Difficult question. The choice of vehicle would depend greatly on what kind of zombies we're looking at.
Are we looking at Class A: Night of the Living Dead Zombies that shamble around and pathetically try to press their way through open windows and doors?
Or are we looking at Class B: Dawn of the Dead Zombies who run?
Or... worst of all, are we looking at Class Omega: I Am Legend virus-mutated humans with super-fast metabolisms, ungodly strength and speed, and the intelligence to actually turn doorknobs and train attack dogs?
If we're looking at Class Omega, I'd have to go for an armored van as the first vehicle of choice, with a power generator stolen from a hardware store running in the back to power banks of bright UV-rich flood lights.
But since we're likely talking a traditional zombie apocalypse, that gives us a wider choice of vehicles.
First off... if it's a zombie apocalypse, there's no safer place than living off-shore. Zombies don't breathe... so they don't float. And either way, the fish would eat them.
If you can't do that and actually have to live on land, my stable of vehicles would consist of:
An armored van. Plentiful where I live. Easy to find, easy to maintain. They all basically use medium-displacement old-tech Japanese diesels that will be fuel efficient and will easily run on fryer grease (bust into an abandoned McDonald's outlet and drain the fryers for a quick refill) and parts will be easy to scrounge up. Worst case scenario, you're over-run with zombies and the engine conks out. Chuck a grenade out the top hatch or through a gun-slit, blow them up, burrow your way out of the mound of twice-dead, rotting flesh, and find another armored van.
Once we've got all the supplies we need, we need to create our fort. If the fort is going to be inside the city (say, a boarded up condominium or government building with steel-shuttered entrances), we can go with one of these:
MB 300Ds run
forever. They can comfortably cruise at over 100 mph, and they'll run on biofuel. Hey... gotta have at least
one car with class, right? The question is whether any of the local armoring services will have one of these in the garage that's been given at least Level 1 armoring... and furthermore, I'd have to be the first to go after it.
If we pick a fortification out in the mountains or out in the country, some place with rugged terrain, far away from any possible zombies, I'd need one of these:
Easy to find them fully-kitted out for off-roading, old-school diesel (still) and tough as nails. If I'm lucky, said armoring service will be doing one of these. I'd pick an even more rugged BJ40 or LC70, but the LC80 gives you
both creature comforts
and off-roadability. The long and wide wheelbase will make it less prone to tipping over under the weight of a zombie attack.
If I couldn't get one, I'd be looking for a Patrol, but preferably an older one... the newer Patrols have that nasty direct injection diesel engine that conks out at the merest sniff of water in the fuel tank.
I'd love to do a big truck, but let's be realistic here... that truck would get you to your fort, but you'd go crazy trying to fuel it afterwards. Stay light, mobile, and keep a supply of diesel and lubricant (rescued from the local hardware) under your fort. As time goes on, you can squeeze fuel out of the food you eat. Vegetable oil from your... errh... vegetables (since I live on a tropical island, I can always harvest coconuts) and oil boiled out of animal fats to use for lighting torches.
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As it is, I'm only halfway prepared for the zombie apocalypse. I do have a fortified house, I have three diesel trucks that will run on anything (and they're naturally aspirated timing-gear equipped Isuzus, to boot... almost completely maintenance free... my Dad ran one of them up to 100,000 miles without looking at the oil in the crankcase...
), one quick car, and a nearby hardware store and armory I can stock up on. Only problem is I don't know how many shotgun shells I can hoard, and our deep well pump is electric... I'll need to hook up a generator to run the water.
:tup:
