I'm compelled to ask, since you've mentioned in threads regarding other "expedition vehicles" you've come across, commentary here and in the Truck Camper Magazine interview, would you advocate building a small scale vehicle or purchasing one that was turnkey and therefore "disposable" knowing the worst case scenario?
i.e. a Unicat or a Tacoma with equal amounts of beans and toilet paper?
The Toyota Tacoma being somewhat disposable.
IMO, this can be an easy choice.
If the total and complete loss of your entire financial investment in your overland expedition vehicle will make no (zero, none, zilch, zippo) impact on your lifestyle, your retirement savings, your income or otherwise be nothing but a speed bump on your road of net worth, then spend as much as you like on whatever you want.
If the total and complete loss of your vehicle does not meet that financial criteria, then you have two choices:
1. Mitigate the loss
2. Lower the risk
Option one requires, or at least implies, insurance.
Insurance on boats of any value just about anywhere (with the area around Somalia being a notable exception) is easy to come by and very affordable.
Insurance on land vehicles outside your home country is very challenging to underwrite and typically pretty expensive. While obtaining global liability insurance is very possible (we used AIG), comprehensive coverage that includes theft, fire, meteorites, etc., is very difficult. When you do find it, it is usually capped at a relatively low value, e.g., $50k USD, and expensive, e.g. $5k annually for that coverage amount.
Option two requires, or at least implies, a lower overall financial investment.
If you are interested in South America, I suggest you fly into Argentina, rent an apartment that includes a maid/cook, find a local driver/interpreter, and start shopping for used RVs. Most are built on the Mercedes Benz "round nose" truck chassis. Parts and service are available everywhere and you can buy a very nice used RV for $10k USD. Drive it all over the continent, bring it back to Argentina and then sell it.
South America is somewhat similar to North America and Africa in that you can use a pretty large vehicle and then rent local burros or HiLuxes for things that are not located on market town roads or chicken bus roads.
If you are headed elsewhere on the planet, I think the same "fly 'n buy" scenario still works pretty well. When you buy a local market vehicle you can limit or eliminate a lot of problems, such as:
1. Fuel compatibility (you can't use current model year U.S. or European vehicles in the 3rd world)
2. Parts and service (a U.S. or Europe model vehicle will ALWAYS have parts specific to those markets). Local mechanics are experienced in working on local market vehicles. Local parts stores sell parts for local market vehicles.
3. Dimensions. Many (if not most) North Americans and Europeans don't consider local vehicle dimensions when they ship into a continent or region. The most common example is track width. Market town roads and chicken bus roads (bridges, etc.) are built for a medium duty truck track width. Smaller roads are built for Hilux dimensions. We know multiple Europeans who broke through bridges on roads built for medium duty trucks with wide-track Mercedes chassis.
4. Insurance. While using a local market vehicle does not guarantee insure-ability on you, a foreigner, it will at least be a vehicle that appears on their lists of insurable vehicles. If you show up with a make and or model that is not sold in their country, you can't be too upset when they refuse to insure it because it is not on their drop down list of vehicles their system supports.
To be specific, it makes almost zero sense to ship a North American Tacoma elsewhere in the world. The Toyota Hilux diesel is the world's most ubiquitous modern vehicle. It makes eminent sense to use it as a platform and almost no sense to use a North American gas Tacoma, filled with NA market specific parts, electronics, etc.
Build a camper box and other bolt-on items to fit a Tacoma/Hilux of the same series/generation available in your destination. Assume nothing in the way of compatibility/alignment/dimensions/etc. Put your payload into a shipping container and send it to your destination. Buy or lease a local market Hilux and put your payload on it.
And remember, most importantly, it's not about the truck, it's about the experiences.
Doug
