You're going to hate me, but it must be done . . .

The only diesel surplus vehicle I want is the Kawasaki KLR based multifuel bike

Having spent many hours driving and or riding in those, they suck on the road for all the reasons already stated, noisy, slow, hard to see out of, big and leaky.  Get one off road and they are a lot of fun.  

dculberson said:

Knurled. said:

One of my friends who had to suffer with an HMMWV told me that its main skill was getting stuck until you could get someone with a 5-ton to winch you out.

 

I think careful consideration of the operators is in order. Most of these are being driven by late teen - early 20-somethings with zero mechanical sympathy and little in the way of common sense. If you're making a habit of getting one of these stuck, I don't imagine a Jeep would be doing any better.

I second this. As career army (now retired) with experience with the old M151A1 Jeep, M880 Dodge PowerWagon, CUCV Blazer and the HMMV. The HMMV is the most off-road capable of these. And the Jeep was better than the PowerWagon which was better than Blazer in off-road capabilities. I say that as one of my most favorite vehicles I've owned was a K5 Blazer. I never rolled the M151 which they were notorious for if you turn going to fast. You actually have to work at getting a HMMV stuck or be where you have no need to be in the first place. 

What Aaron King said is truth. Suck on the road but fun off the road.

I always thought they wou!d make neat tow rigs because they are about as wide as a trailer. Anywhere the truck goes, the trailer can follow.

Justjim75 said:

The only diesel surplus vehicle I want is the Kawasaki KLR based multifuel bike

I loved my KLR, but a gas one is already slow. A diesel one would be torture. I'm seeing something on the order of 10 seconds to 60. NO THANKS

As a medic in the first sandbox adventure I racked up 10s of thousands of miles driving all over the saud in a 4 litter hardshell ambulance.  I drove it all day every day, I slept in it at night, I heated my MREs on the engine, and occasionally even hauled a wounded soldier or 8 in it.  Mine was the first gen model with the non-turbo engine and no AC.  150 hp and 10,000 lb curb weight (empty) made for lackluster performance.  Then the motor pool could only supply JP-1 fuel for a while and power dropped off by 1/3 on that swill.  But because of "oil state" and a penchant amonst the locals for hot German diesels you could buy performance diesel at the gas station for something like a nickle a gallon.  Best dollar fill ups ever!

If I got one of these I’d be putting a duramax in.

I test drove a vortec 8100 one of these and it still felt really slow.  My bud's father has the standard civilian really slow version and something is broken more often than its ready to go.  They do drive over things really good...