Our Recent Experience Visiting GXV

[skijunkie]

I wanted to make a quick post about our recent visit with Mike and Rene at the GXV office. My wife and I are researching our next vehicle and one potential vehicle is the GXV Turtle. We had a two week trip to the Ozarks in our Sportsmobile planned so we exchanged a few emails with Rene at GXV and set up a day to visit.

I am very impressed with both the GXV vehicles and with Mike and Rene. We were able to tour two GXV Turtle vehicles, a Pangea, and a handle full of other Unimog based vehicles. Although we didn't expect it, Mike and Rene spent the entire day with us, patiently answering all of our questions and showing us the details of the build construction and build options.

Two unexpected pleasant surprises. They invited us to share lunch they catered in for the whole company (which was excellent), and Mike took me out for a ride to show me how their BAE Brazos with a GXV body performed. The offroad performance was impressive. I must say for how big this vehicle looks on the outside it is quite easy to drive, and you would never know there was a camper body on the vehicle without looking back.

You can see a video of what I think is either the same vehicle or one very close here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_yhgu-m0jg

Both Mike and Rene are extremely knowledgeable with a lot of first hand traveling experience. We had a great time meeting them and learning details about what we can expect out of a GXV vehicle. I'd encourage anyone looking at this class of vehicle to visit GXV and see them for yourself.

 

[haven]

Thanks for sharing. You're not the first person to mention the hospitality GXV extends to visitors.

 

[photo_i]

+1 to haven's words. Next time you there, skijunkie, ask Mike to take you to the frozen custard place and get The Turtle.

 

[skijunkie]

+1 to haven's words. Next time you there, skijunkie, ask Mike to take you to the frozen custard place and get The Turtle.

Sounds....massive. We saw your GXV at the Expo west this year. Didn't catch you there to see it. We got a great tour and talk with the owners of the Whiteacorn parked next to you though.

 

[photo_i]

Sounds....massive. We saw your GXV at the Expo west this year. Didn't catch you there to see it. We got a great tour and talk with the owners of the Whiteacorn parked next to you though.

It is. Yes, Rob and Nina are great people and we follow their travel blog all the time.

 

[EAB]

+3 on GXV hospitality and build quality.

My wife and I have also visited with Mike and Rene as we look towards purchasing a vehicle. We are looking at a turtle on a Fuso but not sure if we will have sufficient gvwr to support it. We really like the gvwr of the u500 and the BAE in terms of carrying a larger camper and gear, we just aren't sure if we want to live with the dimensions, weight, upkeep of a "specialty" vehicle. We would like to hear your thoughts on truck selection.

 

[pugslyyy]

My wife and I have also visited with Mike and Rene as we look towards purchasing a vehicle. We are looking at a turtle on a Fuso but not sure if we will have sufficient gvwr to support it. We really like the gvwr of the u500 and the BAE in terms of carrying a larger camper and gear, we just aren't sure if we want to live with the dimensions, weight, upkeep of a "specialty" vehicle. We would like to hear your thoughts on truck selection.

Talk to us a little about what you plan on doing with the vehicle and your backgrounds?

 

[foxhunter]

My wife and I went to GXV to get a turtle on a 550 ford, but one ride in the U500 with Mike and we ended up with that and we love it. For me, I think the turtle, because it is smaller, is a vehicle you live Outside of. You can get to a lot of places, but in really bad weather, you don't want to be stuck inside for long periods. The U500 and BAE let you mount a living area that you can live in and lots of storage. Expect 8-9 mpg depending on driving speed in those vehicles. The BAE because of its CAT or Cummins engine with the Allison transmission can be worked on anywhere in the USA. The mog, not so much

 

[EAB]

Our search

Pugslyyy and Foxhunter,

Well, I am an computer engineer, we currently have a an F350 that i put a 4 wheel camper on that I purchased in 2001. I have had a number of relatively large sail and power boats and have been working on vehicles since my teens. I hope to be retire early ( within the next couple of years ) and we want to visit alaska, the west, baja, etc. If we are having a good time, we would either do southamerica or europe next and then who knows. We really enjoy traveling by vehicle and staying in our own transportation (boat,camper,etc). We envision traveling on and off road but I don't see us doing anything to challenging off-road.

Our concern is that the MOGs and BAEs will really impede our travel meaning that:
1. often times we will see something of interest, do a u-turn and check it out. Would we be less likely to do that in a 24,000 lb 12ft high vehicle?
2. Not only do we like to be out in the woods, mountains, desert, etc but we do enjoy just hopping from town to town, seeing the sights, eating great food, etc.
3. Randomly heading up a forest road is something we are accustomed to doing and again we are concerned that we would be less likely to do this in a really large truck.
4. My wife does not drive a standard and may not like a really large vehicle.

So we have come to the conclusion that a Fuso may be the best solution for us but to Foxhunters point, will the living area really be big enough so we want to stay in the vehicle and not get a hotel.

I am not committed to the FUSO but just think it may be a reasonable compromise. I have driven the U500 but not the BAE. With respect to the u500 it is obviously very capable but i do have some concerns regarding ease of service and maintenance specially here in the states. From what I can see, there are very few knowledgable service facilities and you are limited to a very small number of individuals stateside who are intimate with the workings of the vehicles. Having said that I don't have to worry about capacity or ULSD.

I have also considered the BAE, I agree that each individual component engine, axles, transmission, transfer case are all serviceable but what is not clear to me is the ability for a service shop to understand and service the electronics and ecm which manage the engine and other systems.

Having said that, if we decide to move in the direction of a higher capacity vehicle, I think we would lean towards the U500 as it is a commercially supported platform here and in other countries ( even more so in other countries ). We would need to find a U500 with EAS for my wife.

I also noticed there was a Mercedes 1017 at GXV which may be another alternative. From what i understand they are very slow and for the most part similar to the U500 in terms of service and support, not quite as heavy but not nearly as capable.

I would really appreciate any thoughts regarding this selection as unfortunately there seems to be no real clear solution in the states, we just don't have that much to choose from. I welcome the discussion and looking forward to the collective wisdom of this group.

Thanks for listening,
eric

 

[pugslyyy]

I have a BIG fuso camper (27 feet long). In my experience, the maneuverability of COE vehicles is superior to similarly dimensioned pickups (like your F350).

There has not been a road (paved/dirt/unimproved) that I have not been able to get down. There have been some jeep trails that I have had to abandon, mainly because I don't do well in soft stuff.

The BAE is a military truck, the U500 is a tractor, the Fuso is a delivery truck. Each platform has its strengths, but for TCO (total cost of operation) the Fuso is going to win.

I love the U500 and have looked at (and made offers on) several... but these days I find myself more and more content with how the Fuso works for me and think I'm probably better off spending my money on travel!

 

[photo_i]

Our concern is that the MOGs and BAEs will really impede our travel meaning that:
1. often times we will see something of interest, do a u-turn and check it out. Would we be less likely to do that in a 24,000 lb 12ft high vehicle?
2. Not only do we like to be out in the woods, mountains, desert, etc but we do enjoy just hopping from town to town, seeing the sights, eating great food, etc.
3. Randomly heading up a forest road is something we are accustomed to doing and again we are concerned that we would be less likely to do this in a really large truck.
4. My wife does not drive a standard and may not like a really large vehicle.

All of these are very valid concerns and yes, few times I wished we had a Delica or VW van instead on U500 camper. But in all and all we love our Perky Mog - we live in it full time since February and it is truly our home.

 

[EAB]

LoRoad,
i am sorry that your relationship with them has not been a good one. I know of others that seem satisfied with their transactions. This thread is focused on someone's positive interaction with them and I thought I might get some constructive input on the pros and cons of different trucks/platforms.

To to that end how has your experience been with servicing your BAE? I would be interested in how repair facilities are able to service the electronics/ecu/ecm in your truck.

Thanks
eric

 

[Maninga]

I hope to be retire early ( within the next couple of years ) and we want to visit alaska, the west, baja, etc. If we are having a good time, we would either do southamerica or europe next and then who knows. We really enjoy traveling by vehicle and staying in our own transportation (boat,camper,etc). We envision traveling on and off road but I don't see us doing anything to challenging off-road.

Our concern is that the MOGs and BAEs will really impede our travel meaning that:
1. often times we will see something of interest, do a u-turn and check it out. Would we be less likely to do that in a 24,000 lb 12ft high vehicle?
2. Not only do we like to be out in the woods, mountains, desert, etc but we do enjoy just hopping from town to town, seeing the sights, eating great food, etc.
3. Randomly heading up a forest road is something we are accustomed to doing and again we are concerned that we would be less likely to do this in a really large truck.
4. My wife does not drive a standard and may not like a really large vehicle.

So we have come to the conclusion that a Fuso may be the best solution for us but to Foxhunters point, will the living area really be big enough so we want to stay in the vehicle and not get a hotel.

I am not committed to the FUSO but just think it may be a reasonable compromise. I have driven the U500 but not the BAE. With respect to the u500 it is obviously very capable but i do have some concerns regarding ease of service and maintenance specially here in the states. From what I can see, there are very few knowledgable service facilities and you are limited to a very small number of individuals stateside who are intimate with the workings of the vehicles. Having said that I don't have to worry about capacity or ULSD.

I'm still young to overland motorhomes, we're now building our first one, but my wife and I are planning a 2 year trip away and went looking for a something to suit. Spent a long time looking at different options. Our main criteria were
- Permanent comfortable bed and toilet facilities. Cooking both inside and out.
- Able to live inside when it's crappy weather outside or just chill watching a movie
- Able to fit in a shipping container with no real modification. Necessitates a body less than 8 1/2 ft tall
- Will handle fuel through South America. Means no ULSD
- Hard sides. Wife grew up in North Dakota and wants to take me up for a winter there. No canvas to flat around or let the cold in.

One of the best things we did early on was buy a tent for a camping trip. It might sound strange, but it was the size I had in my head for what our camper dimensions should be. We set it up as-if it were built for us, just to see if we could mentally live with it. It got us a reasonable level of comfort that it'd work, gave us the necessary space to walk around and not feel as though we were cramped inside. Turns out that for us, around 14ft long was the minimum length we'd be happy with and what we based our vehicle decision on.

We ended up with a Fuso. I'd never driven a truck before, had to get my license upgraded just for this, but instantly felt comfortable doing so. I'm currently getting a body built on the back of it, a hard sided popup similar to the Pangea Lite. I looked at that during the last Overland Expo in Flagstaff, really liked it though I thought the bed being so high made it feel claustrophobic when sitting down.

It'd be worth having a look at what All Terrain Warriors and EarthCruiser build. ATW have a slanted rear that gives greater internal dimension and living space than other options, EarthCruiser do a really nice, well thought out build. If going for an FG140 which negates the need for ULSD, that only comes in a manual, talk with ATW about their Allison Auto conversion. I'm thinking about it for my truck as wife can't drive a manual either (she's trying to learn).

 

[skijunkie]

I'm happy to see the discussion of the truck choices going on. All the information is very enlightening. Our initial impressions has us leaning towards the Fuso. Although I liked the military trunk I drove, I am really not sure I want or need something that big. Between the Fuso and something domestic like the Ford or Dodge, I prefer how much shorter the overall vehicle can be with the same size camper cabin, and I like how much forward visibility you have. I do however have the same GVWR concerns of the Fuso as mentioned earlier.

 

[EAB]

Maninga,
I will be brief as I suspect this will turn into a discussion that does not belong ( Moderators: if we should move i am all for it ). Maninga, I have looked at all of them in person at least once if not twice ( pangea-lt, atw, earth cruiser, earth roamer, u500 gxv, etc) and I still like the size and capability of the FUSO. Never thought to seek and automatic conversion for an old FUSO, thanks for the new path to chase down.

Now it is really about deciding what I want to put on the back. I "think" I know what i want
1. Queen size bed
2. Hard sides
3. Don't think I am concerned about containerizing.
4. Dedicated wet bath area. I was convinced I liked the shower in the entry but not so sure about that anymore.
5. A/C with lithium and solar sufficient to make it usable.
6 60 gals of fuel
7 60-70 gals water
8 width - not sure. I know I would be best to keep it the width of the cab but it is a little skinny
9 interior height - 6' 4" min
10 exterior height overall - 10ft
11 overall length - 22-23 ft
12 gvwr - 12,5000lb wet ( this is the tough one, don't really want to be this heavy )

Skijunkie
we are in complete agreement. not much to choose from......



Happy to pick the discussion up in another forum before we outstay our welcome. See you in the Japanese Trucks???