Vehicle: 4x4 or our current car?

Since we don’t drive a 4x4 at the moment, this decision is very quickly made: we have to buy another car.

Toyota and Land Rover come across as the most used for such trip, unless you have loads of money to spend and can afford a Pinzgauer - apparently indestructible vehicle. But in our case the reliability of the 4x4 is essential, as well as the possibility to repair locally in case we need to, which is feasible with either Toyota or Land Rover. Thanks to numerous experiences narrated in forums and overlander websites, it seems like both brands do well in Africa; Land Rover has the legend of having build Africa in the old days, but Toyota is described as more reliable nowadays.

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In the end, it’s a personal choice of course. We had an experience with both Land Rover and Toyota. Unfortunately, the Land Rover Defender we drove during our last trip in South Africa and Namibia provided us with so much headaches (up to migraines!) that we have some reservations, especially since the Toyota that replaced the Land Rover during that same journey offered security, comfort and pleasure of driving during the remainder of the trip.

Spare parts availability is another factor that we look at when selecting the right vehicle. Again our experience confirms it’s easier to get hold of spare parts for Toyota then for Land Rover (assuming you drive a 4x4 that is not stuffed with electronics of course, but that should be a given when selecting a car for such a trip).

Without surprise we have chosen the Toyota Land Cruiser (PZJ-75). When making our selection we especially took into consideration the following elements: status of the engine, mechanical requirements such as suspension, battery system, raised air intake, wheel rims and tires, without forgetting sleeping and storage options, and finally comfort.

Sleeping

For sleeping we have 2 possibilities: sleeping in the roof top tent and inside the vehicle. Once in a while, we will also enjoy hotel accommodation. As we do intend to travel for as long as we can, we prefer to have a roof top tent and the option of being able to sleep inside the vehicle. The latter is useful when there is for example a sandstorm or lots and lots of rain, plus it is handy to sleep in the car in case the area where you are is not really safe or too cold for sleeping in a tent.

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Roof rack

In order to use the roof top tent we need a roof rack of course. At the same time we will be able to use it for storing items we do not need very often such as cold weather clothing.

Mechanical requirements/upgrades

Suspension

Something that we had a close look at was the suspension of the car: coil or leaf springs? No matter how many overland forums you read, it seems to be 50-50. Our car is equiped with heavy duty leaf springs that will do the job of getting us from here to Cape Town and back a few times if possible! Spare parts availability en route is no problem, leafs can be found almost anywhere in Africa.

Air filter

Although some people say you do not need one we have decided not to leave on such an adventure without a proper high-air intake and a high performance air filter. The idea of having to drive through a river and not having a high-air intake just hoping that the water level will not be too high! One judgement error and the engine is lost. No thanks!

Fuel tank

To make sure that we will not run out of fuel (or at least will be able to drive longer distances without having to worry about fuel being available every 600-700km) there is a long range fuel tank (180L) installed next to the main tank. In total the car can carry 270L of Diesel.

Water storage

Besides the option of storing water on the roof rack, our car has a 50L watertank build in to use for cooking, bush showers, and drinking water in case the jerry can with water on top is boiling hot at the end of the day.

Spare tires

We have decided to take 2 spare tires with us (experienced a few flat tires in Namibia where we had 2 spares!). The first spare is on the roofrack and the second one is on the back of the car with a swing arm. The reason for the separate arm swing is that tires for a 4x4 are heavy and the normal door hinges are not likely to cope with a tire while driving through potholes or corrugated roads for a long time.

Wheels and tires

According to the experts it is best to have steel wheels as they are stronger and will survive the African roads better than aluminum wheels. Although lighter and therefore consuming less fuel, we prefer strength while on the road for so long (never ending hopefully). As for the tires, we go for BF Goodridge All-Terrain.

Electrics

Dual batteries and split system

Where would we be without it? Even cameras nowadays are digital and therefore need power. The car is fitted with a 24V system. All accessories in the car such as the fridge etc is 12V. There is a dual battery and split system: one for the car (24V) and a second (12V) for the rest of the power hungry tools.

Lights on the car

Even though it is strongly recommended not to drive at night for all sorts of reasons, we believe that some extra headlights are useful. Spot lights for illuminating the area directly in front of the bonnet to ensure we can see any rocks, trees and ground conditions in case we do end up driving in the dark.

Security

We do realize that driving for so many kilometres through Africa will impose some risks and we cannot exclude that, but we have added some extra security to the vehicle. Lets agree that risks do exist anywhere in the world unfortunately. We will depend on the car and most of what we own will be in that car most of the time, so some security measures have been considered.

Windows

Because of our belongings in the car, we have to make sure that no items are out on display, just to avoid temptation, simply by adding curtains and mosquito netting. This will keep the mosquitoes out, it will also be more difficult to look into the car and cooler inside at the same time. On top of that we have added a thin filter on the windows that makes it more difficult to break the windows itself.

Steering lock

An easy and simple method is using the well-known steering wheel lock, one that we will definitely take with us to use when we leave the car alone for longer than usual.

Common sense

Above all methods used, we believe that common sense is probably the best form of security. If either one of us is not comfortable with a situation or a location, we will move somewhere else.

Protection

Bull bars

These are designed to protect the front of the car (headlights and radiator) from anything you might unfortunately hit. Although we will of course do everything possible not to hit anything, a bit of extra protection is always good.

Storage

For everybody doing an overland trip, storage is always an issue. You tend to take too much with you, even though you think it is not enough. In the back of the car we have a seating arrangement that can be transformed into a sleeping arrangement. This setup offers us some basic storage facilities for clothing, food and some spare parts. On the roof rack there is an additional water and dust proof box for items that we rarely use but need to carry, such as some cold weather clothing. Inside both doors we mounted one of the most important storage facilities: our coffee cup holders!

Recovery

Sand ladders

The key to successful recovery is not getting stuck in the first place, but when you do get stuck it comes down to the recovery gear that you brought with you. Besides a shovel, we bring 2 sand ladders and 2 sand mats (flexible sand ladders).

Winch

Additionally we take a hand winch because the electric winches are more expensive. This saves budget that we can spend on something else that we need (and that is a lot for such a trip). Quality of the winch is not to be sacrificed to save money - if the quality is not good, why buying it in the first place as it will most likely break.

Hi-Lift Jack/Bottle Jack

For replacing a tyre we bring a bottle jack and high lift jack. Depending on the road surface we have to be able to choose for the appropriate jack in case we need to replace / repair a flat tyre or do maintenance on the car. At the same time the high-lift jack could also be used as a winch.

Towing points / cables

At the front and back of the car we have towing points in case we need to be towed out of a difficult situation. For being towed or us towing other cars we will use kinetic straps, slightly elastic. They are flat, easy to pack but since they are slightly elastic should only be used up to 20x.


Click here for some pictures of our car.