Equip Your Car Like Your Feet

You optimize your clothing for walking, why not your car too?

Take a look at your clothes, which right now probably aren't what you'd wear for a long bush hike. Now you could just set off with office clothing, but you know you're better off with specialist gear. You'd make it without, but that wouldn't be the sensible, comfortable or safest choice.

Cars are no different. Many outdoor enthiusiasts drive SUVs because of the extra ground clearance, and some of them have all-wheel-drive traction which helps on loose surfaces such as dirt roads, grass, mud and snow. Probably the most favoured marque is Subaru, and rightly so as their vehicles have an exceptional traction system and are well designed for practical, outdoorsy people. But even Subarus need a little help sometime.

Cars need to sell in large volumes, and that means they can't be too focused. And they're expensive to produce, so there's not many choices compared to say hiking boots. The result is a car which is designed for a broad appeal, a bit of a jack of all trades. But the good news is that it's possible to focus the car to specific needs, and so now we get to the ideal car setup for bushwalkers, if that's not a contradiction in terms!

So if someone asked you about the ideal bushwalking boot, you'd want to know what sort of hikes they were planning on before you could give specific advice - muddy, rocky, temperatures and so on. Same deal for cars, but we can at least generalise. It's fair to assume that the average bush hiker will be driving in the country a fair bit, on at least gravel roads, often minor 4WD tracks, having to deal with small ruts, mud, gravel and those ever-lovely corrugations. They may well be taking some companions, all perhaps with backpacks and maybe camping gear. There's no intention of doing any 4WD stuff, but they do want to get to the places few others can manage and not worry about their car, which is just a tool of transport.

Okay, so let's take a standard Subaru Outback, Forester or XV which are excellent base choices. First up is the biggest risk to your forward progress, a puncture. If you get one, you want a full-sized spare wheel so check that's an option (it isn't in the hybrid versions). And then you can start to create a more focused car by replace standard components with equipment better suited to your needs from the aftermarket industry. For example, it's a good idea to change tires to a type that's built a bit stronger than the standard tire, and grips better on dirt which is critical for safety - cornering and especially braking. You certainly don't need an expensive, aggressive 4WD mud tire, but an all-terrain tire like the Cooper ATT or Bridgestone Duelers would be a great choice. Even though they're tougher and better on dirt, it's a modern tire so there's no extra noise or downside on the road.

You also need to store all that gear, so consider a cargo barrier from the likes of Milford or Hayman Reece - that way in the event of a crash, what's in the back stays in the back and doesn't become a deadly missile. A roofrack can help too, opt for a lightweight alloy design with a mesh floor as your car's roof can't take much weight - but beware the fuel consumption penalty. A towbar is also useful, as you never know if might need to tow and it's also a handy place to carry bikes, or even be towed out of trouble backwards. And there's even heavy-duty rubber mats to save your floors from muddy boots.

All that is fairly obvious, but there's a huge part of vehicle performance few people other than car enthusiasts consider, and that's a huge part of vehicle performance. That's the springs and dampers which make the difference between gliding serenely over any terrain in control, or bouncing nervously along roads. The difference between a standard and aftermarket suspension setup from the likes of Ironman 4X4 becomes is apparent soon as you take the first corner, but becomes even more obvious the more you load a car and the rougher the terrain you drive it on - and that comes back to the point about outdoorsy people demanding a bit more than their car than the average. And the other time you notice the difference is in extremis, when you're doing that emergency stop or maybe you've hooked into that dirt-road corner a little fast. It's always the emergency situations that made you happy you invested in quality gear, and good suspension maximises the grip of the tires which means stability, and stability means safety.

The other advantage of a focused suspension setup is load carrying ability and clearance. Standard suspension sags easily under load, reducing clearance over bumps. And when the car is riding a bit lower than normal it won't perform to its best, so most aftermarket kits incorporate a small lift to the car which restores the correct ride height under moderate loads. And while many people replace the suspension on brand new cars - yes, it's that good - suspension is very much a replaceable and consumable part too, just as tires are, but it wears slowly so people often don't notice the deterioration until it's changed and they can't believe how nicely the car handles.

Finally, you'll need to get home again and maybe it's dark, very dark with no streetlights where you enjoy your walks. That's where you find most standard headlights are wanting, and the power of auxiliary driving lights makes a huge difference, like a proper torch compared to your phone's flashlight function. There's no need for big, heavy lights either...a small, unobtrusive light bar is all you need. Plenty of those from the likes of Ironman 4X4 too.

It's easy to say you don't need any of this gear, and that's arguably true. Just like those who'd say they could do with standard, or low-budget hiking shoes. But we know once they try proper boots there's no going back, and it's the same way with cars. Everything has to be fit for purpose, right?