Suppose you're a mining engineer in Southern West Virginia. You're employed by a land owner to keep the coal companies honest by making sure they're maximizing recovery, & you spend a goodly chunk of each week inspecting mines, year-round. You're on mine haul roads about 30% of the time, & the rest you spend on windy roads.

90% of the time, you're by yourself. 10% of the time you're hauling trustees from the land company who come down to keep you honest.

Is there any vehicle as well suited (or better) than a Jeep Grand Cherokee?

FC

Nissan Xterra, not as much leg room in the back seat, great off road vehicle in stock formation, and built in the US, not owned but built.

Land Rover LR3

More space (3 comfy rows) and the seats lay flat to make for enough room to carry full 8' sheets of drywall.

It's truly an off road beast as well. The wheels have 26" of travel.

You can get one new, fully loaded for around $30K.

I know I love mine!

Is there such a thing as "an honest coal company"?

I like GCs, have owned several of them, and still own 3; 2001/2002/2004. If you don't need 4-Low, the AWD Toyota Highlanders have quite a bit of room and get over 20 mpg. The downside being that Toyotas bring a premium price. A used Nissan Pathfinder or Xterra might also be a good choice. I'm looking at an Xterra for my daughter.

JEff

I think he does use 4 Low to get to some of the places he goes. And when we ride with him, we'd like a little more room when we're packed 3 abreast in the back seats.

The GC seems to couple the widest cabin possible with the narrowest outside dimensions.

We were just down there in my Yukon XL. The ride was better than the GC, but it wouldn't have gone to some of the narrow tracks on the property, & the ground clearance was lacking. My air dam was imitating a dozer blade on a refuse impoundment.

FC

As a big Jeep fan, and I really don't want to say this, but.... The GC's around here are for folks who need to get around in the winter on good roads. Bad roads, with lots of bad spots and the need for low range gearing is not something they have a rep for handling on a regular basis.
I'd look at something that is built to take rough use. Perhaps a Toyota FJ ? E

My wife and I are on our third GC, this last one is an '08.

Absolutely no complaints about its offroad capacity- this one is the Overland model. Jeep's FWD system in these vehicles is absolutely hard to beat, IMO.

If you are hauling folks around, the comfort and smooth ride of the GC will be greatly appreciated by all.

You could do worse that the GC.....

I know. He's on his 3rd now, & I believe they used Jeeps long before that, as well. We've approved a new one for him, but he's looking around since they closed the local dealer. If our dollars are leaving the area, anyway, we figured we'd see if something else might work as well, or better.

Riding in the back over those roads comes close to necessitating a barf bag, but I think that's more the fault of the terrain than the vehicle.

Fc

We own a Jeep Commander, and you can get it in the 3.8l V6, 4.7 V8, or 5.7 hemi. We like the 3rd row if needed (folds down when not in use), and can handle some offroad work.

Worth looking into, especially if your looking at GC's.

joe

Toyota Landcruiser.

Pick up a copy of the latest Popular Mechanics. They have a spread about the current crop of crossover vehicles. They say the Highlander fills a hole that isn't there. Toyota makes several others, like the 4-runner and RAV4 that do about everything better than the Highlander.

The article also gives a brief comparison that's worth reading. These are the so called crossovers, though, not the true off road vehicles, so it might not give any useful info for FC's original question.

I don't know about the newer ones, but I have had several Grand Cherokees from the 1990's to 2002 models. Currently on my second 2002 after the first one had almost 300,000 miles on it. The last ones have been the Overland model and I have put another 2" lift on them. With slightly oversized tires, tuned suspension and heavy duty sway bars with quick disconnects, they offer an amazing ride in the rough stuff. I have had mine on trail rides where heavily modified Wrangler guys were simply amazed at what the slightly modified Grand Cherokee Overland could do with great comfort. Mine are not wildly modified since they are daily drivers averaging about 35,000 highway miles each year for work and still ready to play too. I have also had older Toyota's and they are great but not as comfortable. Nice to have the 8 cylinders too when you need them. I think they suit your intended purpose about perfectly if you would slightly modify the suspension as discussed.

The 4-Runners are pretty expensive and the RAV4s are pretty small, so the Highlander kind of falls into the middle.

We rented a Highlander for the 10 days that we were in YNP/GTNP from Dollar in Jackson and it was great on the road. Plenty of room for 4 and our luggage, plus great gas mileage. The rear seat had more foot/leg room than my daily driver 2005 Mountaineer or my Wife's 2004 Grand Cherokee. I don't mind AWD, but prefer that they have a low-range option, which the Highlander and Mountaineer don't, but the GCs do.

JEff

It depends on your needs. The cross-overs, like the Highlander, are road cars with 4x4. They're not designed to take an off-road beating like the GC or 4-Runner.

rflshtr, please provide us with the source for the suspension parts, particularly the sway bars with quick disconnects. Thanks.

Suburban or Tahoe.
GC too small .
Cisco

Yes, I am well aware that cross-overs are 95% paved and gravel road vehicles, with limited off-pavement capabilities, sort of like my daily driver AWD Mountaineer.

JEff

I had Burnsville Off Road in Burnsville MN do the work. I believe the quick disconnects were JK products, the suspension lift was Terraflex and I can't remember about the HD sway bars. Dan at Burnsville Off Road can answer whatever questions about it you have better than I can. Their phone is 952-890-3990.

Toyota 4runner. Have had three of them. The newer ones have more room. The Trail edition has some extra off road add-on options.

They are hard to kill. Read that 1.9million have been made and 1.3million are still going down the road.

+1 one of the most durable "Real" 4wds ever sold. I had a friend that bought one when they first came out , he ran almost 400k on the thing and sold it for almost 5k to some guy on auto trader. That was 5 years ago.

And as far as I know the only remaining suv still made with a separate body-on-frame true truck design.

The Xterra has a body-on-frame design. That and the 4-Runner, unless you think of the Jeep Wrangler 4d as a SUV.