DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

Who is willing to ruin a new car paint job in the brush & weeds off-road anyway?? Maybe when the premium has has 80k on the clock & over 5 years old it can be thrashed and scratched..

mmarshall

Yes, it is the same chassis as the GX and FJ. That I knew, but I wasn't sure if the platform had gone unibody or not....there was conflicting info on that.

I think you guys are right, though, that the 4Runner/GX/FJ is still body-on frame (I'll stand corrected)........that would account for at least part of their excellent performance off-road.

I'd be careful with what I actually DID with one off-road, though. Both the 4Runner and GX470 are quite narrow for their tall height, and that means tipsiness and a high center-of-gravity. You wouldn't want the body leaning too much and tipping over.

mmarshall

In general, that's correct. Most SUV owners don't want to scratch up a brand-new vehicle (though some offer deflector equipment and brush guards to help keep that from happening).

Jeep Wrangler owners, however, are another whole breed. Up to 25% of them actually do go off-road, even with brand-new ones, as opposed to about 4-5% of most SUV owners.

IS-SV

So true, many of the newer 4x4 trucks have never see anything more gnarly than a speedbump at the mall.

I've seen Hummers used offroad with vinyl protection on the sides and doors for protection from scratches, etc.

Nothing beats an old Jeep for this type of use.

pagemaster

There is a guy over at Ih8mud.com who has beat up his $70k Toyota Land Cruiser. ddt225 is his name. He has videos and images that shows you where he has taken it.

He actually was the only vehicle to get stuck on one occasion (4runner, GX, 60 series, hummer and others didn't) in some sand dunes.

So people do take them off road.

mmarshall

Yes.....about 5%, on the average, except for the Jeep Wrangler.

Sand dunes, BTW, are one of the easiest places to get an off-road SUV stuck, even with locked differentials, because loose sand has such little support under it for the vehicle weight...the vehicle tends to sink down rather than go forward (or backward). Sometimes it is actually easier to get going on glare ice than loose sand, because at least you don't sink down into ice.

pagemaster

I think the percentage of Land Cruiser owners that use their vehicles for off road is much higher than one would expect. There are a few LX owners there but most Land Cruisers owners prefer the now (AHC) suspension found on the LX vehicles and do not like the larger 20 inchs wheels.

This is one of the reasons why the Land Cruiser comes to USA equipped with KDSS and 18 inch rims.

I bet there are very few LX owners who you use the LX to off road compared to higher percentage of LC owners.