“Dream” depends on the trip. For a ‘dream’ do-it-all, generalist Overland vehicle:
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Simple, reliable, cheap, and parts a’plenty. Take all the money you save and spend it on an around-the-world adventure.
However, sometimes it’s nice to go more than 90 KPH on the highways. So, while I think the above is a good general answer, for me specifically it’d be my Tiger, but with a Safari fuel tank to give me a bit more range. Currently I sit around 300 kms with my stock tank; the Safari tank gives me 500 KMS. Bring along 2.5 gallons in a can, and there are no roads I can’t explore. The tiger is what I own, but if I didn’t, I’d still argue for it’s inclusion in the ”Dream” overland vehicle category. It’s very comfortable on road, and very capable off road — a bit better in the rough stuff than the big BMWs made famous by Evan and Charlie. Plus, the ‘older’ Tigers are very simple to fix with minimal electronics. Way more than the KLR, but not as many as the modern ADV bikes with cruise control, electronic throttles, Etc. These are reliable systems these days, but hard to repair in remote/lonely places without dealer support. I know for a fact that the Tiger of my vintage (2011) can be repaired with JB weld and hope, which is what you want in a robust adventure platform.
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If we are speaking specifically of 4x4s then a Jeep J8 in “Troopy” configuration would be a great overlander, but failing that, I’d go with the Land Cruiser troopy. In the North American market, I think it’s hard to beat GM’s quadruplets on paper and in practice for a lot of overlanding trips, so that’s what I own!
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Jeep’s legendary 4x4, but with upgraded brakes, axles, frame, suspension, and without a lot of the electronic gizmos and gadgets endemic to a modern car. However, it’s military only (though AEV allegedly got a few of ‘em to resell for $$)
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Can’t beat the Troopy. Books have been written on good it is, so I won’t re-hash here.
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And our Canyon, with Dog Tax. Doesn’t look like much now but once we are finished building it, the approache angles will be substantially better. This truck right now is 100% stock save for the rack/RTT over the bed. And to be clear, I’m not just posting this because it’s mine — it actually is a ‘dream’ Overlander in a lot of ways, and it’s specs put it near the front of the pack of what is available today for off-road adventure travel. I could have substituted this photo with one of the AEV/Chevrolet Bison, which might be more in “Dream Rig” category, but the DNA in the Bison and the Canyon is the same and so they have a similar capability when tailored for the user.