I will admit that the title that I chose for this article was mostly tongue-in-cheek. There is obviously, no ultimate prepper vehicle. What works for me may not work for you. However, I do want to take the opportunity to make the case for what I think is an excellent prepper vehicle: the minivan. Yes, the lowly, oft-mocked minivan. The “Loser Cruiser” as one of my buddies put it when I drove up one day. As I sensed he was attacking my manhood I responded that if he was getting his manhood from the car he drove, he had much bigger problems than I could help him with! Let’s take a look at why I think this type of vehicle is perfect for a prepper.
First of all, some background and personal experience: My wife and I got our first minivan in the early 2000s. It was a 1994 Dodge Caravan my brother in law was getting rid of and he only wanted $1000 for it so we grabbed it up. It was fire engine red so we called it Clifford the Big Red Van after a character from a book our daughter loved as a child. It was nice, but very basic. We kept the third row seat out permanently as we only had one child and almost never used it. The second row seat was removable but it was a bear to move it. It was unwieldy and weighed a ton. It was hassle enough that I would think long and hard about whether I really needed to take it out to put whatever large item I had into the van.
It also had an aftermarket alarm system installed by the owner prior to my brother in law. (Are minivans really hot on the stolen car circuit?!) I don’t know how this thing was wired but it had a red light and a green light. If the red light came on, the alarm was armed and it could only be disarmed by multiple presses of one of the buttons, which sometimes disarmed it and sometimes didn’t. If it turned red and you turned the car off, you could not get it restarted with the red light on so we constantly had to keep an eye on it. I had two different alarm installers look at it but they said it was so wired into the whole system they were afraid to mess with it for fear of causing other problems.
Even with those issues, Mrs. Spotlight loved it. She drove it every day and we never worried about how much stuff we wanted to take on a trip. In 2008 Clifford breathed his last and we got a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country Touring. Talk about an upgrade! This thing had leather, heated seats, folding middle and third row seats and more bells and whistles than we could have imagined. Mrs. Spotlight really loved this car and I did too. We drove it everywhere, on more trips than I can count, loaded it up with garden supplies, suitcases, wood, etc. You name it; it went into that van.
The only thing my wife did not like was the color, navy blue with grey interior. But, buyers of used cars don’t get to pick their colors. We drove that until December 2018 when we bought the same exact model only 10 years newer, a 2015 Town & Country with only 7,800 miles on it. Again, even though it’s the same model, it has many more upgrades. Heated steering wheel! I thought that was the dumbest thing ever until I tried it and it is actually kind of nice! This thing is like riding in a limousine. People laugh at us since our only child is grown and married and we still have a minivan but the laughing stops when they get in they see how roomy and comfortable it is. We like to go antiquing and the van is perfect for that. One thing my wife didn’t like: the color. It is literally the same exact color, navy blue with grey interior! Sorry, honey!Continue reading“The Ultimate Prepper Vehicle, by Spotlight”