Checking in here. Picked up my 2003 Montero this week. I live in the Central Valley of California and can hit a lot of trails in an hour. I'm talking my brother's in law into getting rigs and joining me.
I lurked on a lot of Montero forums and thanks to their advice limited my search to a 03 or newer Gen 3. Was really wanting a Gen 2.5 but couldn't find one that anyone had maintained. I paid $4,000 for this. It has 122,000 miles and has been serviced religiously. Anything that went wrong the previous owner fixed right (though not that much has gone wrong in looking through his records). Not sure why these aren't more popular. For a family of five, it seems to be perfect. This may be too clean for what I want to do with it...I hope to have it for a long time.
I'm going to buck the trend and avoid a rooftop tent. I'm a middle aged big guy and the thought of climbing down a ladder in the middle of the night to pee is ridiculous. I would like to give the bumpers and rockers some protection. I don't plan on rock bashing but a lot of the trails around here are granite. It has a good set of Cooper Discoverer H/T on it. Will get something more aggressive when they start wearing out. Not going to do anything big till I do a couple trips in it, just to make sure she is running well.
I moved back to my hometown three years ago to be by family and have the kids (3 of them) know their grandparents. I grew up camping, fishing and hunting. While I've done a bit of that with the kids loading up the Honda Odyssey to go to a campsite no bigger than my living room with all kinds of rules isn't the same. I want them to explore. My dad passed away suddenly last October at 68 years old. We have no guarantee to a long life. I intend to make hay, today.
Hope to run into you on the roads/trails.
Rob
