Hi all, have completed a 6 month overlanding trip in 2017 and wanting another go at it. I live in south Florida
My name is mike.
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Hi Michael Welcome rom Scotland.
Love to hear more about your trip in 2017, where did you go and how did you travel.
Love to hear more about your trip in 2017, where did you go and how did you travel.
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Welcome To Overland Bound Mike
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I spent most of my trip mapped from Missouri, through northern Arizona and then up to Utah. I'm a complete novice. I ended up regretting the jeep Wrangler due to lack of cabin space. I packed a tent and did a great job preparing I think. This time I want to do at least a full year. I'm not a great mechanic, so I really wanted to pick the brains of those regarding my vehicle purchase. I'm excited to download the app here and look at the maps! This is wonderful.
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I'm sure you will find lots of great information on here. I'm not much help I'm afraid I'm a Land Rover Defender man but if I can help with any questions regarding long trip overlanding I might be able to assist.
Best advise is reach out on the forums and be active and participate as it is the best way to get the most benefit out of your membership.
Best advise is reach out on the forums and be active and participate as it is the best way to get the most benefit out of your membership.
Thank you! I'm reading now. Best research ahead. I posted a thread under preparing a new rig. I labeled the terain limits as well as some other info. I want to be a land rover man. I just don't know what j would be getting into vs that of a 4runner where I read the reliability factor is key. Not sure I can program a computer or repair breakdowns on the road. My eyes are on lr4s, discovery as well as 4runner which is a total joke in terms of paying for what you get. You can pick up a rover with 30k miles for half that of a 2 wheel drive 4runner with 200,000 miles. It's very disheartening. Maybe you all can give some advice.
Welcome to the campfire Mike, I am a Mike too. Everything is a trade off in overlanding. I rolled around in small trucks with shells for years, 90% of what I did wasn't wheeling but rough dirt roads in the west and and Baja. I would mostly go and post up to play. I got tired of camping small and being past my GVW, I now drive a full size long bed truck, my days of wheeling are over. I plan to drive the Southern Pan American and am looking at pop top camper. A pop top will limit where I go even more another trade off I can live with.
My point is understand what you are looking to do. VW are the OG's of overlanding, they went a lot places, over some very remote and rough roads. They didn't wheel them, if you are going to Utah to see how hard you can push your rig, you'll need sometime else. I wouldn't let current overland fashion determine you choice. Get the best rig for what you plan to do,
My point is understand what you are looking to do. VW are the OG's of overlanding, they went a lot places, over some very remote and rough roads. They didn't wheel them, if you are going to Utah to see how hard you can push your rig, you'll need sometime else. I wouldn't let current overland fashion determine you choice. Get the best rig for what you plan to do,
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Best advice regarding vehicle choice I can offer is decide wat kind of Overlanding you want to do then pick a vehicle and set up to suit.No one vehicle ticks all the boxes so utimately everything is a compromise. I'm lucky enough to have the Land Rover Defender that we took to Mongolia and also a VW Transporter 4motion we plan to use on the Pan American.
In his instance for the Pan American we have compromised on off road capability for comfort.
In his instance for the Pan American we have compromised on off road capability for comfort.
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re vehicle, we all travel differently, however I find the Wrangler has lots of space - we have a LWB JK in Canada and have travelled in it both sleeping inside (two of us) and using ground tents (three of us). How many are you?
If you want a bigger vehicle and want to reach "off piste" areas then something like our Montero (at home) would work well I think.
You plan on a year - you could get to Tierra del Fuego and back in a year.
Terrain del fuego?? What is this? Is jt desirable?
Yeah, like the Montero I wanted a utilitarian bigger suv. I don't like tents. The land rover I drove was perfect but as I said in my other posts, I hear the reliability is horrible.
Tierra del Fuego - southern tip of America - you could easily go through Mexico, Central America, and South America, all the way to Tierra del Fuego and back to Florida in a year, if you plan 2 years then it would be a great trip, and you could add in Alaska and Canada as well.
If the Wrangler is too small, then the Montero is a good option. Our LC80 was about the same size and was excellent, although the age implies wear and tear; newer Land Cruisers are over-priced - when we bought the Montero a Land Cruiser was twice the price.
Omg
Wow!!! Omg now this is why I joined this awesome community. I had no clue.
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Re reliability it depends what you buy.
My Land Rover is over 23 years old and apart from things like wheel bearings and UJ’s it never skipped a beat. All which where understandable on a 2 year 54k mile trip. It’s early ECU so only 3 sensors to shut it down.
Most overlanders prefer earlier vehicles with no electronics like the earlier 300tdi Defenders.
The new Defender has 72 ECU’s I believe. You try getting that fixed in the middle of Africa or the Gobi Desert.
Old defenders and similar for old Toyotas can be fixed at the side of the road without the need for laptop diagnostics and throwing multiple parts and sensors at it.
We also saw Toyotas broken down. It’s all relative.
The later Discoveries etc are a challenge and the Discovery 3 we had was great but I have had friends have multiple issues including bursting into flames.
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So basically go old school and minimize. I love the rovers but I made a joke earlier that they can't even get kids to school without breaking. I love the space in the LR4. It's a very utilitarian look and they drive amazing. However as you said, it's a full on computer. So you think it's better to go older less ecu and naturally aspirated. So word is don't go overlanding in a 2022 Discovery.
