I’ll be here all night… nope, I’m being asked to leave immediately…