hey all, been quiet the last week or two, my classes started back up and that means i'm running around like a headless chicken from about 6AM-11PM daily. Anywho, while i'm here at work, figured i'd poll the audience for my next 'major' purchase.

As some of you know, i'm a college senior (finally) in AFROTC, commissioning in May 2009. Well, my graduating class discovered our first base assignment the other day, and lets just say i was somewhat less than pleased with mine. The first couple of days were sad indeed, mostly because i figured i'd be somewhere warm (i selected florida, california, hawaii on my dream sheet) but after coming to terms with what i now call my 'sentence,' i'm somewhat less depressed, and even a little excited to go 'into the wild.'

drum roll please..






Minot AFB, North Dakota.



NOW, this means that my TT will not be putting on more than about 5k miles/year after this time next year (when i'll be moving), so i want something equally as enthusiast for my winter 'beast,' as it were.


As it stands, I'm going to save about 10-15k for a down payment. Looking in the 20-30k range for my winter car.

I'll be buying or renting (whatever works better at the time) a house with a 2-3 car garage, as real estate is DIRT cheap up there, so no worries about storing my babies.



right now i'm thinking about:
<img src="http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/autoreview/400x266/1993-97-Land-Rover-Defender-110-Defender-95409041000102.jpg">
93-97 LR Defender 90/110

<img src="http://images.off-roadweb.com/tech/0709or_06_z+2007_toyota_fj_cruiser+approach_angle_ shot.jpg">
New(ish) FJ Cruiser


<img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d110/rs1620/XterraWheels003.jpg">
New(ish) Xterra

<img src="http://www.autogaleria.pl/tapety/img/jeep/jeep_wrangler_rubicon_2003_03_s.jpg">
New(ish) Wrangler



In the town of Minot, there are dealers for Jeep, Toyota, and Nissan. I'm not afraid to do my own work, though, nor am i afraid to go cross-country to find what I want.


Ideally i'd want an enthusiast car that would kick **** in the FEET of snow i'll be getting. They say to expect 4-6 feet at a time.



any input would be greatly appreciated by those with experience. :-)

 

for reliability. do you really want to be working on a landy in -30 F?

toyota knows how to build suv's. they normally do it right. get the FJ with some snow tires and a block heater and sit back and watch it snow with a hot cup of whatever.

and this is coming from someone who has lusted over the d-90 for over 10 years.

good luck man

 

That was always the joke going through AF Tech school, getting sent to Minot to drive bus on base. You're not driving bus are you? After all since you're in ROTC that must mean you're going to be an officer, not like they can have you doing real work.

j/k of course..... sorta. lol

 

<center><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/USMC_Fast_Attack_Vehicle_(IFAV).1.JPEG"></center><p>1980's g-wagon or a brabus unimog<ul><li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAWDf6EorDY">Brabus Unimog</a></li></ul>

 

I would just rent while you are there. That area is not a sellers market, and you could get stuck owning something for longer than you planned. Good luck on your winter vehicle search. I would say find something that doesn't require much maintenance for several reasons. First it is cold and even with a garage, unless it is heated, the cold weather will kill any motivation to work on it. And second since you are going to be a young 2Lt you will not have much time for it anyway. Good luck and stay warm!

 

Drop $10k on an outfitted CJ...don't mess with payments right now

 

hear that alot. i've gotten used to it :-)

 

so yes, driving busses.

 

<center><img src="http://www.parkers.co.uk/imagecache/file/300/archive/Isuzu/Trooper%20(87-91)/isuzu_1988_trooper.jpg"></center><p>I've owned 3 of these in all. 2 1988 and 1 1986 and managed to break 275,000 miles on each them. The engine is bullet proof but the bodies were prune to rusting in the rockers. Just a thought...

 

it's an 04 2.7t with 116k highway miles.



meticulously maintained engine (body is already in bad condition, so no worries there)
TB done, bunch of seals replaced.. and i could get it for DIRT cheap (probably less than 10k)



hmmmmmm.