Here's What Everyone Is Driving On The 2026 Alcan 5000

It takes a special kind of enthusiast to want to take on the adventure of the Alcan 5000. This is a several-thousand-mile drive across some of the most remote parts of Canada and Alaska, across some pretty serious sections of road that spend much of the year buried under a blanket of snow and ice. Each of us has prepared for this adventure in a different way, buying or building a wide variety of automobiles to run. We're a couple of days into this journey and we haven't really gotten to the hard part of the trip yet, but I wanted to show you exactly what level of car is on this trip so you might be able to prepare for your own Alcan adventure in the coming years. 

The next winter rally is in two years, which requires a whole other level of preparation for ridiculous sub-zero temperatures. I'm not sure I want to subject myself, or my car, to that level of cold. The next summer rally is coming in 2030, so you have plenty of time to get prepared for another event with similar weather to the one I'm on right now. You know, assuming the oceans haven't boiled off, America hasn't decided to go to war with Canada, and humanity hasn't starved itself to extinction by then. 

You might be surprised to find out that this rally doesn't require quite the level of prep that you have in mind. Certainly you might want a bit of ride height, a certain level of sidewall, and some semblance of decent fuel economy to make your adventure a little easier. Here's a rundown of what everyone has brought along, and what I think makes a great Alcan 5000 rally car. 

You might not be all that surprised to see that the largest group of entrants in the Alcan 5000 chose some form of German luxury SUV for their rally steed, myself included. In fact, there are four Porsche Cayennes and two Volkswagen Touaregs on this rally (including my own 2013 Cayenne Diesel). What can I say? They're great cars, providing tons of comfort, reliability, and reasonable fuel economy, plus they're reasonably well supported for things like skid plates from brands like Eurowise and Rennline. After a couple of days of experience — we're a couple thousand miles into this trip now — it's clear this rally requires something with a semblance of decent fuel economy and plenty of fuel range as the gas stops are few and far between in the farther reaches of the rally. 

Bradley C Brownell

My Cayenne Diesel will easily clear 700 miles of range on a tank in perfect conditions, and the longest day on this rally is around 820 miles, so I can do each day with a single fill-up. Some of the large trucks and more powerful SUVs don't have the luxury, and have to carry fuel cans just to make sure they can get to the next gas stop.

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In addition to the Cayennes and Touaregs, there is a really nice BMW X5 and a brand new Ineos Grenadier doing the journey with us. So far nobody has had a major breakdown, but the Ineos guys shipped their truck out west from Eastern Canada and somewhere along the way some ne'er-do-wells broke into the truck and stole their tools and fuel cans. Oh, and their infotainment system doesn't work, so they haven't had music or navigation since they showed up to the start of the rally.

It wouldn't be a long-legged adventure journey without some trucks doing truck stuff, right? The roads aren't icey right now, but there's enough torque in some of these jacked up monster jammers to rip the tarmac (and their tires) to shreds. Trucks are quite prevalent up here in Northern Canada, but so far I haven't seen very many of them with power adders or lift kits, they're just out doing truck stuff. The Americans on the Alcan 5000 had to show the Canadians how we do it down south. 

Bradley C Brownell

The two biggest machines on the rally are a Ford F-350 Super Duty Tremor with a multi-foot lift-kit and a freshly-built Ford Raptor R-based Hennessey VelociraptoR 1000. Ford sent a Bronco Raptor, and Toyota has some engineers here in a Lexus GX550 and a Toyota Tundra. Two entrants brought Jeep Wranglers. I don't envy any of their fuel economy. A few of them told me they needed to pull out their Rotopax full of fuel just to make it to the next gas station. 

Bradley C Brownell

There is another group of the folks taking on the Alcan who are more sensible, more steady-handed, and the most fiscally responsible among us. They are the normies. There is no grandstanding or peacocking here, just a group of folks driving normal everyday daily drivers on a 5,000 mile journey of human and vehicular endurance. These are the true heroes of this event. 

Bradley C Brownell/Jalopnik

The roads that we are on are driven every day by the folks who live here, usually in nothing more special than whatever they bought off the showroom floor. Why should a trip across public roads be any different? Of course, we haven't hit the hard roads yet, like the Dempster Highway, so they might change their tune at that point, but I'm not sure there can be a better car for this journey than a Honda Pilot on steelies, or a Volkswagen Golf TDI. 

Friends of the blog Andy and Mercedes Lillienthal are present in a Subaru Forrester Wilderness with tons of sponsorship and corresponding livery, but it's still a reasonably stock normie car underneath all of the skid plates, auxiliary lights, and cool wheels. This is probably the best prepared car here, and because this is the couple's fifth Alcan, I'm inclined to believe they know what they're doing.  

The one group that I think might be a little more absurd than all the others, but the one I actually kind of envy and wish I'd been brave enough to join, is the two-wheelers. These guys are seriously dedicated to the craft of motorcycling, bringing all of the gear they need, including spares and extra fuel, along for the ride. There are only four on this journey, though another group was apparently signed up and bailed at the last minute when one of their number had a health scare. This group sticks together through thick and thin, and each of them has the backs of their fellow riders. It's amazing to see, and they're super cool. 

Maybe in four years when the rally hits a summer run again, I'll gather up the gumption to bring my BMW GS out for 11 long days in the wild north with a group of like-minded dinguses. There's no sense of competitive spirit among them, they aren't trying to do the TSD competition at all, they're just here for the adventure. That's what's up, man. Get on your bike and ride.