What Off Road Vehicle For Me?

[roving]

Land rover: d1, d2 or p38

Land cruiser with a V8

Xterra

4runner

All have decent room and power.

I settled on a p38 range river. Paid $5500 for it. Put $2000 or so into it with a lift wheels and tires. V8, plenty of room for gear and people. Not to bad for reliability if you go coil suspension and ditch the airbags. I get 17 mpg usually on the highway. It has 117k miles now and much more reliable then my VW car.

[Ponyracer]

Mid 80's diesel suburban hits all your needs. I just happen to have one in the 4sale section lol.

[4x4junkie]

Another vote here for the '91-'94 Explorer.
Probably one of the most overlooked rigs out there, yet are very capable rigs that can be had real cheap because of that. It's drivetrain has many parts shared with 1/2-tons and IMO is much more robust than most vehicles in it's class (certainly there must be a reason the Jeep guys always swap it's axles into their own rigs anyway).
Only thing I would say is definitely try to get a stickshift. The Explorer's automatic trans (A4LD) is known to be somewhat delicate, however that's about it only major sore spot (external coolers would help them live a lot better).

Great resources out there on the 'net for these rigs. Plenty of locker & gearing options too. But you might be stuck dragging out the welder if you want some decent offroad bumpers, etc. that's up-to-date (though you'd also save a lot of $$$ too).

[Allof75]

Thank you for all the recommendations! I have not made a decision regarding which vehicle to purchase, so I am still in the hunt. I have narrowed my search down some though, down to:
Jeep XJ pre-1997
Nissan Xterra
Mitsubishi Montero
Jeep TJ (though I know it's limited)

And possibly a Jeep YJ which I may just buy and sell to fund the expo rig.

I have concerns about some of the rigs I mentioned though, mainly the Xterra and Montero.
I am curious about how much of a project it is to either do a timing belt change, or how much money it is to have one done by a mechanic, for me this is the main drawback of those 2 cars, a result of the SOHC/DOHC engines.
Otherwise, they are great vehicles: safe, capable, relatively inexpensive and smaller than my Dodge Ram- a major selling point, but that issue, combined with seemingly limited parts availability (for the Montero especially) is almost a deal-breaker for me.

My window to buy another car is coming up very soon and hopefully can be completed by September of this year. So any further help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

[4D55 Performance]

Thank you for all the recommendations! I have not made a decision regarding which vehicle to purchase, so I am still in the hunt. I have narrowed my search down some though, down to:
Jeep XJ pre-1997
Nissan Xterra
Mitsubishi Montero
Jeep TJ (though I know it's limited)

And possibly a Jeep YJ which I may just buy and sell to fund the expo rig.

I have concerns about some of the rigs I mentioned though, mainly the Xterra and Montero.
I am curious about how much of a project it is to either do a timing belt change, or how much money it is to have one done by a mechanic, for me this is the main drawback of those 2 cars, a result of the SOHC/DOHC engines.
Otherwise, they are great vehicles: safe, capable, relatively inexpensive and smaller than my Dodge Ram- a major selling point, but that issue, combined with seemingly limited parts availability (for the Montero especially) is almost a deal-breaker for me.

My window to buy another car is coming up very soon and hopefully can be completed by September of this year. So any further help is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Anyone who is trying to convince you of limited parts availability for the Montero is dead wrong. I can always get the parts i want the same day. Montero parts are also fairly cheap when compared to other manufacturers. I am actually glad I own a Montero because it's so easy to get parts. I can not even say this about my 2009 VW Jetta. It seems like I always have to wait 3-4 days for parts for my new Jetta. Go figure.

I also would not be concerned about the timing belt. You only have to replace it every 80K miles. Usually it is recommended that you replace the waterpump at the same time so I would plan on $700-1000. But that's not as bad as having to rebuild the front axle on an FJ80 every few years.

[Hill, Bill E.]

Any reason for the 'Pre-'97 XJ' ?

I've had a few, and worked on many of them. IMHO, the '98 & '99 were the best years of the XJ, especially the ones with the Chrysler 8.25 rear axle.

My '99 was an unlimited, with leather seats (no heat, driver side was power)

I built a platform in the back, and with the driver seat full forward, had over 7' of room (diagonally) for sleeping.

Extremely capable off road, while maintaining decent road manners.

The HO 4.0L motor and AW4 trans are bulletproof, and even modified they will get 16+ MPG

The '00 and '01's had the low pinion D30, and the heads that had casting problems.

(yeah, I'm a little Jeep biased )

[Allof75]

"Anyone who is trying to convince you of limited parts availability for the Montero is dead wrong. I can always get the parts i want the same day. Montero parts are also fairly cheap when compared to other manufacturers. I am actually glad I own a Montero because it's so easy to get parts. I can not even say this about my 2009 VW Jetta. It seems like I always have to wait 3-4 days for parts for my new Jetta. Go figure.

I also would not be concerned about the timing belt. You only have to replace it every 80K miles. Usually it is recommended that you replace the waterpump at the same time so I would plan on $700-1000. But that's not as bad as having to rebuild the front axle on an FJ80 every few years."

Well the issue that I'm trying to avoid is one which my friend has run into a few times: a part breaks, it's getting dark, and you have to find that part at a local store. Now the question becomes will they have it (Probably yes if domestic or popular import model) or are you going home on a flatbed? That's the situation I want to avoid-going home on the flatbed, and why I am concerned with the Monteros, because I have a feeling that Pep Boys or NAPA wont have the part when I need it.
I have a feeling the Xterras, because they're very much a frontier underneath, are going to have better availability. This is pretty much the only reason I am avoiding the Monteros.

[shmabs]

Edit: allof75, you beat me to it!


I think parts availability is somewhat relative, both to your location and local suppliers. Here in way northern CA (humboldt county) parts for my montero sport were pretty tough to come by. No one locally had spark plug wires for my 3.5, most were a week out or more, same to be said for my thermostat housing gasket, ring gear bolts were a dealer only item from the east coast, so were the carrier bearings. Those same parts for an xj would likely be in stock, save for the ring gear bolts. Don't get me wrong, i knew this ahead of time, i just didn't fully prepare for it. If i had used proper foresight with a few of the aforementioned parts, it wouldn't have been an inconvenience, or if i had a mitsu dealership locally, none of that would have mattered. This may be simply because it was a sport, but i haven't looked at the number of full size monteros vs sports in the states.

To be clear, i'm not knocking the mitsu options at all, now that i am out there test driving and looking at other options, i miss my montero sport, the build quality and construction of it was awesome. Even with my limited parts availability locally, im looking hard and a mid 90's full size montero sr. I just can't get over how well built they are and how much bang for buck you get, the japanese fit and finish and overall quality are awesome.

Bottom line: I can be impatient, i work with aircraft parts availability every day and it drives me crazy. When something goes sour on my truck i had the typical spoiled modern american attitude "i want it NOW!!!" Either way, now that im shopping for a budget 4x4, parts availability is a consideration for me.

YMMV

Mike

[Allof75]

Any reason for the 'Pre-'97 XJ' ?

I've had a few, and worked on many of them. IMHO, the '98 & '99 were the best years of the XJ, especially the ones with the Chrysler 8.25 rear axle.

My '99 was an unlimited, with leather seats (no heat, driver side was power)

I built a platform in the back, and with the driver seat full forward, had over 7' of room (diagonally) for sleeping.

Extremely capable off road, while maintaining decent road manners.

The HO 4.0L motor and AW4 trans are bulletproof, and even modified they will get 16+ MPG

The '00 and '01's had the low pinion D30, and the heads that had casting problems.

(yeah, I'm a little Jeep biased )

I am looking at the 96 specifically because they have better safety ratings and are cheaper than the other, later models. They have the reinforced doors and airbags but retain the classic look, OBD II, 4.0, and high-pinion d30. I prefer the way they look too.

[4D55 Performance]

Well the issue that I'm trying to avoid is one which my friend has run into a few times: a part breaks, it's getting dark, and you have to find that part at a local store. Now the question becomes will they have it (Probably yes if domestic or popular import model) or are you going home on a flatbed? That's the situation I want to avoid-going home on the flatbed, and why I am concerned with the Monteros, because I have a feeling that Pep Boys or NAPA wont have the part when I need it.
I have a feeling the Xterras, because they're very much a frontier underneath, are going to have better availability. This is pretty much the only reason I am avoiding the Monteros.

You mentioned popular imports. I think the 1990's Montero definitely fits that description. The sold nearly 1 million Gen II/II.5 Monteros during the 90's here in the states. That's a lot of any car. Another thing you may want to consider is Mitsubishi's are a lot more reliable than any domestic make of vehicle. I have put 100K miles on my 1985 Mitsubishi diesel pickup and it has never left me stranded. It now has over 300k miles and I feel it has 300k still left in it. I had a 1991 Gen I Montero with 220K miles on it and it never left me stranded either. Mitsubishi trucks and SUVs are very reliable vehicles and rarely will you need to make a trip to the parts store.

I have found that O'rielleys and Autozone are the best for carrying Montero parts not to mention the dealer. The best online dealer is Rockauto. It seems that NAPA does carry replacement parts, but they are not the rebadged OEM parts like you find at autozone and rockauto.