Mountain Vehicle Toyota or Jeep

[bbrown]

Funny thing about Toyota is you hate to buy them but sure love to sell them.

Bought my '06 for $22K and when it was totaled the insurance paid me close to $28k after making payments for 6 months or so. Made for enough cash to pay off the loan, buy my '00 outright and pick the wife's '07 without getting any deeper in debt. Pretty good deal for me in the end - I love beating the shit out of the 2000 without worrying about the repercussions like I did with with the other truck.

 

[bbrown]

Or how do you pass smog?? Mariposa registration? 375 without the juice sounds low to me with all those mods. Fess up!

I think the tuner adds 375 - plus stock and the mods. Gotta be pushing 900+ all said and done I would guess... I think the best benefit of all the mods and tuner is you get to smoke out all the road bikers. Or is it just me that enjoys that?

 

[KMD]

Rizzy touched upon exactly why I did not go for monster lift kit upgrade on my Tundra. I almost went with long travel LCAs and longer axles to match, but just didn't want to open that can o' worms. Unless you're rock crawling, a stock/slighly modded Toyo can get you plenty deep into trouble on an old two track or skid road. The smaller bodied Tacos were def. more nimble, and my 03' Tundra is the same size as the newer Tacos, not too large to get around...

IMHO, the extra $$$ for a body lift kit/shackles/diff drop, etc. would be better spent on a complete set of skid plates for a stocker. Between the protective plates and a winch w/Pull Pal, you should be sufficiently prepared to get back out of wherever you got into!

I got a front skid plate for mine from Skid Row Offroad (skidplates.com)

 

[shaun]

Or how do you pass smog?? Mariposa registration? 375 without the juice sounds low to me with all those mods. Fess up!

Whats Smog??? No I have to put back dpf cat and all that good stuff every other year for smog. But now you have to dodge the smog checkpoints around town also. Pays to have a ton of friends who work for PD who keep me in the loop. 375 is just the tune. I am around 725hp and 1350torque without juice. haven't been on dyno since adding that.

 

[johnson taxidermy]

Aron,check with Mark Williams in Louisville or Lafayette? And see if the carry a after market racing axle. If not they can cut you a set.

 

[1morehill]

Love my jeep jacked up with 37's and this is my forth no major issues at all.You can slowly build on them change gear settings ect.. I don't think the parts are that expensive personally

 

[hflier]

I have an FJ Cruiser. Really like it. Better than Jeep. I have previously owned 3 Wranglers and 2 Liberty's. I like the FJ much better.

 

[cmeier117]

I have an FJ Cruiser. Really like it. Better than Jeep. I have previously owned 3 Wranglers and 2 Liberty's. I like the FJ much better.

Does the FJ have much cargo room in the back? How would it compare off road to the Tacoma. Does it have lockers standard?

 

[DeepMauka]

The old Jeep v Toyota debate, haha. I've driven and seen both on the trail. Both are pretty nuts offroad if you are willing to put time and money in them. Like said before, jeeps stock and toyos stock...there is no comparison. Wranglers and xj's blow them out if the water. Even if you had the solid axle '85 and earlier stock toyotas, stock v stock, jeep wins hands down. The amount of time and money invested to get a Toyota to keep up with a jeep isn't worth it in my opinion.

They both are very capable trucks. As far as ride, tacos are nicer. I own a tj now and those things aren't that bad on the highway. Defiantly better than its earlier brothers. I bought it new ('05) and have over 160k on it, and haven't had any mechanical problems. Just regular fluid changes, p.m., etc.

If you are worried about the space difference of the two, well, if you can fit 7-10 days with of supplies in a backpack, I'm sure you can figure out how to haul your game out in a jeep, haha. Having a pickup bed is nice though .

I love both trucks, and would like to do a toyo build some day.

 

[DeepMauka]

Check out this video of what a stock xj can do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUkRbYRP0FU

 

[Nick Muche]

I thought about an FJ but when I saw the gas mileage they get I decided against it. What are you getting with yours?

 

[G Posik]

As stated already, to much lift on the Yota will eat up CV's. I am running 2.5" of lift. I am running Fox 2.5 extended travel with remote resi. Total Chaos uppers, AllPro front bumper, full skids and CBI sliders. Good solid armor will save you on some of the trails/ roads in the mountains. I have yet to replace a CV axle because of snapping on the trail. I Did just replace mine because I had torn the CV boots. It is easy and cheap to buy new axles for $99.00 per axle. To buy the boots for $30.00 and spend 2.5 hours pulling the axles, replacing the boots and replacing the axle. The boots are a pain in the A$$ to change.

Aron is that a drop bracket lift? I had one on this truck when I bought it. Pulled it off and replaced the frame cross member. Best thing I ever did. It was not an easy task, but 2 days by my self and done.

 

[Jeff Martin]

My 2013 Taco with a 3" lift, oversized tires/rims and a shell is getting 18.5 to 19 mpg.

wow.....i have a 2013 Taco and cant get a mile over 15.9 MPG....it sucks....but i love the truck. Switched from Chevy Z71 and will never go back

 

[huntabsarokee]

Man I get that in my tundra with the 5.7

 

[ohhiitznik]

I have a jeep currently. I've had a liberty and a 2 door wrangler. Will never drive a toyota. Or any foreign car for that matter. I'm getting a 4 door wrangler. Had one when I was in Hawaii and I loved it. Could pull 22-23 MPG at 60mph cruising around hawaii I'm sure I could do it around here. I went the jeep route when I got rid of my 03 F350 diesel. Just couldn't take spending 1000 for brakes and other routine maintenance.

 

[ohhiitznik]

If I had to go a pickup truck route, I'd go with the Ford F150 with the ecoboost. My buddies work at ford and they are bringing out a new ecoboost ford in 2015 that gets 29 MPG after all the emissions and regulators slapped on it. Without emissions they were churning 34 mpg and that is with 400 hp and 400 ft lbs of torque in a half ton pickup that can tow 11,000 lbs.

 

[Ross]

Having had several toyos and jeeps, I will stay with the toyos, but there is something about a jeep and some day I may have another. Toyo's just offer so much in reliability, gas mileage, resale and the smaller versions navigate well in the mountains. Additionally they come with badass hood ornaments.




My FJ gets right around 20 hwy and 17ish city.

 

[WonkyWapiti]

My favorite rig I ever owned was a Cherokee Sport. I'm currently driving a Ford F150 that has seen better days. In the next year I'm going to a Tacoma. I love the Rubicon but an elk is gonna fit a lot better in the back of a Tacoma. Speaking from experience (and luck as my last year's archery elk ran down hill towards a logging road after my arrow hit it) a whole Roosevelt elk will fit in the bed of a double cab Toyota Tacoma. Also Tacoma's are built in the USA. I really like the Jeep's but I need the versatility of a pickup.

 

[trdhunter]

The Tacoma is hard to beat. I currently drive an 07 Tundra which I chose due to Toyota reliability and lower maintenance cost over a diesel. I had a 2000 Tacoma prior to the Tundra and wish I would have kept it when I bought my tundra. I know what your saying as I replaced two cv axles from wheeling in Moab. There are stronger axles available. I used to have sticker that said " I understand the jeep thing, that's why I drive a Toyota".

Seriously both have pro's and cons like you said. I will buy me another Taco someday to use as mtn truck and to run around in rather than my other truck. I will find some pictures when I am on my home computer.

 

[Yellowknife]

I've owned a bunch of jeeps, and one toyota but I never considered any of them to be "mountain rigs"

Dude. If you want to go in the mountains, get a real truck!



The "logbook" in the cab shows over 40 moose, and a few dozen caribou, bears, and even a wolf since it went into service for us in 1991.



It's a mechanically stock 1954 Dodge M37.

Ask yourself, is that taco going to be around in 60 years? Just sayin'

Yk