Over in Kuwait we had a neat little van called the Mitsubishi Space Gear 2400. It had a 2.4l i-4 engine (gasoline), and 4wd running gear with a 2-speed transfer case. Seemed like it had very similar running gear and controls to my 1990 Montero. Also had a 5-speed tranny which made it fun to drive. I took it "off roading" in deep sand around our camp (Truckville) several times, never did get it stuck. The AC wasn't that good, but then again you had this little engine trying to cool a huge cabin in 120+ temperatures, so maybe that wasn't unexpected...
I'll post pictures when I get home.
UPDATE: Pictures posted.
I've often wished we could get something like this in the US. Not a hard-core off-roader, I think the high CG, limited approach angle and poor breakover angle would keep it off anything but well-maintained FS roads, but it could be the perfect expedition machine for North America, at least. I don't recall the MPG, though. We got our fuel basically for free from the grateful Kuwaitis, so we never had any incentive to conserve. So, for example, if we were driving up to Camp Doha (1 hour away) or Camp Buehring (2 1/2 hours), we'd park the thing with the engine running and the AC blasting for 15-20 minutes so it would "cool down" before we drove.