This is a bit odd, so I'd appreciate folks' thoughts.

My wife and I love to go out driving on the weekend. It's not at all uncommon for us to do a Sunday drive of 400 miles. We both love our Z06, but I'm tired of having to stick to only paved roads. We've driven every interesting paved road in mid-Florida many times. And when we go on trips, there are always lots of interesting-looking roads that we have to pass up because they are dirt or gravel.

So I'm thinking of maybe trading the Z for something that can be a great "sports car" on paved AND dirt roads. I don't want to do "off-roading", just your typical dirt/gravel road. But it still has to handle great and be fast and fun to drive on pavement AND it has to be reasonably smooth and comfortable on long highway runs. I know, I'm not asking much.

A typical profile for a long weekend might be to drive 500 miles up the freeway, then spend the next 2 days running hard through the mountains, and exploring any interesting paved OR dirt roads we find, then burning home on paved backroads.

So now I'm stumped. I don't even know if I should be looking at a car, truck, crossover, SUV, what. I drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 and LOVED it, but it's really much larger than what I need. I've also been thinking about an Evo or WRX, but I'm not sure if they're tough or comfortable enough. A Porsche Cayenne would probably be ideal, but new ones are out of my price range, and in any case I'm not sure I have the intestinal (or maybe pocketbook) fortitude to go flinging one around on gravel roads.

I'm totally open-minded. Car, truck, whatever. Has to be FUN, pavement or dirt, has to be comfortable, has to be "fast", has to handle, has to be able to turn a lot of miles without horrendous maintenance. Price range is up to $50k, but between 30 and 40 would suit even better. New or recent used.

Suggestions?

And is there anyone else out there who uses their car this way?

 

EVO or STi

 

WRX STi, or Lancer Evolution /

 

^ lol, touche.

 

Ford Raptor...with the 6.2L 400hp motor.

 

I rode in an Evo this past weekend, and it was nothing short of awesome. I would go with that.

 

/thread.

 

there really isn't a late model car better suited for this type of driving, imho, especially considering the money.

 

x2

close this shit thread

 

If you want something that is sharper for on-road driving but still fairly capable in dirt/gravel I'd go with the Mistubishi Lancer EVO. If you want something with a little more capability on the dirt back roads, I'd get the Subaru Impreza STI. Most of the reviews I've read say the STI street car is a little closer to it's rally roots and has softer suspension with longer travel, while the EVO is a little harder and more precise on pavement.