Expedition Vehicles: ridiculously overpriced or not

[dwh]

Wondering what Toyotas you are thinking of that would be suitable for a luxury overland camper?

Sorry, I actually meant to say Mitsubishi and brain farted. But now that you mention it...

 

[downhill]

"Traveling the world" and "really going off-road" are two different things.

According to many world travelers, pretty much everywhere has roads - but they are usually bad roads.

Hence the common distinction:

"An overland campervan is not an off-road vehicle - it is a bad road vehicle."

Big overland campervans are designed and intended to be motorhomes that can be lived in for years and survive 30,000 miles of bad road.

If they won't fit down someone's favorite little trail, that's fine - running trails is off-roading, not overlanding, and overland campervans are not off-road vehicles.

There are, of course exceptions to every rule, and some guys do like to off-road in their campervans. I seem to recall a guy with a 30,000 lb. mog getting it stuck in a dry lake bed that wasn't as dry as it looked (Hi, Charlie!).

But most try to avoid it if they can.


For world traveling, one of the main reasons for platform choice is global service and support. Mercedes and Toyota you can always get parts for and find a mechanic who can figure it out.

2018 F-650...no doubt it could be done, but maybe not as convenient.

There are paved roads in national parks where these monster rigs cannot go.

 

[charlieaarons]

There are paved roads in national parks where these monster rigs cannot go.

like the road in Yosemite Nat'l Park through the trunk of a redwood tree? True, but a pickup camper won't fit either. At 11'9" my "monster rig" is lower than a Lance on a F450 4x4. Anyways it fell down in 1969.
https://www.nps.gov/seki/faqtunnel.htm

Charlie

 

[Joe917]

There are very few places I can't get my MB917AF. My truck has been to more than 45 countries.

 

[calicamper]

I suspect the great majority of the $500k+ expedition RV owners are not doing anything extreme. Mild dirt road traveling would be about it. If you wanted to travel the world and really go offroad, a Mog with a custom box would be a better choice vs a Ford truck chassis.

Actually if world travel / cruise is the plan then the EXpedition Rig has been around for 100+ yrs already. It floats and sails via wind power. The land based crazy built madness is simply a by product of a strong economy. Patigonia was done 50yrs ago in beater 2wd vans and crude dirt bikes.

Many friends cruise the world on sailboats that cost a fraction of what these fancy RVs sell for.

 

[Joe917]

There are many parallels between sailboats and expedition vehicles, from systems to costs to owners.(sailboats, ridiculously overpriced or not)

 

[unkamonkey]

This has been an interesting read but I drive my old 1994 Mitsu where ever I need to go. Or I jump in my 1961 Jeep depending on the trail. the Mitsu is a 4X4 with a low range and works well for pulling trees out and I have had to pull F350s out of the snow with it. My daily driver is a 1986 Volvo that I have had since 1992. I have worked on $250.000 motor homes. Not my money and they can do as they wish. So they sold them 6 months later. Not my problem sort of like old what's her name.

 

[charlieaarons]

This has been an interesting read but I drive my old 1994 Mitsu where ever I need to go. Or I jump in my 1961 Jeep depending on the trail. the Mitsu is a 4X4 with a low range and works well for pulling trees out and I have had to pull F350s out of the snow with it. My daily driver is a 1986 Volvo that I have had since 1992. I have worked on $250.000 motor homes. Not my money and they can do as they wish. So they sold them 6 months later. Not my problem sort of like old what's her name.

good for you

 

[ekapel]

You are of course correct in your logic, but I do not think you represent the target market of Unicat/Action Mobil!

 

[mrblah]

That’s my point. I don’t see how you shrink that cost down to pickup based camper. At the end of the day it’s still just a camper and the bulk of the serious engineering by far is still in the pickup itself. I see no way on gods earth to reasonably sink approx $400k into a space that’s maybe 8x10. Around 8x24 if you include the whole truck package.

The fact that you don't see why you would do it doesn't mean it's not worth it (man hours, RD, etc).

Getting things smaller and fitting them in tight spaces never has been cheap in any industry. I'm not saying they are worth every penny, just that your taste or financial disposition doesn't factor in the toatl cost of those machines.

 

[waveslider]

Many friends cruise the world on sailboats that cost a fraction of what these fancy RVs sell for.

I'm curious as to this opinion. While a person can certainly do it in lesser rigs (at risk of life and limb), who is it that is sailing the world in a modern sailboat that costs significantly less than, say $250k?

 

[762X39]

I am much happier doing a RTW trip in a 30 year old Land Rover or Jeep...at last resort a Toyota...than in any expensive rig that is just going to scream 'rob me.' In my opinion, most of the people who buy those rigs will ever actually go anywhere except national parks. Instead, spend $3000 on a basic truck, $10,000 (max) getting it sorted out and spend the other $100,000 on your round the world trip.

Tell me about your RTW trip...

 

[LocoCoyote]

"Traveling the world" and "really going off-road" are two different things.

According to many world travelers, pretty much everywhere has roads - but they are usually bad roads.

Hence the common distinction:

"An overland campervan is not an off-road vehicle - it is a bad road vehicle."

Big overland campervans are designed and intended to be motorhomes that can be lived in for years and survive 30,000 miles of bad road.

If they won't fit down someone's favorite little trail, that's fine - running trails is off-roading, not overlanding, and overland campervans are not off-road vehicles.

There are, of course exceptions to every rule, and some guys do like to off-road in their campervans. I seem to recall a guy with a 30,000 lb. mog getting it stuck in a dry lake bed that wasn't as dry as it looked (Hi, Charlie!).

But most try to avoid it if they can.


For world traveling, one of the main reasons for platform choice is global service and support. Mercedes and Toyota you can always get parts for and find a mechanic who can figure it out.

2018 F-650...no doubt it could be done, but maybe not as convenient.

There are paved roads in national parks where these monster rigs cannot go.

If you are driving around in a 13+ton Unimog, then you deserve to get stuck. Once you make them that heavy, they lose a lot of their overload ability.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Joe917]

I'm curious as to this opinion. While a person can certainly do it in lesser rigs (at risk of life and limb), who is it that is sailing the world in a modern sailboat that costs significantly less than, say $250k?

I would bet the majority of people cruising sailboats full time have less than $250k in their boats, many under $150k.

 

[waveslider]

I would bet the majority of people cruising sailboats full time have less than $250k in their boats, many under $150k.

Covered.