Best 4x4 / daily driver! Opinions wanted

[Houndoc]

"Best for the money" and "cheap" are often mutually exclusive. Its pretty hard to compare a Lexus with $4k+ worth of upgrades and factory lockers, etc to anything in the $4k-8k range. You can find 80 Series in those price ranges, but they will have typical wear, typical miles and likely no lockers (worth an easy $2k to many) and zero upgrades.

There is a reason some are content saying 'best for the money' and there is a reason some continue their search, spending nearly the same money along the way. Buy once, cry once.

Agreed.

 

[LT.]

I learned to drive in a Toyota Landcruiser and still think that it is the best rig for snow wheeling and can be had at reasonable enough prices. My current favorite is my little Ford Escape. It is idiot proof. No T-case, no hubs, no levers to pull, no buttons to push, no frills, and just plain goes. I have gotten a best of 29.48 mpg with it on 245/75/16 Toyo Open country AT's. On a trip from Ogden, Utah to Moab, Utah. I have yet to get is stuck, I really have not tried as it is my daily driver. We just got an honest two feet of snow, in some areas, and it just flat goes through the snow as long as there is a solid base to it. Even with just a little over 50,000 miles on the tires it just goes.

LT.

 

[mierdota]

i didnt really read through any of this to see what others have said but my vote is a tj, i love my tj and you can build them for pretty cheap if you do it right. Unless you need something more family friendly my dad loves his 4 door jk and you can put a back seat in those and have a 7 seater. i love grand cherokees and cherokees too

 

[BlackDog]

After eading the last few pages, all I have to add, is the mpg I pulled like clockwork out of my 87 5.0 NP435 3.54 geared 235/75/15 Bronco was a high of 16.9, and an average of 16.1

A diesel (PSD) Centurion would see that, and then some all day long. My commute was 60 miles a day in the Bronc, and it cost me $11 a day in fuel, workload cut back, and I had to change jobs, as fuel then became prohibitive.

IF one was entertaining the idea of a larger rig, I would look at a Cummins quad cab short box, with a stick, keep it 12valve for simplicity, and then you would have XJ/Toyota mpg at the cost of slightly more for fuel on occasion, the market equally favors and punishes you for driving a dismal.

If one was looking at a SUV, again, I like a full size, either the afore mentioned Cent, or a 6.5 Suburban

If one was looking to build there own, a 60/80 series Land Cruiser with a 4bt (4cyl version of the 6cyl Cummins) would be my choice, hands down.

If kids/back seat needs weren't a factor, either a Patrol or a 40 with the 4bt would win for me.

There is a nice Patrol running around here GM60/14bolt axles, H1 beadlocks, and H1 37's... HONEY!!!!!!!!!!!! of a truck.

THe topless aspect of the last two may get me looking at a tagalong trailer, if I were to settle for a 40/Patrol with a 4bt.
Now we have Sammy grade mpg, more room than a crampy XJ or runnah (IMHO, I am 6'0" 180# carry 3 kids and a lab with me, where do I put the Camping/recovery gear in an XJ or runnah?)..

Plus with any of the dismals mentioned, you can jump on the WVO, WMO, bio etc. etc. etc. bandwagon.

 

[Gas4Blood]

Well they dont get the best MPG, but I vote Wagoneer. They are cheap, comfy, seat 5 adults, came in tons of different trim levels, v-8, solid axles, had almost a 30 year production run, so parts are easy to find, make great expedition rigs, and are great candidates for drivetrain swaps of all sorts. Plus they are just cool But then again, I am a little biased! haha.

 

[v-stone]

The best rig is the one that will never break, gets 40 MPG. and cost you $2500 brand new. Let me know when you find it.......

The suzuki samurai with toyota axles and a VW desiel fits that discription, except the cost brand new. You could get the cost close to that if you did all the work yourself though. Thanks for bringing that up.

I'm having a hard time beeting the thought of my old 4door kick. There are a lot of rigs that beet it in the look factor. But, I had 33" tires, 4.5" lift, 76 to 1 crawl ratio, room for the family/gear and got an average 25 mpg. I think I'm going to build another one.

Its been fun seeing the posts and rigs sugested. Maybe we should have a pole for best (old) model 4x4. Model not brand.

 

[Houndoc]

Thar Sami conversion sounds cool. Do those same up grades on a a 4-door Sidekick? Heck, build one that way for me!

 

[N-Smooth]

i hate to play the "my vehicle is the best" game like everyone else is... but, cherokees simply have to be the best for a cheap build. when i got rid of my old xj buggy i went through a couple cars before deciding to get into another 4x and i really weighed out my options and carefully decided what would be best to get back into. obviously cost was the biggest problem, i had $1500 to spend from the car i had just sold. i also need a vehicle that can be daily driven, my wife and i carpool most of the time so we drive the acura but there are days i need to drive separate.

i really actually wanted to get anything but an xj cause i like trying new vehicles, in fact i have had 15 vehicles in ten years.

i wanted to get into a toyota truck or runner but soon realized they were twice as much as xj's and on top of that i don't really fit in them being 6'6" 240lbs... and they cost more than xj's even though they are usually covered in rust, have a million miles, have carbed 4 cylinders or efi but with ifs. toyotas are cool but they don't fit my requirements :-\

i also thought about fsj's but they are so old that most seem to be dump rides and that is sad to think about. fj60's fell into that same category.

i also looked into zj's and there are some cheap ones out there but they mainly have the 4.0's which would be retarded in a zj imo.

the bottom line i guess is that i got into a '93 cherokee country for $1500. it has 189k on everything besides the motor which supposedly has around 45k on it. it came with a 4.0/aw4/231 and 8.25 rear. sure it had some minor issues to be resolved but nothing big. now, a year later i have maybe $500-600 more into it and it has a d44 rear with a spool, super cheap 3" lift, 31" bfg at's on black steelies, switches to control tranny gear selection, custom ventilated hood , unibody stiffeners, tranny cooler, aux fan switch etc. it is obviously not as capable as my old buggy but it just plain works for what i need. even when it had open diffs it walked hells revenge, steelbender, ps/gbr/gs and i know those are not crazy trails by any means but fun nonetheless. i drove it 80 mph to moab (from slc) 3 times last year without a worry, wheeled it and drove home. hopefully the future of my xj will be good, i want it to be less "street legal" (still streetable) and even more wheelable in days to come.

kudos to everyone that has a vehicle that works for them, we all have different preferences

 

[TheJeepGuy]

XJ_punk
I believe you deserve serious Kudos for how well you put that and backing your opinion.