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Light Overland Vehicle Tech Tech issues, tips and hints, prepping for travel
Under 3500kg vehicles, e.g. Land Cruiser, Land Rover, Subaru etc.
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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Old 31 Jan 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OMG View Post
I read about some man driving to Myanmar, that on the road, in and after the Stans, many "good" roads are full of holes and bumps ; and that sometimes it takes hours before someone passes (who can help you if your car breaks down).


Personally I have never driven outside of Europe (but I'ld like to try). I'm not an adventurer that wants to do crazy things or go fast of ... (but love discovering new landscapes and cultures) and not handy, and not strong (yes a woman) so if I read your advice, basically it says :


1. if you stay on the main roads, you should be able to get wherever you want to go (does the Russian mud road qualify as a 'main road' or was this to reach a special place off road please ?)

2. you don't need a specially equiped car to drive to South East Asia - any car will get you there

3. driving a new car is not such a good idea : thieves will come ??

4. SHIT. is that true, that diesel is hard to find ???


(I just got a new toyota, exactly to be SAFE to drive to Asia - no risk of breaking down, strong, enough space, less risk if a car hits our car ... bad idea ? and SHIT it is a diesel yes)


I read the adventures of Roy & Michelle I believe it is - they went on a 3 year trip around the world and made a book of it ; they are driving a landrover with all kinds of stuff on it (rope to pull them out ; spare tire on top of the car in front of their window ; fortified metal side bars ; special lights and bumpers ; etc) - am I reading it well, that it is NOT necessary to have all this stuff ?? Because when I see all that, I'm thinking : silly girl, forget about driving to SEA ... your car is not equiped for that.


your thoughts ?
There are definitely 2 schools of thought when it comes to preparation and required equipment.

Mine is the more you add the more likely something will fail, you've added weight so you then need to uprate suspension, a vicious circle. You won't necessarily know the quality of these "up graded" components. You get the picture.
I've deliberately kept my vehicle standard and I'd trust it to go anywhere.

Having said that if you do some research on your vehicle specific forum you may find the odd known weaknesses with a cure.

You haven't mentioned which Toyota but what ever it is (other than a Prius :-) ) is a good starting point. If you search on here for Surfy you'll see that he uses what looks like a pretty standard Toyota.

I don't get the lack of diesel. If there are trucks / tractors in a country there's diesel. Quality maybe an issue, especially in a newer diesel. You could get an additional filter / water separator fitted?
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