I should rephrase my question. If your rig is built for going across Mongolia, size and economy don't matter. Our travel plans are more routine- going through the Americas, Europe, Australia, perhaps some Asia or Africa not on expeditions but more for seeing the known and traveled world as Ozarker mentioned. We'll go on poor roads but rarely off road. We are currently traveling 1000 miles per week. Getting into European cities somewhat precludes a very large rig. We are thinking about having a "smaller" simple rig for economy and size but maintain durability and have service and parts in most places. Being in North America limits our choices. In this thread
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/84733-Small-camper?p=1190347#post1190347
I tried to explore using a Tacoma but any kind of camper puts the unit at a heavy weight and about 12mpg. The new XP v2 for the Tacoma weighs 800 lbs, the payload is 1400 lbs, so this might be a possibility for the size criteria but probably still gets 12mpg. A full size 250/2500 or 350/3500 pickup with a flatbed camper like the XP v4 should get 18mpg and not have a much larger footprint than the Tacoma. The same full size footprint is found for the basic Bengal Tiger- I don't know mileage for the Tiger. I don't know enough about using a Sprinter conversion- more about this can be found at
http://www.sprinter-rv.com/2011/09/29/four-sprinter-adventure-tales/
Sportsmobile is making a Fuso based camper, not out yet. The proven Fuso Earth Cruiser should be in the US in the spring. These won't get better than 12mpg. The Cruiser is 21' in length with 133" wheelbase, making it easy to park and maneuver.
The VW would be too small for us. The Unimogs too big.
One can find used pickups decreasing initial cost. I believe one will be able to use an older Fuso for the Cruiser. Prior to '07 would be necessary for wide travel.
So our choices would be 1. Tacoma with XP v2- good size, lower fuel economy, 2. full size pickup with XP v4- larger size, better fuel economy, 3. Tiger Bengal- larger size, lower fuel economy, or 4. Fuso Earth Cruiser- larger size, lower fuel economy.
From what others have said, Mercedes (but not necessarily Sprinter), Cummins and Fuso have parts and service in many places. Don't know about Ford and Chevy.
I don't know enough about gas vs. diesel engines. We're putting on a lot of miles/yr.
Please tear this down any way you choose!
