Rosco862003
Adventurer
I start this post as a catalyst for a healthy discussion on what most people find to be essential and what other find to be excess. Seeing as how this is the internet, it will be nice to get feedback on a global perspective. Even here in the US we have a great variety of climates and conditions that warrant the use of different items when we head out for our trips.
I'll also give a bit of information about myself and where I stand. I am a 26 year old full time student ad full time draftsman or 3D CAD guy..many names for what I do, but I draw things in Autocad and other Autodesk programs to put things simply. The nature of my business dictates that I work regular 40 hour weeks sometimes and 60+ hour weeks others. So finding time to go out on a weekend trip can prove difficult sometimes. I live in Charlotte, NC and drive a 2006 Impreza 2.5i wagon 5 speed. I actually like it a good bit and am happy with my decision to get something that gets good mpg, has an awesome crash rating, and has the ability to grow with me and my make believe family! Prior to that I drove a 93' Miata that had no heat or AC the drivers side window did not roll up, The back window zipper did not work, it had over 400k miles, overheated, leaked oil, didn't have space for any of my 3 dogs. However, on the right day, with the top down and the tunes blasting there is no other vehicle I'd rather be driving at that point in time. Now I'm sure there are some of you who view the Miata as a hairdresser's car and some of you who appreciate it like I do, but that's not the point I'm making here. The point is that the car didn't have a number of basic ammenities that today we would we wouldn't dare do without in a brand new car, but all those things seemed to become irrelevant when I was on a twisty road. My first vehicle was an 88' Cherokee that was stock and probably logged more offroad miles than pavement mile. It was alot of fun and due to my teenage induced feeling of being unstoppable and disregard to vehicle damage I was able to take it more places than my buddies with 35's, lockers and SUH-WEET light bars could go.
Now that I'm 26 and have a Subaru that is pretty low to the ground in comparison to most of what you guys are driving. I often wonder if anyone with a 100 series Cruiser would do a straight trade with me or why I didn't get the WRX like every one of my friends told me I should . I wanted a basic mode of transport that would not only get me from point to point B, I wanted to get from point A to point B with a smile on my face, safely, and have money in my pocket, and fuel in my tank to take a spontanteous trip to point C. Between all the bills, school, and car payments there isn't much money left for modifications and a custom build of my car, so I'm left wondering which modifications will give me the best ROI (return on investment). I has served me well as a roadtrip vehicle and has gotten as high as 32 mpg on the hwy (driving 65 mind you) and I find myself wanting to get it a bit dirtier lately.
Within the next month or so I want to make a beach trip with a few friends and think that I won't run into too many issues with the stock setup. By summer I would like to get up to the mtns. of NC and do some wandering around. The ultimate question I am asking I guess is what items have you found to be necessary as opposed to items you find take up space and were a waste of money? At what point does form bypass function in your vehicles? Take a step back and really look at all the items you have on your vehicle. Do we really need all this stuff? I'm not knocking our infactuation with these items, if I did I wouldnt be on a vehicle based overland site. But I am curious how much lift you find necessary, how many lights we need that put an extra load on the electrical system, etc, etc.
I'll also give a bit of information about myself and where I stand. I am a 26 year old full time student ad full time draftsman or 3D CAD guy..many names for what I do, but I draw things in Autocad and other Autodesk programs to put things simply. The nature of my business dictates that I work regular 40 hour weeks sometimes and 60+ hour weeks others. So finding time to go out on a weekend trip can prove difficult sometimes. I live in Charlotte, NC and drive a 2006 Impreza 2.5i wagon 5 speed. I actually like it a good bit and am happy with my decision to get something that gets good mpg, has an awesome crash rating, and has the ability to grow with me and my make believe family! Prior to that I drove a 93' Miata that had no heat or AC the drivers side window did not roll up, The back window zipper did not work, it had over 400k miles, overheated, leaked oil, didn't have space for any of my 3 dogs. However, on the right day, with the top down and the tunes blasting there is no other vehicle I'd rather be driving at that point in time. Now I'm sure there are some of you who view the Miata as a hairdresser's car and some of you who appreciate it like I do, but that's not the point I'm making here. The point is that the car didn't have a number of basic ammenities that today we would we wouldn't dare do without in a brand new car, but all those things seemed to become irrelevant when I was on a twisty road. My first vehicle was an 88' Cherokee that was stock and probably logged more offroad miles than pavement mile. It was alot of fun and due to my teenage induced feeling of being unstoppable and disregard to vehicle damage I was able to take it more places than my buddies with 35's, lockers and SUH-WEET light bars could go.
Now that I'm 26 and have a Subaru that is pretty low to the ground in comparison to most of what you guys are driving. I often wonder if anyone with a 100 series Cruiser would do a straight trade with me or why I didn't get the WRX like every one of my friends told me I should . I wanted a basic mode of transport that would not only get me from point to point B, I wanted to get from point A to point B with a smile on my face, safely, and have money in my pocket, and fuel in my tank to take a spontanteous trip to point C. Between all the bills, school, and car payments there isn't much money left for modifications and a custom build of my car, so I'm left wondering which modifications will give me the best ROI (return on investment). I has served me well as a roadtrip vehicle and has gotten as high as 32 mpg on the hwy (driving 65 mind you) and I find myself wanting to get it a bit dirtier lately.
Within the next month or so I want to make a beach trip with a few friends and think that I won't run into too many issues with the stock setup. By summer I would like to get up to the mtns. of NC and do some wandering around. The ultimate question I am asking I guess is what items have you found to be necessary as opposed to items you find take up space and were a waste of money? At what point does form bypass function in your vehicles? Take a step back and really look at all the items you have on your vehicle. Do we really need all this stuff? I'm not knocking our infactuation with these items, if I did I wouldnt be on a vehicle based overland site. But I am curious how much lift you find necessary, how many lights we need that put an extra load on the electrical system, etc, etc.
a bit when I see a jacked up LC or Cherokee with all the off-road gear parked at the shopping center. (Of course, it may be that if the owner lives in an apartment or small house, and in that case it might make sense to leave that stuff on there rather than to try and find a place to store it, but I think most of the people who leave their gear on like that are just doing it because it looks salty.)
