So I'm looking for a rig to make into my overlander. I'm retired; so economics plays largely in my planning. I can find used wrangler unlimited(s) for under $10K in my area but most are in the 175k-200K mileage levels. Is it worth my effort & $$$ to pick one of theses up and put $5K+ into it in differentials, tires, lift kits, bumpers, winch... just to have the engine or tranny to crap out on me just as I'm starting to have fun. Or should I just scrap this dream and just start working jigsaw puzzles.
To get back to the actual question posed by Don, I don’t think I would be comfortable dropping $10k on a truck with 200,000 miles, I don’t care what brand. That’s just asking for heartburn. You never know how rough those miles have been and that’s a long time to be guessing. That may just be me.
Seems like a good idea to step back and ask yourself what you want to do with an overland rig. Where do you want to go? Be realistic, where are you actually going to drive? How “overbuilt” does your rig need to be? Do you plan on towing a trailer? Rock Crawling? No one vehicle is going to be perfect for everything but you have to find the balance that’s right for you. $10k is a pretty good budget but you’ll certainly have to make some concessions to get capability and dependability.
When I started looking for a new vehigle, I researched for over a year. I test drove everything I could and I made a list of wants vs needs. I also looked at my previous travel history. What I found was that for every 20 miles I spent off-road, I drove almost 200 miles on pavement. That really shocked me but it was a fact. Getting to those destinations racks up the miles and I wanted comfort getting there as well as capability when I arrived.
There is a lot of great advice on this forum. Hopefully it helps you find the right vehicle for you.
