Budget Off Roaders --SUVs $5k -$10k Can You Guess What They Are?

You are listening to the analog and grit podcast. I'm your host Victor Troyer.

Who do we have on today's budget off-roader episode?

Do we not do the bells anymore?

No, the bells have been extinct.

Damn. I didn't even notice that. Did we not have bells last time we started this?

No.

Damn, you just hit me like a truck. I was like, wait, I didn't hear the bells.

He talked about getting rid of the bells, I think, one time and one of my friends

who listened to the podcast who's like not much of a car guy but he just wanted to kind of

listen just to hear was like, what's with the bells?

Yeah, he didn't get it.

And then Vic was like self-conscious. He's like, oh, I guess I'll never do it again.

No, no, no, no. It's just, you don't need the bells because it's not the exchange anymore, right?

The bells signify the stock exchange, the car exchange, right?

So maybe one day we'll have a little jingle before the podcast.

Well, not that everyone knows who's here might, you know, remind them what your name is.

Uh, ex-co-host Justin Pitner.

Oh geez, Dylan, uh, Mainstay.

You guys have, you guys have hopefully maybe recognized me by now.

Yeah, right?

Just Dylan.

Yeah, you got a unique voice for sure. People will definitely recognize him.

Yeah, oh yeah. Right? You don't think so?

For sure.

Yeah, he's got a unique voice.

Like, if not just the, no, yes, it was, wait.

No, it's not a Tom Pitner.

No, it's not like just the voice, but it's also his way of talking.

It's not, like for me, it's more his way of talking than his voice specifically.

Gotcha. That makes sense. Yeah. There you go.

So budget off rotors. Uh, what I mean by that is we're talking cars that let's just say five to 10 grand, right?

And I love this topic. We've talked about it in the past before, um, but we'll,

we'll talk about some different cars this time because I think people like to look back and say,

what is affordable that I can use as a nice base platform to then build on, right?

Cause not everyone has 20 grand out the gate to buy a car and then put tires, do a lift kit, right?

And all these things that add up, you know, and now you're looking at $30,000.

So what's a good starter platform, budget off rotor, right?

That's not up there with the Land Cruisers like we talked about last week.

Cause we, we were talking about a good comparable SUV to the Land Cruiser.

And my boy Dylan over here, you know, said a Montero.

I knew you were going to say Montero cause I could feel Vic's excitement.

Just like building is like somebody mentioned a Montero in the positive light.

Yeah. And he's right. Cause like how many full size third row SUVs that are mostly built on body on frame construction.

Third gen is unibody, but still looks like a comparable Land Cruiser.

Like you can look at it and like that competed with the Land Cruiser.

The reason why I said that in the podcast is because I think it's just such a similar vehicle.

Like if you put like longevity and a lot of other stuff that makes the Land Cruiser so appealing aside, the Montero is simply just a similar vehicle.

Yeah. 100%. And you know, not only that, like it's one of those cars that you could tell Mitsubishi built to compete with the Land Cruiser, right?

Japanese cars obviously copycat one another.

Now, yes, it didn't have the V8 had had the V6. It always had a V6 since the second gen.

But at the end of the day, you know, you can see those cars frequently with over 200,000 miles.

You know, I personally had a second gen with over 217,000 miles, you know, and it ran great.

Yeah. I mean, I think a big part of their reputation here in the US is different is because like there's less of them.

Like Mitsubishi never really got like a solid foothold in the US, like going into the 2000s, at least compared to like all of the other big, you know, Japanese auto manufacturers.

So I mean, I think most people would tell you like they're super common, like elsewhere, like I have a friend from Ireland that I went and rode dirt bikes with last week.

And he was saying like, yeah, in Ireland, they're called the Pajero, but those things are everywhere.

Right. You know what I mean? So I think that plays into it as well.

I always hear Southeast Asia, you know, and never here.

I'm pretty sure it's pretty much all over the Middle East because I'm pretty sure Australia got them too.

Like the Pajeros, which is just the Montero.

I'm not going to say I'm pretty sure it's the same exact car, but they're everywhere.

Yeah. Yeah.

I showed him bring a trailer.

Mexico even gets a Pajero.

Yeah. Like in Italy, I saw these everywhere.

So right now live on bring a trailer is a 99 Mitsubishi Pajero three door.

So we didn't get these. We got the third gen, which is.

Oh, that's cool. I've never seen one that's not a Pajero Evo.

Yeah. This is a third gen.

Oh, turbo diesel.

Turbo diesel two door.

Well, three door, three door with the hatch in the back.

But yeah, these are all over Italy as well.

And I remember seeing them and be like, holy cow, they had two door versions of these.

Yeah.

You know, that we never got because I don't know if you guys know this, but back then, I think in the late 80s,

if you had a two door SUV, it was considered like a light heavy duty truck or light duty truck.

And it was hit with a chicken tax.

So because it was a two door, if it was a four door, then it was considered like a passenger vehicle.

And then you don't have to have a factory in the United States to build it.

So that's why Mitsubishi stopped with the two door first gen.

They only went to four door, believe it after like 89 or something like that.

Yeah.

So there goes all the two door SUVs in the U.S.

I know right around that time.

So what are you saying?

Oh, I was just going to say, yeah, right around that time is when they all kind of started disappearing slowly.

Yeah.

So this budget off-roader list will include some two door SUVs, right?

So I was thinking I can kind of give you guys hints on the vehicle and you guys can guess which one it is, right?

Yeah.

This is an article actually from Motor Trend.

Let's go, partner.

I haven't done this in a while.

2020.

So it's about five years old.

So a little caveat because it's five years old, we can kind of look back and reflect and see which of these five actually have gone up in value.

Because there's ones on here that I was looking at.

I'm like, there's no way you're finding one for five grand because the article title is four by four SUVs under $5,000.

I'm imagining the Jeep XJ has to be on here.

We'll see.

Before we get into it though, let's talk about you guys.

You guys, well, you already own one.

You're in the process of buying one, four by four SUVs that you got for pretty cheap.

Yeah.

You don't have to say how much, but pretty safe to say affordable.

Yeah.

Right.

Affordable as hell these days.

Yeah.

You can't get a good car for under five grand now.

So it's like, these are super affordable.

Right.

What did you just buy?

Something I told myself I would never get.

2008 Range Rover Sport Supercharged.

Nice.

Yeah.

I told myself I would never get a Range Rover because I know deep down they're probably flaming piles of garbage,

but I figured for how cheap I got this one, I would never have another opportunity to buy one for any cheaper that doesn't have serious problems.

So I was like, if there was ever a time to get one, it's now.

And so I just kind of pulled the trigger and it's been nice so far.

It's been phenomenal.

So no issues.

I mean, nothing driveability wise or mechanically really except for one thing that I have to do,

but it still runs and drives great.

It has an exhaust manifold gasket leak.

So it's like kind of noisy and you can, you know, it's a audible exhaust leak,

but no check engine light just past smog with flying colors.

Great service history for its whole life.

And yeah, I got it for 1200 bucks and I will say how much

because I just published an Instagram video about it where I kind of showed the bad side of it a little bit.

But yeah, for the most part, it's pretty solid, three owners, great service history.

You said 04?

08.

Yeah.

It's a 4.2 liter Supercharged 400 horsepower.

And it's 4x4, right?

Yep.

Is it got a low range?

Yeah, right?

Yeah.

It has a low range.

Yep.

It has a low range.

It has all the drive modes.

It has hill descent, has a refrigerated center console.

Wow.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, that's a Land Rover.

Yeah, yeah.

And I'm very quickly understanding why people get hooked on these cars.

They don't care about how much they cost to keep because it's just like since I've had it,

I like just want to drive it every day.

Like it doesn't make sense to it guzzles gas, you know, I drive my GEO just because I have

usually a short commute, so it's better for that.

But man, I just want to drive it like every day.

And I instantly see why people get hooked on these cars.

I follow TFL on YouTube and they are, they always have some kind of early 2000s or late

2000s Range Rover and their lineup of cars and they're addicted to them too.

Yeah.

You know, and they, they off-road a lot.

So it's cool to see like these cars off-road because when these cars were new, no one off-roaded

or took them on the trails because they were too expensive.

And a lot of them don't really have that much great ground clearance.

I feel like if you had to pick one vintage Land Rover that you see off-road, obviously

the Defender is one that, you know, but it's so.

The disco.

Yeah.

The discovery I was going to say.

Or like the P38 as well.

Yeah.

But like I just feel like they're not G wagons, but I feel like people are afraid to put them

to take them out.

Yeah.

They're like G wagons in the sense that they're like just another mall crawler like Whole Foods

Parking Lot car.

But at the price you paid, I mean, you might as well just send it and see what it could

do.

Exactly.

That's exactly what I'm going to do with it.

And like all, I want to slowly chip away at like the little stuff that it does have.

Like it needs a new headliner.

The third brake lights broken.

It does have a suspect.

It's weird because it has a suspension fault, which is like, Oh, terrifies people with Range

Rovers.

But the suspension works perfectly.

Like the dynamic response works when I press the button, it goes up.

When I press the button, it slams itself.

It self levels.

If you put a heavy load when I put my dirt bike on the back, it leveled out on its own.

Like everything works.

So I'm not too concerned about it.

Yeah.

And I kind of, and developing a little more trust in it, I've already put close to a thousand

miles on it.

Yeah.

And it's been rock solid.

It had a service sticker in the window.

And I called the place and I asked about it and they were like, Yeah, the last owner,

you know, brought it in for oil changes every like three or 4,000 miles.

Like they had three in the last three oil changes in the last 10,000 miles.

They brought in new wheel hubs and all four wheel bearings.

They replaced all four wheel bearings, all new hubs.

That's cool.

Yeah.

And the big problem it had when I got it was the infotainment was like completely not working.

And it was just the radio was unplugged.

Oh, wow.

And I got a new one wired it in and good to go.

Nice.

That's a really good hack called the mechanic shop that is either listed on the car facts

or if you have the sticker of the latest oil change.

And then most of them are nice, but I've gotten a few dickheads before.

This place was not nice when I called.

Yeah.

Not at all.

Because they're like, so you want me to look up your history?

Did you bring it in?

What is your name?

What is your phone?

No, no, it wasn't me.

It was the previous owner.

Can I just, you know, get an idea of what was done there?

And then they have to like look on the computer.

Literally the guy.

They can't wait to hang up the phone.

Oh man.

Yeah.

At the end I was like, Oh, one more thing.

And I was like, when was like the first I asked him like what mileage did they bring it in

for the first time?

And I heard him say under his breath.

See, they're all dickheads.

They don't want to help you.

They just want you to bring the car in and service it yourself.

Exactly.

But it was kind of funny.

I halfway expected that when I made the call, you know.

Yeah.

Okay.

What about you, Pitner?

What are you getting?

Attempting to get a 2002 Suzuki Grand Vitara.

For cheap.

Cheap.

So under a grand.

This is after the car went to, so it wasn't a Chevy tractor anymore.

No.

Right.

It's a four door Grand Vitara.

Okay.

So tell us about it.

It's like a four door side kick basically.

Right.

From what I'm gathering so far.

Right.

It's super minty.

The front bumper needs to be repainted, but it's because it was behind an RV.

It was like, it has all the hookups for things called flat towing is the name of it.

Where you just like put a car into like, or a transfer case in a neutral and they just

can tow them anywhere.

Like the Wranglers are super popular for it.

And this one has that hookup.

But other than that, paints get everywhere, interior, super mint.

It only has about 93,000 miles on it, like just over.

And it runs really good.

The reason I got it for so cheap is because it was not quite running well, but it was

just bad gas.

That's correct.

How did you like identify that?

It was running shitty.

And I'm like, you know what?

I'm going to give it an Italian tune up.

It's either going to blow up or it's going to be fine.

And it was fine.

For those listeners that aren't Italian and for those that are Italian.

I feel like anybody should know what the Italian tune up is.

Everybody needs to know.

Yeah.

Just a quick little red line.

Okay.

I love the Italian tune up.

Low key.

Like you can get a good feeling when an Italian tune up is going to fix the problem or make

it worse.

You can figure it out.

What does it do exactly?

I mean, is it just clear stuff out?

It just pressurizes the fuel system and the combustion chamber and can potentially burn

whatever is causing the problem, whether it be fuel related or whatever.

It can kind of just cure it or not.

Okay.

I mean, yeah, if you have a healthy engine, like a old, like a car that's just been sitting

for a while, like I feel like any car that's been sitting for like five or more years is

going to like be smoky and not run super happy when you first get it going again.

Once you know you got good oil in it and the engine's running okay, like I say drive the

Everliving piss out of it because like you're going to want to see what's first of all,

if something's going to break, you want it to happen.

Like when you're testing the car, not when you have to trust it.

Right.

So there's some validity to that.

And then also, like just the benefits of like clearing everything out.

Like, like you'll literally burn deposits from the engine, clear out the injectors because

they're maximum pulse.

It works, especially in old diesels.

When my Mercedes sat for two years, I gave it the Italian tune up afterwards and the

more and more I drove the shit out of the car, the better it ran.

It smoked less.

It got better gas mileage, just improved.

And this is like similar or not so similar to putting like C foam in the car and letting

the exhaust or the all the emissions kind of clear up and all that soot that sits from,

let's say if you go on short drives and his carbon build up, right?

Cause that's what C foam's for.

I'm still trying to figure out if C foam is snake oil or not.

Talk to our mutual friend about it because he definitely like swears by it.

Interesting.

Okay.

So Grand Vitara, what year again?

02.

So it's early 2000 Suzuki.

Now, look, when you showed me this car, right, I got excited.

I knew you called me cause you were excited, obviously.

But like people look at that car today and they're probably like, well, it's just an old

Suzuki.

Like we don't even have a little SUV.

Yeah.

But like when you showed me the interior and the layout of like even the steering wheel,

like how it kind of looks a little bulby.

Yeah.

Kind of funky steering.

But the best part of that car and it's just like all Suzuki's, the transfer case is in

the center console, like right next to like where you're like under the shifter.

And it's manual transfer case, which you don't see anymore.

It's all electronic.

Yeah.

And this is early 2000s where like you saw it in four runners, Pathfinders, Zuzu, Rodeos,

Tahoe.

Oh, no, what was the electronic 400?

Yeah.

400 had had it on the floor.

Oh, I thought you were talking about early ones.

The later ones were electronic too.

That's right.

Yeah.

I thought you were talking about cars.

Because my mom's like 2000s because a lot of them did to like electronic.

Most did.

Yeah.

Like the Explorer did in like 91.

They went to electronic four wheel drive.

My mom had a 400 that had the button.

She had a Tahoe GMT 400.

It's the early ones.

It was like on the front, I think it was on the right hand side of the gauge.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

The later ones have it on the center control stack.

Yeah.

It's like all in a row.

But there was the ones on the floor too.

And my mom used to not have that.

My mom was the electric button one.

95 or earlier, I think had it on the floor.

But either way, those transfer cases, the mechanical ones just feel more like rugged.

I don't know.

Like it just feels fun.

It feels like that's an off-roader.

You see it like holy shit.

Like look at SR5 four runners, fifth gen.

They used to all have the mechanical transfer case, right?

The limited's only had the dial, the electronic dial.

Then after, I forget maybe 2014 or what it was when they refreshed it, they all went,

even SR5s had the dial, you know, which just loses that like, I don't know, that pure off-roader.

Whereas, you know, it's no linkage.

You throwing it into gear is probably not going to go wrong unless something with the linkage breaks, which is highly unlikely.

Yeah.

And I have no people that have been stuck in for low driving home from the trails and they're going 25 miles an hour on a freeway because they got stuck, you know.

And that was a disco.

That person had a land road to discover.

But yeah, man, hopefully it works out.

I'm hoping so, man, just got to pass Mog and I'll be a happy camper.

Yeah.

If you don't buy it, let me know.

I would love to have that.

I would love to have a four-door practical SUV you can take to the trails.

Just put tires, maybe a little lift kit and you're set.

That's all I'm doing to it.

Little tires, little lift kit, call of the day.

Is it got a V6 in it?

Yeah, I got the V6 one, the 2.5 liter V6.

I think that's Suzuki's first V6 in New York.

It is Suzuki's first V6.

I was reading that the other day.

I was like, what a trip, dude.

Yeah, because I was thinking about the other cars like the tracker and all those.

I have the 2.2, I think, right?

I forget which year it was, but there was a transition year where some of the

Tracker ZR2s were four-cylinder and some of them were six-cylinder.

And some of the six-cylinder trackers, I believe, were the 4.3.

Really?

Tracker?

No way.

That's a huge motor.

That's a heavy motor, too.

I swear one of them had a larger V6 in a transition year for the ZR2.

Maybe we can look that up.

And the Tracker?

Yes, Tracker ZR2.

Well, the four-door sidekicks, the four-door Gran Vitara,

obviously not as appealing as a two-door with a little soft top or removable hard top.

Because those look so cool.

We've talked about it many times, like two-door SUVs.

We had the whole list at one time.

We went over them and they're just cool looking.

But when you think about off-roaders, you want space for gear.

You want to be able to bring friends.

So the four-door Gran Vitara actually isn't that bad.

It doesn't look as nice.

It depends on who you ask, though, because a lot of people that I've talked to about those cars

are like, oh, I would love a boxy four-door like something about it.

I know I think you said maybe you would like a four-door,

and I've heard other people say the same.

It might be a rare exception.

The Trackers, the R2, got the 2.5-liter V6,

the same motor that's in my Gran Vitara.

So not a 4.3. That was too ambitious.

That was a huge heavy motor.

But I know that a lot of them were four-cylinder,

and then they got the later V6s that were good.

And it sounds like that's what's in your Vitara.

The XL7, I think, came and replaced the Gran Vitara.

Then another car we've talked about, the Suzuki, the two-door one.

That kind of looks like the Stretch Cappuccino.

Oh, yeah, the X90.

Yeah, X90.

Yeah, I believe that it's a similar platform of the two-door one.

It's based on the Samurai.

Yeah.

But anyway, Suzuki made these like...

The X90 is based on the Samurai?

Yes.

I thought it was based off the Sidekick.

That's such a trip.

Well, it came later.

It came later, so the X90 was early 2000s.

Late 90s, early 2000s.

Yeah, because the Samurai was already gone by then.

So it might have been Sidekick, because that's what came after.

But regardless, Suzuki was making these small SUVs,

and I always say they left the US way too early.

When you think about what people like today,

they want small compact SUVs, not off-roaders.

Regular people buying SUVs, the subcompact segment has taken off.

Even Acura is coming out with the ADX now,

which is even smaller than the mid-size RDX.

The ADX is just an HRV.

Yeah, HRV, Corolla Cross, Hyundai Venue, Kia...

I mean, those little ones are getting discontinued.

But the SUV compact segment is now getting even smaller.

So Suzuki, I feel like, would have fit right in right now.

I mean, they obviously still make Jimneys in Mexico.

Yeah, and they're everywhere there from what I've heard.

Well, and off-roaders are doing so well in the US,

and everything off-road based.

I'm like, dude, the Jimny would fucking kill it here right now.

They come in at half the price of a Wrangler,

but have 90% of the capability,

plus 50% better reliability.

Yeah, they left a little too early, man.

That's my take.

I wish they would have stayed a little bit longer.

And now I have to buy a Mexico Jimny to get a Jimny.

Did you mention how many miles the car you might be getting has?

Yeah, 93,000.

That's good.

I'm excited.

So before we get on this list, one last thing,

I'll talk about a two-door SUV that I'm looking to buy.

It has to be a GMT-400.

Oh, yes.

So here's a funny story.

What is this?

I hit this person up, two-door Montero.

Oh, hell yeah.

That's also a Dodge Raider, right?

Yeah.

So very rare to find a two-door Montero.

I mean, California, since day one, this is a second owner.

It's an 87.

So the person that I hit up, I just said,

is this car available?

Are you the person on the title?

And they said, yes, are you interested?

And then I hit him up.

Yeah, I'm looking to come Sunday.

I'm off available to show it on Sunday.

Nothing, right?

This was four days ago.

This morning, I get a call, a random call from a name.

It didn't say scan likely.

And it's like, hey, you're the one, you're the victor

that hit me up about the Montero?

I'm like, how the hell did you get my number?

Bro, people are like, they can see who you are

from Facebook, Marketplace.

So she's like, yeah, so I just looked it up.

You're listed.

I mean, I'm listed.

I Google myself now.

I'm looking for my number.

And I'm like, I don't know if I want to look at this car.

This person's a creep.

So I was like, shit, I guess I'm not sending out,

hey, is this car available text anymore?

Because I want people looking at my phone number.

Calling you.

Yeah, it's available.

What's up?

Like, I don't know if I should steer clear from this person.

Or now, like, shit, I have to buy it.

They know my phone number.

It doesn't matter, man.

If the deal's right, then do it.

Who cares if they're weird?

Probably an easy way to get your phone number

that you just don't know.

So it seems more complex than it actually is right now.

Yeah, I guess.

But either way, the only reservation I have

is they said she's like the price is firm.

The headline is a little jacked up.

She's like, I can give you a discount on that.

But my only concern, yeah, 14 grand.

Oh, too much.

It's carbureted.

Oh, about the end of the world.

Get it.

Get it right.

I drive it regularly.

And it won't be that bad.

As new suspension pieces, there's like no fucking leaks.

What'd you say?

If you get the carburetor right and you get it running good,

then I mean, it'll be OK if you keep driving it.

So yeah, I told them, let me do some research before Sunday,

and I'll get back to you.

But I've always wanted.

I've never owned the first gen.

This has 75,000 miles.

Oh, wow.

It's clean.

So that justifies the price a little bit more.

Bro, imagine all three of us on a trail.

You'd be so confused.

An 08 Range Rover, an O2 Suzuki, and then an 87 Montero.

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe one day it'll make it happen.

Let's do it.

So all right, we'll see.

We'll have an update next week on that.

But for this week, let's get into this list.

So budget off-roaders under 5,000.

From 2020.

So like pre-COVID 2020 or like October 2020?

December 2020.

Oh.

So we lost a few contenders for sure by that point.

Interesting.

Yeah, we'll see what this list has.

All right.

I'm going to actually start from the bottom of this list.

OK.

We'll work at five.

All right.

So car number one.

Wait, is there six cars?

Oh, they gave one car.

They named it twice.

Same brand, two different models.

So technically there's six on this list.

But all right, car number one.

So this vehicle has got leaf springs front and rear.

It also has a removable top and only came in two doors.

Some of them came with a four.

Some of them came with a straight six.

It is also famous for being in a movie that made a lot of money at the box office back

in the mid 90s.

And it only came in two doors.

Only came in two doors.

Inline six.

And a four cylinder.

The inline six came out with the high output.

Only two doors?

Only two doors.

Oh, is it a?

Is it a Wrangler?

Fuck.

What generation is that?

TJ.

You got it.

YJ.

And what movie was I know a movie you're talking about.

Jurassic Park.

Oh, that's right.

By the way, I got all this from me.

I didn't read any of this.

Dude, Victor was just like bumbling in his head.

I was thinking Cherokee XJ and I was thinking the Goonies.

But I was like, wait, that wasn't only four door.

That wasn't only two door.

In Goonies was a four door, which what a dope scene.

By the way, that Cherokee just book in it.

Yeah, I was thinking XJ two for a minute, but obviously four door.

Yeah, but it kind of fits.

But at least I was close.

Yeah, we were both like jeeps.

Yeah, Jeep.

So I've owned this car before and to be honest, they're not under 5000 unless they're like super.

Yeah, super like rusty and just you can.

I mean, a lot of them are.

So bad.

Nobody really ever like kept these clean, right?

You see a lot of them on the streets parked with no like cover on them.

But I could tell you this for what it is.

It's an awesome car.

It never gave me an issue.

I think I had an alternative problem.

That was it.

Who cares?

So does every vehicle.

It's over 10 years old for two years.

And the cool thing about the YJ is because like there's nothing wrong.

Like if you get a four liter, right, it's the same engine as in the TJ, right?

Think 190 horsepower as a ton of torque that straight six.

Yeah.

But because of the square headlights, you get it at a discount.

Oh, yeah.

It's almost it's the it's the 996 911 of Wranglers.

And I'm sorry, I like the square headlights more than the circle ones.

Why?

I don't know.

I just love the styling of that generation.

Plus I love the dash of those.

All the gauges are just like layered on the dash.

It's kind of like one after the other.

Okay.

I just love the interior and exterior of that Wrangler.

That's like peak Wrangler to me.

Yeah.

I mean, what do you think?

Plus just like peak nostalgia.

I mean, I think that the lights wouldn't turn me away from getting a discount.

Yeah.

It's like, who cares?

Yeah.

That's an easy way to justify it now.

So as we went off the air for a second there.

We're really interrupted.

The YJ fun fact had square headlights because back in the CJ seven days prior to the Jeep

Wrangler being called the Wrangler.

They had rollover issues.

So from, I don't know, I can't confirm this, but the square headlights made it look like

a shape that can't roll over.

So they went square headlights in the sense that squares, you know, can't like roll round

headlight.

Interesting.

I don't know how true that is, but either way.

Hell yeah.

Americans are stupid.

Jeep went away with it with the TJ had the coil overs, like I said, and got rid of the

leaf springs.

Obviously made it more of like a well rounded.

Isn't the coils would give them death wobble though?

I mean, possibly.

I don't know if that's exactly.

The leaf springs.

Don't give death wobble.

Yeah.

They're more stable because the spring stabilizes.

How did it drive like while driving on the road and stuff?

If it wasn't rutted out, like it was fine.

The solid axles obviously, you know, I mean, Jeep's had solid axles forever.

But yeah, the leaf springs.

I mean, if it was a rutted out road, you would bouncing around for sure.

And I only off-roaded it like slightly on like a little dirt trail, nothing serious.

So that's the only thing with this car is the fact that like, if you're to take this

thing off road, expect to get bounced around.

Yeah, yeah.

But it can take it.

It's durable.

Yeah, it can definitely take it.

It's just, it's not going to give you that comfortable, you know, independent front

suspension.

Not like my Range Rover baby.

Right.

Exactly.

So all right, I'm going to move on to this next list.

So same, I'm going to just put this under one car or one example.

So this car company pretty much makes all four-wheel drives.

Pretty much every car in that lineup comes standard all-wheel drive.

This car that they're referring to has been out for a long time.

It's probably the most light version of an off-roader on this list.

Subaru Outback?

Fuck you, dude.

I was waiting for him to say one more thing.

Oh, Forester or something.

I was going to say Forester.

God damn it.

So honestly, I don't know.

It's definitely, it says why so cheap.

Old Subaru's never really die.

They just get parked when the head gaskets give up.

I was about to say that to the head gaskets.

That means there's hundreds of thousands of these troopers

larkin anywhere snow falls from December to April.

I mean, yeah, they're reliable except for the head gasket.

It's boxer engine issues, right?

Yeah, yeah.

So what are your thoughts?

I think with proper care, they can last a long time.

I think the biggest failure to those engines is their owners.

You know what I mean?

More common, you need to do probably more common coolant flushes

and you need to change your oil in like less extended intervals

and with proper care and don't drive them hard

when the engine's cold.

You know, if you take care of them, they're okay.

But I think they're less tolerant to like deferred maintenance,

which is like part of why the price is probably.

And aggressive driving.

The prices reflect that.

Yeah.

Makes sense.

What do you think?

I agree.

It's pretty much all that.

And I like the first couple of gens of Forester

was I think are really cool.

Outbacks are decent too.

I kind of think the Foresters are cooler.

Yeah, I've always liked the Foresters more.

The short wheelbase I think would be better just for most off-roading circumstances.

The outbacks have always kind of reminded me of a hearse.

Did you know they made an outback sedan?

They did.

And then that's what turned into a legacy.

You talked about that last time.

Yeah, that's right.

Honestly, I don't know why this car is on this list

because these cars don't even have a selective low range.

Yeah, they do do pretty well off-road though.

I remember riding in the back of a friend's Subaru.

It was a cross track.

So a little more ground clearance than an outback.

But it kept up with everybody.

Or it could do everything that my friends in Jeeps and Forerunners could do.

It just had to do it slower because of the ground clearance.

It was still very much off-road capable.

Dude, they're pretty impressive.

I almost bought a cross track like when they're pretty new.

Like back in 16, 17.

I really wanted one with the five speed.

But then I went and drove one and what a fucking slug.

Dude, they're slow, slow.

Yeah, they really are.

Especially the manual.

They feel faster in a CVT.

How fucked up is that?

Right.

Dude, the manual was slow.

Yeah.

Did not want to move.

I mean, I can't say an all-wheel drive car can compete with a Wrangler.

I mean, who knows what kind of trail that was.

That could have been a pretty light beginner's trail.

I'm talking like if you took this thing on a rutted out where you need blockers even.

You know what I mean?

There's no way you're going to be able to get through it.

Where jeeps because they have solid axles, they don't need lockers.

The tires stay planted on the ground really well.

We were still crawling over rocks and stuff in Subaru though.

So that's why I was pretty impressed.

But again, just got to go slower.

1-1 right now.

There's five cars.

So technically, there's going to be a winner today.

Sounds good to me.

Car number three.

So older models, 86 to 89, came with a larger engine that actually put out less power and

were a lot more tippy in daily driving.

90 to 95 versions instead, I believe went to fuel injected.

Suzuki Samurai?

Yes.

Tippy.

When you said tippy, I was thinking Samurai too.

Good job.

I remember the earlier ones had a bigger motor and the older ones had a smaller one.

Yeah, they are known for tipping over.

But yeah, Samurais, I mean, somebody's come with the tin roof.

That was the first one that popped into my head when you said we were going to do a budget

or episode on budget off-roaders was the Samurai.

So why is it the budget off-roader post a child?

I just think that it's so like it's so incredibly capable.

It's like so small, but mighty and like the best way possible.

If you're looking for a cheap off-roader, they're also like worth building and keeping,

especially in my opinion, if you get a tin top.

That's a big thing.

I think that's important with a budget off-roader is like, I think cars like the Samurai are

ones that you will like keep and not drive into the ground.

You know what I mean?

And I think that the entry price of those is fairly cheap.

They're reliable enough and you can you can do so much with them.

Yeah.

You can build a straight up rock crawler or you can just lift it a little bit and do,

you know, all kinds of off-roading.

Yeah.

I think the important thing is looking back on these now.

I don't see these under five grand anymore.

This is one of those cars on this list that and to be honest, Outback and Forester,

you got to go in specify a year for Outback and Forester,

but we're talking 90s for it to be under five grand, maybe early 2000s.

I think they were like super late 90s, super early 2000s.

I think those came out in 97 or 98.

Yeah.

It's going to be early 2000s for one of those probably.

But the samurai, I mean, doesn't matter what year you get late 80s, 90s,

they're going to be over five grand today, right?

Even if they don't look good because there's a lot of them that don't, you know,

they definitely have rust and, you know, I don't know if they were using galvanized steel back then,

but they're worth putting money into it.

Like you said, like today, if you have one that is giving you problems, you know,

and it might cost thousands to fix, it's worth it because even if you put that money into it,

you're still probably looking at a $10,000 car at bare minimum.

If it's running and driving and looks in decent shape.

And it's such a good car to like, you'll get so much enjoyment out of it for that money.

And it's such a great car to learn to off-road in because it's proportions are small.

It's extremely capable.

It's just all around like a budget or just an entry level off-roader.

Forget about the price, just a good entry level off-roader.

Right.

Exactly.

So ready to move on to the next one?

Let's do it.

Two to one.

Pitner is in the lead.

All right.

So this car is no longer, it's got discontinued.

I would say early 2000s, they came out, I believe in the late 90s, don't hold me to it,

but it did come with the V6 and a manual transmission was an option.

This car has a bulge in the rear liftgate.

XTERRA.

Good job.

Nissan XTERRA.

So yeah, for the first aid kit, right, come standard with full roof rack.

I mean, this car was marketed as an outdoorsy type of vehicle, right?

And Nissan obviously discontinued it too soon.

Right before this breakout of off-roader SUVs.

And it was literally an off-road SUV.

I mean, they may too will drive ones, but those even looked like off-roady, you know,

from right out the gate.

What do you think?

I liked the second gen XTERRA.

I did not like the first gen XTERRA.

The first gen XTERRA, I've tried so hard to get interested in the styling and I just

can't do it.

But the second gen, I love the proportions, love the styling.

Interior is the best of 2000s as far as just still simple.

Yeah, I can't get into those.

A lot of plastic.

You know, that's like one of the best looking ones I've ever seen.

That one's like mint.

You know what it reminds me of?

It's like a cool package.

That one looks kind of neat.

It kind of reminds me of a Land Rover Freelander too.

Oh, God, you made the XTERRA worse just now.

God, I hope to God, a Freelander is not on the list.

But like you said, Victor, the XTERRA is like more like off-roady than the Pathfinder that

kind of followed.

I mean, up until recently when they started coming out with all the cool, you know, Pathfinder

trims.

Yeah.

But for a while, yeah, they didn't really have like that like off-road enthusiast tailored

car after the XTERRA kind of died.

Yeah, because the Pathfinder then went body on, I mean, went unibody.

The XTERRA, I don't know if the XTERRA was body on frame.

That's actually early 2000s, it might have been, right?

Because it was an off-road vehicle.

And have you seen the new Pathfinders?

They look more like a Murano than a Pathfinder.

Right.

I look at the XTERRA back then as like the Passport Honda today.

It's like that more rugged.

Like, where does it fit?

It kind of is in the same size as a Pathfinder, but it's the more boxy, more rugged looking

one, but it's not really that much more distinguishable.

You know, it's like, where did it fit?

And then that's why I got discontinued.

I imagine the Passport will too, because people are buying pilots and not buying Passports,

you know, and people are buying Pathfinders, not XTERRAs.

The Passports are actually selling pretty well.

They came out with like the HPD and, you know, all those off-road trims and kind of like

a new version of the Passport, which is kind of harkens back to the original.

It looks great.

It looks great, but pilot is the nameplate.

Passport is like, it came and it went and now they brought it back.

I mean, we'll see if they continue to sell well, but I just, I see like that's the comparison

with the XTERRA.

Yeah, I agree.

All right.

So moving on, by the way, this is 3.3 liter V6.

Like this is a car that I 100% would spend five grand on and build.

If it has, some of them came with the rear diff locker.

Right.

They are pretty affordable.

You can still get XTERRAs for around five, six grand, no?

Oh yeah.

What do you think?

I think they have like a, not the best reliability though.

Well, that's the thing.

At least first gen.

There's a reason why they're cheap is because they're not that reliable.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

You have to be like, well, why don't people, like what is the issue with them?

Right?

Like for example, Montero, it was the butterfly valves would like go into the cylinders and

cause an issue.

And if you just fix, there's a fix for it on the 3.8 liters, like things like that.

If you can find out what the issue is and, and get it fixed, like,

The problems are known.

If I'm going to say on the 3.3, I'm pretty sure it's head gaskets.

Yeah.

Or heads.

If I'm not mistaken.

Well, 180 horsepower says, I mean, I think that was more than the V6 for another time.

Oh yeah.

Definitely.

Because I think the V6 for another is like 160 somewhere around there.

Maybe either way, I would get it.

Honestly, they're cheap.

That's a good base platform.

You can get tires.

They even came super charged.

Right.

There was a super charge.

Yeah.

I mean, I would get one at the right price if it was clean.

But again, off-roaders have boomed since 2020.

And these are like rarely found under five now.

So all right.

Last one on this list.

It's two to two.

So I'm glad it came down to this because now we're down to the last one.

And this is it's going to be you guys definitely going to know this one.

That's for sure.

Shit.

All right.

So this company built more than 2.1 million of these SUVs right from the 80s to the 2000s.

It is a hodgepodge or let's say, I wouldn't say hodgepodge.

I would say it's got a unibody construction, but I believe it has leaf springs in the rear.

Jeep Jersey.

Oh, is it XJ?

Yeah.

He got it.

He got it right before you.

Damn.

Pitner right literally by seconds.

So yes, it is the XJ Cherokee that he said was his first thought when he thought of a

cheap budget off-roader.

So Pitner, why is the XJ Cherokee the flagship budget off-roader in your mind?

Because they will part of what it how you described it, they made 2 million of them.

There was a while there, though they were pretty commonplace, so nobody really found

them special.

They have the four-liter, it's a great powertrain, their straight axle front and rear, which

makes articulation great.

And just overall, they're pretty dependable.

You could fit plenty of people or plenty of gear.

It was just kind of a, if you didn't want to get a Wrangler, that was like the next

best option for you.

And the Liberty would probably be the car you think of afterward, right?

Yeah, but what a disappointment.

Right.

So I think that helped the Cherokee because people like them, there was nothing that ever

came close to the Wrangler that was affordable.

Because they had the Grand Cherokee, but those got kind of big, those got kind of luxurious,

because the Grand Cherokee even was straight axle for a bit.

And even those ones went away from that.

And it was just kind of like, you didn't really have an option after the Cherokee was

discontinued and Grand Cherokee went non-straight axle, you don't, you don't have anything but

the Wrangler anymore.

The XJ is the perfect car for that list.

And another reason is because they're so durable.

I mean, I have a friend who is a big XJ guy and last time I went to the desert with him,

he beat it up like more than I feel like he should have and it just kept going and he

drove it home.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Like you can find videos online of XJs just being completely abused and they just keep,

they just keep on going and they can still be had for around 5K.

Yeah.

This is another one I would say would be like the Samurai where it's, it's up there now.

It's hard to find one under 5K that's four by four.

And that's not just fucking hammered.

Yeah.

Well, they all have 300,000 miles on them.

If you go on Facebook marketplace right now and we look, even the nicest ones are

going to have 300K.

Right.

And that's the thing is people like, okay, so what has 250,000 miles like I can still

get away with selling it for over 6 grand, you know, because they know they're tried

and tried and tested and other, you know, people are selling them for the same, right?

That's how the market works.

But I don't, I don't think you can find one today four by four with very little rust under

5 grand.

I think that you can.

I think we have to look on Facebook marketplace.

We have to do an episode where we just look on marketplace and see what we can find.

Yeah.

Like bring the, like kind of like how they do in top gear, just bring your best car for

under 5 grand.

Yeah.

We don't actually buy it.

We just bring it on our phones.

Yeah.

We just imagine we want it.

What would be the first thing you do if you bought this and like we make fun of each

other's choices?

The problem with that would be is we'd probably pick some of the same cars.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

For sure.

Like we, it'd be like Pitner turns his phone around and we're both showing each other the

same car.

We both pick the same one.

Yeah.

The same shit box, whatever it is.

Yeah.

Well, I can tell you this man, this car, you know, if you get it with the four liter,

you've got a two door.

I think a two door is even cooler.

Yeah.

Right.

The packaging in this car is amazing.

You can fit so much in that cargo area.

Like they made this car perfect for hauling gear.

Obviously the wheel base is great size.

The two door version is just a little bit more rare.

I think it's cool.

And there's so many different trim options too.

You have like the Pioneer, right?

There's the classic, right?

Different wheels, different grill look, like looks to it.

I always wanted the Wagoneer one.

Yeah.

With the wood grain.

Yeah.

And the double headlights in the front.

Yeah.

Dude.

And like that interior is pretty dope too from the Wagoneer version.

It's like the luxury version, but it's still a Cherokee XJ.

It's a fucking sick.

Fake wood panels too, right?

Now these did have rear leaf springs, right?

At least the early ones did.

Relatively certain.

Yeah.

I'm pretty sure it was from what I understand.

From what I understand, XJs are like a unibody.

That's kind of like a hodgepodge of like a body on frame and a unibody.

It's like a unibody that kind of has frame rails from what I understand.

So you agree on the hodgepodge attitude?

I was about to say you guys both used the word hodgepodge.

Absolutely.

Solid rear axles with leaf springs.

So solid rear axle, but it was unibody.

I mean, it was early unibody for SUVs, but 84 to 01.

I mean, that stretch of a production run is insane, and they barely changed.

I would kill for a minty.

Oh, yeah, the Wagoneer one.

A minty.

Honestly, I would want a limited with the matching color grill white with little snowflake wheels.

Yeah.

So you like the later models too, because I'm the same way.

I like the later XJs, like the 2000, 2001.

What do we get in all year?

That was Raina.

Geez, I never had a dog do that before.

Yeah, it's because she keeps licking her paws, bro.

So she has like hair balls and she makes that noise.

Geez. God damn, Raina.

Just so surprised.

Yes, surprise.

Get my fucking dog.

I do like the later ones.

I mean, they're going to be at least slightly more reliable, fuel injected,

four liter, that would be perfect.

Yeah, limited.

I love the wheels on them.

Yeah, me too.

And I like the more modern interior better as well.

Somebody's got those little like, oh, maybe I'm

confusing it with a grand Cherokee, like the extra cushiony seats.

I think I think.

Yeah, grand Cherokee.

Yeah, they kind of look like your Buick seats.

Oh, yeah.

Or late nineties Cherokee grand Cherokees were definitely like that.

And those got a V8, like a five, five, nine, five, nine.

You think of the special edition because most of them came with, I think,

the four, seven, and then some of them got the five, nine.

They're really rare on the ZJs, right?

ZJ grand Cherokee.

Yeah, is it? Is that what it is?

Yeah, you had XJ, ZJ and YJ.

Mm hmm. Yeah.

That was the Jeep lineup back then in the early 2000s.

So last question, which of these five cars would you want?

Samurai, for sure.

For me, Samurai. Me too.

Samurai, what do you say, Pitner?

What were the options again?

What were the first two?

You had Subaru, Alpaca, Farsler.

You had a Samurai.

You had XJ Cherokee, a YJ.

Of the YJ Wrangler.

That's right. I was like, there's one more I liked.

Shit, I don't know.

I'd be really torn between a YJ Wrangler and an XJ Cherokee.

Well, we got to pick one.

What do you say?

Well, why the fuck a YJ?

I'm going to say YJ. I would want a YJ.

An XTERRA.

Pitner's favorite.

Redheaded sub child over here.

I'll go ahead and say, OK, so you rather YJ because of the cool factor?

Like what? That's a Wrangler.

Yeah, it's a Wrangler.

It's just more like I have enough vehicles now where it's like,

I wouldn't need a Cherokee.

That would be a little redundant.

But a Wrangler is like kind of pure off road.

And then I would only drive it when it's pure off roading.

Gotcha. Or short tracks make sense.

But if I needed a little bit more of a do all vehicle, Cherokee,

like the Cherokee as allows you to have like a normal life,

like that can be your only car.

It really can.

And a YJ Wrangler just couldn't do that, I wouldn't say.

It really could be your only car, even if you had like two kids.

You could be your only car for 99 percent of situations.

I think they towed up like 4,000 or 4,500 pounds like so you can tell

like a little. And it's so small.

They're so camper like they're tiny.

What is happening to my house right now?

Correct me if I'm wrong.

What? What? What is this music?

Is your dog playing the music?

Is this how cute to to wrap up?

They're almost done.

You could tell your Vizio we're almost done.

So yeah, we're not in we're not in our typical studio today.

But besides that samurai, tell me why it's your number one choice.

I've always told like friends of mine who are into off-roaders

that if I was going to get one, it would be a samurai.

I like the size of it.

I like the way it looks.

I would want to get a tin top like the hard top samurai,

which is closest to like the Japanese Jimny.

And I know somebody who builds gearboxes for them, too.

And when I was younger and I would go to the desert,

they had one that you could dump the clutch in low range

and it would just stay in its spot and just dig a hole in the sand.

And I thought that that was so cool.

And since then, I always wanted a samurai.

Samurais are really cool.

I think the only reason I wouldn't want a samurai

is it's small to that point where I kind of think they're a little uncomfortable.

And then just they're not fun to drive on the streets.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not like it wouldn't be like for a daily driver.

Oh, no, I totally understand that.

Yeah, the article says swap the sidekick engine into it,

like for that more reliability, because it came later.

And, you know, I mean, a lot of these are carbureted.

Yeah, fuel injected.

But like the cool factor of the samurai, it beats any other car on this list.

I think so, too.

You know, the Wrangler is awesome, too. Don't get me wrong.

Obviously, I've owned one. I loved it.

But I've owned one already.

Maybe that kind of takes away from it's more common and less quirky.

Yeah, I would say. I agree.

And like, think about how every time you see a Jimny that drives up from Mexico,

how you always look back at it.

I know. Imagine having your own classic version of that car.

Yeah. Right. And that's what it is.

Well, the newer one, the new Jimny's fucking dope.

Yeah. I'll do anything for a new Jimny.

And I love that look, the round headlights with that flat grille.

Some of them even you could put a winch on him.

It kind of looks like a first gen Montero, right?

Like it's the reason why I love the first gen Monteros,

because that's that classic like even the classic Range Rover look, right?

Range Rover Classic has the round headlights.

Like I just love that look on an older vintage car, especially a boxy one.

So like when you look at like a tin roof version, it just looks awesome.

Yeah. It's a baby G wagon.

Yeah, especially when they have the graphics on them and everything.

It's just so cool. Yeah, that is super cool.

Well, appreciate you guys coming on the podcast.

Pitner for hosting today.

Make sure you make it out.

Yeah. And this will be, I guess, part two of the podcast since we had some technical

Oh, yeah, technical difficulties, guys.

We've had a few difficulties.

All right, guys, well, until next week, we'll see you on the analog and grip podcast.

Great to be on again.

Budget Off Roaders --SUVs $5k -$10k Can You Guess What They Are?

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