Mercedes Diesel G Wagon

At 22,000 $ for a unit with 50,000 kms on it; it was a lot cheaper than a similar age half ton.
And yeah I've been teased too. Part & parcel of owning one. The teasing stopped when I crept through the cluster of Jacked diesels in the ditch...and gave 'em a ride back to the rig, lol. Black ice got 'em
They are actually pretty capable unit's. I take mine hunting and chase rigs all over western Canada.
Slower than everything in the summer; can't be beat in the winter. Overweight and underpowered, pass pretty much everything. Even gas stations..truth.
And they come stock with the heli points...which work really good for pulling folks out too.
No 'G' Wagon of course. But more capable than folks realize too
 
tokguy said:
At 22,000 $ for a unit with 50,000 kms on it; it was a lot cheaper than a similar age half ton.
And yeah I've been teased too. Part & parcel of owning one. The teasing stopped when I crept through the cluster of Jacked diesels in the ditch...and gave 'em a ride back to the rig, lol. Black ice got 'em
They are actually pretty capable unit's. I take mine hunting and chase rigs all over western Canada.
Slower than everything in the summer; can't be beat in the winter. Overweight and underpowered, pass pretty much everything. Even gas stations..truth.
And they come stock with the heli points...which work really good for pulling folks out too.
No 'G' Wagon of course. But more capable than folks realize too
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I have driven all of the various Hummers, including the original. Their two biggest problems are size and weight. There are many trails that the Hummer is far too large to go down. I have also owned Toyota Landcruisers BJ40, FJ40, BJ60, diesel and gas, 2 and 4 door, FJ55s, SR5s, Forerunners, Land Rovers, International Scout, Lada Nivas, the original Bronco, Dodge Ramchargers, Suburbans, various 4x4 domestic pickups, Jeeps and a whole bunch more that I have driven off road over the years that I didn't own.

There is no perfect off road/On Road vehicle. The more proficient they are off road the worse they seem to be on road. After all of the off road vehicles I have owned and driven I have set my priorities in the order of 1- reliability, 2- range (fuel mileage or capacity) and 3-performance in bad country because in reality, if the country gets bad enough it is time to switch to quads, Argos or some type of floatable tracked rig. On road needs to be civil and it needs to be safe in summer and winter at highway speeds because no matter how much off road driving you do you put a lot more highway/City miles on a rig than you do bush miles.

To me these criteria means the best selection for me are the 4 door Diesel Toyota products, and the Diesel 4 door Mercedes G Wagon. All the other choices fall short in one area or another, many along the first priority which is reliability in the Bush.
 
You're looking for a new model F150 supercrew (quad cab), under those criteria. ;) You'll be glad you chose a pickup when the time comes to put the Moose, Elk, or Bison in it. Can't tell you how many other greasy or grimy things, pallet loads, or plywood hauls the box will come in handy for too. SUVs are great in town, with a side of snow or dirt, trucks are the proper choice for moving bloody and dirty things. They'll also tow the boat, quads, argo, trailer etc better... Or even just put the quad or what have you in the box. I gave up on hunting with my 1980 FJ40 a long time ago, as it's such a bloody mess to move game in an SUV unless you only hunt small game... Which you could do with a Subaru, not really "hunting" in the Canadian sense.
 
who only takes one vehicle into remote areas? I haul a camper, flat deck trailer and the hunting vehicle and supplies with a pickup.

If I shoot something big I drag it out of the swamp, clear cut, mountain side, whatever with suv and then bring in the trailer with the suv and load it up and back to camp. A pickup could be made as capable as my SUV but would cost much more and be far too large to go where quads do and would require a separate trailer and tow vehicle to get to camp. Quads also don't have heat and are restricted to certain hours of use where I hunt so they are useless and I cant drive back to civilization on one either in the event of an emergency carrying an injured person.

U need redundancy, you don't see people with any brains going deep seas fishing in a single engine boat.
 
You've got more patience than I, packing and loading huge amounts of stuff kills the simplicity that I appreciate most in being in the great outdoors. :) But we all appreciate our own aspects and styles, I drive the truck to the float plane, fly in and walk from there. Or, park the truck and walk, after the initial get there if it doesn't fit in a pack, it doesn't come. Admittedly Bison is best done with sleds, there are exceptions, but I've done that on foot as well, as well as big Moose. Not for everyone and not even sure it's for me anymore. :)
 
Ardent said:
You've got more patience than I, packing and loading huge amounts of stuff kills the simplicity that I appreciate most in being in the great outdoors. :) But we all appreciate our own aspects and styles, I drive the truck to the float plane, fly in and walk from there. Or, park the truck and walk, after the initial get there if it doesn't fit in a pack, it doesn't come. Admittedly Bison is best done with sleds, there are exceptions, but I've done that on foot as well, as well as big Moose. Not for everyone and not even sure it's for me anymore. :)
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no choice when I travel over 1000km's to the place I hunt this way. If I am at my cabin or flying in, that is totally different, I thought we were talking about places with vehicle access anyways.

I have hunted enough years and changed equipment many, many times to suit the situations I have found myself in over that time.
 
Ganderite said:
I see the ads for the Ram with a small diesel engine. V6, I think. With the shortest wheelbase possible, manual trans and 4 wd, would this be a good truck?

My only past experience with a Chyrsler product was bad.
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I've had Dodge diesels since 1993 and am very familiar with their short comings, but they are better trucks imo than the other 2 domestic choices. I've looked into the new Dodge 1/2 tons with the Fiat diesels and had been encouraged until this morning when I talked to a good buddy of mine. His son is working through his diesel mechanic apprenticeship and the owner of the shop he's working at has a new Dodge/Fiat. In the past month he's had numerous cold starting issues and so far Dodge doesn't have a reliable solution. Conversely, over the last 22 years, my Dodge/ Cummins trucks have never once failed to start for me....... I'm going to do more investigating into the Nissan/ Cummins trucks.
 
My buddy had one from the late 80's. Very capable with locking diffs, etc. Maintenance was not too bad, but parts were VERY expen$ive. For instance, tough to find one without power windows, but only Bosch makes the correct motor fir $500. Similar situation if you need a blower motor for the heater, radiator, etc
Not puttin' the hate on, just saying there are some negatives.
 
Nice rigs, I have owned many of them including 3 Diesels, a BJ, and 2 wagons. Problem is they rust out and the FJ/BJ rides like crap on the highway. The Diesel wagon doesn't have enough power and needs a lot of work for off road, like Lockers front and back, lift for larger tires and on it goes. The G wagon comes with all of that for less money.

To be honest, if it was all about off road I would just get a 2 or 4 door Jeep Wrangler and kit it out. They weigh half what a FJ dues and will go over soft ground way better. Also, far more after market gear for them if you want to go rock crawling and for $10,000 you can get a crate Cummings that drops right in..
 
Ardent said:
What you're looking for is a Land Cruiser. Millions of terrorists and Africans, and often African terrorists, can't be wrong. There's a reason they're so popular in those crowds. They just don't quit.


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Yes....and if you want to use a landcruiser in the bush and on the highway get the last year of the 'Series 80'...mine has 3 factory lockers (front, centre and rear) and lots of ground clearance as well as factory extensions on all the axle breather tubes to well above the floor level (if you think you need to ford) etc etc and all the other 'off road goodies' like engine oil coolers, oversize washable air filters with dust catchers and I can set the cruise at 125 kph and the inline 6 has enough torque to take pretty much every hill in southern ontario..including the hamilton and st catharines bridge without slowing 1km while listening to my stereo...you cant do that in a diesel 'G' wagon...and while you can cruise highways in an AMG nicely...you wont get over the first log you come to in the bush
(to add...as someone said...watch out for the rust in older 'G' wagons...it can be brutal and dangerous)
 
Unless the diesel makes 400ft-lb I really struggle to be interested, I had a Hilux diesel and it was infuriating to drive in BC and Alberta mountains. Towing a boat or Argo with a couple moose in it? Good luck. Put a 350hp V8 or a heavily tuned Cummins 4BT in and it's the truck it ought to be. I don't have the time or patience to run a small diesel in working conditions, that's a purist's and hobbiest's endeavour.
 
Ardent said:
What you're looking for is a Land Cruiser. Millions of terrorists and Africans, and often African terrorists, can't be wrong. There's a reason they're so popular in those crowds. They just don't quit.


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Nice Land Cruiser Angus. Its too bad toyota quit making that model, that was the best one. I went with a smaller model so I could tow it easily, a Samurai.
 
pete dobinson said:
Nice Land Cruiser Angus. Its too bad toyota quit making that model, that was the best one. I went with a smaller model so I could tow it easily, a Samurai.
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If I didn't need the seats I'd love a FJ45 with a well built 300hp 302 and a nice overdrive 5 speed to be able to tow. Probably would be happy with a tuned 400ft-lb 4BT Cummins and an NV4500. I prefer a pickup box as I don't like hauling meat / fish / fish fed bear skin inside on a 2 day drive, but FJ45s won't work for me on seats. Love how they look though.
 
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