2002 Protege5 Mod for Rural Road
 

I'm pursuing a rural property with 2.5 miles of dirt road to and from the property. That's 5 miles a day on slightly rough road. Eventually I can buy an SUV, but my Protege is basically ok on it, just not ideal, so maybe there are some appropriate cost effective mods I can do if I get the property. :huh:

I believe it is county, however, the zoning out there is residential/agricultural, with minimum 5 acre lots. Pretty sparsely populated so they aren't going to pave it. It is ok, probably graded once in a while. It has two problems:
1. typical wash boarding in some spots which just happens on dirt roads that aren't wonderfully maintained, especially if its dry.
2. some rocky bits

I can get over it ok in my Protege, but twice a day is going to beat on the standard suspension I fear. Wonder if there are some reasonably priced coil-over or other adjustable suspension to get a bit more "off road" compliance and isolate the chassis a bit more than a typica road car.

I don't think you'll have to worry about the suspension taking a beating as long as you drive down it at a moderate speed. I would be more concerned for the days where it rains. We used to live off a dirt road when I was a kid (granted it was only 1/8 mile) in northern California and even with 4x4 trucks there were a couple of times when it rained for a few days straight that we got stuck in our dirt driveway. One time my dad got our 2wd truck stuck then the 4x4 trying to pull the first truck out. Then our friend got his 4x4 stuck trying to pull out my dads and then finally my dad got his 4x4 tow truck stuck trying to get that truck out. Luckily we had a huge oak tree in the field across from our driveway and my dad used the tow truck cable to pull all of the trucks out together by putting tow straps between each.

That's a little concerning. . . .

I don't think it will be as bad here in Southern California though. It also depends on how hard packed the dirt on the road is and what type of dirt. Some gets slick while other packs down and gives more traction. The Silverwood trail that we ran is a perfect example. When it rains you have a lot more traction than when it's dry.

Drive your Jeep!

It is mostly quite hard packed with a fair bit of clay. My guess is more slick than "mud trap".

@Damian Adam is now the owner of my Jeep! I traded it for some legal services.

If this goes through though, I'll almost certainly tradeout our almost new xD for the upcoming Renegade, which would be size and style appropriate for my wife.

If, you drive it slow you will be ok, I don't think the dirt out there will mud up too bad.