Advice on a beach vehicle

I was driving subarus, had two outbacks and a forrester. took each one up to 180,00-260,000mi with no major issues and beat the crap out of them all all over new england on snowboarding trips. I had my winters off that whole time and a pocket full of money and basically chased and drove in snowstorms to where the weather map said the snow would be the deepest any where from NJ to whiteface to jay peak to sugarloaf no prob. great on gas and no need to shift into 4 wheel cause its always in 4 wheel. I had 3 toyotas 1st gen with the 4 cyl 22 engine and they were good but they were rust buckets and always rotted apart quick, especially if you do a lot of snow driving, the ****ty jap steel cant handle the road salt. If you go with toyota watch out for the fuel pump outlet nib it rots and sprays a mist of gas on the hot exhaust over time, my first one burst into a fireball while I was driving down the road due to this, the second two had the same prob but I fixed it before i blew up.

 

rubasubs are great snowmobiles. A bro of mine has one and snowboards a lot, damn near impossible to get stuck if you know how to drive. Big pileup coming down the mountain one time and he just drove right through the median around the whole thing.

I've seen them struggle with the sand on the n end though, and I wouldn't take them on the s end. But maybe the peeps driving just didn't know what they were doing.

Edit: this was the outback, not sure about the forrester.

 

if you let some air out of the tires til they widen they do fine in the sand, they don't have a ton of clearance so you cant gun it off the line you have to speed up gradually so they dont dig.

 

Very pleased w my 2007 FJ. Got me through every storm in the winter of satan aka Snowmageddon, with ease. Always sails through the sand at the-place-that-shall-not-be-named as well as the OBX stuff. A fantastic surf trekkin' rig that is tough & versatile, quiet on the 85 mph I-95 highway runs, with plenty of room for the dogs, the boards, the gear, the gf, good sound system, simple easy to use controls & that TOY dependability.

Strongly recommend the window drip guards for reduction of wind buffeting & you can keep the windows open during driving rain storms in humid summer 'canes.
$40.00 the pair.
http://www.carid.com/2007-toyota-fj...eathertech-side-window-deflectors-221537.html

One FJ caveat: you'll be looking at replacing the rear end on 2007-2012 FJs at around the 80-100k mark for aboot $2k.
(similar to skidmark replacing his own rear end after one week on the docks)

I've owned a '91 Land Cruiser, a 2001 Sequoia and this FJ. FJ takes it, hands down.

The FJ line was just discontinued by Toyota, btw, but is still supported by TOY & the after market. A great rig at a great price point that just didn't sell en masse to the youth market that TOY had envisioned.

 

Have you considered a an El Camino? Nothing says hard core surfer like an El Camino

 

Haha Yeah you're probably better off with the 4 Runner, but hey if it doesn't work out you got a backup plan now.

 

The auto transmission is the same one (A340) as in my Tacoma. The radiator on the truck blew this past Summer right before a trip to the mountains, and the guy who changed it must have spilled a fair amount of transmission fluid. Didn't notice for about two weeks, (and close to 1000 mountain miles) when it started slipping in first. It ended up taking about 5 quarts to fill it. It's been totally fine since. Anecdotal, but I think that says something about the design.

 

my stepmother has had 2 outbacks & my dad used to drive them both on the beaches around hatteras all the time till the permit rules went into effect, never had a problem. said they go better than his '92 explorer did, & almost as well as his '88 cherokee. he refuses to buy a permit on principle, so hasn't done it recently.
traded my '08 grand cherokee for a '13 crosstrek last spring, so i should be able to give some firsthand feedback on how well they handle obx sand in 6 months or so.

i suspect the key is driver confidence...you can have all the built-in capability in the world under your ass & gas foot, but if you don't know what you're doing &/or lack the confidence to do it, that ain't gonna matter.

 

I'm sure you know this but when looking for rust check places they can't replace, esp the frame. With all the transplants that have moved down an all that. I went through several before I bought the 05 that had tried to hide the rusty parts. Sounds like a solid buy.

 

My old Baja Buster:

 

i would suggest you spend time on yotatech, pirate4x4, t4r or the other sites, and find a built truck. Proper maintenance and modifications. A land cruiser is a good option also. Ive owned multiple 1st-4th gen 4runers, pickups, tacomas and tundras. the truth is a 3rd gen 4runner is WAYYY nicer than a 1/2gen if youre going to spend a lot of time on pavement. just noticed youre staying 22re and want a removable top it makes sense to stay 1g

 

You can got wrong with a Subaru , Jeep, or even Landrover. I had a 94 Discovery and I couldn't finds anything that would stop it . It even took on a Up State NY blizzard with no issues.

 

Nothing says my name is earl like an el camino

 

I've got a 2000 ford E-350 Econoline heavy duty that I use as a beach cruiser and to take the dirt bike to the tracks in the area. It floats good on emerald isle beaches and on the obx. Also I can hold as much anything as you need to take to the beach. 369k miles and still runs strong

 

Is it a 4wd conversion?

 

Nah. It would be cooler If it was 4wd. Its just the extended cargo van. I think there's a few guys in wrightsville beach with a 4wd one that's pretty awesome. Its gray and has like some 28's on it