sixstringsteve
Well-Known Member
- Location
- UT
I finally got some time to put some dirt miles (and street miles) on the Montero.
After 150 miles of mixed city driving, I got 16 mpg. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but that involved a lot of idling, stop and go, and it was pretty loaded up for part of that. We'll see if it improves as I run premium fuel through it.
A lot of people have asked how I like the Montero. I like it, but I'm a little worried about expensive repairs. After the temp gauge and tcase sensor issues, as well as difficulty working on the motor, I have my doubts. If it proves to be as reliable as my toyotas were (which many people claim is a reasonable expectation), then I will be more than thrilled with it.
We went up and over Gold Hill in the Uintas near Whitney reservoir. There were rock gardens with nothing but bowling-ball sized rocks. The montero did awesome, and it was more comfortable than Carlos, my old tacoma. I LOVE it on washboards and bumpy 2-track roads. I need to be careful not to overdo it in whoops and big drainage ditches/bumps for fear of losing all my ground clearance at once. I only scraped bottom once, and only bottomed out twice. I would have bottomed out my tacoma more than that with the way I was driving. I'm not too worried about undercarriage protection. All the important stuff is either tucked way up in there, covered with a factory skid plate, or both. One thing I learned from my last build was just how heavy skids are. When I removed my skid plates and bumpers from my tacoma, I lost at least 250 lbs, and it was noticeable when I drove it. The last thing I want to do is throw on a ton of extra metal on this thing that I don't need.
I bought this rig for the type of driving we did this weekend (3 hour freeway, 3 hour washboards/bumpy rocky roads), and it handled it better than any other rig I've owned. I love it. The ground clearance is decent, but I need to be careful how fast I'm driving over stuff. The stock suspension is great, even when loaded up with 750lbs of gear, and I'd be afraid that putting an OME lift on it would compromise ride quality both on and off road. It's great to drive on the freeway with a slight hint of body roll, but offroad is where it really shines. I love the independent front and rear suspension. Even though the tires stick in about 2" from the edge of the fender, the fenders really do a great job at keeping mud off the exterior. There's tons of room inside, but I've decided to build a platform to keep it better organized. Overall I'm really happy with the rig. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tcase sensors are easy to fix and diagnose and that the majorly expensive components remain reliable.
A few pics from this weekend.
All loaded up with 3 inflatable kayaks, one inflatable SUP, 5 paddles, a cooler, 5gal water, air compressor, life jackets, stove, 2 action packers, 2 sleeping bags, pads, tent, fishing gear, and recovery gear. It all fit, but I'll be adding some organization to the rig before the next trip. With everything lying on top of each other makes it tough to access stuff on the bottom (like a recovery strap when someone gets their truck stuck in the lake). Video footage of the recovery will be posted in the next 5 months.
Hanging out with the cool trucks.
After 150 miles of mixed city driving, I got 16 mpg. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but that involved a lot of idling, stop and go, and it was pretty loaded up for part of that. We'll see if it improves as I run premium fuel through it.
A lot of people have asked how I like the Montero. I like it, but I'm a little worried about expensive repairs. After the temp gauge and tcase sensor issues, as well as difficulty working on the motor, I have my doubts. If it proves to be as reliable as my toyotas were (which many people claim is a reasonable expectation), then I will be more than thrilled with it.
We went up and over Gold Hill in the Uintas near Whitney reservoir. There were rock gardens with nothing but bowling-ball sized rocks. The montero did awesome, and it was more comfortable than Carlos, my old tacoma. I LOVE it on washboards and bumpy 2-track roads. I need to be careful not to overdo it in whoops and big drainage ditches/bumps for fear of losing all my ground clearance at once. I only scraped bottom once, and only bottomed out twice. I would have bottomed out my tacoma more than that with the way I was driving. I'm not too worried about undercarriage protection. All the important stuff is either tucked way up in there, covered with a factory skid plate, or both. One thing I learned from my last build was just how heavy skids are. When I removed my skid plates and bumpers from my tacoma, I lost at least 250 lbs, and it was noticeable when I drove it. The last thing I want to do is throw on a ton of extra metal on this thing that I don't need.
I bought this rig for the type of driving we did this weekend (3 hour freeway, 3 hour washboards/bumpy rocky roads), and it handled it better than any other rig I've owned. I love it. The ground clearance is decent, but I need to be careful how fast I'm driving over stuff. The stock suspension is great, even when loaded up with 750lbs of gear, and I'd be afraid that putting an OME lift on it would compromise ride quality both on and off road. It's great to drive on the freeway with a slight hint of body roll, but offroad is where it really shines. I love the independent front and rear suspension. Even though the tires stick in about 2" from the edge of the fender, the fenders really do a great job at keeping mud off the exterior. There's tons of room inside, but I've decided to build a platform to keep it better organized. Overall I'm really happy with the rig. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the tcase sensors are easy to fix and diagnose and that the majorly expensive components remain reliable.
A few pics from this weekend.
All loaded up with 3 inflatable kayaks, one inflatable SUP, 5 paddles, a cooler, 5gal water, air compressor, life jackets, stove, 2 action packers, 2 sleeping bags, pads, tent, fishing gear, and recovery gear. It all fit, but I'll be adding some organization to the rig before the next trip. With everything lying on top of each other makes it tough to access stuff on the bottom (like a recovery strap when someone gets their truck stuck in the lake). Video footage of the recovery will be posted in the next 5 months.
Hanging out with the cool trucks.
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