The definition of Overlanding is road trips where you seek out remote places, bring everything you need with you, and you do this to experience nature, the feeling of freedom and often out of curiosity for foreign cultures.
To achieve this, you need a car and some equipment. What kind of car depends on where you are going. The first overlanders used what was available. The Citroen 2CV and rock-solid cars such as the Mercedes 123 and Peugeot 504 were popular. In fact, a 2CV is one of the best for desert use due to its low weight. If you get stuck, two men can easily lift the car free. If you have a car weighing 3 metric ton, more powerful equipment is needed.
It is still the case that you can overland in a normal car, but most people prefer an SUV type of car. That means four-wheel drive and good ground clearance so you can get around on bad roads. This is especially important if you are going outside central areas of Europe. An SUV is also spacious inside and allows a lot of payload. This is important when you have to carry everything you need for a time off the beaten track. Spare parts, rescue equipment, fuel and water quickly add up to several hundred kilos.
Bad roads mean heavy load, and should something break down in the Sahara, there is no one to call. It is therefore also important to try to keep the weight down to avoid extra strain on the car.
Table of Contents
Car choice
When choosing a car, you must think through where and how you will use the car. In Europe this does not mean everything. There are rarely such bad roads that the car brakes down. If you are going to Africa or Asia, there are different requirements. Here there are often very bad roads that shake a car to pieces, so you need a solid car, and a car that can be repaired locally. That is, a car that is common in the area.
Pickups in particular are prone to frame breaks if they are overloaded and driven hard on
An interesting article about this here: bent-utes
If you are going to use the car for anything other than overlanding, you must have equipment that is easy to install and remove. A pickup with a camper on the plane and which is easy to assemble can be a solution.
Some combine overlanding with more or less hardcore off-road driving, and then you have different requirements for the car and conversion.
The car types can easily be divided into 4 classes:
1. Compact motorhomes with some off-road capability. For example, a raised VW California with 4×4.
2. Standard SUVs and pickups. Eg Nissan Patrol, Landcruiser 120, Toyota Hi-Lux,
3. Heavy duty SUVs such as Landcruiser 70, 80 and 100 series, Land Rover Defender, Nissan Patrol Y60 and Y61.
4. 4×4 motorhomes. Such as Iveco, Mercedes Sprinter and Unimog, and ex military vehicles.
Type 1 will perform well in most places where there are road-like conditions. Type 2 also works well where the road ends. Type 3 likewise, but withstands more beating than type 2. Type 4 does well off-road where there are no tight conditions like narrow roads, is more luxurious, but costs a lot.
For most people, type 2 will be the best fit. It is not possible to stay inside the car other than in the front seats, but equipped with a roof tent and awning, life is pretty good. Part of the purpose of getting out into nature is to be outside, and not sitting in the car. If you buy a nice used car of this type, it won’t hurt your wallet too much either.
The really big cars are also well suited for overlanding. A large car provides more comfort, but it limits accessibility. A normal motor home must stay on asphalt or good dirt roads. A large off-road vehicle will have problems on narrow roads, among cliffs and in dense forest. And if it’s tall, it causes problems with trees growing over the road. In addition, they are very expensive.
Some capable cars
Here is a bit about some of cars that can be used. The list is not complete, but mentions some popular cars and car types.
Pickups
Toyota Hilux
The Toyota HiLux is an excellent starting point for an overlanding car. You can have campers fitted on the bed, with toilets and fixed berths. Or a canopy that is a superstructure above the bed. The canopy is often equipped with side hatches in addition to a rear door. This makes it easy to get hold of things from the inside. Alucab has a canopy with a pop-up roof. It tilts up at the front, and then you have standing height at the back and a bed under the roof with access from the inside.
If you want a car for extreme trips, you should opt for a 2011 model or older. These have less electronics and are therefore more reliable.
Nissan and Mitsubishi
Nissan and Mitsubishi have similar cars. Unfortunately, some models and years of these have weak frames and are prone to frame breakage, so consider where it will be used, and check well for frame rust if you buy used.
Standard SUV
The LandCruiser 90, 120 and 150, Land Rover Disco, Mitsubishi Pajero, Niassan Patrol, especially the older models, and the Mercedes G-Wagen are popular. They are solid, have good ground clearance and load capacity and will work well under all normal conditions.
On the other hand, you never see luxury SUVs such as BMW and newer Range Rovers out in the bush.
Heavy Duty SUV
Toyota Land Cruiser
For those who want something more hardcore, the LC 80 series is a good choice. It has a rigid front axle, permanent four-wheel drive, no electronics necessary for propulsion and coil springs provide good driving comfort on and off-road. The LC80 is held up by many as the best expedition vehicle ever built. Unfortunately it is getting old and good examples are hard to find.
The successor is the Land Cruiser 100 which offers more luxury than the 80. It has independent front suspension which is better on the road but less robust than rigid front axle.
Land Rover Defender
Land Rover is spacious and quite light due to the aluminum body. This is a big advantage especially in loose sand. It has good wheel flex, i.e. the wheels keep contact with the ground in rough terrain. Something that provides good traction. The Land Cruiser has equally good off-road properties, but is significantly heavier. But it also have a bigger engine.
The Toyota Land Cruiser (LC) and Land Rover Defender are both popular and there is a friendly disagreement among owners as to which is better.
The biggest advantage of Toyota is reliability. They are extremely solid built and reliable. And if something breaks, and it does if you are on bad roads a lot, they are easy to repair and there is always a workshop that knows the car. Africa and Asia are full of Toyotas.
I don’t think I’m offending anyone if I say that Land Rover doesn’t have the same reputation for reliability, and access to parts can be difficult in some countries.
Land Cruiser 78 and 79
The Land Cruiser 70 series goes to be the best car for the really tough trips. They are extremely robust and reliable and the first choice for professional users in Africa. The older models are not particularly good to drive on the road, stiff and under powered as they are. But the lack of electronics, solidity, easy access to parts and service still make them the first choice for tough use.
Here are some pictures of the pickup version GRJ79 with roof tent and canopy from AluCab. The canopy is very practical in that you can also access it from the sides, so the equipment is easily accessible. But such a car is not cheap.
After 2001, it became difficult to import LC 70 series cars into Europe due to stricter exhaust gas requirements. But eventually there were solutions for rebuilding in Germany, especially for the petrol engine which, after rebuilding, meets the Euro-6 requirements. Thus, new GRJ78 and 79 can be purchased. They are equipped with a petrol 6-cylinder V-engine of 228 horsepower.
Pop-up roof
Land Cruiser 78, Troopy, and Defender can be converted to a pop-up roof. This is perhaps the ultimate overlanding car with a certain possibility of staying inside the car where there are cooking and washing facilities. See separate post about furnishing the LC78 with a raised roof.
Overlanding Build LandCuiser 78
Other Cars
VW California
A raised VW California with four-wheel drive is quite capable, but the problem with these types of cars is that even when raised, they’re still quite low, and they lack a low-range gearbox. This is important when driving on bad roads/off-road. The alternative to low range is to slip on the clutch when going over an obstacle. It quickly wears out the clutch. It is, however, possible to change the gears in the gearbox on the California so you get an extra low first gear.
Subaru
You don’t need a large SUV to go overlanding. But it can be fine with four-wheel drive. A smaller car that can offer this is Subaru. The advantage of such a car is lower fuel costs and better driving comfort. The disadvantage is, of course, less space and less capability in terrain due to ground clearance.
They can be raised moderately, but the lack of low range gear is a challenge on a very bad road. But combined with a good driver, it’s amazing how they get on.
Mercedes Geländewagen
Here is a good example that a car does not have to cost a fortune. An older G-Wagen ex ambulance with home-built interior.
Big Cars
Mercedes Sprinter and Iveco are delivered with four-wheel drive. They can be raised and have a low range so capability is good where there is room for a wide and tall car.
You can build the interior of a Sprinter yourself, otherwise there are several builders, such as Hymer xxx ready-built cars. Pretty expensive though.
The really big cars are Unimogs and the like, usually military four- or six-wheel cars that have been fitted with a living box. The Germans in particular have a taste for the really big cars. They are luxurious, expensive to operate and if you get stuck, you have a problem with cars well over 4 metric tons.
New or old car
In the context of overlanding, there are a number of advantages with an older car. In addition to being expensive, new cars have several vulnerabilities. They are completely dependent on a lot of electronics to be drivable. If something brakes, it can take a long time to get repaired, depending on where you are, and a bush mechanic has no way to fix this.
Modern engines are also sensitive to fuel quality. In Europe this is not a problem, but in Africa and parts of Asia you could have problems. Common rail technology is sensitive to contamination of the diesel. High sulfur content can destroy particle cleaners and EGR, exhaust cleaning.
Automatic/manual transmission
For many, an automatic has nothing to do in an Overlander. But actually there is an advantage in, for example, loose sand or mud. Then you will automatically get the right torque. With a manual transmission, you are dependent on selecting the right gear before driving into a problem area, and if you miss gear selection, it is easy to get stuck.
If you have an automatic transmission you should be able to disengage the gearbox completely , i.e. to be able to put the transfer gear in neutral. Otherwise, you must unscrew the propeller shaft(s) if you have to tow a longer distance.
If the gearbox should break it is impossible to repair an automatic in the bush, while a manual gearbox can perhaps be fixed enough that you can drive on, at least in one gear.
Other possibilities
Mini
As a curiosity that shows how small cars can be used, we have this Mini that I saw at a campsite in Spain. It’s a 40-year-old Mini Cooper, picked apart and renovated by the German Markus Harter. And then it is converted to electric operation. It is equipped with an engine from a Renault, the battery is from a Tesla S. A total of 30 kwh and a range of approx. 200 km with roof box.
Inside the car can be converted into a large double bed, while the roof box is for luggage.
Van
If you don’t have off-road needs, the most affordable option is to use a standard van, put a mattress in the back and a couple of boxes for camping equipment. Or build it as a traditional motor home.
Lean Overlanding
An alternative to driving hundreds of miles on highways to the area you want to explore is to fly there and rent a car. Renting a fully equipped 4×4 is expensive and may not be available. But do you really always need a 4×4? Like, for example, the trip we went to in the Pyrenees in 2021, see Pyrenees – a Roadtrip. We could have completed more than 90% of this trip in a standard car. We hadn’t made it to some places, but that would hardly have ruined the trip.
So an alternative to driving through Germany and France could be to fly to Barcelona and hire a suitable van there. You can buy what you can’t take with you on the plane in a discount store, such as cooking equipment and an inflatable mattress.
In addition to not having to drive an extra 5,000 kilometers, the trip would probably be cheaper overall.
Modifications and equipment
When you first get a car, the need for modifications and equipment appears. There are lots of stuff to buy, or you can make it your self.
Read about this here:
Modifications and equipment
Overlanding Build LandCuiser 78
Overland build – SUV
