These Are Your Ideal Bug-Out Cars

Just on my own? A mountain bike and BOB trailer. With that I can pack enough supplies, tent, single burner stove, fuel, portable solar panel, water purifier, etc. Pedal power means not relying on a source of gas or diesel, or in the case of EVs not relying on the power grid to stay up. If the highways are clogged with people escaping, the MTB gives access to trails, cut lines, power line right-of-ways… places that people with cars can’t go. Escape becomes much easier. 

Submitted by: JohnnyWasASchoolBoy

I hear all the cool kids are bikepacking off their gravel bikes now. 

A spicy take for a car mag, but I’d have to go with my sailboat.

Comfortable enough to live aboard with the whole family (at least for a few weeks). Able to produce its own drinking water. I need to install solar panels but a full tank of diesel will last a while. Able to cross oceans and get out of dodge reliably. 

Submitted by: 987.1

This isn’t the most exciting answer you are going to get, but it’s my little 2021 Crosstrek. All she needs is a basket on the roof for gas cans and my family of 4 is good to go. No, it doesn’t have the clearance of a Jeep or a Bronco, but it doesn’t have to. It’s a little mountain goat, and reasonably comfortable on the road. Surprisingly, my teenagers prefer the backseat in it to the backseat of my Charger. Go figure.

It’ll take us anywhere we need to go, with everything we need to bug out with. It’ll swallow 4 duffel bags and a cooler.

Submitted by: Corey Stringer

Toyota RAV4 PHEV with solar array on the roof and AT tires. 500mi/day on gasoline, still up to 40mi every 2 or 3 days once the gasoline is scarce (depends on your scenario). Super-reliable, room for family and gear, not 4WD but still AWD with almost 300lbft EV torque and decent ground clearance. Tons of off-road accessories available now. Cheap and plentiful parts from the millions of other standard RAV4s littering your post-apocalyptic landscape. Plus it’s a practical daily, so you know it’s in good working order and you don’t have to buy/register/insure/maintain a separate vehicle. You basically answered your question with the top photo of the article, almost.

Submitted by: Enrique Cobas

HDT M1030-M1 Motorcycle, it is a heavily converted Kawasaki KLR650, with an engine that runs on diesel, jet fuel, kerosene, and other things, it has a 400 miles range, capable of running in at least two feet of water, and there’s black-out lighting, and an optional infrared headlamp, with a fuel economy of 96 mpg at 55 mph.

Submitted by: towman

I almost ran out of fuel when evacuating from Hurricane Milton in 2024. Most pumps were sold out and the few left running had massive lines of cars waiting with irritated drivers cutting in front of others and getting into arguments. I would not want to experience that again, or worse yet, have to fight for my fuel with paniced gun owners.

That’s why I’d still go for something electric that I could charge anywhere with an outlet. Charging a car from the outlet of a house or business might be slow, but it still beats running out of fuel or getting shot. Something like a Rivian R1T or Ford F-150 Lightning would have the cargo capacity to bring along more than just the essentials and enough ground clearance to do some off-roading if needed. I’d probably put a bicycle in the bed just in case I had to make a final last-ditch escape.

Submitted by: Satellitite

The obvious choice is the Pursuit Special, the last of the V8 Interceptors. It’s a fuel injected suicide machine. Nothing else could suffice when the world falls apart. 

Submitted by: Papa Chris

It’s probably worth mentioning that, in most “Mad Max” movies, the Interceptor does not in fact suffice and does die in some way. And that the “fuel-injected suicide machine” was in fact the Nightrider. The Interceptor was carbureted!

I’m keeping my Maverick hybrid. With 20 gallons of gas in jerry cans in the bed plus 13 in the tank I could run about 1500 miles to safety, assuming I stick to secondary roads and avoid the crazies. Plus, if gas in general got really expensive or hard to find those MPGs would be an amazing virtue.

Submitted by: BuddyS

My RV converted 30′ diesel pusher bus has a 3kW PV array on the roof and a hacked EV battery under the belly. The heat pump can heat or cool with no fuel. The fridge is electric. My bbq may be propane but the induction hot plate works just fine burning sunshine juice.

The 240L fuel tank can go 1400km if I keep it under 110kph. 

Submitted by: Daniel

I’m old, grew up on a ranch in Canada and remember guys from previous generations talking about the days when they needed to rely on their own resources to make a go of it. I like civilization. I’ll work to keep it going as long as I can. There’s no way I’m ‘bugging out’ ever. Most people with these fantasies are delusional about what it takes to go it alone. 

Submitted by: RWP

RWP is right, of course. Bugging out to the woods alone won’t help you. But there do come times when an area can become unsafe for everyone, and that’s when you want to bug everyone out.