Choosing an Overlanding vehicle - 80 Series v 90(Colorado)

[danny_fitz]

My first post!

OK, everything I have read and the advice I have been offered suggests that the LC80 is the vehicle of choice when undertaking a trans Africa overland expedition. I was hoping to buy one come June/July and spend the remainder of year getting it ready for a Jan 12 departure date (London to Cape Town). However my searches to date for a vehicle have not been going well, the cheap ones are in an awful condition and the good ones cost a small kings ransom. I have also noticed that there seems to be plenty of Colorados for sale, I ignored them at first such was my fixation on finding an 80. However, I started to think, whats wrong with a Colorado? There are plenty for sale, lots of choice, less demand, as a result you seem to get more bang for your bucks, I assume they are capable vehicles, can they be preped for overland use? Can the sages of this board offer some advice with regards to the pros and cons of each series given the overlanding task in hand.

It would just be me and the girlfriend travelling. We are heading to Cape Town via the West Africa route, sticking to roads with no real intention to be doing any dune bashing or seriously hardcore offroad stuff. Looking at preparing the vehicle with a basic spec of roof rack + tent, split charge system, OME suspension upgrade, snorkel, new tyres, extended fuel tanks and a basic storage system.

Cheers in advance.