The popularization of overlanding, or Lego for adults, as I sometimes call the outrageously super-outfitted 4x4s I see on weekends in the High Country, is big business. And if you’re willing to shell out primo dollars for custom parts to bedeck your already expensive weekend excursion machine, they’d better fit, and come with a guarantee.
That was the premise a week back when eBay Motors invited us to join their overlanding adventure on the trails over in Eagle County’s Camp Hale. The company has been offering an online source of new and used cars for 25 years, and its associated parts and accessories business now boasts more than 500 million pieces from a totally global marketplace, with $10 billion in sales in the U.S. each year.
For our purposes, the company brought four full-blown examples of new and used, stock and custom-modified off-roaders, two of which came directly from its online sales platform. Those included a geared-up, classic 2009 Lexus GX 470, the off-roading dream vehicle for many 4Runner and Tacoma owners, as well as a heavily modified 1999 Jeep Cherokee, which you yourself may have owned or driven a quarter century ago. Just probably not with 35-inch Nitto Ridge Grapplers and Black Rhino wheels, though the ashtrays and the wonderfully old-school 190-horsepower 4.0-liter inline-6 engine were serviced but totally unchanged.
We also had a largely stock, $40,000 2024 Toyota Tacoma SR5, loaded up with Rough Country brand parts including a behind-the-bumper, 12,000-pound winch. And, just to make things interesting, a still-fresh 2022 Porsche Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo, a very expensive, all-electric vehicle with seven inches of lift and gigantic mud tires, as well as an appropriately fancy Porsche roof rack tent.
As predicted, the three non-Porsche vehicles did a spectacular job of eating up the often quite intense and rocky trails above the Nova Guides 4×4 facilities at the World War II-era 10thMountain Division training camp. The Porsche suggested that, properly outfitted and driven with a lot of care, an as-much-as-938-horsepower EV could technically be driven on gravel roads. Although its GPS system literally raised the suspension for us, in addition to us being closely followed by a spotter in a Ram who hoped we would not put the car into Homestake Reservoir.
As Kevin Considine, eBay Motors’ GM of vehicles explained, the online retailer’s parts and accessories business has exploded over the past five years, with two features that might make it more appealing to those looking to add gear to their own rides.
That includes a guaranteed fit promise, meaning buyers can return anything they buy for free if it doesn’t easily bolt onto their make and model, though the company’s online fitment tools can help prevent ill-sized parts from ending up in your garage. eBay also continues to offer extended vehicle purchase protection for new or used automobiles, either through private sellers or working with associated dealerships, so buyers don’t get online scammed by their big-figure buys.
I am now a huge advocate of the up-build many people do on a well-seasoned Lexus GX, especially considering the $64,000 to $84,000 cost ofthe all-new model. Here, $17,000 bought a 15-year-old GX that was loaded up with more than $18,000 in eBay parts, including an Icon lift kit, new front brakes, oversized tires, RCI Off Road skid plates and a range of goodies from Rhino Rack and DV8 Offroad. Happily we did not have to use the Dobinsons snorkel kit, but still had a great time pounding our way up Ranch Creek Road with that 263-horsepower 4.7-liter V8 happily and softly chugging along.
Far more intense was the throwback adventure in the ’99 Cherokee, which came as a pre-restored $27,000 buy from the site – that included new suspension and steering, skid plates, winch and wheels. Ours had an additional $7,000 of parts added, including oversized tires and ARB tent racks and accessories. I wouldn’t recommend a back seat spot for the literal rock crawling we did up McAllister Gulch, but behind its Paleolithic-era wheel, the Clinton-era Cherokee had the agility of a tank.
Further up the food chain, the two-year-old, $194,000 Taycan – this being the station wagon-shaped model of the Panamera-styled EV – was perhaps a bit overpowered with its 670 hp, considering we were on a 5 mph mud-and-potholes route. But we got no noise or drama from the $5,600 tent and rack, and the 20-inch Nitto Nomad Grappler tires and Porsche Aero wheels meant a surprisingly competent off-road adventure, albeit with zero rock crawling. Back on U.S. 24 pavement, 670 hp does exactly what you might expect it to, with jump-to-lightspeed results. Newer Taycan models also claim about 270 miles of range, as well.
Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at summitmountainwheels@gmail.com.
