So my boyfriend and I are leaving the UK at the beginning of 2015 on an undetermined length of time tour of the world bar Australia and NZ. We are starting to plan and save now but what's confusing me the most is what type of vehicle is going to be the best. I've tried reading the Overlanders Handbook but being a girl Im a little confused - I know nothing about cars! We want something we can sleep in and maybe cook in? Thinking max we would want to spend is £6000. Has anyone got any pointers?

Many thanks

Lisa

No need to rush into anything now... go to some shows, look at other peoples vehicles, talk with a wide range of people (being careful to adjust their information according to their personality, their actual experience etc) and see what type of person and what type of trip seems to best sum up what you think you want your trip to be like.

Then you will get an idea of what you need to do what you think you want to do.

Generally most people go with a Land Rover Defender or Land Cruiser - and a few with something like a Iveco 4x4 or Mercedes van.

You need to tell us do you want to get off the beaten track in Africa (i.e.: the west coast) or just trundle along well worn paths enjoying beach and more than anything too adventurous etc

My own advice with a small budget for your vehicle (realistically you will need to double it once you take into account all the servicing etc you should do before leaving) is avoid shipping - so from the UK, stick to Europe, Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, India and South East Asia.

Spend time browsing The Africa Overland Network The Africa Overland Network to see others ideas etc

Good luck!

PS: It is easy enough to sleep inside a Defender or Land Cruiser and also have a roof tent which is much nicer.

Wonderful thank you! Is it possible to get a vehicle for that price? I haven't really looked at Africa yet but am thinking we would like to have a vehicle that will give us that option. What do people do about bathing? Is it likely we can get something for that price with a mini kitchen? LOL such a beginner!

You need to give a lot more thought to your budgetting.

You will need to source a donor vehicle, baseline it so that it is mechanically sound and then upgrade it so that it is suitable for your journey.

I can't comment on other brands, but going the Land Cruiser route, you you will struggle to source an suitable 80 series for the £6k and then that is only the start.

You could pick up a Colorado/Prado and base line it for £6k, but then you will still need to prep it.

Obviously you could pick up a cheaper vehicle like a transit, etc and prepare it for the £6k, but it will severely restrict where you can go and the reliability may not be there.

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Cheers,

Julian Voelcker
Overland Cruisers - Specialising in Land Cruiser preparation and servicing.

Perhaps I am being naive thinking we can pick one up already fitted?

I have seen Defenders kind of kitted out for around that price - but unless they have all the receipts for recent mechanical work you will want to change the clutch, check all the bearings, build up a bunch of spare parts to take etc etc etc etc... it all takes money and time, AND IT IS MUCH BETTER TO DO IT NOW RATHER THAN ON THE ROAD. (sorry for shouting, but thats really important!)

visit - australia & nz

Drwnite - I'm originally from Aus so we have plent of time to explore when we move back.

I had a look on eBay and am amazed at how cheap you can get a van that's already kitted out there. Looks like the average is around £2500....leaving us £3500 to get spare parts and get new bits and pieces fitted.

Just a quick q...a van would be no good in Africa?

You need to tell us what and where you want to go - then we can direct you a little better rather than all throwing opinions at you.

The trouble is your probably not sure yet what kind of overlanding you will do, as opposed to what you think you will do ;-p

So relax for now and enjoy reading about others ideas and problems and solutions.

A +strong+ word of warning: Serious long term overlanding is about serious mechanical preparation before you go. You can either spend time and money before you go making sure everything is as good as it reasonably can be - which involves going to the best mechanic, not the cheapest, and using high quality spare parts, rather than cheap crap.

If you don't, you get to spend a lot more time and usually a lot more money on the road where quality spare parts are hard or impossible to find and good mechanics even harder. So they break more than they fix. (I'm used to Africa).

Tales of buying a van for a fiver and selling in Mongolia are fine as long as you accept your van probably would't have made it much further without starting to give serious problems.

For a long round the world trip the vans you are looking at probably need a good mechanic overhaul, so triple the price for a older van, double it for anything newer as a rough guide. It will be money well spent and you can enjoy the trip more rather than trying to fine parts and an honest mechanic.

Don't just listen to advice that suits your budget, figure out what is the best advice and find a way to follow it!

I would strongly advise a 4x4, but if not the most important things with a van is good ground clearance underneath (the space between the ground and the bottom of the vehicle) and not having one thats too long. This makes driving on bad roads easier.

Anyway, relax for now..... ;-)

There you go, like I mentioned.
I think that so far you have some great advice in here, both concerning the technical stuff - such as the links given earlier - and the more general ideas and further questions about what your intentions and plans are; that latter is the really difficult issue that I have been considering for months (with regard to 4 wheels that is).

Consider 2 motorbikes! + a tent.

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Dave

There’s some great advice on here, I like the “Anyway relax for now……..”. There is of course the down side of forums, they can scare you to death! And of course beware of the bias that individuals have for certain makes of vehicle.

From your description you are starting with a blank sheet which can be good. My thoughts would be go along to as many meets/shows as possible and try and match your personalities, spending power, intended destinations and starting knowledge with others who have been there and done it. Probably personality and spending power being the two most important.

For some it’s all about a certain type of vehicle and the off roading. I don’t get that from your initial question so you need to be able to filter that out.

Van’s are all over Africa, held together with string and a prayer. I’m sure given a sympathetic driving style and a good basic van to start with you would be fine, but as others have mentioned you haven’t said what type of route/roads you are planning on. My experience of cheap van's is that they have had a hard life with little care and maintenance. Recent ones, say less than 10 years old tend to be full of electronic engine management. I would suggest you investigate spares availability along your intended routes.

To prepare a vehicle (without throwing money at useless bling) and to keep it going, even by bodging it, it would be useful to have some mechanical knowledge. How about investigating basic mechanic courses at your local college?

Russ

Hi
just come back after 3.5 years away, to me its about what you want to do/go, 4x4 is handy but if you don't want to go to deserts and deep mud jungle roads you don't need it. Two good friends of mine have been the same places as I have been in a 308 merc camper van, no ground clearance, no 4x4. Yea they got stuck on the beach and had to be pulled up to the lake on the Karakorum, but no big deal always someone to help. It was ultra reliable and inexpensive. If you don't want to go off road to those really really remote places you don't need a 4x4 but like I said it is handy .

The merc is easy to get repaired, change the clutch and do the essentials, however you can garuantee the part that breaks is the part you have not got. The best bit 3 bits of advice I got was:

don't spend all your cash on a vehicle that you cant then afford to take anywhere.

In choosing whether to go somewhere don't listen to those that have NOT been there.

And in case of breakdown or disaster put on kettle and calm down its always easier after a cuppa

Good luck you will love it and have the time of your lives, be warned coming back into the real world can be really, really hard.
hope this helps Mark

Thanks so much for your help guys. So I've decided that we would like a van/truck of some description that is kitted out already...or maybe not. Have budgeted £6000. 4x4 is important I think unless theres a fair amount of clearance. We will be going to game parks and desert.

We plan to go for 3-4 years...not to just Africa but ship over to South America, go up to canada and then ship to Asia and head back. we are thinking of taking £50 000 and eating really cheap (think markets, fresh food and cooking ourselves), staying in the car, doing mostly outdoors walks, etc, we aren't into adventure sports. We also plan to work in Europe a bit more on the way to Africa, and then wherever we can really. Is 50 000 enough?