Hi everyone, I am looking ahead by about two to three years or so with very vague thoughts of the possibility of doing my first outside of North America overlanding trip, possibly by shipping my vehicle to the UK and then driving (along with two ferry crossings) to Japan. A few times during my trip I would need to fly back to Canada for a few weeks of work, so I will still need to have a vehicle here. This has led me to consider whether I should plan for taking my 2016 Subaru Crosstrek on the trip or whether I should get a different vehicle for this, possibly something like a Tacoma that might be more readily repaired if something went wrong in the middle of Siberia.
Either way, I will be buying a second vehicle since I will need to have something to get me around at home when I pop back for work periods (though if I was using the Crosstrek on the trip then I would get a cheap used car that I would probably sell off after the trip when I ultimately have the Crosstrek shipped back).
The Crosstrek currently has 180,000 km/112,00 mi on it and I have had it since it was new and have kept it well maintained. I don't plan on doing off roading that would need something more 4x4 capable. I imagine that by the time this trip could be happening, it could be approaching 250,000 km on the odometer. The Crosstrek itself in terms of space and living out of it and that kind of thing I have no concerns about. I think my main hesitation is just that it will be getting up there in miles and if it were to have a breakdown, my impression is that it would be a challenge and very time consuming to source parts and someone who knows how to fix a Subaru.
So if I would be spending $5k on a second vehicle anyway if I took the Crosstrek, would I be better off instead keeping the Crosstrek at home as my daily driver for when I am back for work and say put another $10k into this all and get a $15k used Tacoma? (At that budget it looks like it would be a ~2010 Tacoma with ~200,000 km on it, so not newer in any way but maybe easier to repair out driving around the world?)
Thanks for sharing any thoughts you have!
Either way, I will be buying a second vehicle since I will need to have something to get me around at home when I pop back for work periods (though if I was using the Crosstrek on the trip then I would get a cheap used car that I would probably sell off after the trip when I ultimately have the Crosstrek shipped back).
The Crosstrek currently has 180,000 km/112,00 mi on it and I have had it since it was new and have kept it well maintained. I don't plan on doing off roading that would need something more 4x4 capable. I imagine that by the time this trip could be happening, it could be approaching 250,000 km on the odometer. The Crosstrek itself in terms of space and living out of it and that kind of thing I have no concerns about. I think my main hesitation is just that it will be getting up there in miles and if it were to have a breakdown, my impression is that it would be a challenge and very time consuming to source parts and someone who knows how to fix a Subaru.
So if I would be spending $5k on a second vehicle anyway if I took the Crosstrek, would I be better off instead keeping the Crosstrek at home as my daily driver for when I am back for work and say put another $10k into this all and get a $15k used Tacoma? (At that budget it looks like it would be a ~2010 Tacoma with ~200,000 km on it, so not newer in any way but maybe easier to repair out driving around the world?)
Thanks for sharing any thoughts you have!