Poll: honestly, do you take it off road?

first I know these numbers will be scewed as this is an enthusiast site.

A member posted recently he thought picking up his SR5 was a bad decision. I venture (pun nit intended) to say an SR5 with a skilled driver will outperform any trd/trail model.

That said. Do you honestly take it on trails/mud/crawling? I'd bet a large percentage of 4Rs never see more than a gravel road.

 

When I visit my son he has a 100' gravel driveway that I ride on.

 

My favorite thing to do during winter is to find where the snow is piled and park on it and flex on everyone in the parking lot.

 

Ahhh yes... the parking lot flex.

 

My Limited has less than 4K miles on it and, wait for it, I've already driven on two dirt roads and up a gravel driveway. So there.

Seriously, for me it's capabilities are about snow, hauling people/stuff, and durability and reliability. I do expect to be moving to the country, northern NE, and there'll be more dirt roads and other conditions up there that you'd rather not tackle in a typical sedan. I might get a bit of land and would want to be able to drive around on that. But no rock crawling for me. I can see how it'd be fun, but it's not something I'd go searching for.

 

I hate mud.

 

Absolutely 90% or more never go offroad, in a true manner.

I will gladly admit mine is my very capable daily driver. I do take it off-roading probably twice a year, where I’m actually using the 4wd features. Regular 4wd I use more frequently

 

Every chance I can. Even if it's to just drive through my back field.


http://www.smorr.net/



Buffalo River area in Arkansas:

 

I do hundreds of water crossings in spring time, trout fishing, never over two feet deep. And the occasional commute in snow 4wd engaged.
Locking diff. Haven’t needed it yet.

 

I have a Limited so I can’t take mine off road.

 

Since the closest place where I can go off roading for real is about two hours away I haven't gotten to do much. If I had some nearby trails, I'd do so more often.

 

I didn't Xpel it to keep it a trailer queen. That said in 18 months I have only pavement flexed! Lol
Seriously though, we bought in March of '19 & then family medical issues kept us here. Now 2020 is continuing to keep us here. Around here is only cornfields & I am not doing & cleaning that.
The day will come (after a vaccine) that we will break her in properly.
Never scared!

 

If Covid wasn’t keeping us close to home base, my 4 Runner would have a lot more off road kilometres on it by now. But yes, last time was a month ago though. The 4x4 clubs are still hosting trail rides, so far, but as we enter the second wave in Canada, the health advice is to avoid social gatherings unless it’s essential. Everyone has to make their own decisions about stuff like this, and I’m in a high risk group, so I’m happy mostly staying home until a vaccine is available.

 

tisk tisk

 

Got no where to go except 1.5 hour drive and then pay 25 bucks.
Last time I freely drove off-road was 2002. Police posted a sign saying no 4x4.... We ignored. 2 months later we had a small group having a barbecue... Thought we had another guest driving up. Opps, local police bought a jeep, we left and never looked back. The pay parks suck unless you have 44+ tires. If not you just get stuck in there tracks

 

I suppose I'm lucky. There's hundreds of miles if trails in upstate NY. Im spoiled with options. I use the 4R to scout new trails for the 4wheeler for later dates.

 

I've been told to visit this area, it's on my short list. Are there many places like these photos you can easily access? Is this part of a national forest or just gotta know where to go?

 

I take mine off road quite a bit, only had my “runner” since May and so far the off road experience has been on my tree farm and going to different fishing holes, the ground clearance has been great and have used the winch twice to clear fallen trees. That being said I haven’t needed 4wheel drive yet (I’ve engaged 4wheel drive to “play” with the different settings). I always joke that when ever I have working 4wheel vehicle, it won’t snow NC. I do plan on going to Uwharrie National Forest, I used to take my FJ Cruiser there and they have a variety trails to play on. It’s my daily driver so 4wheeling will be trail riding and crawling for fun but mindful it’s my daily driver.

 

Not in the way you're asking, but I do fairly often have to use it for driving on dirt roads or onto construction sites.

 

No, I might take it down a dirt track in the future to go camping and I will be using 4wd in the snow in the coming months. But I have no plan to take it hard off road like you see people doing in Moab. I want to keep my 4runner in as good condition as I possibly can, and using it for 4x4 does not lend well to that goal. Maybe a bit of overlanding but that is it.

And I am never going in the mud unless I have the money to pay someone else to clean every space in the frame, or I get a pressure washer and a proper lift to put it on. Having the former owner take my 4runner in the mud was enough to permanently turned me off the idea, its to risky for rust and its a pain in the ass to clean off. Oh my god, what I would give to go back in time just before the person drove my 4runner into the mud so I could smack them with a newspaper.

 

I bought mine in January and planned a trip to take it off-roading in April to Northern Arizona and the Sedona area, had vacation time set and ready to go than COVID happened. I’ve had it 8 months and have 5k miles on it, my wife drives it more than me since I have a company vehicle. On a positive note work has not slowed down for me.

 

No off roading for mine. All my Toyota trucks I have owned are mostly to have for the winter months. I enjoy them all year round but it’s nice to have a good 4wheel drive for the winter.

 

Depends on what you mean by off-road.

I take it on dirt roads all the time and even into deep snow (where I managed to get stuck until morning when I could dig myself out).

My 4Runner drives off-pavement at least once every 2 weeks.

However, have I done anything truly gnarly with it? Not yet.

 

That was me, I posed the SR5 question ... but yes I take my off-road all the time. That was my general concern with the SR5 question.

With that being said though, I have 3,300 miles on mine and have put over 500 off-roaring miles on him. Still getting used to the size

 

The 1st pic was a pay to play off road park. I honestly didn't enjoy that park as there is a lot of side hill driving that felt too tippy for an IFS truck.

The 2nd one was one of the many state park areas around the Buffalo River in Arkansas.

There's lots of little off road areas around National Forests in both MO and AR. Glade Top Trail is right near me and there are a bunch of ATV trails that I've been exploring. Some get too tight (pinstripes) forcing you to turn around.

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/regions/eastern/GladeTopTrail/index.shtml

The best trails w/o getting pinstripes, I've found so far, are in Arkansas outside this off road park:

https://byrdsadventurecenter.com/

Edited to add: This is good Off Road / Overland rally to attend in October 16-18:
https://www.naturalstateoverland.org/rendezvous-in-the-ozarks-info

I went by myself made some friends and hit some amazing trails. I'm planning on going again this year.

 

I would agree, but add that a skilled driver in an off-road still has a few advantages. But, I get what you're saying.

I have taken mine off the pavement almost every chance I get.

Where's the poll?



.

 

That limited has seen more trails than most PROs ever will.

The closest trails I run are 3 hours from me. I try to spend at least a whole day when I go. I usually drive to the area on a Friday after work and camp nearby. Hit the trails Friday evening and Saturday, and drive home Saturday night or Sunday morning.

 

I do a ton of forest service road exploring and camping in the norCal / southern Oregon mountains. It's my happy place.

I do what I would consider light off road stuff, river crossings, etc. I don't seek out rock crawling, mud bogs, and the like. Basically I enjoy dealing with the sort of stuff you encounter on said FS roads under any conditions and circumstances - so as to continue to traverse the road and not have to turn around when it gets rough. I would get zero pleasure from going to an off road park and just fucking off. I need to be able to go somewhere to facilitate my desire to explore, so driving on a closed off road course would be disinteresting for me.

 

This is pretty similar to my uses. I generally go around deep mud and don't do hard-core rock crawling.

I feel the same about off-road parks. But, I might try one out for the purpose of education/learning how to approach different scenarios best.