A road from an overland trip.

Finding The Best Overland Vehicle

Are you looking for the best overland vehicle to build? You have a lot of options out there, so it can be confusing. Let’s take a look at what an overland vehicle needs to have and what you would probably like it to have.

You have no doubt seen all of the pictures online of well built (high budget) overlanding rigs. These vehicles have everything from powerful engines to rugged and flexible four wheel drive suspensions and drive-trains. Companies pump a ton of money into these rigs to get media attention and it works. The problem with that is it also skews reality for the average overlander.

People start to think that they have to have it ALL or their vehicle will be a failure as an overland rig. The truth is very much different and it pays to go back to the roots of overlanding. What do you really need in an overland rig?

In truth, all you really need is a vehicle that will get you from point A to point B. Most overlanders are not going to be trail blazers. They just want to travel and be self sufficient. If you have a vehicle that can do that, you have an overland rig and if you understand this, you open up a world of build opportunities. Let’s take a look at what you really need and what you just want out of a vehicle.

What You NEED In An Overland Vehicle

First, let’s have a look at some things that you just can not do without.

Storage Capacity

One of the benefits of building an overland rig is that you can carry all of your gear with you. It is really car camping to the extreme, which means you need a lot of storage. When choosing your vehicle, look for one that can carry your tents, cooking equipment, clothing, food, etc with room to spare. Plan out what you need to bring and then choose a vehicle that has the room to carry it.

Keep in mind though that this room does not necessarily need to be in the form of inside storage. If your vehicle has a rack or the ability to hold one, outside storage can be just as handy. In many cases, it might even be preferred to have outside storage since you may not want to travel for hours with all of your cooking gear or muddy trail supplies.

Reliability

The last thing that you want to do is get halfway across the country and have your vehicle breakdown. This is why reliability is such an important part of selecting an overland vehicle and a reason why brands like Toyota are so popular in the overlanding community. Read reviews and choose a vehicle that has a reputation for keeping it together.

Do keep in mind that it does not begin and end with Toyota vehicles. These days you have a number of brands that have made huge gains in dependability including Ford, Chevy and even Hyundai/KIA.

Availability Of Parts

No matter how reliable a vehicle is, breakdowns happen. This can be because of an unavoidable mechanical failure or perhaps because you push it too hard and break something. Whatever the case, you need to make sure that parts for your vehicle will be available where you intend to travel.

See also  Toyota RAV4 Overland?

With the ability to overnight parts, local availability is not as important as it used to be, but do you want to be stuck in a small town or third world country waiting on a part?

Good Gas Mileage

One of your biggest expenses as an overlander will be fuel. This means that you want to find a vehicle that sips instead of chugs. That V8 engine might be appealing, but you may be better off with an efficient 6 cylinder that gets 30 miles per gallon on the highway. And make no mistake about it, most of your driving miles will be highway miles.

What You WANT In An Overland Vehicle

Now, let’s talk about what you want in an overland vehicle. These will be all of those flashy features that you see on the show rig.

Four Wheel Drive

You might think that four wheel drive should be in the need section. but this is not the case for most overlanders. For most, overlanding does not mean blazing trails in the forest and that is a good thing. The last thing that we need is thousands of crazy offroaders tearing up our woods.

In fact, the hairiest terrain most overlanders will face will be a gravel road headed to the campsite, and there is nothing wrong with that. Overlanding does not have to be “extreme” to be acceptable. Most of us can’t risk taking the family deep into the woods and have a job to get back to after the weekend.

If you can find a rig with four wheel drive that you like and can afford, great. If not, there is nothing wrong with a good all wheel drive system or even a good two wheel drive vehicle with a bit of clearance.

Horsepower

Horsepower is great. It feeds the ego and when you need it, you are glad you have it. Horsepower is a double edged sword however.

The more horsepower you have, the less miles per gallon you will get. If you think that V8 is nice, wait until you are getting 12 miles per gallon in the city and refueling every few hours. Of course, some will say that you can have both. Perhaps a high performance dual turbo low displacement engine. Yes, that will give you power with acceptable fuel economy, but it also adds a lot of complexity and room for breakdowns. These systems have too many parts and turbos produce far more heat than you might think.

Another problem with high horsepower engines is the increased likelihood of a breakdown. The temptation to “power out” of a situation is much greater and that can lead to some journey ending drive-train damage.

Summing It All Up

In short, what make a good overland vehicle is what gets you from point A to point B. Stay within your budget and build a rig that suits your personal style of overlanding and you will be happy. If somebody does not agree to your choice of rigs, so be it, your the one who has to drive it.

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