Wheeling is surely NOT a cheap hobby... IF, you have a rig with the right axles, and good motor, and you have access to scrap steel, and are good with fab work, the build can be somewhat cut down in cost, but, if you get into it, you will spend...

I started with some 32" mud tires, and a torsion bar crank (poor mans small suspension lift)... and some local trails... Now i've got a rig with enough money in mod's that i could have probably bought the new CBR1000RR new in cash.. lol

And when i wheel... I usually take Fri-Sat-Sun off work, pack up the truck, fill up with gas @ 3.50 per gallon for 93, which i have to run do to the fact I HAD to have the Supercharged version of my truck... Load the truck with tons of gear, drive 250+ miles to one of many off road parks, where you can pay to legally wheel.... and yes, at aprox 15mpg when i'm running the bigger tires... Pay the $25-35 per day to wheel, plus the extra $5-10 per day for my wife who's usually a passenger... $35-75 a night for hotel's in the winter, or camping in the summer which is either free to $15 a night depending on where... burn a half tank of gas wheeling a solid weekend, and only going 50 total miles... lol And normally, you either leave the park knowing what part you NEED to replace next, or if you manage to wheel an entire weekend with nothing broken, you probably have felt so good, you have talked yourself into another mod.. .lol

I usually budget $300+ for a trip...

 

Or..

you can always do what i did.. make your wife start working so you can enjoy wheeling.. lol

 

I gotta laugh at the original picture of the "Suzuki" with the Harley sticker - I thought I read something a while ago that several of the so-called Suzuki autos are actually rebadged Korean Daewoos. Not sure about the Verona. What kills me is that back in the day, I used to hang with a bunch of Harley guys (panhead/shovelhead owners, not rubbies trying to be trendy), and the unwritten rule was that you just don't put a Harley sticker on a Japanese car! It cracks me up every time I see one on a Toyota or Nissan...makes me wonder what the old-time Harley guys think when they see it (if there are any still around).

For what it's worth, I have a GM car, and a significant portion of it comes from Mexico. I think all of the major Japanese manufacturers have plants in the U.S. now too, so it's a little more blurry as to what constitutes an 'American' car...still, I would never put a Harley sticker on a Toyota even if I wanted to. Unless it was the upside down Harley wings, that are supposed to show one's dissatisfaction with Harley's current direction, or corporate identity if you prefer...

Anyway, I got a chuckle out of the Suzuki pic from the top of the thread. I like how Harley has the "TRADE MARK" so prominently displayed, too...

 

I think the verona is a rebadged daewoo, but if i'm not mistaken, daewoo is actually a product partially owned by GM....

I don't remember what they will call it, but Suzuki is actually producing a mid sized truck next year that is a rebadged Nissan Frontier...

 

I've always had a Japanese bike 'cause I'm not interested in spending 15-20k on a 700 lb. cruiser which can't keep up with a '73 RD350. When it comes to cars and trucks, I buy American.

I've got a '95 F-150 4X4. I bought it new. I've been driving the **** out of it for nearly a quarter of a million miles. The grand total of things i've had to replace on it (besides tires, brake pads, filters etc.) is one fuel pump. Period. I'm on the original water pump, clutch etc. My brother has a '96 F-150 with 160k on it. Same story.

The guy across the street just sold his '91 4 cyl. Ranger with 314k on the clock, still running like a top. His wife wanted a new Camry. He would have been happier with an American pick up and buying his old lady a $2000 vacuum cleaner!

If you want to drive a Jap car or truck, fine by me. But if you think you've got a better vehicle, I know better.

 

I am almost the same as you RK1. I have owned Fords for the last 17 yrs. I have been more than happy with them until 4.5 yrs ago. That is when we purchased our 03 Ford Exploder. It is a Limited with literally everything you could get on it. Cost us $44K. That thing has been an absolute LEMON. It has been to the shop at least 100 times now. I can understand having something break but it is unreasonable to me to have to take it to the dealership 4-5 times over the same issue. When you have 20 different problems and you take it in for repair 4-5 times over each problem, it leaves a BAD taste in your mouth. It is still loosing coolant somehow and has been in 11 times over that (and other issues) with no fix in site. We have given up and quite literally I decided to change brands because of the repair service that I have received ( 4 different dealerships BTW). My 04 F150 has 75K on the clock and has not been in for service yet. This is how I have experienced most of my Fords. Although, I thoroughly dread it when something breaks. The Exploder has 98K on it and the trade in is $6K. We recently bought the wife a 08' Honda ( 60% US orgin) and got a 100K mile bumper to bumper warranty for $1K. IMO: They have got a lot of faith in that car to sell a warranty like that.

Just another opinion/ experience to add to the stew.

 

That has less to do with it being american made, than with the fact that it's pre millenium... The older cars lasted, american OR japanese... the newer mostly falls apart, regardless of manufacturer... atleast that's my experience... Look at BMW... they aren't cheap... and they have the highest service prices and highest fault rate in Sweden right now... Look at any of the US cars, same here, top of the expensive lists...

The only one I'd exclude from that list is actually Honda (not because i'm a Honda nut...) because they actually fix the errors for free during their 5 year warranty, without argument... apart from mostly all others... Then again, their cars are mostly boring... but oh well...

 

I’ve had several Fords that were/are good to me. The ’97 Taurus SHO had a really nice Yamaha motor in it.

 

I'll walk or give up riding before I park a Hog in my garage.....

 

I agree with most of the posts. Everything needs a purpose and a machine or tool to fulfill it.

The trucks are all Dodge.

The bikes and cars are all Honda.

The four-wheelers are all Yamaha.

 

Become a mechanic,or worse yet a auto shop teacher. You'll definitely pick your brands differently after that. I would buy toyota or honda anytime. They are so easy to fix cause they need so little fixing. The problems that I have run into with my chevy, and the fords I work on, and the dodges, are just stupid. Repeat fixing, time and again. I had a toyota pickup that had less problems in 235k miles than most of the american cars I see in 100k miles.