RMP&O
Expedition Leader
I agree yet I also mostly disagree. The reason is that 30yrs ago driving across Africa or to the tip of South America you didn't have nearly as many laws or fines or fees or bandits or corrupt cops or wars going on that makes these trips these days difficult. On top of that vehicles these days are so complicated and everything relies on the ECU. Meaning a breakdown can be as much if not more of a drama as it was 30yrs ago. Good luck getting a new throttle body for example for your USA Tacoma down in CA or SA or Africa. Yet a carb for your FJ40 TLC 30yrs ago would have been a one day break down at most.
So yeah it is easier these days because the roads are better, there is more fuel up stops too...yet there are many factors these days that make it as difficult if not more so.
Why do we have powder skis or a long board for surfing or a sea kayak over a white water kayak? Because each is specific for specific uses. Yes you can have do-it-all skis but if that is all you have then you will suffer on deep powder days. It is the same with trucks and won't be changing anytime soon.
I don't see why a do-it-all rig is the future....Sure it would be nice if Toyota or Nissan sold an SUV with a SFA, diesel, F&R lockers, an Atlas, a fridge, a winch or a camping/expedition set up. They don't though and the only truck which has even some of that is the Jeep. Foolish of the other companies if you ask me to let Jeep have it all with the Rubicon. But since the Rubicon is not sold in big numbers outside the USA and the Patrol + TLC is not really sold with the "goodies" in the USA I guess they see no need to compete with a niche truck like the Rubicon.
Didn't Rover design it's truck to be a do-all? A tractor that also can drive on pavement....
And the Jeep, TLC, Patrol and others follow the same thing.
All of them originally were designed to be a road tractor and all of them had a lot of things you could run off them using PTOs.
So you have all the major and longest production 4wds designed to be used in dirt, rocks, creeks, rivers, mud, mountains, desert and more yet still be able to work on a farm and then drive the pavement to market or the grocery store or whatever.
The evolution of these trucks has caused them to change from such utilitarian vehicles to be more road comfortable. The days of a Rover being made as a "road tractor" are gone. No longer can you buy a Rover, TLC or Patrol with a side or rear PTO and even a front PTO is no longer offered. 30-40yrs ago you could buy a Rover/TLC/Patrol not only with a PTO box but also with a PTO powered band saw, wood splitter, brush cutter, post hole driller, plow, hydraulic pump system and many other things. So using these trucks to actually work on a farm, in forrestry or other fields like this are gone too, in the sense of running equipment off the truck and actually using to to get work done. Now they are just used to get workers to the work site, for the most part anyways.
Yet many of these trucks are still used for work and also long distance travel, ie expeditions or overland. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s people took these trucks stock and drove them across Africa, the Americas or across Australia. It is nothing new or the future in fact these trucks have gotten away from that and gone much more the mall cruiser way replacing the grocery getter station wagons of the 60s, 70s & 80s.
Todays trucks lack simplicity. 50yrs ago had your truck broken down in the desert it was easy to repair it and get you back to civilization. The Rover and the Patrol both had a hand crank for example that could litterally save your life if you were in the middle of nowhere with a dead battery or starter. People didn't have cell phones, GPS and a satellite phone to save your life. So in a way the old trucks are still king of the do-it-all.
You can build a do-it-all truck these days but it won't be excellent at anything just a do-it-all. Medium to mild difficulty trails can be done in the rocks or the dirt or the mud. You can also cruise down the HWY at 75mph. Yet it will not be great off-raod or on. On road it suffers from lift, aggresive tires, increased weight, sway bars removed, ect. Off-road it lacks lots of clearance, crawler gears, 40+" tires, very flexible suspension and more that a dedicated off-roader will have.
Car manufacturers are not going in the direction of an off the assembly line off-roader. The Rubicon is pretty much it for the USA market. The TLC, and Patrol while not really as good off-road as the Jeep in stock form can fairly easily be (as good) with a few things like a front locker. The LR3 is a joke offroad and so is the H3 and many other mall cruisers. Nissan even just killed the Patrol now by making it an independent suspenion all around mall cruiser. I do believe the TLC and the Jeep along with Ford and Dodge full sized trucks are all that is available anywhere with a factory SFA. So, we are not seeing trucks go into a do-it-all era we are seeing them go from true utilitarian vehicles to somewhat do-it-alls to now pretty much all are mall cruisers. People will still build trucks for overland or rock crawling or for trophies but with many vehicles going independant suspension all around most people will go with older trucks for these uses. Not to mention the computers and elctronics are getting so sophisticated you wouldn't want to take that truck to the middle of no-where. So many things can mess up the ECUs and you need scan tools to diagnose any problems. The future is not do-it-all, at least not off any assembly line. Manufacturers are also making it more difficult to modify trucks since simply changing out your exhaust system can give you all kinds of ECU dramas. Nope the future is not do-it-all...not unless we build them ourselves!
And that is my 2 cents!
