When you take these $90K plus trucks for serious off-roading, get ready for some repairs and have deep pockets. I would suggest a 10-15 year Jeep with a straight-six. I am quite a bit older, 20 plus years, now but used to own a Hummer H1, purchased at the time from the largest Hummer dealer in the world Davy Lynch in St Louis, Missouri. At the time, I lived 1 mile from the dealer, and I also had a 160-acre ranch in Southwest Missouri. Every year the Hummer Club went to different rural areas with significant challenges, rocks, deep creeks with boulders, excellent grades that my kids would scream when we would climb (now they are out of college). We had spotters, etc., it was fun times. It was a yearly event, and quite frankly, nothing was going to top an H1 on the trails, but rock versus metal always wins. We would have a parade of about 40-60 Hummers and visit some large ranches in the Midwest. I was lucky (but cautious); 10-20% of the participants would encounter some damages, many times the driver's fault, bad luck, and wrong angles (sometimes the spotters aren't the best), but you would hear transfer cases blow, gears crack, drive trains, and body damages. Lynch Hummer paid for a lovely day each year, rented the land, a great barbeque, it was a great time, But I would say with the repair business that followed into his shop afterward, there was a profit. I had my fill have about four years and moved on back to my regular full-size SUVs, quite frankly age and sports injuries; my back could not take it anymore. The Hummer was a blast, though it almost took the whole lane (especially on two-lane back roads due to the considerable width, nearly eight-foot with mirrors. I had one axel stuck completely on a tree stump, but the air suspension on the H1 would adjust for each wheel, and I got off it without damage. As I said, fun, but some people went home with $2-5Kon in damages, and your insurance company doesn't pay for these. I Retired to Boulder, Colorado, and Moab is about 4-5 hours away but done with any severe off-road challenges. Wished I would have kept that truck; values have held steady, but two many vehicles and not one you let the kids learn how to drive or take to college. I hope the R1S comes to be, I love air suspension for on-the-road comfort and we have some rough weather here and up in Wyoming, but I guess we will see.
