What Off Road Vehicle For Me?

[Allof75]

Here's my requirements:

1.) Must be able to do nearly everything off road comfortably (mud, sand, prerunning, water, and rocks. (but nothing too extreme))

2.) I must be able to sleep inside of it with gear. (I'm about average size)

3.) It must get fairly decent milage (+-15 mpg city)

4.) It must be below $10,000 USD to purchase

5.) It must be reliable.

6.) It must have room for 4 people and gear.

7.) It must be safe.

8.) It needs to be cheap to maintain and modify.

9.) It must not be so nice that I would be afraid to get scratches etc. on it.

10.) It must be acceptable to drive on the highway.

I've had a hard time deciding what vehicle to buy for some time now, asking similar questions on Model-Specific forums, but I figure I'd ask you guys because you seem to represent what I'm looking for.


Thanks!

 

[ihatemybike]

Astro van AWD fits all of your criteria. Head over to the 4wd Camper Vans section for more information.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/58-4wd-Camper-Vans

 

[Hilldweller]

Land Cruiser?

 

[bat]

What races are you prerunning

 

[alexfm]

Jeep Cherokee.

Buy it for about $2500 for a solid working newer model, (I got mine for $900 and fixed it, so you can get them cheaper if you dont mind getting your hands dirty), easily enought room for 4 people and gear, and plenty capable, even in stock form, and more so if modified.

alex.

 

[Ozarker]

Sounds like you are where I was a couple months ago. Saying it must do everything might be a steep hill to climb. What I'm finding is that for a vehicle to do more off road reliably the costs go up disportionately. The more difficult the trails the more it will cost is what I'm finding. I'm apparently going the Astro AWD route, seems it is the least expensive ways to go for the volume of room you get and its off road performance. Looks like the Chevy 1500 AWD would also be a good one, but I know nothing about its off roading performance, but mileage is the same as the Astro.

Diesel seems to be a good option, but you'll be looking at a larger vehicle seems to me.
Better MPG with diesel, but more expensive I think too. I was hoping to find a vehicle that did 20 mpg when I started, I'm down to averaging 15 mpg, at least for a practicle hauler for me.

Again.I'm leaning hard toward the AWD Astro. You can find a nice one for 5-7K, make some basic mods and get by in most cases. Those tent tops are not cheap,unless you find a used one and DIY, but even so, sounds like it is within your budget.

Are you willing to pull a small trailer? That has trade offs, but solves alot of hualing probelms. The cost of hauling a trailer when you need it is less than hauling a larger vehicle all the time, even when you don't need the extra space.

I'm new and still asking questions as well, but here is a tip from me that has been past on by others:

The better you define what kind of traveling you'll be doing, the better you can select the right vehicle. No one vehicle does it all well. A Unimog would be great in the open spaces and really bad roads, but my old Raider would lose one in the woods on many areas of the Ozark hills.

Next figure out what you'll be hauling with you. Your comfort level on and off road will determine if you must have a queen size bed or small berth. Inside the vehicle,do you need to walk and stand up or can you slither in out of bad weather or use a tent?
The load required, water, food, gear and fuel will dictate how large a vehicle needs to be as well. While the number of people to haul is a factor, IMO the additional gear, water, food and clothes the additional two people need may take up more space than they do, depending on the journey.

Under a budget, go as small as you can by with, in everything. There are some great kitchen boxes shown in the camping gear forum but most are not small. It takes space to haul those boxes. I need two burners (and can always use a campfire) I might take my coleman camp stove, but I can get by with two fold up backpacking propane stoves as well. I can easily go for two or three weeks with an Army alice pack, saying I can doesn't mean I want to do it again.

There are many options and it is all about what you're willing to accept and give up along the way. IMHO

 

[AYIAPhoto]

Here's my requirements:
1.) Must be able to do nearly everything off road comfortably (mud, sand, prerunning, water, and rocks. (but nothing too extreme))
2.) I must be able to sleep inside of it with gear. (I'm about average size)
3.) It must get fairly decent milage (+-15 mpg city)
4.) It must be below $10,000 USD to purchase
5.) It must be reliable.
6.) It must have room for 4 people and gear.
7.) It must be safe.
8.) It needs to be cheap to maintain and modify.
9.) It must not be so nice that I would be afraid to get scratches etc. on it.
10.) It must be acceptable to drive on the highway.

Running mud and sand is mostly about tires. "Pre-running" or more appropriately traveling at speed on wash board roads requires suspension travel as does rock crawling. water crossings are simply a matter of proper waterproofing, a high enough air inlet and technique(creating a bow wave).

That said...I think you would be well served by a 1st gen(91-94) explorer. The 8.8 inch rear is very durable, as is the Dana 35 front axle(just swap in better hubs). There is actually room for 4 adults and gear. With the rear seats folded you can almost fit a queen size air mattress in the back.

My old '91 got about 16mpg on 32/11.50/15s and would have done better had i gotten one with a manual trans or swapped 4.10s in place of the stock 3.73s. A set of F150 coil spring mounts will get you 1.5" of lift up front paired with a set of jeep YJ shackles out back. Add a 1" body lift and some minor fender trimming and you can easily fit 33/10.50s-255/85/16s.

Cut off the stock shock mounts and bolt on a set from a late 70's F250 to allow running longer shocks. I can't remember which year they came from but front brakelines from an F250 superduty will give you a few inches of slack. With the right shocks the near stock suspension will surprise you. If you decide to go further, there are extended radius arms/cut and turned axles/full width(F150) axle swaps and more. Considering your initial purchase budget, you could find a well kept X and do most of the modifications for less than 3/4 what you were willing to spend for a stock vehicle.

 

[Allof75]

To address some of the questions/ suggestions:

I'd like to have low range, so that rules out AWD.

Where I camp is pretty much all in California: Anza Borrego, Mojave Nat. Preserve, Yosemite, Big Bear, and rarely to Nevada City, CA (1 hour north of sacramento), I also end up in the Arizona Desert (yuma etc.) and just outside of Las Vegas as well.

I am not willing to pull a trailer.

It will 99% of the time just be me sleeping in the vehicle.

As far as safety, it should have an airbag at least, OR high crash test ratings (preferably both)

The amount of gear I bring is fairly limited, for cooking, just a coleman stove and either a refrigerator(hopefully) or a cooler. I'd say I fill only a gunny sack full of personal gear (clothing etc).

I hope it helps!

 

[Ozarker]

In the van section there is a very recent thread about Astros, you can have Hi/Low with the Astro. You may not want a van regardless. Sounds like you (OP) have more off roading experience than I do, I have seldom needed low range. Lots of options!

 

[bob91yj]

Jeep Cherokee would meet all of your needs IMO. Grand Cherokee would work as well, but they aren't as reliable IMO.

1.) Must be able to do nearly everything off road comfortably (mud, sand, prerunning, water, and rocks. (but nothing too extreme))...XJ's can be modified mild to wild
2.) I must be able to sleep inside of it with gear. (I'm about average size)...I've got a buddy that's at least 6', he sleeps in his 2dr XJ
3.) It must get fairly decent milage (+-15 mpg city)...my '87 stocker with 200k on the clock still got 20MPG on the highway
4.) It must be below $10,000 USD to purchase...with change to spare
5.) It must be reliable...XJ's are damn near bulletproof for "normal" use
6.) It must have room for 4 people and gear....Not a problem as long as everyone REALLY likes each other, heheh.
7.) It must be safe...not sure on the crash ratings
8.) It needs to be cheap to maintain and modify....parts are cheap and available anywhere, huge aftermarket support
9.) It must not be so nice that I would be afraid to get scratches etc. on it....It's a Jeep, not that pretty to begin with.
10.) It must be acceptable to drive on the highway....not sure what that means, XJ can blend with all the other soccer mom SUV's out there just fine

 

[C-Fish]

1999-2001 Jeep Cherokee.

Enjoy...:ylsmoke:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.j...e=b&num_records=25&cardist=270&standard=false

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/searc...id=1236880&dma=SAN_DIEGO_NO&rdm=1308433068703

 

[Allof75]

I have been leaning to the XJs... I just wish the lockers weren't so expensive.
Any other suggestions?

 

[Frank]

Aussie lockers for xj's are $300 and have great reviews. I like my XJ. I am taking it on its first trip in a few weeks. I am 6'3" and would not consider sleeping in my xj, unless I absolutely had to.

That said; I do miss my Isuzu Trooper. Take a look at those also. Though not as many options for upgrades, they are out there. The best part is they don't need much of anything to make it a real adventure vehicle. Maybe a bumper for a winch, extra lights, a roof rack if you are going to sleep in it (I would sleep in a trooper, if a payload could be strapped to the top), tires, a small lift, shocks (shocks are a must, I had KYB monomax from Tire Rack) and tires. Not sure when this article was written, but the price of troopers are far below what he mentions in this article. By the way, this is a great article regarding the Trooper. They are regulars on Craigslist and around here can be found for a few grand.

http://www.expeditionswest.com/vehicles/ewvehicles/Isuzu_Trooper/index.html

You could have a shopping spree at rocky road, get almost everything in one swoop.
http://www.rocky-road.com/isuzu.html

Pound for pound, apples to apples, if I had to choose between a trooper and a XJ jeep, I'd probably go for the Trooper, after owning both. I love my Jeep, love the "lifestyle" that comes with ownership of a Jeep, love how easy it is to get support for it, parts are so abundant its hard to choose what I want, you can walk into a junkyard any day of the week and find several with good parts on them to pull things from, they are capable to go anywhere...but the trooper was unique, had WAY more room, didn't need much, and mine was a great vehicle. I sold it for $500 with over 200k miles on it a year ago and the guy who bought it is still driving it.

 

[GTABurnout]

Funny thing about a thread like this is what you usually end up with is each member explaining why they have there current truck. So basically its a list of what each poster has.

I tried to do some thing like this a few years ago. I bout a low mileage 2000 Cherokee (50K). I put on a good set of old man EMU suspension and some 31's. Should have been the perfect truck. It was far from that...

First off it over heated. Even after a new cooling system and a good flush it always ran hot. Steering was crap. It wandered and vibrated allover the free way. Once new steering was put on the DW was under control but truck still rode like crap. Power was lack luster. Remember my truck was stock gearing on 31's it would damn near come to a stop at any hill on the freeway.

Sold it knowing it never was what it was suppose to be. Now after owning my Dodge truck I will never own a Jeep or dodge product again.

What about a 100 series Land cruiser? Or a 1st gen Tundra or Tacoma with a camper shell. Both will be plenty reliable and both have excellent suspension options out there for them.

Which ever way you go good luck.

 

[blakeape]

I'd look hard at a 3rd gen 4runner with the 3.4 V6. Very reliable, can be found with factory rear locker, 5spd are somewhat rare but an option if that matters to you, pretty easily modified with a huge aftermarket support. Just be careful if you are back east the frame is totally rusted on my 97 and the rear suspension literally ripped of the frame this month.