Scout Car

"That's why I called you, Leon. I was hoping you still had the scout car we left with you last summer. The one my Dad rigged with the Tau Cannon."

- Alyx Vance

The Scout Car, also known as the Buggy, its model name, is a scrappy, rough terrain vehicle used on the Coast by the Resistance. It was probably used by individual Resistance members to scout enemy movements along the Coast.

Overview
The Scout Car has two wheel drive, disk brakes, independent suspension, and has only one seat. It is powered by a small V8 engine possibly from a salvaged generator located at the rear. It appears to be fueled by propane (a common fuel along with natural gas used for stationary generator sets) with the tank next to the driver's seat. Although not particularly nimble due to the bias-ply medium duty truck tires, the Buggy is ideal for getting from one place to the next with speed, and is well at home out on the open road. The Buggy seems to have been constructed using scrap metal and other salvaged objects. Its sound set was created from a library recording of a 1968 Camaro with stainless steel exhaust pipes and a highly tuned race engine.

The Scout Car is capable of a powerful Turbo boost, which gives it a sudden burst of acceleration. However, the vehicle becomes unstable and difficult to steer for the duration of the boost.

At some point, The Tau Cannon was attached to the Scout Car. An experimental directed-energy weapon that was designed in Black Mesa sometime before the Black Mesa Incident. In the first Half-Life it is an obtainable weapon. It was originally supposed to be taken off the car at lighthouse point by a member of the Resistance, and be used as a weapon on foot. It is ideal for clearing obstructions in the path of the vehicle and killing enemies such as Combine Soldiers and Zombies. Shortly before Gordon Freeman's arrival at the base where the Scout Car was housed (Shorepoint), Noriko, a Resistance member mounted an MP7 ammunition crate on the back.

Half-Life 2
After escaping Ravenholm, Gordon Freeman arrives at Shorepoint, a major Resistance base which was housing the Scout Car. In order to reach Nova Prospekt sooner, Gordon was given the Scout Car to take on his journey, with the permission of Leon, the base's leader. The Scout Car proved to be a very valuable vehicle for Gordon as he traveled along the coasts of Highway 17, and without it he most likely would not have made it in time. The last time Gordon saw the Scout Car was after the Combine overwhelmed Lighthouse Point; a dropship was seen carrying it away. A possible ramification of this is the fact that the Combine now possess the advanced weapons technology of the Tau Cannon, a fact which may be explored in later games.

Behind the scenes

 * In the WC mappack map " ", the Scout Car features a small screen beside the Tau Cannon. Eli (likely Eli Maxwell at this development stage) was to talk to the player through that screen. Unfortunately the scene and sound files are missing from the playable Half-Life 2 Beta files, preventing from precisely knowing the nature of the messages.

Trivia

 * The SMG ammunition crate features unlimited ammo.
 * During the Half-Life 2 chapters Highway 17 and Sandtraps, the player must use the Scout Car to travel along the Coast, eventually arriving at Lighthouse Point. If the Scout Car is destroyed (such as by falling off a cliff or being hit by a train) at any point during these two chapters, the player will be presented with a failure message and will have to resume from the last savegame.
 * The turbo feature on the Scout Car gives it a huge temporary speed boost, and is required for some jumps. However it makes steering almost impossible and makes controlling or stopping the Scout Car a challenge. It should only be used in open, straight areas or when climbing a steep hill.
 * Driving it in water will stop it. It then must be moved with the Gravity Gun.
 * Despite having headlights, it is not possible to turn them on. In addition, the flashlight cannot be used while inside the Scout Car.
 * If the player activates turbo while going full reverse, the jeep goes faster than when it is activated going forward.
 * The player's actual Scout Car is not really taken away. If the player goes out of the basement door of the Lighthouse, and moves as far as they can over the edge of the first platform without falling, they will hear gunfire start up and see the dropship carrying away a Scout Car. But, if the player walks back into the lighthouse and up to where the garage is visible, the Scout Car will still be there.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life 2
 * Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar