Howdy
Asking on behalf of a friend who's one of those people that's seen 75% of the world and has little money to his name, alas, can't not be envious as he's got endless life stories for years… He recently got a job that allows him to work remotely 100% starting from July 2023 and plans to take the opportunity to travel around AU for the subsequent 12 months.
His budget ceiling is $35K and wants something that's going to be fit for purpose, not doing any hardcore rock crawling/water crossing/etc, but enogh to traverse through the expected terrain and to live out of for 85% of the trip, expecting situations where he'd be out in the middle of nowhere for week(s) at a stretch.
We looked at some vans initially, some were really good candidates, even outfitted for the exact purpose but he's after something that can be a daily driver afterwards. In the passing months he's rented pretty much all the big players: Nissan Patrol/Land Rover Defender/Jeep Wrangler/Ford Ranger/Nissan Navara/Toyota Hilux. Mechanics wise he's got only basic skills: oil/fluids/brakes/that's about it.
With the price of cars as is, I don't expect anything magical to happen in the next 6 months. Anyone who's done very extended trip living out of a car, what'd be best option for the situation and budget?
Cheers
Jeez living out of a Ute… can’t really recommend sleeping in the cabin. You could probably outfit a canopy so could sleep in there instead with some storage but still a bit of a tight fit.