Side by Side vs Compact Pickup

[Mountain trapper]

Each location is specific, I know that some people who built in hard to access places, build a secure building to keep somekind of terrain/ season specific vehicle on an easier access location. .

Some times we leave a vehicle down by the county road and just drive the side by side from there to the house.

 

[Peanut]

Each location is specific, I know that some people who built in hard to access places, build a secure building to keep somekind of terrain/ season specific vehicle on an easier access location. .

Absolutely location specific... 9 out of 10 of side x sides I see are on a trailer belonging to a hunter driving by my house. City guys lease hunting lands out here in the country. They all have side x sides for hunting. (or riding around with coffee pretending to hunt)

Of all the farmers I know (a great many) on a handful have them. In those cases they are in their 80's, it's difficult for them to climb up on a tractor. Their sons do the actual farming but they still like to get around and see the crops or cattle.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Absolutely location specific... 9 out of 10 of side x sides I see are on a trailer belonging to a hunter driving by my house. City guys lease hunting lands out here in the country. They all have side x sides for hunting. (or riding around with coffee pretending to hunt)

Of all the farmers I know (a great many) on a handful have them. In those cases they are in their 80's, it's difficult for them to climb up on a tractor. Their sons do the actual farming but they still like to get around and see the crops or cattle.

I see a lot of flatlanders pulling trailer loads of ATV's and SXS's to go hunting too. About all they do is drive around on the old logging roads pretending to hunt. Every year we get a couple of these idiots setting up camp by our lower gate. Fortunately the forest service keeps the gate locked starting on Oct 1st, we have a key and lease the access to our place. The whole area around us for miles is a non motorized vehicle area. Most hunters are too fat and lazy to walk anywhere to hunt, so they just drive around looking for something to kill.

 

[Spikedriver]

Back to the original subject of SxS vs Compact Truck...

Newer small trucks like my 2021 Toyota Tacoma can hardly be called compact. It's nearly as big as a 1/2 ton from the 70s. If we really want a compact we either have to go back to the 80s/90s or start looking at the newer trucklets like the Ford Maverick or the Hyundai Santa Cruz. Neither the Maverick or the Santa Cruz have any heavy duty parts - they are both unibody construction like cars, and only the Maverick has any off road ability. And that only comes with certain trim levels and options that get locking 4 wheel drive and increased clearance.

The older compacts like the original Toyota trucks, the Nissan Hardbodies, the little Rangers and S-10s, are pretty much all used up or rusted out by now. They're mostly underpowered and the Rangers and S-10s were pretty unreliable when they were new, let alone now.

All around, a truck is more useful for 99.9% of people. But if there's any reason why a truck can't handle the terrain a SxS is just about the only other option, IMO. I have the Tacoma just because I use a truck for outdoor activities or for hauling stuff now and then. I could really get by with a small or midsize SUV. But since I have a choice, I choose the Tacoma. It's easier to handle in traffic and park than a full size, I can tow 7000 pounds if I have to, and it gets slightly better MPG. It does great on muddy or snow covered fields so long as it isn't bad enough to get me high centered. It's definitely the best choice for me. But I'm not on mountain slopes trying drive between pine trees and boulders. That's where the SxS will truly shine...

 

[Peanut]

Quick side note… I was taking a trailer to town to have tire work done. On the way there’s a 5mile stretch with no houses, all the lands leased out for hunting.

I started seeing deer standing on the shoulders of the road grazing, dozens of them… odd. Then I remembered it was the first day of gun season. The woods were full of hunters in SxS’s so all the deer were by the highway. I laughed all the way to town!

 

[Neb]

A side by side works for us.

Down in the hollow is about 50'. I did get a pickup up there with a winch... once.

Ben

 

[Tim Horton]

When I lived on the family ranch in the far north I had a Kubota RTV 400 UTV side by side.. Much like the farm, utility style in Hardcalibers picture in post #10... It was single cylinder, simple, but very rugged, useful, and capable of going many places.. I could get in and out of many places in the bush a pickup couldn't go..

It was funny when I bought it.. I went to 2 John Deere and 1 Kubota dealers that only had the ..go fast, bounce high.. models like pictured in UserNameTaken picture post #9... I told them all I wanted was a plain, simple, farm UTV.. Pretty much as if they had rehearsed the answer together they told me ...you won't find what you think you want, this is what we have to sell you... Of course my answer was ...want to bet... The other Kubota dealer was owned and run by a Mennonite family and when I said what I wanted there reply was ...follow me to the lot...

The little 4x4 was named PEPE... my little mule... This after the get away vehicle in the old Mike Douglas movie ..Romancing the Stone.. PEPE and I had a few adventures to chuckle over on the ranch..

PEPE and the old F250 Super Duty 4x4 both had there uses...

 

[PaulKersey]

2018 Kawasaki Teryx 800
This one isn’t mine , but it looks almost the same as mine.
I only use mine for exploring the desert, Butterfield Overland Trail, Pony Express Trail, Desert Ghost Towns, etc, etc.

 

[TENNGRIZZ]

I love my JD Gator .

 

[TENNGRIZZ]

2018 Kawasaki Teryx 800
This one isn’t mine , but it looks almost the same as mine.
I only use mine for exploring the desert, Butterfield Overland Trail, Pony Express Trail, Desert Ghost Towns, etc, etc.

View attachment 168368

im going to upgrade to one of those one day.

 

[viking]

We have a 1988 Suzuki Samurai tin top, we bought it because what it would have cost for a side by side ATV was about 6 to 8 time what we paid for the Samurai, the only thing I have done to the Samurai is to install a newer 1.6 liter engine, This machine will travel almost everywhere an ATV will go, it's four wheel drive but I've gone many places without engaging 4X4 and being a tin top, it keeps out the dust. It also gets about 30 mpg. Bad thing about them, parts are getting harder to get ahold of but there are many suppliers still around.