Real life costs of a dedicated trail vehicle?

[lenny]

My question is, is it worth it to have a dedicated trail vehicle versus a built daily driver?

The type of wheeling that I have done, and want to do again are trails like Golden Spike, Pritchett, etc...

I do not have a tow vehicle, so the trail rig would have to be street legal and able to drive itself to Moab and back. I am not an aggressive driver, so my past rigs which have all been daily drivers have stayed clean and except for my Range Rover which I laid on its side I have never gotten any body damage.

So what are your thoughts, I understand that having the wheeling vehicle saves wear and tear on my daily driver but I would still have to have and SUV for daily driving for other reasons so gas savings wouldn't be a big factor. Are the additional costs for a second vehicle worth it?

It would be nice to be able to be a little less concerned when out on the trail, but I would still have to drive that rig home so going crazy probably wouldn't happen.

Anyone in the same boat as me? If you have a street legal and registered trail rig that isnt your daily driver, do you use it enough to justify it?

 

[skippy]

I have had daily driver trail rigs in the past and i hated driving them at highway speeds they are always noisy and usually ride like crap. Now with my current rig it is so nice to throw it on the trailer throw the cruise control on and crank the AC in the Tow rig and have a nice quiet comfortable ride to and from the trail and not having to worry about driving it home

 

[lenny]

I have had daily driver trail rigs in the past and i hated driving them at highway speeds they are always noisy and usually ride like crap. Now with my current rig it is so nice to throw it on the trailer throw the cruise control on and crank the AC in the Tow rig and have a nice quiet comfortable ride to and from the trail and not having to worry about driving it home

That would be nice, but I would have to have a street legal and registered trail rig. I don't have space for a tow rig and trailer and wheeler. And I would have to buy the tow rig still

 

[Houndoc]

The wear-and-tear factor does not seem to me to be cost-effective. By the time you purchase a second rig, keep it licensed and registered and running, that will more than cover most problems it sounds like you would be very likely to have to deal with.

Being able to have a better off-road rig plus a more comfortable daily driver certainly would have its advatages.

 

[SAMI]

If you are expected to be to work at 8am Monday morning, the breakage from wheeling over the weekend that has now immobilized your DD isn't worth it. I tried that for a fee years.. Great truck, awesome DD, and even better offroad.. But it caused some very stressfull Mondays. The only way that I would do it again, is to have a second vehicle to be able to get to work. If the built DD rig would be your only vehicle, I would advise against this route.

 

[sixstringsteve]

We all have different needs and opinions, but here's mine. I was in the same boat last year and I'm glad I'm in a street legal rig.

Here's my rationale:

- If you're going to have a dedicated trail rig, you'll build it to be capable, so it'll be big.
- If you have a big rig, the small trails aren't nearly as much fun anymore (snakes, af canyon, stuff like that).
- If the small trails aren't as much fun, you have to drive farther to get to the hard trails (Moab or St. George)
- the farther I have to drive to a trail, the less likely I am to go wheeling often since it requires more time

Keep in mind these are just my experiences. If I lived in St. George I have no doubt I'd have a buggy. But a tow rig, trailer, gas, and all that just made me realize I wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost. Others, however, justify it very well because they need a tow rig/trailer for other toys, or they just end up getting out a lot more than I do.

My rig isn't the most capable in the universe, but for a street legal rig, it'll handle those trails you mentioned just fine. And I can do 75 mph on the freeway comfortably. My rig doesn't do any one thing perfectly, but it does a lot of things well. It's my daily driver, my weekend warrior, my camping rig, my exploring rig, and my wheeling rig. It just plain works for me.

 

[sixstringsteve]

The only way that I would do it again, is to have a second vehicle to be able to get to work. If the built DD rig would be your only vehicle, I would advise against this route.

completely agree. Even if it's not for getting to work, it's nice to have something to run to autozone to get some parts while your rig is out of commision. Depending on your commute, a little scooter might be all you need. I've got my dirt bike to get me to work in a dire situation. So far I haven't broken anything on my rig, so it hasn't been an issue. BUt it does bring a lot of comfort knowing I could get to work the next day if I had to.

 

[pELYgroso]

For me, the factor would be the $$ that you have into the rig. I've thought about selling my 'runner a few times after it's sat in the driveway for a month or 2 at a time but my wife (bless her heart) reminds me that I only have like $3k into it and as soon as I sell it, I'll want another one. She's right. I have a truck and a trailer (truck is DD and trailer is also a work trailer) for when we take it to Moab or St George, but it is street legal, and I'm sure it would make there just fine if need be. I do love being able to hop in and cruise up AF canyon w/out needing to trailer it!

If I'd had 10k into it, I might be a lot more tempted to sell it and use the $$ elsewhere. It would be tough to justify the $10k sitting in the driveway doing nothing 90% of the time. I've thought about selling our corolla and the 'runner and buying a more street friendly wheeler for my wife to DD, but it's nice to have the 34mpg corolla and not have to worry about weekend breakage messing up her schedule. Perfect example: After wheeling forest lake on Saturday, it is now making a rattling sound from somewhere under the hood (something is just loose). I haven't had time to fix it but it's not a big deal because we have our other vehicles to drive.

 

[sixstringsteve]

or you could be like me and dump $10k into it and realize you could only get $5k back, so that motivates you to keep it

 

[Max Power]

I wheeled with my DD for years but I found that I couldn't relax while wheeling because of the fear of breaking parts. I recently bought a tow vehicle and can barrow a family members trailer whenever I want. I purchased a reasonable half ton vehicle that is not a pain to commute in or get in and out of parking lots. Not having the headache of state inspections and being able to modify my rig without worrying about state laws is a plus. I justify having a tow vehicle for these reasons and financially I can afford one so I don't see dollar signs every time I go 4wheeling. The comfort and peice of mind is worth it to me.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Another factor to consider is the type of rigs your friends are driving. If your rig is much bigger or much smaller than your buddies' rigs, then that stinks. I'm lucky enough to have a great group of friends who have rigs that are similarly built to mine. If all my friends had buggies, I wouldn't be able to keep up. If they all had stock rigs, they wouldn't be able to keep up.

 

[lenny]

If you are expected to be to work at 8am Monday morning, the breakage from wheeling over the weekend that has now immobilized your DD isn't worth it. I tried that for a fee years.. Great truck, awesome DD, and even better offroad.. But it caused some very stressfull Mondays. The only way that I would do it again, is to have a second vehicle to be able to get to work. If the built DD rig would be your only vehicle, I would advise against this route.

That is a good point for sure, and right now my DD is my only car. I do have a street bike but that would suck to ride in the winter.

We all have different needs and opinions, but here's mine. I was in the same boat last year and I'm glad I'm in a street legal rig.

Here's my rationale:

- If you're going to have a dedicated trail rig, you'll build it to be capable, so it'll be big.
- If you have a big rig, the small trails aren't nearly as much fun anymore (snakes, af canyon, stuff like that).
- If the small trails aren't as much fun, you have to drive farther to get to the hard trails (Moab or St. George)
- the farther I have to drive to a trail, the less likely I am to go wheeling often since it requires more time

Keep in mind these are just my experiences. If I lived in St. George I have no doubt I'd have a buggy. But a tow rig, trailer, gas, and all that just made me realize I wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost. Others, however, justify it very well because they need a tow rig/trailer for other toys, or they just end up getting out a lot more than I do.

My rig isn't the most capable in the universe, but for a street legal rig, it'll handle those trails you mentioned just fine. And I can do 75 mph on the freeway comfortably. My rig doesn't do any one thing perfectly, but it does a lot of things well. It's my daily driver, my weekend warrior, my camping rig, my exploring rig, and my wheeling rig. It just plain works for me.

So it sounds like your advice would be, if you are going to do what I have done, be sure to properly plan out your build and be sure to eliminate weak points.

For me, the factor would be the $$ that you have into the rig. I've thought about selling my 'runner a few times after it's sat in the driveway for a month or 2 at a time but my wife (bless her heart) reminds me that I only have like $3k into it and as soon as I sell it, I'll want another one. She's right. I have a truck and a trailer (truck is DD and trailer is also a work trailer) for when we take it to Moab or St George, but it is street legal, and I'm sure it would make there just fine if need be. I do love being able to hop in and cruise up AF canyon w/out needing to trailer it!

If I'd had 10k into it, I might be a lot more tempted to sell it and use the $$ elsewhere. It would be tough to justify the $10k sitting in the driveway doing nothing 90% of the time. I've thought about selling our corolla and the 'runner and buying a more street friendly wheeler for my wife to DD, but it's nice to have the 34mpg corolla and not have to worry about weekend breakage messing up her schedule. Perfect example: After wheeling forest lake on Saturday, it is now making a rattling sound from somewhere under the hood (something is just loose). I haven't had time to fix it but it's not a big deal because we have our other vehicles to drive.

The price of the offroad vehicle definately would affect my decision, I would absolutely love the 4Runner that ILean is selling. It would be perfect for a second rig.

I wheeled with my DD for years but I found that I couldn't relax while wheeling because of the fear of breaking parts. I recently bought a tow vehicle and can barrow a family members trailer whenever I want. I purchased a reasonable half ton vehicle that is not a pain to commute in or get in and out of parking lots. Not having the headache of state inspections and being able to modify my rig without worrying about state laws is a plus. I justify having a tow vehicle for these reasons and financially I can afford one so I don't see dollar signs every time I go 4wheeling. The comfort and peice of mind is worth it to me.

Ya, I would love to have a tow rig, but for me I would only be towing the wheeler. I don't have any other needs for a tow rig, which is hard to justify it for just wheeling.

 

[lenny]

Another factor to consider is the type of rigs your friends are driving. If your rig is much bigger or much smaller than your buddies' rigs, then that stinks. I'm lucky enough to have a great group of friends who have rigs that are similarly built to mine. If all my friends had buggies, I wouldn't be able to keep up. If they all had stock rigs, they wouldn't be able to keep up.

Almost all of my wheeling is by myself sadly. All my close friends have sold their Jeeps or moved out of town. The one friend that still has his Jeep has a built TJ, 60's front and rear, 38's, Atlas, etc... but he hasn't driven it in a year or taking it offroad in like 3 years.

 

[mbryson]

....The type of wheeling that I have done, and want to do again are trails like Golden Spike, Pritchett, etc...

I do not have a tow vehicle, so the trail rig would have to be street legal and able to drive itself to Moab and back. I am not an aggressive driver, so my past rigs which have all been daily drivers have stayed clean and except for my Range Rover which I laid on its side I have never gotten any body damage.

So what are your thoughts, I understand that having the wheeling vehicle saves wear and tear on my daily driver but I would still have to have and SUV for daily driving for other reasons so gas savings wouldn't be a big factor. Are the additional costs for a second vehicle worth it?

It would be nice to be able to be a little less concerned when out on the trail, but I would still have to drive that rig home so going crazy probably wouldn't happen.

Anyone in the same boat as me? If you have a street legal and registered trail rig that isnt your daily driver, do you use it enough to justify it?

For those trails, something with 35" tires should do fine ? Address the vehicles weak areas with upgrades and go wheel it. My "Jeep" is "street legal". I drive it around town a little, but wouldn't drive it more than ten-fifteen miles on the highway.

To me, a JK Unlimited with some kind of engine (that gets expensive) and some 35" tires seems like a GREAT compromise. That gets me out of three vehicles (My "Jeep", trailer and tow rig) and paying for insurance, tires, maint., etc. on all of those. I'm curious to see how the 2012 and up motor works for the JK. I'll have to get over it if I can't run Pritchett, but I can't imagine that rig NOT being capable of 95% of the Moab trails (excepting BFE stuff for the most part?). Even if you do run Pritchett (or similar) and need a winch or strap on a couple of spots, what's the shame in that?

That stupid little XJ I had did great things for what it was. It didn't owe me anything by the time it was done.

 

[mbryson]

Almost all of my wheeling is by myself sadly. All my close friends have sold their Jeeps or moved out of town. The one friend that still has his Jeep has a built TJ, 60's front and rear, 38's, Atlas, etc... but he hasn't driven it in a year or taking it offroad in like 3 years.

I'd go steal that.

 

[Spork]

The original question was about costs. Insurance/maintenance/fuel/registration would be about it. I've got my truck and I've got a DD. The truck is my backup vehicle so if I decide to take a rock to the oil pan on the way to work in my DD I have something else to drive until I get it fixed. (VW oil pans don't like rocks). :-\

There are other ways to do things, if my only goal was to be offroad there are cheaper ways to do things. I can see the draw to a motorcycle and I understand why so many people from here are getting into them.

 

[Chevycrew]

Tow rig daily drivers can be had pretty cheap. The truck we use the most is a 2wd 350 chevy, its worth about a grand, add a 1500 trailer, and its a pretty cheap setup that you don't feel bad for letting it sit. But I've also got a 10k crawler sitting in the driveway that only gets used a few times a year.

 

[ret32]

My question is, is it worth it to have a dedicated trail vehicle versus a built daily driver?

The type of wheeling that I have done, and want to do again are trails like Golden Spike, Pritchett, etc...

Depends on how built and how many miles you drive.

For me. I have a mildly built rig (4" lift, rear locker, 32" tires, and a few other suspension goodies). This is our family's ONLY vehicle. I commute by public transit. My wife uses the Jeep during the day for errands, shopping, school stuff with the kids, etc. In all reality, it's her vehicle and I don't own a vehicle. We share it in the evenings and on the weekends. In our situation, it would cost a ton more to have a cheap, economical daily driver and a separate, dedicated off road rig.

Granted, I'm not built enough to do Pritchett/Golden Spike AND I have very limited daily driver mileage needs. Higher daily driver miles and bigger built would each increase the cost of having a built daily driver, making the other option incrementally more attractive until you hit the break even point, whatever that is. However, I believe I could (and plan to) build my daily driver a little more (2-3 more inches lift, 2nd locker, 35s, and a little more gearing). I believe I would still be able to maintain the cost effectiveness of having a built daily driver versus a dedicated trail vehicle while delving into the realm of Pritchett/Golden Spike level trails from time to time.

I've been teased about this next part on another forum and expect no less here. Separate from gas and insurance (gas is too variable to include here and insurance is a fixed cost), I budget $0.20 per mile for daily driving miles (about 7k-8k miles per year in my case). This covers the cost of having my vehicle, maintaining it, repairing it, etc. When I use the vehicle beyond daily driving duties (i.e. vacation, weekend camping, traveling in general), I budget $0.10 per mile for paved road use and I budget $0.40 per mile for unpaved road use (for additional maintenance and repairs). This has worked very well for me and is pretty accurate in my case.

Any variation from my circumstance could easily throw things in a different direction. More daily driver miles, a more built rig, a less reliable rig, a rig with fewer creature comforts, a less cool wife, etc would all work toward making a built daily driver less attractive against having a separate daily driver.

As to the issue of not having to worry about a broken rig come Monday morning, I have the luxury of not needing a vehicle at all for a few days if necessary. I commute by public transit and my wife can typically change plans and go without for a time if need be. However, even if it was essential to have a working vehicle each time I came home from a Moab trip, one can easily pick up a rental for $20 - $30 per day. Even if you had to do that for a whole week a couple of times a year, you've still spent less than just the insurance on an extra vehicle. (edit - oh, and I always make it a point to live within walking distance of an auto parts store, my wife agreed to that years ago)

 

[mbryson]

....I've been teased about this next part on another forum and expect no less here. Separate from gas and insurance (gas is too variable to include here and insurance is a fixed cost), I budget $0.20 per mile for daily driving miles (about 7k-8k miles per year in my case). This covers the cost of having a vehicle, maintaining it, repairing it, etc. When I use the vehicle beyond daily driving duties (i.e. vacation, weekend camping, traveling in general), I budget $0.10 per mile for paved road use and I budget $0.40 per mile for unpaved road use. This has worked very well for me and is pretty accurate in my case.......

I'd love to get $0.40 per mile out of mine. I'd imagine my mileage is about $10 per mile or something? To be honest, I don't think it would be good to know.

 

[lenny]

For those trails, something with 35" tires should do fine ? Address the vehicles weak areas with upgrades and go wheel it. My "Jeep" is "street legal". I drive it around town a little, but wouldn't drive it more than ten-fifteen miles on the highway.

To me, a JK Unlimited with some kind of engine (that gets expensive) and some 35" tires seems like a GREAT compromise. That gets me out of three vehicles (My "Jeep", trailer and tow rig) and paying for insurance, tires, maint., etc. on all of those. I'm curious to see how the 2012 and up motor works for the JK. I'll have to get over it if I can't run Pritchett, but I can't imagine that rig NOT being capable of 95% of the Moab trails (excepting BFE stuff for the most part?). Even if you do run Pritchett (or similar) and need a winch or strap on a couple of spots, what's the shame in that?

That stupid little XJ I had did great things for what it was. It didn't owe me anything by the time it was done.

I agree about the JK on 35's that would be perfect for what I want to do, also it would be a 20 grand above my price range haha.

I really liked your old XJ, something along those lines would fit the second trail rig criteria nicely. If you had to guess, once it was built up, what do you think you spent in repairs/operating costs annually on it?