We've met before, but it might be good if I re-introduced myself. My name is Matt and I have a vehicle modification habit. My friends and family have all tried to help me with this problem, but as hard as they try I pick up one car or bike or what ever after another and then begin to tinker with the damn thing until I get tired of it and move on to the next thing. The good news is that I usually learn a lot from each of these little experiments. The bad news is that each and every one of them turn into a whole in the ground where I toss money.
I didn't grow up that way. My Dad who is now 65 still owns the jeep he bought in 1984. You can see it in the image below (that's me in the foreground) on a trip around the Alpine Loop here in Colorado.
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Sure its seen better days, but that rust bucket of a crap heap is still driving over and around and through as well as it did (with perhaps a little less style) back when it was fresh minted off the AMC factory floor.
I've built new, I've built old and the same thing pretty much happens every time. I build for a while and then get bored and sell it.
So, fair friends, I need help. My wife and much better half has given me an ultimatum. Find a vehicle I can be happy with
for the next 10 years. So the search begins and inevitably my browser wonders in this direction and I see all the cool things you guys are doing to a variety of vehicle platforms that makes me drool with envy. Pick one, yea right. Ok how in the world am I going to pick one?
I've got a short list of requirements which I've hacked out below. In addition to this its important to note that I have a family. Usually there are three of us -- myself, my wife and our two year old. I have a 15 year old too who comes along when I can get the time from his mother (my ex). And finally, we like to take our dogs with as well (two, medium sized), but one of them is getting older and won't be with us too much longer. Come to think of it, the second won't make it to the end of the 10 year commitment unless she's very lucky, so the dogs coming is sort of temporary. Most of the trips I do in most of the vehicles I've worked on I've been the only occupant (with dogs).
Requirements:
- Vehicle should be pretty efficient: One of the more recent projects I've worked on was a 1983 VW Diesel L converted to a high top. It got on average about 32 miles per gallon. I know hard to achieve with a gasser, but I'm also not interested in paying for the amount of fuel a full sized, American truck is going to suck down. I will use this vehicle as a daily driver a lot of the time too, so its TCO has got to fall in my family's budget.
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- Vehicle should be able to seat four comfortably: We can put the dogs in the back. The vehicle is for going from place to place. Its a utility although I don't mind if you like the way it looks. Comfort is important to us, especially me at this point. Right now we share a 2006 Subaru forester which, to me, is a lot like driving a box a magician is supposed to escape. I'm not super tall, but I'm also not super human. Three hours in that vehicle and my legs ache, five and they're numb from the knee down.
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- Vehicle should be agile for tougher roads (say most Jeep roads) but not a rock crawler: So I've driven a 1969 VW beetle over Engineer Pass. Not easy, but possible. Frankly I don't want to do that again. What I'd prefer to drive over Engineer is something with a little more clearance, potentially a 4x4. It doesn't have to have 33"s, but it would be nice if someday it could take them for instance. I'd actually rather some narrower BFGs with durable rubber. I don't need a super crawler, I'd much rather park it at the trail head and run for a while.
- Should be able to sleep in vehicle easily in rain, snow, and crappy weather: Here's where I think it starts to get tricky. In the world I'd like to imagine I have an anonymous benefactor who sees what I'm trying to do and supplies me with an ever filling Swiss bank account, a large heated workspace, and more tools than I know what to do with. In this world I can make an RV that makes that six wheeled thing they had on the old Battle Star look silly. In this world, one of the things my wife has said is that it would be super cool if, when the weather ********************** outside, all I had to do to go to bed was slide back between the front seats. Add to this the fact that I have no anonymous benefactor and you see my challenge.
- It would be cool if parts aren't a nightmare: As cool as the VW was, parts were a freakin nightmare. I mean, have you ever tried to source the little bits of plastic that raise the winder sliders 2 mm so that they click shut? For this reason, I'm apt to chose newer over older. I've missed too many trail races and fun events because I was MacGyver-ing the hell out of something for which I needed a part. No more machine shop specials, no more out of production machines.
- There should be at least a little aftermarket (here in the US): For somethings I've learned its nice to be able to go to the catalog and just pick out the modification you're looking for. Sure, once it arrives in its brown box you might loose a little knuckle skin getting it in, but you can smile too because you know you're not going to have to weld anything. You don't need an electrical engineering degree to make it work (the diagrams right there with pictures and everything). And there's probably someone on the other end of the phone line who can walk you through installation or whatever because you're too dense to orient the instructions the right way.
- I should be at least a little familiar with the damn thing: In other words, lower the learning curve. I've messed around with a lot of VWs, Subarus, and Toyotas. Plus I have lots of military vehicle experience from the 90's. I want to be able to look under the hood and know where the water pump is, and potentially why its making that sound when I turn left. I realize that there are some similarities, but then there are some differences between makes and models and even vintages of cars.
My short list of potential vehicles includes these listed below. I keep thinking about candidates, but these are the ones I'm sure can go on the list for research at least.
- Toyota Tacoma Crew Cab 4x4 G2: I've owned this truck for a little while (then the ex got it and totaled it ... ouch!). It was awesome, not to big, not to gas hungry. Comfortable for me and three other people. Mostly easy to work on, with a fair aftermarket. And I could either build or buy what I need to make it overland worthy. I'm not partial to the G3s although I also haven't driven one, but it appears to me that Toyota decided that what they had wasn't *big* enough and so they changed one of the best things about their older models. The G1s on the other hand quickly run into the parts availability/reliability problem because they're just so old.
- Toyota 4Runner G2: I've stuck with a 1995 4Runner the longest I've ever owned a vehicle. Had fun with the one I had too. Very similar to the above in the way they work out, although in either case I'd probably take it to a master mechanic and let them give me the grand list of what needed fixing before I really started working on it.
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- Jeep Wranger Unlimited: Newer and much more expensive, but these are sexy. With an awesome aftermarket who wouldn't want one. But they're also not nearly as efficient as any of the above.
- Toyota FJ Cruiser: Sexy and new-ish, and after Toyota decided not to make them for the US anymore freakishly expensive. I've always liked these, but I also worry about parts and potential breakdowns in Guatemala. Plus they have the shortest wheelbase of anything on the list. Occasionally I see on that truly looks like its ready to serve, but then I've also seen a lot of them that look like plastic "wilderness man" toys that never make it off pavement.
Your opinions and comments are welcome. Remember I've got to like this car for the next 10 years.
