help me buy an SUV

[Ryan T]

I don't think that upgrade path is entirely true. My mom installed a winch on her Jeep (or rather my brothers and I did) and left the rest of the jeep stock. She only used the jeep for occasional trail riding and daily driving when it was raining or cold. However when we did go out on the trail, even in stock form, the winch proved to be worth its weight in gold. I would venture to say for less than $1000 you could get a damn good winch, the bumper you need and a few tow straps/hooks and you could leave the rest of the xterra alone. It will be plently capable off-road just as it is, but a winch is (in my book) a definant insurance policy against being stranded in a hole.

[HAULN-SS]

Warne makes good winches, just in case.

[Ryan T]

Warne makes good winches, just in case.

Warn. But yeah, a warn winch is basically the only winch worth buying.

[CaptainHenreh]

Warne makes good winches, just in case.

Warn. But yeah, a warn winch is basically the only winch worth buying.

But do Warn winches warm wenches when wenches should be warned?

[ScottyB]

been spending alot of time with the X since the kruatmobile is still under the knife.

180 horsepower is not much at all for a thing this size, but it's nothing you can't work around just by putting your foot down more. however, gas milage is poop (not surprising). for a 3.3L engine it drinks like a 5. on the flip side, it sounds really good!

took it off-roading after work last friday. the lot across from my building has sat in a half-developed state for years (apparently) with lots of trails going through it where surveyors took their trucks and stuff. it had rained and the mud was too much to resist. i probably shouldn't have been back there but considering all they've done lately is knock over pine trees with bulldozers, i'm not exactly hurting anything.

she performed well....never had to use 4-low, but i was definitely almost up to the running boards in muck at one point and it just kept pulling. i had to roll over a big pile of pine branches and it was no problem. the trails were tight but the X is alot smaller than it feels. when i left, there was mud all over everything and i drove home feeling like i was wearing a badge of honor. when i got home i realized i had been dragging a pine branch under the car the whole way home....woops. GA mud clay sucks -- it's like thick paint more than dirt. my entire engine bay is coated, i'll have so much fun cleaning that up...

[.RJ]

Mud in Georgia? hah... you got your shizzle covered in jawja red clay now - good luck cleaning it

[HAULN-SS]

How'd it get up in the engine bay? did you go through some deep-ish water?

[ScottyB]

How'd it get up in the engine bay? did you go through some deep-ish water?

yeah, i went through some deep ish all right :lol:

i hit some heavy ruts at speed to keep my momentum and crap just flew everywhere. it was cool.

[HAULN-SS]

yah, sounds fun. Maybe you can get a block-off plate welded up under the engine bay to keep that from happening next time.

[white_2kgt]

How'd it get up in the engine bay? did you go through some deep-ish water?

Have you never been offroading? When you get in a mud puddle that shit gets everywhere. That's the only reason I don't take the Expy offroad anymore, I got tired to cleaning the engine bay. Hell, you can still see some mud on it from when we went camping/offroading in the GW forest.

[HAULN-SS]

I dunno - I took my blazer off road plenty of times - and I lived on a gravel road with some pretty massive puddles - never had aproblem. I wiped down the engine bay once for dust the entire time I had it, and when i sold it, it was as clean under the hood as when I got it.

[HAULN-SS]

and the off-roading i speak of are national forest fire roads- pretty rough, muddy, and steep.

[Maengelito]

Have you never been offroading? When you get in a mud puddle that shit gets everywhere.

+1, i still have mud under the hood of the STi when i took it to that big mud puddle in summit point 3 weeks after i bought the car

[HAULN-SS]

that's just laziness right there, haha. I couldnt stand having mud under the hood, or lots of dust for that matter, for more than about a month at a time. Every time i checked the oil or anything, that'd just piss me off.

[Maengelito]

that's just laziness right there, haha. I couldnt stand having mud under the hood, or lots of dust for that matter, for more than about a month at a time. Every time i checked the oil or anything, that'd just piss me off.

i suppose its laziness. its not like its caked on anymore. basically you can see where it was, and in order to get it off, i'd need several fine brushes on long bits of wire to reach some of those places. it doesnt really bother me much. if it did, i probably wouldnt have taken a 3 week old road car muddin'

[white_2kgt]

and the off-roading i speak of are national forest fire roads- pretty rough, muddy, and steep.

yea, well I'm talking about this,


Pic was taken as I was about 1/3rd of the way in.




Notice I have no license plate on the front of the expy, I knocked it off when I ran over a few trees.

That's offroading.

[white_2kgt]

that's just laziness right there, haha. I couldnt stand having mud under the hood, or lots of dust for that matter, for more than about a month at a time. Every time i checked the oil or anything, that'd just piss me off.

i suppose its laziness. its not like its caked on anymore. basically you can see where it was, and in order to get it off, i'd need several fine brushes on long bits of wire to reach some of those places. it doesnt really bother me much. if it did, i probably wouldnt have taken a 3 week old road car muddin'

That was so much damn fun.

[HAULN-SS]

well that's just silly. that's just driving through flood waters for the sake of doing it. All my off-roading usually involves tryin gto get from A to B

[.RJ]

that's just driving through flood waters for the sake of doing it.

So :?:

Need some kerosene rags?

[Maengelito]

That was so much damn fun.

that was after round 1, it got far dirtier later. to the point where you could only tell it was a blue car because the roof wasnt completely covered. otherwise, you wouldve thought it was a non-shiny tan colored car.