Favorite Light Utility Vehicle

[Raellus]

I deliberately didn't get super specific with model numbers since so many variations of each of these vehicles exist, but the focus is on Cold War-era vehicles, pre-1997. You can specify specific models in a follow-up post, if you'd like to be more specific than the options allow. Cheers!

[Benjamin]

XR311 is my favorite. The G.I. Joe V.A.M.P. is just the thing for every discerning Twilight PC group.

[Raellus]

XR311 is my favorite. The G.I. Joe V.A.M.P. is just the thing for every discerning Twilight PC group.

Great pick! Don't forget to vote "Other".

I wonder if/how the XR311 could have made its way into the U.S. military (or allied militaries) in the T2k timeline.

Perhaps China ordered it (AT versions especially, like the one mountin a six recoilless rifle cluster) as a stopgap measure after the Soviet invasion?

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[StainlessSteelCynic]

I'd pick a Unimog, probably the S404 model as there were plenty of them in the West German military at the time but I'd just as happily take the S427 model. Even though that model had only just started production in 1985, there should still be lots of them around to pillage for spares.
The other reason for taking the S427 was that it had an enclosed cab and not the canvas roof open cab of the S404.

[Legbreaker]

I honestly can't pick anything. For me, the best light vehicle would be the one you have until you can get your hands on something a little more suitable.

[cawest]

just a van. it can carry cargo or you can sleep in it when bad weather rolls in.

[Raellus]

just a van. it can carry cargo or you can sleep in it when bad weather rolls in.

Fair enough, but vans aren't really known for their off-road capability. You'd pretty much be road-bound in a van. The options on the board all give a party at least a modicum of off-road mobility, some considerably more.

[cawest]

Fair enough, but vans aren't really known for their off-road capability. You'd pretty much be road-bound in a van. The options on the board all give a party at least a modicum of off-road mobility, some considerably more.


Fare enough... how about a M109 Van :D

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Fare enough... how about a M109 Van :D
Well if it's tracked vehicles you want, just park your VW Combi in the back of the M548. Done! :D

[Olefin]

FYI if we are talking about the US there would be all kinds of sport utility vehicles that could be nominated

[Raellus]

FYI if we are talking about the US there would be all kinds of sport utility vehicles that could be nominated

-too many to fit in one poll, so I stuck with military vehicles.

Other countries have trucks/SUVs too, BTW. The first image in Osprey's New Vanguard volume on Technicals is a Dodge truck operated by the PFLP in Amman, Jordan in 1970. Various militias employed various makes and models of trucks (CJ-series Jeeps, Dodges, Chevys, Land Rovers, and Toyota Land Cruisers, to name a few) technicals in Lebanon in the 1980s (widely considered the birthplace of the technical). Chad and Libya (especially the latter) made extensive use of civilian model truck-based technicals in the Great Toyota War of the late 1980s. And then, of course, the technical became famous in Somalia in the mid 1990s.

It's not just paramilitaries that operate trucks and SUVs outside of the U.S. When I lived in Ecuador in the late '80s, a lot of upper class [civilian] families owned SUVs (Toyotas, Mitsubishis, and Chevys, predominantly, with a few older model Land Rovers still kicking around). So, although they were/are most common there, SUVs and trucks are not exclusive to the U.S.A.

[rcaf_777]

Volkswagen Type 183

[Olefin]

-too many to fit in one poll, so I stuck with military vehicles.

Other countries have trucks/SUVs too, BTW. The first image in Osprey's New Vanguard volume on Technicals is a Dodge truck operated by the PFLP in Amman, Jordan in 1970. Various militias employed various makes and models of trucks (CJ-series Jeeps, Dodges, Chevys, Land Rovers, and Toyota Land Cruisers, to name a few) technicals in Lebanon in the 1980s (widely considered the birthplace of the technical). Chad and Libya (especially the latter) made extensive use of civilian model truck-based technicals in the Great Toyota War of the late 1980s. And then, of course, the technical became famous in Somalia in the mid 1990s.

It's not just paramilitaries that operate trucks and SUVs outside of the U.S. When I lived in Ecuador in the late '80s, a lot of upper class [civilian] families owned SUVs (Toyotas, Mitsubishis, and Chevys, predominantly, with a few older model Land Rovers still kicking around). So, although they were/are most common there, SUVs and trucks are not exclusive to the U.S.A.

I agree with you completely and amend my previous statement - and for those wanting to set a campaign in Africa by 2001 there literally is every kind of modified SUV technical/gun truck you can think of in use. They would make up the bulk of the Somali mobile forces being used for everything from APC's to anti-aircraft to anti-tank equipped SUV's - even ones with light mortars mounted to them. Ditto for much of the Rwandan Army and for the LRA as well.

[Raellus]

I appreciate how one can't see the results of the poll until one has taken it.

I'd been holding off, but to bump it (and see the results to date), I made my pick.

I chose the Humvee for a few reasons:

1. It's on the cover of T2K v1!

2. For the most common model, its relatively easy to mount heavy weapons to (and provide a modicum of protection for the gunner with a lightly armored gunshield).

3. Of the other options, it's relatively easy to add "hillbilly armor" to.

4. I used to think Humvees looked really cool, especially when they were rolling around Panama during Just Cause, '89.

[rcaf_777]

M561, 6×6 tactical 1¼-ton truck AKA the Gamma Goat

[pmulcahy11b]

M561, 6×6 tactical 1¼-ton truck AKA the Gamma Goat

We had some of those in the National Guard in the early 1980s. They are excellent rough-terrain vehicles -- when they work. They are notorious for their unreliability.

[Ckosacranoid]

How about the VW bug, the most common car in the world and super easy to fix and get parts for everywhere at the time. It can carry some people and gear and get decent mileage. add a small trailer to haul the still and some extra stuff and easy to lift with a couple of people and pull out of the mud and it is air-cooled so good to drive anywhere.

[Homer]

1988 series Toyota Hi-Lux crew cab 4x4 diesel with fording kit. Complemented with a pre-1995 4Runner (same automotives, different body). Good enough for illiterate tribesmen in a wasteland to run for 20+ years with minimal maintenance. Dimensionally smaller than a HMMWV for tight spaces. Plus a little lower signature than a military utility vehicle. You can fit a pintle, wing mount, and outward facing troop seats if needed. Parts are widely available.

[Raellus]

Two Cold War-era vans with civilian and military variants appear in Stranger Things, Season 4, one from either side of the Iron Curtain.

Representing NATO, we have the venerable Volkswagen Type 3 Transporter.

For the Warsaw Pact, we have the UAZ-452 'Bread Box'.

https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/stranger-things-4-meet-the-van-that-saved-the-day-in-kamchatka-the-uaz-452-bread-loaf/

If you had to pick one of these two military vans, which one would you take and why?

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[Raellus]

The Russians are making great (and by great, I mean widespread) use of the UAZ-452 in Ukraine- they've been employed as ambulances, resupply vehicles, drone team transports, EW platforms, and even improvised APCs*. The UAF derisively calls them "Mystery Machines" (a Scooby-Doo reference) which I can totally see US troops** coming up with in the T2kU.

*For pics of a battlefield expedient up-armored version, see,

https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=6530&page=2&highlight=improvised

**I don't know how well-known Scooby-Doo is in other NATO countries, although if Ukrainians are familiar enough...

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[ToughOmbres]

We had some of those in the National Guard in the early 1980s. They are excellent rough-terrain vehicles -- when they work. They are notorious for their unreliability.

The Gamma Goat was an odd duck. "Semi-amphibious". Air Defense had them in the motor pool and achieving 80% operational was a miracle.

[Homer]

The Gamma Goat was an odd duck. "Semi-amphibious". Air Defense had them in the motor pool and achieving 80% operational was a miracle.

Didn’t the gamma goat produce dangerous levels of noise?

[ToughOmbres]

Thankfully I was never that close to large numbers of them. But to answer the question, yes. The two seat driver compartment was directly in front of a 3 cylinder(!) diesel engine. Hearing protection/headphone type was mandatory. 3 cylinder. Diesel.

[ChalkLine]

I'm on record for hating Land Rovers. It is true they can scramble over anything, especially the Defenders. But they're tiny inside, they have an aluminium body you can't weld unless you have a TIG. They have crappy gearboxes that you have to order from Britain and when it get s to where you are it's for the Discovery model and not the Defender. If you put stuff on the roof they tip over but that's not why I hate them.

I hate them because they are weird in that they are good enough in mud that they bog *really deep* in the mud where it's a bitch to get them out. They skate over the mud for about ten metres and then plunge in. I dug that bastard we had out of the mud so many times it's not funny. None of the other 4x4s we had on the job did that.

Good on paper but not in real life.