I need a go anywhere vehicle..

[M Dialed]

If you're not looking for all out off road Mercedes ML is an option. They are a pretty solid vehicle, comfortable, drive great on road and can manage off road. They have way more cargo space than you would think. I'm not crazy about the look of them but pretty good bang for your buck.....

Actually not a bad option. Although the XC 90 is more of a tank.


Apart from reliable/ practical / ergonomic.

Safety is important.

Safety is actually the reason I got an E30 in the first place.

[M Dialed]

These Saab 9-5 wagons have depreciated.

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pts/3400551272.html

Anyone own one?

[CrusherCurtis]

^Depreciated! $5900 is alot for of those. Especially considering its a pos that's not very good to drive. The only real Saabs worth considering were the ones made from 93 down. Besides that the 9-7x in and 4.2 straight 6 or 6.0 ls2 (GMT360) or The 9-2X aero (subaru impreza wrx), are good choices that aren't really Saabs.

OP the 9-2x areo would be perfect since you mention mpg , Swedish interiors and go anywhere ability. I would still go with the 9-7x areo tho. Because 400hp ls motor.

[M Dialed]

^Depreciated! $5900 is alot for of those. Especially considering its a pos that's not very good to drive. The only real Saabs worth considering were the ones made from 93 down. Besides that the 9-7x in and 4.2 straight 6 or 6.0 ls2 (GMT360) or The 9-2X aero (subaru impreza wrx), are good choices that aren't really Saabs.

OP the 9-2x areo would be perfect since you mention mpg , Swedish interiors and go anywhere ability. I would still go with the 9-7x areo tho. Because 400hp ls motor.

Definitely not getting a 9-7x aero.

I was looking at the 9-5 wagon because it just seems like a pretty well put together car.

I think it is lacking in clearance.

I know Volvo and Subaru have great clearance.

[M Dialed]

Im surprised nobody suggested a 2002 Audi A6 wagon (3.0?)

really the interior I Like for long distance.

Quattro

[atmobenzin]

but a car with an 4wd system afterward or as backup much like Audi and some other cars.

Yes, but they would still do better off-road than any of the volvos. Them volvos act, handle and are 99% of the time fwd vehicles with shitty unpredictable lock-up behavior.

[atmobenzin]

Definitely not getting a 9-7x aero.

I was looking at the 9-5 wagon because it just seems like a pretty well put together car.

I think it is lacking in clearance.

I know Volvo and Subaru have great clearance.

You have as much chance getting anywhere offroad with the rwd e30 as with the volvos. True story.

[quickervicar]

Yes, but they would still do better off-road than any of the volvos. Them volvos act, handle and are 99% of the time fwd vehicles with shitty unpredictable lock-up behavior.

Truth. I could not believe how unpredictable the AWD system was in the XC70 I drove. That, and the fear of dropping the drivetrain (whether it's the trans, a diff, or a carrier bearing) in the middle of Alaska would prevent me from recommending one. My friend's brother has a well-known Volvo indie shop and loves the brand more than his kids. He says that the second gen XCs are better, but there is no way he is ever buying one. I have not been impressed with anything they put out since switching to the FWD platforms. Interiors are pretty, sure, but the guts are pure junk in comparison to the old 200/700 series.

I cannot believe that the OP would consider a newer Saab as a "reliable go-anywhere vehicle." If I could think of one car on the road I would not trust in Alaska, it would be a Saab. No parts, no service, no go.

I really think the OP needs to figure out what is needed most: Great interior? Great off-roading? Great reliability? Great mileage?

Great interior:

-Audi All-Road
-Saab 9-5
-Volvo XC90

Great off-roading:

-any Land Rover
-any Land Cruiser
-most Jeeps
-Audi Quattro

Great reliability:

-Tahoe/Suburban
-Ford Bronco
-80 series Land Cruiser
-Audi 4000 Quattro
-Volvo 240

Great mileage:

-Audi 4kQ
-Saab 900

You can have some of these things. You can have most of these things. But you can't have them all.

[5ickride]

How about a mitsubishi montero? Dont know much about them but figure its worth discussing, no?

[andrewm]

[quote=M Dialed;3480316]They are pretty tough, but they chew gasoline. Also I am looking for a more ergonomic interior. [quote]

Nothing to be done about the interior, but you'd probably be impressed with the mileage. They can do over 18-20 on the interstate. My truck, with bigger tires, and being MUCH bigger than a normal tahoe does 16 on the interstate. My buddiess tahoe got 24mpg on his trip to VA, but he's 2wd on stock sized tires.

[Pac1373]

If you plan on leaving pavement for any length of time or for any distance, especially crossing open country I do not even understand why you are talking about car based AWD anything.

I dig Audi Quattro's and Scoobies as much as the next guy, but aside from Rally with high maintenance cost and frequency taking a "car" off road is going to leave you completely fucked somewhere at some point WAY before a proper 4wd Vehicle.

if you need to wheel your way out of anything, much less Canadian or Alaskan type of tundra, hell even most off road areas in lower 48 you will want one of the SUV type 4ws's mentioned by countless posters itt. Full sized Yukon too much? ok then, Xterra/Jeep Cherokee classic/ land Cruiser etc.

if you want rugged off road capability, dainty interior appointments, and 35mpg or better I have sad news...

there have been hella good dependable 4wd options mentioned itt already, and a Saab, Audi, Subaru or Vulva are not any of them.

[5ickride]

Roadtrip!!!

Go anywhere, here you go:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/cto/3443508194.html

If you're looking for a classic Land Cruiser solely as a grocery-getter you probably won't be interested in this vehicle. This is not a pristine, original-condition, non-modified Land Cruiser. You're better off going to eBay and finding what you're looking for. If you're seriously considering a drive to Bolivia, you want to be in something like this build.

This vehicle will appeal to anyone looking at serious travel; on-road off-road adventurous trekking. This vehicle was specifically built for that purpose, and emphasis put into ensuring you can go where you want and when you want with confidence. This is not a theoretical excursion vehicle, it was built for that purpose and has been put through the test, from the Canyonlands of the Southwestern US to the depths of Mexico's Copper Canyon. As I've been told before when traveling through rural Mexico in a 24-year old vehicle, either you have to be a little crazy or have a lot of confidence in your ride. It takes both actually.

Here are the modifications to engine/drive train.

Engine has roughly 40K on a rebuild, Tom Scroggins 2nd generation rebuilder out of Houston TX, included in rebuild was a brand new OEM head, the last one available from Toyota US , new OEM injectors, MeanGreen high torque starter.

New OEM Toyota H55 Transmission (cost of transmission only, no ancillary parts or installation, $2,950), conversion and installation was done by Iron Pig Offroad (East Coast #1 Land Cruiser specialists.)

Sierra Gear Ring & Pinion; this is all about the math. Oversized tires mess with the mathematical formulation and this aspect if often neglected (big tires look great but seriously mess with the math) so to compensate, the 4:11 gear-set was replaced with 4:56, bringing the working load to the engine back where it belongs.

Suspension; 4-inch lift leaf springs custom made from Alcan Springs in Colorado, with serious add-on leafs to the rear to handle towing. Brand new high-performance Bilstein shocks in the four-corners to soften the ride. Clearance in off-road situations is not a problem with this vehicle, whether there is a road or not.

Brand new radiator. Man-a-Fre 6-1 headers, cat-bypass, hi-flo muflers.,

Add-ons; Defender one-piece welded roof rack. ARB front bumper with added insurance (WARN Winch.) The bumper, winch and recovery kit combination are essential for endurance trekking, a value of $2500+ for purchase and installation, absolutely invaluable if needed. Rear bumper is crappy K-Mar, who should be ashamed of themselves, but it is good protection. Dual swing-arm model with one arm for 2-military Gerry cans (included). The other swing-arm can be added for spare tire. Apline stereo system compatible with iPod but newer iPhones (4s and 5) won't work. ARB Snorkel Kit and High-Lift jack. PIAA lights, two pencil-beams mounted atop the roof rack and two high-low wide beams mounted on the ARB bumper.

Truck is complete with "character marks" as they refer to them in the Airstream trailer world. One small dent on passenger front fender. This is a SOLID truck with absolutely no rust with the exception of a small nickle-sized piece on the rear hatch, rare for a vehicle of this vintage. As I mentioned, the truck was built for excursion purposes, the air-conditioner cooling grill, which used to sit in front of the radiator, had been removed for additional engine cooling. She spent the first part of her life in Texas (a former Cool Cruisers of Texas truck) and Nevada. I purchased her from someone in Nebraska. Care has always been taken to hot-water wash and hose-down after snow-salt accumulation. Oil changes religiously at 3K miles.

This is not a trailer-queen. Torn drivers seat, cracked windshield, broken antennae, 3-of-4 electric windows working, some chipped paint (upper paint was re-done a few years back because of "sunburn"), lots of stupid little things that don't amount to much if you're planning on excursion driving but would probably irk someone who is looking for "pristine" vehicle. I am selling the truck because... well, we did what we wanted to. 9-months on a road-trip stateside and 7-months in Mexico, which ended last May. My son is now in school so more long-distance road-tripping of that nature is not in the cards for a while. This year/model is that last year Toyotas built the LandCruiser as a truck with real solid-exle lock-down 4X4 capacity.

I am not interested in negotiating a price. The value is there. I'd just as soon store it away for my son when he grows up.

[M Dialed]

another option could be a Subaru.

Like a 2005 Subaru Outback.

[DaveNorCal]

If you are thinking about remote locations and off road, you need to think conventional and commonplace. Jeep, Chevy, Ford, Toyota. None of the AWD unibody SUVs are sturdy or repairable enough.

[mrsleeve]

If you are thinking about remote locations and off road, you need to think conventional and commonplace. Jeep, Chevy, Ford, Toyota. None of the AWD unibody SUVs are sturdy or repairable enough.

This.

OP really if your going to be anywhere in the back country, in the remote reaches of the Northern Rockies, Sierra Nevadas, the Cascades or Alaska, you need to stop looking into these little low to the ground no clearance cars and cross over like things with hard to source parts in podunk ville where the last time they even heard the word Volvo was in sex ed in 5th grade. You need something that will get you into and out of hard spots. A subbie or saab is fine if you sticking to the well traveled paved and well maintained gravel roads in your state and national parks. But when you start to venture off the beaten path into the back country on the road less traveled Ummm well things are not so great.

Take it from someone who lives in the middle of several million acres of National parks and forests, not to mention about a million and a 1/2 acers of other public use land Via state, and timber lands (only 6% of the 5200+ Sq/Mi in my county is private land). I would not go up into the back country with a subbie, Many do but dont venture off the main logging roads as once you get off those it turns to shit fast... This is why I drive a truck, and if we want get way off the beaten path, we take the horses ;)