I'm a 65 year old woman living off grid in northern California. I currently have a manual 2003 Honda Civic hybrid that I bought new. Been driving that for 17 years and it has 200,000 miles on it. That car has been the most dependable vehicle I have ever owned. When I bought the car I got the extended battery warranty which I used when the hybrid battery died one month before the warranty expired! The only other things that I had to deal with were struts and the ac, and I've pretty much repaired anything that needed attention over the years. My previous cars were 4wd and AWD Subarus. I have two issues right now. First is that I've been driving this poor little car up and down a rugged dirt road every day for a long time and it clearly doesn't like it, so I'm inching toward getting another car that's better for the conditions. The next thing is that I'm going into retirement and want a vehicle that I can travel in, but that can also handle the normal off road conditions of my primary residence, which are actually rougher than where I would probably travel to. I've watched countless hours of videos and read hundreds of articles trying to decide which vehicle to get. What I want is something suitable for a solo traveler that's versatile as a part time daily driver. Been looking at the older Honda Element, which may fit the bill, and does have a manual transmission option. Thinking about all the small cargo Vans (Ford, Ram, Nissan) all with front wheel drive that I could put a bed in, etc. I see some people also lift these and put larger all weather tires on and I'm wondering about doing that. The other thing I've been pondering is getting some sort of mini van or suv and removing the back seats. I'm leaning more towards the mini van option, but have heard Scotty giving the thumbs down to the Grand Caravan, which I'm seriously thinking about. My understanding is that they're made in Canada, and are very popular there. I've also read that they can go 300k miles. Right now they're pretty cheap here in California, even for a late model one. If I bought one with an extended warranty would that be ok? I love the stow and go situation with the seats, and that it's easy to get rid of the seats altogether. Gas mileage seems ok. The other thing I've also started looking at is the Volkswagon All Track and the other late model Golf wagon. Those have a lot of space for one person, get darn good gas mileage, and come in a manual, which I want. So, I would love any feedback/guidance. I really want camper friendly, good ground clearance, manual transmission (ideally, but not absolute), and of course, very reliable. Thanks for helping me think about this.