4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Trailhead condition requests, questions, alerts, etc.
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Carl_Healy
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4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by Carl_Healy »

I grew up in Elizabeth, Colorado southeast of Denver in the 90s and early 2000s.
My family never owned a 4WD vehicle. They had a 97 F-150 and an 02 F-150 (the latter of which I still drive today as a hand-me-down).

Now my family never really was much "for the outdoors," at least when growing up, so it's not like we ever were really "needed" a vehicle that could make troublesome mountain trailheads.
But Elizabeth on the Palmer Divide would certainly see slightly harsher winters and more snow than Denver.

Still though, my family never had a 4WD vehicle (until I basically left for college anyway), and I also feel like most the people I grew up with in the area (Elizabeth, Castle Rock, Parker, Denver) didn't have 4WD either.

My question I guess is: am I'm misremembering things? I feel like 20 years ago most people in Colorado just didn't have 4WD vehicles.
Again access to the more difficult trailheads in the mountains is one thing, but I got the impression that most people I knew growing up in Colorado 20 years ago didn't bother with getting 4WD vehicles if they pretty much only ever drove around the Front Range area and Denver.
I feel like that could almost still hold today. That is, if you're only going to be driving in snow in the Denver Metro area then sure, 4WD is very nice to have, but it's not like it's 100% necessary. At least in my experience for driving around Denver in winter (save the few really big blizzards).

Regardless, whenever I do get a new vehicle, it'll without a doubt be 4WD.
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peter303
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by peter303 »

I got to 35 trailheads with just a sedan. I read another 10 are pissible. Sometimes you have to walk a couple extra miles.
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by justiner »

20 years ago my Brother had a Subaru Justy! It's a 4WD but you know: com'on.

Before that he had a Bronco, which he flipped, and a Jeep, which... which he flipped.
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by Conor »

Everyone says you need a 4wd. You dont. I never had one until like 2016, when i bought a landcruiser. My wife still drives a 4wd sedan. We have snow tires mounted on separate rims, but we didn't start that until 2019.
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by planet54 »

~
Last edited by planet54 on Mon Sep 27, 2021 8:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

What was the question?
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by Carl_Healy »

SchralpTheGnar wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 9:09 pm What was the question?
I guess the question is whether or not you think people need 4WD here, especially if they pretty much only drive around Denver and not to mountain trailheads.

A lot of my friends moving in from out of state are of the mind set that "you must own a 4WD vehicle to move here" but that's not the sentiment I got from everyone I knew growing up around here.
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by cedica »

Ask not what your 4WD can do for you, ask what you can do for your 4WD.
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by kingshimmers »

Of course you don't need 4WD. 4WD/AWD is nice to have on snow, but how many days does any reasonable accumulation of snow stick around on the Front Range or in Denver proper? Even for mountain driving in the winter it's a nice to have but if I had to pick only one, I'd choose good snow tires over all-wheel-slide. It's nice for some trailheads, but the 2WD/low clearance trailheads usually only add a few extra miles of hiking. I'm probably in the minority, but I've lived on the Front Range (Denver, Boulder, Nederland) almost my entire life and have only ever owned sedans, though the current one is admittedly AWD. Yes, if you move down to Silverton and venture off the beaten path into the San Juans every weekend you should probably upgrade your Prius, but most people "moving to Colorado" don't need a 4Runner to drive from their suburban Denver home to Breckenridge for their two summer camping trips and 4 days of skiing.
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by Dave B »

If I had to guess, I'd say ~50% of FRange cars are 2wd, so obviously you don't need AWD/4WD here. With that said, I will never ever buy a 2WD car, why intentionally handicap yourself? Especially if you like going to the mountains.
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by habaceeba »

Yeah, who needs 4wd? I love it when there's 3" of snow on the road and I have to wait for all the sedans that can't get traction. The additional 30 minutes added to my 15 minute commute is awesome.
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Re: 4WD in Colorado's Front Range

Post by JTOlson26 »

peter303 wrote: Sun Sep 26, 2021 7:34 pm I got to 35 trailheads with just a sedan. I read another 10 are pissible. Sometimes you have to walk a couple extra miles.
I have pissed at more than 45 trailheads for sure!

In all seriousness, I grew up in Woodland Park in the 90s and we always had 4WD vehicles. I guess Woodland Park is a little "above" the front range, but we also skied on most weekends in the winter or any day school was off as my dad was a teacher.
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