by chorizon » Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:11 pm
Thanks, jagular, I've had a few offroad vehicles and I definitely lean toward the ones that get better fuel mileage.
I really dig just cruising around in the desert with some friends, and maybe enjoying a few adult beverages as well.
We own no 4WD vehicles now, but my biggest gripe in the past would have been the low MPG of the "ghosts of 4WD past".
Examples?
My 1st Jeep had a Chevy 350 in it, with all the accoutrements (e.g. Strange axles to replace the broken ones, Rancho springs to replace the broken ones, etc...), it was very fast on the highway! I never got a consistent MPG, probably due to the "grin factor" as well as the good ol' 3-Speed manual it had...
My 2nd Jeep was stock, and worked perfectly, except for the wiring harness I had to replace... 13 MPG no matter what.
Along came the Dodge. 6000# of steel propelled by a Cummins Turbo Diesel. Stock vehicle had everything a 4WD'er would covet, Dana 44 front, 60 rear, NV??? transfer case, whatever. Would go anywhere (unless there was mud, then the front end would sink to oblivion). This was also my my daily driver at the time, and I hated the new creaks-and-pops that would manifest themselves after every offroad excursion.
I've been thinking light. My parents live in a little "subdivision" in west Texas (330,000 acres), and drove an old 2WD Ford Courier around the ranch for years. It would go anywhere. If it got stuck (which happened at least once during a typical 100 mile expedition), we could un-stick it in a jiffy. Coupled with it's little 1.8L Mazda engine(?) it would get around 24 MPG.
That's my benchmark, a small vehicle that could get us around out in the desert that doesn't guzzle the gas. The nearest gas station out there is an 80 mile round trip!