What is the most capable off road Truck/SuV?
 

What is the most capable Truck/SUV for races like BAJA or Dakar?

Winner for the recent Dakar was a whole different car than the Production VW Toureg.

Just curious which production vehicle you would get in order to start a project for a race such as BAJA or Dakar?

Just got interested in the topic because I was viewing the Ford F150 SVT Raptor recently and saw how "prepared" it came from factor. I could literally puta cage, bucket, harness in that truck and start doing some off road competition

-Toyota Land Cruiser/Nissan Patrol
-Toyota Hilux/ Nissan Navara (Frontier)

I'd give an FJ, 4Runner & Defender a crack at it to.

The Raptor is on a whole other level.... it's specifically prepared for that... sorta like a Porsche GT3 RS for off-roading.

Saw a white raptor yesterday. They look so good and are pure beasts. I didnt think i would ever say that about a ford. :bellyroll:

Also a ranger might be a good starting place :iono:

for desert racing, sure a raptor is a great factory truck. i'd probably rather build a tacoma with a nice long travel suspension though...

for any other kind of off roading, i'll take a land cruiser, you know, the ones with the factory front and rear lockers. :D

-Mike

I'll take a Hummer H1 diesel, but modified with better suspension, lifted, better lsd, carbonfiber body panels to make it lighter and better gear ratio.

http://upload.moldova.org/auto/Toyot..._Series_AU.jpg

Still in production of the Oz market bishes.

It all boils down to how much $ because you make any SUV or Truck a contender.

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/au...g_dakar_02.jpg
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/au...g_dakar_03.jpg

Why can't Toyota bring back the solid axle front... :bow: That is what made their trucks and the 4 runner the best off roader.

SAS and Long travel setup... forget about it! :party0030:

http://image.automotive.com/f/featur...4+on_trail.jpg

I remember this topic back then on another forum will a trophy baja truck win in a dakar rally? I say no cuz, baja tucks only run a day or 2 but a dakar trucks run for a week on desert, mountain and other different terrain.

absolutely! Demello does some damn nice work.

i was talking long-travel strictly for desert racing. any other kind of off roading and i'll gladly take solid axles, front and rear. portals, actually. :D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_axle

-Mike

That's apples and oranges. Some of the stages of the Dakar will cover the cover the entire length of a Baja 500 and with more extreme conditions/terrain. I'm sure a trophy truck can run/compete in a Dakar, it just has to have the necessary adjustments for that race.

Jason is a cool dude. He welded my rock sliders at his shop is located in Corona which is in between Los Angeles/Riverside county and Temecula. Also Icon/Donahoe shop is also right down the street from Demello.

Well
A) OP did say off the showroom floor

and

b) Solid axle front isn't coming back, because he vehicles they make are amazingly capable as it is, event with independent suspension up front., but mainly because nobody really uses them to go offroad anymore.


Also, as I already mentioned, the 70 series is still in production in OZ and IIRC that still comes with a solid front.

I would say Toyota Hilux(Thai version not included) and Toyota LC/LX.

but for me the ultimate SUV toy is the Range Rover Bowler Nemesis its like a SVT Raptor ina SUV form

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...8deef2f23c.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...Nemesis-03.jpg

^ that actually looks kind of cool. Very RC-ish.