Random Best Cars for Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland (20 items)

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  (#17) McLaren P1

  This one's not quite as crazy as it sounds. Think about it: The P1 is a plug-in hybrid, which means it gets 34 mpg in steady cruising and does even better with an electric charge. Of course, being a hybrid, solar power is always an option if the undead hordes do steal all of your guzzoline, and zombies are ironically eating hipster brains around the nearest supercharger station. The P1's got magnetic suspension that can immediately adapt to any road surface, whether it's post-apocalyptic or even as bad as Detroit today. And if you let the chainsaw-arm Nazi zombies catch you in this thing, you deserve to get eaten.  
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  (#13) Fox Body Mustang

  Sure, a new Mustang might be faster, but old five-ohs are just bullet-proof. All right, not literally -- so don't count on it to save you from bands of Mauser-wielding atomic Nazis. But it's a tough car, shares parts with almost every other Ford from the era, and it's simple enough to fix with a hammer. Even fuel-injected Foxes used some of the simplest and most fool-proof EFI systems ever made; practically every "plug and play" aftermarket EFI setup today is based on the five-oh's mass-air/multipoint system. So, this 'Stang has the giddy-up that won't let you down when it counts. 
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  (#16) Tesla Model X

  • Tesla

  The new Tesla Model X is all electric, which might seem like a bad thing in the wasteland. Think about it, though: you've got a huge roof, a trailer hitch, and access to all the free solar panels on the continent. If you can find just a bit of time to plan ahead before the mutants show up, you could put together an SUV/flatbed-trailer combo that will run forever on nothing but sunlight. Of which you should have plenty in the average wasteland.

  The fact that the Model X is also stupid fast and can haul half a dozen other survivors may prove helpful, too. Especially since those huge rear "falconwing" doors seem almost tailor-made for door gunners. Paint the Model X green, and you've pretty much got a Huey with the speed of an Apache and infinite fuel, to boot. 
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  (#5) Caterpillar 797B

  Two words: Rolling. Fortress. If you haven't seen it before, meet the biggest truck in the world. With a curb weight of just a hair over 1.3 million pounds, a payload capacity of 690,000 pounds, and a towing capacity of "everything," the 797 is just the vehicle you need if your survival strategy involves relocating the remainder of humanity in a mobile castle and crushing everything in your way at 42 mph. You'll want the 797B model instead of the newer "F" model. It's got wider tires and an 1,800 diesel fuel tank - almost double the capacity of the "F." Which you'll probably need, seeing as how its fuel economy is best measured in barrels per mile.

  That said, the 797B does have a trick up its sleeve: it's a diesel-electric hybrid, which means you could hypothetically mount every solar cell in the world to it and never run out of juice. And you might as well load up with a half-million pounds of lithium-ion batteries while you're at it. You can find these trucks and those batteries around the Nevada-California border, where several large mines are conveniently located near Tesla's brand-new lithium battery manufacturing plant.  
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  (#4) Local Motors Rally Fighter

  If you had to sit through the last Transformers movie, you're probably thinking the world was about due for destruction anyway. Especially after watching a car literally punch a guy in the head. But you might have appreciated the rest of that scene, featuring as it did these beasts from Los Angeles-based Local Motors.

  The fact that it looks like it just pulled in from the harshest stretch of Fury Road is almost good enough in itself, but this LS7-powered monster is no silver screen poser. It is absolutely as bad as it looks, thanks in no small part to a mid-mounted 6.2-liter GM E-ROD engine. It's an LS-series V-8, so spare parts shouldn't be too hard to come by if you ditch it while hammering through the badlands. Not that that will matter, since the Rally Fighter is so tough, it would probably survive another nuclear holocaust. 
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  (#15) Mitsubishi Evo IX

  If you have to think this one over too hard, enjoy getting eaten by zombies. 

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