I used to cringe at the price-tags on those full size global adventure type vehicles. Then my Wife and I decided to make some changes in life, sell our motorcycles, our kitted out Xterra, our travel trailer and consolidate all our adventure wants and needs into one package. We narrowed down our choices to either a Sportsmobile or a full size truck and pop-up camper combination. At the end of the day I purchased 3 year old lease return Tundra for $35K Canadian, spent an additional $10K Canadian on suspension, wheel/tire, bumper/winch and other upgrades, and ordered a new Four Wheel Camper at a total cost of $40K Canadian. If you would have told me, 5 years ago, that I would be spending $85K Canadian on a new set-up I would have laughed. I've been overly thoughtful budgeting and spending every single dollar, installed everything myself to save money, and been frugal where the choices warranted it. I think to myself that one could consider this a lot of money, and it surely is, but to me I'm amortizing the cost over a minimum of 15 years of life's adventures that we are going to experience and I'm comfortable with my purchases.
I also then stop and consider what others spend their entertainment or adventure money on. I see friends with $25K snowmobiles, neighbours with $85K bro-dozer diesel trucks, and watch people sitting in $100K wakeboard boats on our crowded lake here in the summer. I watch the snowbirds exiting Canada in the 1/4 million dollar RV's every winter to all gather in Yuma or somewhere else warm and crowded.
So, is $150K for a global adventure truck a ridiculous price-tag? Maybe so...maybe not so much all things considered.
