Even as a desert race and off-road race fan - the Dakar is always an oddball that I don’t understand. The rules are so old and restrictive, the vehicles are not very good even compared to OEM offerings in the USA. For example the max suspension travel was limited to about 12" and tires were max size of about 32" tall.…

“(which is still powered by an ICE “generator”, with a larger fuel tank allowed than its competitors!)“

Just to add to this:

Assuming you are making a joke but I know people that believe that.

It’s too bad the iD.4 is not so secretly a terrible car… good thing you didn’t get stuck on a slight incline or you would have gotten locked inside.

polka1 also makes this point - the bigger footprint is, of course, deadly for the environment in which they are intended to navigate through.

I can see what he’s saying though. Any time you go outside you’re going to be a a little more uncomfortable than you’d be staying in, on a couch, watching a movie. But it’s worth it. The balancing comes in when you decide what you’re doing outside (are you running a 50 k trail race in the freezing rain, or taking a…

Or they’re retired on a “fixed income” of $100k/yr in their multi-million $$ homes they bought when they made $2mil/yr.

I get the concept.

Great more rich assholes running generators because they need to watch fucking TV when they are “camping” 

Overlanding has always been a rich people hobby.

Seems like it’s getting popular among poor people too, judging from what I see outside our local Walmart.

This article fills me with dread not because of what it says, but the implications. Sure it starts with rich people taking their F550-based fancy motor home “off road,” but it ends with significant trail damage due to the weight/size the of vehicles, damage to natural resources as they fail utterly to understand the…

In the 90s there was a state budget stalemate in California that included (potentially, probably) a shutdown of state and national parks, including (in our conversation) Yosemite. Amongst my group of friends, we debated this issue and some raised the concern that by locking the gate and only allowing people to walk in…

It turns out most people aren’t as rich as they think they are. The folks buying $240k sprinters with $900 a month payments on 10 year terms will sell them when kids arrive, tuition is due or they want to buy a new house. 

This!

I do not hate Earthroamer because they make seven-figure toys for rich people. I do not hate Earthroamer because they enable wealthy people take instagram photos pretend to be down-to-earth while still eating off granite countertops.

My MIL just paid more than $400,000 for a Class B motorhome, which she will park in her back yard 360 days a year and drive 15 miles to the river two weekends a year. She describes herself on FB as an “avid outdoorswoman.” Money well spent.

Nah, because rich people will keep hold of them and refuse to sell them for a single cent less than what they paid for them them. They are the kings of “I know what I got”, so they’ll be shoved into dry storage for decades, slowly decaying and rotting, until they die and their grandkids have them scrapped; or restored…

I’m fine with the richies getting in on the fun. If it keeps the businesses rolling and the products evolving, it’s all good. The WORST part of the overlanding culture IMHO is the stupid “Tires and Tents” type meetups. What is less outdoorsy they meeting in a parking lot and seeing who has the most gear.  Lame.