Favorite 2-wheel drive cars for off-road :)

[Parnelli Bone]

Recently I've been doing a lot of off-road "Special Condition" races. Well, I used to assume only 4-wheel drive cars make good ones to drive, but just for fun, I wanted to see if it were possible to drive a Dodge Charger around Grand Canyon, thereby playing "Dukes of Hazzard".



I figured the Charger would be so clumsy, I'd simply have a run in the dirt towards the nearest wall, but boy was I wrong. Turns out the Charger happens to be the BEST muscle car I've found for off-roading.

It takes some finessing, of course, but the Charger orients itself quickly and actually dominates some races too easily, even tho it's a rear-drive car and I'm driving it against AWD Evos, the Audi Quattro, and Lancia Delta.

2-way diffs + semi-racing suspensions are great for rear-drive cars in Easy races, but once I start trying harder races, I'll no doubt need better parts. 💡




The Camaro is another great off-roader, although slightly harder to control. But still pretty fun.



The Triumph Spitfire can take on some Easy races, but hasn't got enough power to finish all of them. Nevertheless, once it's been tuned, it ZIPS around hairpins effortlessly at Citta d'Aria and Rally di Umbria.

I've also found the Datsun 240Z-G is good, too. With both the Spitfire and the Datsun, sometimes I'll need to re-locate some weight towards the rear to create more traction, usually about +25.

 

[bergauk]

Psst, It's Grand Canyon. I'd never take to stereotyping a 2wd drive car to be a bad idea on dirt because often I find that they're way better and less understeery. I don't really have any favorite car for offroading though.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Psst, It's Grand Canyon. I'd never take to stereotyping a 2wd drive car to be a bad idea on dirt because often I find that they're way better and less understeery. I don't really have any favorite car for offroading though.

Thanks. I'm a little hungover still. And I shoulda specified I meant driving a 2-wheel drive against 4-wheel drive opponents.

 

[Tornado]

The DeLorean is pretty good.

 

[ramchargerQC]

my favorite is the charger 440 R/T and the charger is pretty good on dirt/tarmac rally!

 

[Parnelli Bone]

The DeLorean is pretty good.

Really? That's a surprise. I'll have to try it.

Some bad cars: So far, I've found the '67 Mercury Cougar and Chevy Chevelle aren't very good. I mean, they have the power of course, but the Cougar gets too squirrely and the Chevelle is so damn nose-heavy..it only is happy once there's a straight line ahead.

 

[Paulie]

I used to have a Vectra for off roading. It wasn't very good.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

I find the new-body GTO to be quite capable off-road.

 

[mafia_boy]

A vote for the '97 Camaro Z/28 from me. I can beat a WRC Lancer with it and less than $12k of mods.

 

[Austin343]

The Elises are quite wonderful off-road, even in stock form. If you add a custom transmission, they become even better, because their primary drawback is the lack of pull at the bottom of second gear, where you tend to be when taking hairpins.

 

[Rykon Zero]

Damn, beat me to it. My favorite RWD off-road car is the Lotus Elise 111S, fully modded, white, with a matching wing. My favorite front-wheeler is my Peugeot 106 Rallye, also fully tuned.

 

[AERO_HDT]

PARNELLI!

I had the same idea and took some happy snaps of an orange Charger around the Canyon a long time ago, I can't believe you did the same!

It was such a hoot, I thoroughly enjoyed it, I saw this thread and thought to myself two wheel drive? There's only one 2WD car for rallying! The CHARGER!!!!

You took all the steam out of my intended post when I read your OP and I'm now giggling with laughter because I feel a kinship with you.

I am not alone! Everyone said I was nuts!

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Aero HDT: cooool 👍 Yea I know what you mean. Geez, I been playing GT4 now for 2 years, and still get surprised by new things. Sounds dumb, but I really was surprised by the Charger in the dirt. I used to watch the original Dukes of Hazzard when I was a kid, in which they drove a Charger around on dirt roads , doing 2-wheel stunts, flying thru the air, etc. It makes me wonder if the original TV show researched various muscle cars to see which one was best for such off-roading. 👍

I mean so far, the Charger is the best American muscle I've found. Not only fun but relatively easy to drive, even at Grand Canyon and Tahiti Maze!




Mafs & Paulie: jeez, I figured one of you guys might bring up a Holden or something!

 

[Rykon Zero]

Well, seeing your enthusiasm, I can't pass up an opportunity to prove you guys wrong. The time of judgment shall be next morning.

 

[Lucas]

My favourite is the Elise 111R. Incredible handling, boy 👍 Even against the Lancer Evo Super Rally Car, it finds its way though with a 10 second winning margin in Yosemite Rally Hard (the short version, I don't recall if it was I or II). Finesse handling was never so well-defined.

 

[PARAGON GT]

Some time ago I took a Charger out for a romp around Cathedral Rocks Trail I. I was inspired by one of the local TV stations that as running a Dukes of Hazzard marathon. So I popped in GT4, bought an Orange Charger and took it out for a spin. It was a blast! I have some good aerial shots of the car somewhere. I'll look for them a little later.

Aside from that one, I believe I have run the Elise 190, Pontiac GTO ('04), The Cobra (not that fun, but interesting) and the '83 Lancer.

 

[Tornado]

Really? That's a surprise. I'll have to try it.

If you're good with RR cars, it can put a hurt on the mid 90's WRC homologation models (Lancia Delta, Celica GT-Four, Evo III, etc.).

 

[PARAGON GT]

Oh wait, I have used a Ruf BTR too.

 

[mafia_boy]

Mafs & Paulie: jeez, i figured one of you guys might bring up a Holden or something!

Well, I don't mind taking an F6 around every now and again, but I prefer my JDM cars.

 

[skynyrd]

Another vote for the '69 Camaro, here.

Also, I find that all those older, lightweight, FR japanese cars are a lot of fun too.

 

[seanyb505]

I had fun with the Tommy Kaira zz-s

 

[MinoltaMan89]

Your Charger should be orange if you're playing "Dukes of Hazzard".
Anything lightweight and mid-engined (i.e. Lotus Elise) should be fairly good, I might have to try that.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Your Charger should be orange if you're playing "Dukes of Hazzard".
Anything lightweight and mid-engined (i.e. Lotus Elise) should be fairly good, I might have to try that.

Oh I have an orange one, too. The yellow one I call the "General Pee".

 

[PARAGON GT]

I guess you must be a real wiz driving that car.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

I guess you must be a real wiz driving that car.

Yea I am. Every time I drive it, matter of fact every time I drive it, seems I really gotta go. boo

 

[AERO_HDT]

Rofl!

 

[MinoltaMan89]

Oh i have an orange one, too. The yellow one i call the "General Pee".

 

[SVX]

You should try the Mini Marcos GT its quite good,I've only tried it on Cathedral Rocks II
in arcade mode(Witch is now my favorite Rally track)It just needs some more power and new gears(FC)

 

[Parnelli Bone]

You should try the Mini Marcos GT its quite good,I've only tried it on Cathedral Rocks II
in arcade mode(Witch is now my favorite Rally track)It just needs some more power and new gears(FC)

I see. This will work in Arcade mode, but my experience so far is that front-drives don't do so well in the actual Special Condition races, with a few exceptions here and there.

Of course, maybe I haven't found the right FWD yet. I tried a Civic SiR several times...no go. It just can't keep up with AWD ai. It sometimes works to drive a FWD against the '74 Lancer, tho.

 

[SVX]

I just did a tune for it giving it 135 BHP but it couldn't keep up,I was going against 200 BHP cars

EDIT:just tried a 89'Skyline GTS type M(R32) its quite good when you master it but its quite hard to do that because in some corners it spins out