Builds Well I gone and done it: 2018 Premium Build

[BigSwede]

How well do those Vehicross rigs do? while looking to replace our 100 series Hundy's, along with GX's, these were one of the vehicles I was considering.
The styling is awesome, but my concerns were:

1. Unibody. How well will these handle torturous terrain?
2. I was thinking a little on the small side, about the size of a Rav4?
3. And the biggest issue, no more Isuzu dealers in the U.S., so in time replacement/repair parts will becoming more rare.

All-in-all, I have absolutely no regrets with our GX.

1. They are body-on-frame, not unibody.
2. Pretty small, I can't fit in one comfortably, not enough headroom.
3. Mechanical parts are generally available still (they are 20+ years old), but body panels and cladding can be hard to find.

If they had better headroom and a better place for an oversize spare tire I might have one. They are nimble and have great approach/breakover/departure angles, but are in no way as roomy as a GX. Not apples to apples IMO.

 

[BigSwede]

They are absolutely stellar offroad and on the frozen stuff and they look particularly narly modded. There's like a ton of sensors that are utilized to help out with the slippery stuff.

View attachment 3366189

Lol, somebody solid axle swapped that VX... they are IFS stock.

Dunno if I would say a "ton" of sensors, the Torque On Demand transfer case uses wheel speed sensors to determine distribution of power. They are full time 4WD, kinda like the GX.

 

[offroad47]

I always wanted one . But at 6’4” I knew it would be a long drive issue . Yes they look so cool lifted and big tired. It’s great to see folks are still
Using and loving them.

 

[Banandalorian]

If they had better headroom and a better place for an oversize spare tire I might have one. They are nimble and have great approach/breakover/departure angles, but are in no way as roomy as a GX. Not apples to apples IMO.

Do they have worse options for an oversized spare than a GX? Is that possible!?

 

[GrizzlyClint]

Lol, somebody solid axle swapped that VX... they are IFS stock.

That was part of the "mods" I was mentioning.

Dunno if I would say a "ton" of sensors, the Torque On Demand transfer case uses wheel speed sensors to determine distribution of power. They are full time 4WD, kinda like the GX.

12 sensors is "a ton" to a simpleton like me. LOL It's still a fantastic little thing and I want one for fun.

 

[r2m]

Do they have worse options for an oversized spare than a GX? Is that possible!?

I think the spare tire issues is that you can't fit the hard shell over anything much larger than a stock tire.
Have to admit I don't know if you could hang a 33" or 35" tire off the rear and just leave the hard shell off.
In the pictures, one of the Vehicross's has the spare on top and the other has a trailer which could house their spare.

 

[BigSwede]

Do they have worse options for an oversized spare than a GX? Is that possible!?

The stock spare fits in the tailgate, with no room for a larger one. And with that TOD transfer case, it is not a good idea to run a different size tire on one wheel. Most people carry the spare on the roof, but that is far from optimal.

A couple of people have shaved off the rear tailgate bulge and created internal structure and a mount for the spare on the outside of the tailgate, but serious fab skills are needed for that.

 

[BigSwede]

Buncha pics from my recent Silverton CO trip. The GX did well.

 

[Hiluxforever]

Looks great!

 

[r2m]

Buncha pics from my recent Silverton CO trip. The GX did well.

View attachment 3427912View attachment 3427918View attachment 3427916View attachment 3427915View attachment 3427913

That last photo looks like it could be used by Lexus marketing! That's a great photo with the valley and mountains centered behind!

 

[apeterson]

hi from MN also. just got a GX and wanted to subscribe to keep reading your adventures!

 

[r2m]

hi from MN also. just got a GX and wanted to subscribe to keep reading your adventures!

Congrats!
It'll be just a wee bit quieter and more comfortable to drive than your FJ40.
MPG will be about the same.

 

[BigSwede]

It's been over a year since I updated this thread?? Wow. Obviously I didn't post up pics of my 2024 trips, maybe I'll go back and do it now.

Most recently I have been experiencing clunking from the front suspension whenever I shift from forward to reverse or vice versa. I felt like the control arm bushings were worn, so I decided to replace the LCAs (which come with new bushings and lower ball joints). I'm over 100k miles now, so I figured it couldn't hurt. We'll see if that fixes it. Fortunately the cam bolts were not rusted into the bushings or anything, so it wasn't too bad a job. The fact that my new place has a two-post lift made it relatively pleasant.

I'll keep the old ones, and if I need to do this again in the future I might buy bushings and have a shop press them in the old LCAs rather than buying a third set. 35s tend to put a lot more stress on this stuff.

In other news, I ordered a set of Victory 4x4 skids, in steel. My old aluminum skids are pretty beat up and need replacing. Since my GX is not my primary run-around vehicle any more, I don't have to worry nearly as much about road salt corrosion on the skids and such, and steel skid slide a lot better over rocks.

 

[BigSwede]

Oh and another thing - I have decided to try going all electric with my overlanding camping setup. I bought a Bluetti Elite 200 power bank, which has over 2000 watt hours in a very small form factor. I also bought a Charger 1, which will allow charging the power bank from the alternator in the GX at up to 560 watts, which pretty much eliminates the need for solar panels. The Bluetti has enough juice to run anything you care to bring, and I will try cooking with a Ninja electric grill/griddle, plus a hotplate, and a little collapsible electric kettle for hot water.

This is just one of the reasons I bought the Bluetti, it should come in pretty handy in the event of a power outage at home, too. Thinking of installing a plug setup on the natural gas furnace so it can be plugged into the power bank if needed. I had a 14 hour outage a few months ago (nothing like the hurricane victims, but still) that was really annoying.

 

[BigSwede]

Coupla pics from some "winter wheeling" last February... as you can see it wasn't much of a winter. This is the Spider Lake OHV trails in Foothills State Forest, Minnesota.

 

[BigSwede]

In May I went to Moab again, did some fun new trails, including an overnight camping trip to and epic Devils Kitchen campsite on the Elephant Hill trail in Canyonlands NP.

View from our campsite

Don't know why I can't delete the pic posted twice, Ive tried several ways without success.

 

[PoindAxster]

The Vehicross parade is phenomenal! How did they tackle the trail?

 

[BigSwede]

In July did a little overlanding style trip on the Seven Hour Plane Crash route in Upper Michigan, including the old railroad trestles on the Bill Nichols trail.

 

[BigSwede]

The Vehicross parade is phenomenal! How did they tackle the trail?

They do very well, excellent approach, departure, and breakover angles. I think all of those pictured have added ARB diff lockers too. They are pretty small inside, I could never drive one.

 

[r2m]

They do very well, excellent approach, departure, and breakover angles. I think all of those pictured have added ARB diff lockers too. They are pretty small inside, I could never drive one.

Love those Vericross's. Before the GX, was looking at them but considering Isuzu bugged out of the U.S. and being an older vehicle, I had serious concerns about support beyond the online forums. Also, as you mentioned, space is small and considering that with the GX, my wife and I pretty well pack out the GX with all our comfortable overland gear.
Plus, they're so small that a roof top tent would look ridiculous, like the couple times I've seen RTT's on Mini Coopers.