Expedition (touring) vehicle ideas - wagon or ute?

[TheOtherLeft]

Hiya seasoned travellors,

This is my first post, have done a lot of short 4WDing but nothing that really counts as expedition, although down here in Australia we call it "touring" ;-p

I'm researching into suitable vehicles for touring duties. As my dream is to take it overseas I don't want to have to tow a caravan/CT etc. So this will pretty much limit me to a roof top tent.

It would have to have 4/5 seats and be auto.

So would you get a ute with canopy/trademen box or a wagon?

I like the idea of dual cab ute with box on the tray that can house the fridge, stove, stores etc with a roof topper on top.

Plus when used as a DD I can remove the box and save quite a bit of weight.

What do people think of the new Mitsu Tritons? I know the Toyos are very popular around the world but what other brands are popular, and hence get spares/repairs for?

As it will be a DD I can't really venture into the Muso/Mog territory...

 

[miller_au]

Hey mate welcome to the forum..

in my opinion the ultimate tourer is a dual cab patrol or land cruiser.

now of course they didnt come out of the show room that way but make for great touring rigs! spaceous, tuff and easy to come by.

 

[TeriAnn]

My suggestion would be to define the roles that you wish the vehicle to carry out, then list the features needed to carry out each role. Next merge the feature sets of each role into a single vehicle feature list. All this will help define the vehicle that is best suited for your particular needs.

Use this feature set to help you identify which vehicle best fits your individual needs. No one vehicle is likely to have all the features you need so being easily modifiable to add the additional features you need is also an important feature.

Just asking other people what they like may get you a vehicle ideally suited for someone else but doesn't meet your specific needs. Only you can know what you need.

If you end up with multiple vehicles that can meet your needs well you might ask this group for their advise about such things as reliability or which is best for doing specific things.

Personally, I think Long Wheel base Defenders are as close to the perfect expedition rig as you can get because they are reasonably tough and capable directly from the factory, their rectangular interior and bolt on construction lends themselves to be easily modified to fit your individual needs. But I'm strongly biased towards Series & Defender Land Rovers and my needs are likely quite different from your needs. What's perfect for any individual on this list may not be close to perfect for you.