What vehicle for someone too scared to buy a Land Rover?

[schuss]

The baby or the van? Not sure how tall you are but have you looked at any of those to see if you could sleep comfortably? I've been around Escapes and Sante Fe's through family members and there's no way I'd get a good night's rest without leaving the hatch up.

Van. AWD vans are prized. "Great Price" on autotrader for an AWD Sienna with less than 60k is 27k. For a 2015. New starts at 41k for the stripper model. Unfortunately people have figured out that minivans are gold.

You have a lot of good suggestions here, I'd just suggest you go out and test drive them to see what gets your jumblies rumbling in a good way, then take that shortlist and work from there.

That said, write down what's most important IN ORDER so you can prioritize (and help us find stuff):
Space, Off road capability, reliability, efficiency, cool factor, on road manners.
We're talking across a pretty wide range of sizes, styles and core vehicle architectures here, so getting a read on that will help.
For example, if you said:
Space, Off road capability, reliability as your top 3, Land Cruiser is your ride. If you said space, efficiency and on-road manners, more likely an AWD sienna.
As much as I get slagged for it in the wagon thread for not being as cool as an Audi/Merc, I'm definitely enjoying my '24 Outback XT as it has good space and enough ground clearance to not care about much of anything.
For the desert, I'd probably end up in a Land Cruiser or some kinda of Truck abomination as I'd want the ability to carry spares and not have to worry about sand/rockcrawling with fuckoff large tires while having the hard shell because I'm a woods guy who's afraid of outdoor desert things.

[BmillsSkier]

What are my longer wagonish options besides Outbacks. I'm 6'0

Volvo XC70 3rd gen. ('08-'16) ACRES of real estate in the back of those things (I'm 6' and slept in the back many times with an air mattress with room to spare. Bomber construction. Post 2007 angle gear fixes taken care of. The most comfortable seats you'll ever sit in, and if you get a T6, 300hp/300ftlb.

[schuss]

I'm on my way to the city right now. If I've got time, i'm gonna crawl in the back of some SUV at CarMax or whereever this afternoon.

No babies, no Land Rovers. What are my longer wagonish options besides Outbacks. I'm 6'0

Audi Allroad (A6 version) or Merc E.

[skaredshtles]

I'm on my way to the city right now. If I've got time, i'm gonna crawl in the back of some SUV at CarMax or whereever this afternoon.

No babies, no Land Rovers. What are my longer wagonish options besides Outbacks. I'm 6'0

Might check the inventory at AutoTrek (broker): https://www.autotrek.com/inventory

We've bought a couple cars from them and the prices have been decent, the vehicles in good shape, and the whole process was really easy.

[Jong Lafitte]

1998 suburban.


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[heckacali]

93-94 Pathfinder?
Black, manual, SE trim

[Foggy_Goggles]

If can't make it happen for $15k it ain't gonna happen. I'm not sure my bank account or my mechanic in Granby are gonna vibe within aging Euro Sled. Maybe I'm wrong about that?

Sent from my Turbo 850 Flatbrimed Highhorse

[heckacali]

Gx470 all day if the 460 predator grill is too controversial.
Timing belt & wp @ 90k, add an Eibach 2" lift to lose the airbags, check the front axle boots for tears and the front A arms for clunks and it will bee good to go 300k miles.
Get a non navigation if you can for an easy modern stereo upgrade, but they do have Tesla iPad type screens to modernize the built in nav style now too.
2uz V8 is a great engine

[nickwm21]

I’m a GX470 owner - so biased. But yeah - that’s the answer.

Thinking out of the box.
Outback with a lift?
Sienna or Odyssey with a lift?

Anecdotal but my BIL has the previous generation Cherokee Trailhawk. It’s been a stereotypical Stellantis. Great for 100k but now he’s been dumping money into, in and out of the shop…


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[nickwm21]

1998 suburban.


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Forest Service / Nat Parks fleet GSA auction Suburban….


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[Danno]

Antidotal but my BIL has the previous generation Cherokee Trailhawk. It’s been a stereotypical Stellantis. Great for 100k but now he’s been dumping money into, in and out of the shop…

[MarcusBrody]

If you can get most places you want to go in a Transit Connect, then literally any vehicle had that much off road capability.

This thread is gonna turn into "I recommend the vehicle I own".

Buy a used Lexus GX. It'll handle everything you'll ever need, light years more reliable than any of the Euro shit listed in the first post. Don't buy a giant pickup, none of your use case says pickup.

I think I was unclear. I can't go everywhere I want to in the Transit Connect. I've gone most places that the Transit Connect can go already, at least places reasonably nearby, hence again thinking about another vehicle. I will drive the TC on roads most people would think twice about, but its limit pretty quickly once you start to get ruts or even center high roads. And even some of the roads we go on now would be much more comfortable in even an Outback level vehicle. I go out to one of our favorite camping/kayak launch spots less often than I might just because it's a punishing and skill necessary drive in the van, but just a bit bumpy for our friends in their Subarus and Tundras.

The GX/4Runner is a great platform but not particularly big on the inside. The Wrangler is smaller yet and questions about build quality are fair. Both have solid rear axles but I wouldn't let that hang me up. The QX80 has more space but it's a Japanese Chrysler. I like the look of the V8-era LR4 but wouldn't choose it over other brands. Some of that is lack of platform familiarity. Agree with considering the Sequoia. Add GMT800 platform if used. New Tahoes offer an off-roady trim.

Have you driven any of the vehicles in your list? It seems like going from the capacity of a van to anything else will be a big adjustment.

It's a Transit Connect, not a Transit. Actual minivan basically. It's only 190 in long. It is as space efficient as it possibly could be in the footprint, but the larger SUVs aren't that much off it. It has 106 cu feet of space with the seats all folded (though you probably get 5-10 more if you take out the third row like we do on our longer trips). The Discovery has 75 with the rear seats in, the 4runner has 89 without rear seats, the new model Tahoes 120. I suspect I will miss the space efficiency and ease of loading though. The van has a low load floor and it's nice and big and square. For our big trips, we basically just pack everything in stacking gasket boxes and toss it in. I would also miss the ability to just easily roll by XL mountain bike in with just a slight lean and with the wheels all on. But for the longer trips, we do have more space now as sadly our dog passed, so we only need one of the two sets of seats up in the second row.

I've driven a couple of them. Not the Land Rover, but I've driven a 4Runner, Tundras (which I imagine drive a bit like the Sequoia), a good number of Jeeps (though not the Grand Cherokee) and Subarus.

Lexus GX or Land Cruiser from a soccer mom. Echoing several posters.
Toyota reliability.

Transit Connect is an absolute piece of shit. So funny you’ve been off-roading it. Have you killed your girlfriend yet and left her in the forest?

Ha, not really "off roading". Just lots of miles on sometimes questionable dirt roads. But you're right. It's not the most comfortable way to do it. On the bright side, after one of these drives, my wife is always onboard with the plan to get a higher car with better suspension. On the other hand, my wife has worked pretty extensively in rural, Himalayan India. We have been on some wild roads in FWD subcompacts driven by madmen.

Edit: I was going to include some photos of the type of roads the van is fine on, but would be more comfortable in other cars, but apparently the mods are still doing their thing with Jer and haven't gotten around to fixing image embedding.

[nickwm21]

Touché - thx


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[MarcusBrody]

You guys are going to obscure corners of CL/FB in non mountainous states to find GX that aren't insanely expensive for their age, correct?

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I was wondering this too. They definitely aren't under the radar where I am and for any substantially lower than new pricing, you're looking at 100k+ and often notably more than that. I really think the "soccer mom dumps capable vehicle" sweet spot is now the Y62 Armada/QX80 since the former went onto the Patrol platform that every Aussie mag pits against the Land Cruiser.

Edit: Actually looking at them now, the GXs are a bit better price wise than when I last looked. Not cheap, but not absolutely insane anymore. Still extra terrible mileage for a midsized vehicle, but getting closer to my price/mileage/capability desire point.

[Norseman]

Truck w/ topper, dood. Pick whatever brand makes you happy and put on good susp & tires.

Drive most anywhere, haul all the shit you want, and still stand your bike up in the back.

[schindlerpiste]

Would not be my choice, but there is a 2003 G-Class is available on facebook's Park City On-line yard sale

[MarcusBrody]

2013-2016 Cayenne turbo diesel. 406 ft-lbs torque with no tune, 750 mile range on a tank, 35 mpg, handles/brakes like a sports car, rock solid at 100 mph, great seats, German build quality (2019+ Cayennes are built in Slovakia not Germany anymore) on par with a 200 series Land Cruiser (actually uses the same Aisin transmission as the LC and uses the bomber Audi torsen differential (unlike other 2nd gen Cayennes that had transfer cases problems). Great off road people overland these. Get one now,, it’s a future classic like the 80/100 series LC.

No issues with the emissions system? That is always what worries me with diesels, though diesel isn't much more expensive than gas where I am and it makes sense to me in a heavy truck.

[MarcusBrody]

I may be buried in my FJ cruiser with dual tanks. It may be too small for you though. I'd take it over my wife's new Denali Yukon.

Other than that I would do the GX like the others have stated if I was on a budget.

I missed a chance to pick one up at a good price 5-6 years ago when I was looking for a third car. I still regret it.

Proving the old adage "to each their own," I think GXs are hideous, especially the front end, and could never drive one. It's almost like there is a reason that so many different makes and models have enough sales to keep going. Like different people have different tastes or something.

Of course, my taste is the correct taste, just so we're clear, and all your tastes are simply wrong. It's not your fault. You don't know any better.

Ha, I drive a 318ti and a Transit Connect. I'd love an XK or F-Type Jag someday (as you can see, my attraction to bad car decisions is both on and off road) as I think they're gorgeous, but for something like this, the vehicle is basically a tool to me, so I'll tolerate ugly.

[XXX-er]

Truck w/ topper, dood. Pick whatever brand makes you happy and put on good susp & tires.

Drive most anywhere, haul all the shit you want, and still stand your bike up in the back.

This ^^ and again I would suggest one with the Toyota name plate

hopefully they make an interiour with floor mats that will match your italian loafers

[MarcusBrody]

Van. AWD vans are prized. "Great Price" on autotrader for an AWD Sienna with less than 60k is 27k. For a 2015. New starts at 41k for the stripper model. Unfortunately people have figured out that minivans are gold.

You have a lot of good suggestions here, I'd just suggest you go out and test drive them to see what gets your jumblies rumbling in a good way, then take that shortlist and work from there.

That said, write down what's most important IN ORDER so you can prioritize (and help us find stuff):
Space, Off road capability, reliability, efficiency, cool factor, on road manners.
We're talking across a pretty wide range of sizes, styles and core vehicle architectures here, so getting a read on that will help.
For example, if you said:
Space, Off road capability, reliability as your top 3, Land Cruiser is your ride. If you said space, efficiency and on-road manners, more likely an AWD sienna.
As much as I get slagged for it in the wagon thread for not being as cool as an Audi/Merc, I'm definitely enjoying my '24 Outback XT as it has good space and enough ground clearance to not care about much of anything.
For the desert, I'd probably end up in a Land Cruiser or some kinda of Truck abomination as I'd want the ability to carry spares and not have to worry about sand/rockcrawling with fuckoff large tires while having the hard shell because I'm a woods guy who's afraid of outdoor desert things.

I definitely want a full sized spare, but I'm not really rock crawling, so GIANT tires aren't really a priority. There are definitely a lot of fun spots to use them here, but a lot of our drives/adventures just end up covering a lot of miles, with only the last chunk being on rough roads, so I want to keep things balanced. Your Outback is pretty balanced for that. I also looked at Siennas with lifts, but I wanted the hybrid version and wanted to hear a bit more how they worked over time. I'm annoyed that Toyota dropped the base AWD version, but they were basically impossible to get anyway as you can't special order with Toyota and they were making very few when I was looking. I actually didn't love the interior of the new Siennas for carrying gear. It's too sculpted which makes the space harder to use and there was a big lip with the rear hatch that meant that you couldn't slide things in and out. Googling photos now, the lip mostly goes away if you fold the rear seats down, I guess.

[riser4]

If you buy Brit, be sure to stock up on replacement smoke for the wiring system.

[XXX-er]

Joe Lucas ^^ prince of darkness

[riser4]

He's why the Brits drink warm beer.

[Ted Striker]

Lexus GX. Find one that is owned like my Mom owns her Lexuses, dealer serviced and never driven hard. 15 years old and basically new. They exist. I see em all the time. It’ll probably be white. Women over 65 tend to like a white Lexus.

Lol, it's like they only came in two colors: white (80%), and black (20%)

The GX/4Runner is a great platform but not particularly big on the inside.

What I was going to say. Transit to mid-suv would be leaving a lot of stuff at home.

You guys are going to obscure corners of CL/FB in non mountainous states to find GX that aren't insanely expensive for their age, correct?

Yeah, I've been looking for the elusive one owner/straight/rust-free/full service history Lexus unicorn here in the pnw for about a decade without success.

I think GXs are hideous

They are. From every angle.

[schuss]

I definitely want a full sized spare, but I'm not really rock crawling, so GIANT tires aren't really a priority. There are definitely a lot of fun spots to use them here, but a lot of our drives/adventures just end up covering a lot of miles, with only the last chunk being on rough roads, so I want to keep things balanced. Your Outback is pretty balanced for that. I also looked at Siennas with lifts, but I wanted the hybrid version and wanted to hear a bit more how they worked over time. I'm annoyed that Toyota dropped the base AWD version, but they were basically impossible to get anyway as you can't special order with Toyota and they were making very few when I was looking. I actually didn't love the interior of the new Siennas for carrying gear. It's too sculpted which makes the space harder to use and there was a big lip with the rear hatch that meant that you couldn't slide things in and out. Googling photos now, the lip mostly goes away if you fold the rear seats down, I guess.

Big tires are great for sand/rock as you can lower the air pressure and basically go anywhere, not to mention the toughened sidewalls for cactus/sharp rocks. Full size spares are great, but what's even better is never flatting in the first place.