vehicle recommendations needed

I'm looking for a used 4x4 and need some recommendations.

Use will be on the beach (Hatteras) with some trips to the mountains.
I'm more concerned about the ability to drive on the beach so I don't
have to haul my stuff so far when I go surf fishing. In the mountains
we often camp and some of the spots require water crossings to get to
the parking areas, which I can't do in my daily driver (4 door sedan
with low clearance).

For beach trips I usually have 3 surf rods and/or 4 surfboards.
Passengers are my wife and daughter.

I've been looking at Cherokees or 4Runners. Trying to keep the cost
under 4k. This won't be a daily driver. I'm looking for something with
a decent repair record and sorta decent mpg (or so to speak). At this
time I use my dad's 'burb, which is ok but more vehicle than the 3 of
us need.

rick m wrote:
> I'm looking for a used 4x4 and need some recommendations.
>
> Use will be on the beach (Hatteras) with some trips to the mountains.
> I'm more concerned about the ability to drive on the beach so I don't
> have to haul my stuff so far when I go surf fishing. In the mountains
> we often camp and some of the spots require water crossings to get to
> the parking areas, which I can't do in my daily driver (4 door sedan
> with low clearance).
>
> For beach trips I usually have 3 surf rods and/or 4 surfboards.
> Passengers are my wife and daughter.
>
> I've been looking at Cherokees or 4Runners. Trying to keep the cost
> under 4k. This won't be a daily driver. I'm looking for something with
> a decent repair record and sorta decent mpg (or so to speak). At this
> time I use my dad's 'burb, which is ok but more vehicle than the 3 of
> us need.
>
Check local prices... suspect the 4runner will be more than a Cherokee
or even an older Grand Cherokee used.

For beach use a Manx or other dune buggy might be better if you can find
the parts from an old VW for them.

You really want big fat tires so you dont get dug in. 4x4 isnt really
necessary.

We really liked our 88 Cherokee. I had to retire it due to rust. It
had well over 300K km on it and the engine was still strong.

We offroaded it regularly to get way back into camp spots and had it in
to the bottom of the lights on water crossings. Jeeps have high water
vents for the diffs and t-case, but just a button vent on the standard
tranny (the auto has a higher vent in the dipstick) so if you want to do
regular water crossings, a hose can be put onto that by putting a hose
barb in the vent's hole pretty easily. You also have to watch the air
intakes, some have a ram air scoop just on top of the bumper you need to
remove when off road.

Ours just needed normal maintenance which was easy to do myself for the
most part. Parts are easy to get.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile...

rick m wrote:
> I'm looking for a used 4x4 and need some recommendations.
>
> Use will be on the beach (Hatteras) with some trips to the mountains.
> I'm more concerned about the ability to drive on the beach so I don't
> have to haul my stuff so far when I go surf fishing. In the mountains
> we often camp and some of the spots require water crossings to get to
> the parking areas, which I can't do in my daily driver (4 door sedan
> with low clearance).
>
> For beach trips I usually have 3 surf rods and/or 4 surfboards.
> Passengers are my wife and daughter.
>
> I've been looking at Cherokees or 4Runners. Trying to keep the cost
> under 4k. This won't be a daily driver. I'm looking for something with
> a decent repair record and sorta decent mpg (or so to speak). At this
> time I use my dad's 'burb, which is ok but more vehicle than the 3 of
> us need.
>