These Are The Discontinued Off-Roaders That Deserve A Modern Revival

Bring back the BRAT!!! And it better have a stick, t-tops, and jump seats in the bed!!!

Give it the WRX drivetrain and go bombing down gravel roads with your best friend riding shotgun, and your bravest friends in the jump seats, holding on to those handles for dear life!

WOO-HOOOOO!!!

Bring back the BRAT!
And offer an STi version.

Baja would be nice, too...

If Subaru offered a “small truckcar” model, it could be a hit with today’s market. I’d love to see one with 240+ hp and a real off-road package.

Submitted by: Anthony Thornton and tallestdwarf

I doubt Subaru would be able to get jump seats past U.S. regulations, but otherwise a two-door Brat would be pretty easy to design and do, and I bet it would look great.

Mitsubishi should bring the Montero back to the states. Make a bare bones, super capable off roader and maybe include a luxury trim too because they sell well. Bare bones for the enthusiasts and luxury versions for the mall crawlers.

In an effort to play along, my answer would be the Mitsubishi Montero/Pajaro. I always liked the look of them and had the chance to take a bone stock first gen off-roading in New Zealand a few years back...it was seriously impressive.

A 2 door Pajero would be fun...Shoot maybe a good way to reintroduce the Evo name stateside without trampling on the nameplate (looking at you Eclipse Cross!)

Submitted by: Half Man Half Bear Half Pig, SantaCruzin6 and darthspartan117

A modern Pajero Evo would be bitchin’. I love early Pajeros too, but come on, the Evo is cooler by far.

Suzuki Samurai/Jimny. Doesn’t even have to offer many upgrades, just bring it back to America.

My dad bought an ‘87 convertible used but it still had a year of manufacturer warranty left. When his employer bought him a company car the Suzuki became the car that all of us kids drove throughout high school. Thing lasted till my youngest brother graduated in ‘01, with over 150k miles, before my dad gave it to a friend to let his kids learn to drive a manual.

I’d literally trade my left nut to have the chance to buy a new Samurai.

Submitted by Artificial Stupidity

That already exists, you know. I see a lot of Mexico-plated Jimnys in Los Angeles, and there are at least a dozen that have somehow been imported to the U.S., legally registered and listed for sale. An electric Jimny is coming out soon, which could be an awesome offering for America... if it gets a lot safer, which means it would probably have to get bigger.

The LM002!

I’ve always daydreamt about a modern Lamborghini LM002.

Imagine if the Urus wasn’t a bolder, faster, Audi Q8, but rather an Italian G-Wagen that looks like the Warthog from Halo.

Submitted by Rayce Archer and Aldarion.

I would love to see a new LM002. Don’t get me wrong, the Urus is great, but an actual modern LM002-style huge crazy off-road Lambo would be so sick. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lamborghini do one by the end of this decade, or at least early next.

Did you know Tina Turner had an LM002 with a Mercedes-Benz 500E V8 and automatic transmission swapped in? And a leather booster seat so she could reach the pedals.

Hardly possible since Isuzu is long gone from the US, but the VehiCross was, and is still, super cool.

Scout coming back is the best thing of the decade, and my response is:

Izusu VehiCROSS. The perfect car to mod into a rock climbing BEAST!

Submitted by Hankel_Wankel and notatiktoksuprakid

Man, the Vehicross is so damn cool. Isuzu is still around (just not in America), it has a platform that a new Vehicross could easily go on...

The Mini Moke (yes, really) and Austin Champ were both conceived as offroad vehicles for the British Army, which was in a pretty rough shape post WW2, so I could say either of those, but really, the Austin K2, because sometimes you just want to cross a desert for a nice ice cold beer.

Submitted by plant_daily

What a lil cutie!

You didn’t specify what kind of off-road so I’m going with the Celica GT-Four All-trac. With the I3 turbo out of the Corolla GR you could really have something.

Put a Prius body on a GR Corolla drivetrain and Toyota has a pretty epic Celica GT-Four revival.

Submitted by klone121 and Michael Peltier

Hell. Yes. This generation and design language specifically I would love to see a modern take on. Give it a huge wing, three-spoke wheels and an optional Castrol color livery.

Honda Odyssey

No, not that one!

The “go-cart-on-steroids” from the early 80s...

i’d post a pic, but the website currently isn’t letting me...

Submitted by Grasscatcher2

You might be thinking of the ’80s Civic Wagovan? A modern take on that would be sweet. The first Odyssey was this thing from the ’90s, which would make a cool body style to bring back.

Jeep Wrangler. The real one, with the stripped out tub of a body, tube roll bar, price tag low enough to actually risk off-road, and proper square headlights.

Submitted by theart

It would be cool to see the next-gen Wrangler go back to boxier styling like this.

I would love to see Acura play in the off-road and towing mid-to-large SUV space again. I know this was an Isuzu underneath it all, but who’s to say they couldn’t partner with someone outside of the US to federalize something worth our time? Or just get a Honda/Acura option for something like this.

Submitted by PotbellyJoe and 42 others

I always get so excited when I see an Acura SLX, what a funny car. Maybe Acura could use the new Passport as a basis for something?

loved this. Generation 1 (not Gen 2). Japanese reliability, soft top, 4wd. Should have never sold mine.

Funny story w/ an Amigo involved. Friends in high school put dog poop on my buddy’s car. As we were getting to buddy’s car, our friends were already leaving the parking lot. They stopped to laugh as we angrily cleaned it off. I say ‘they’, but only the Amigo actually stopped while the other drove right into the back of it, shattering the taillight and fender. Look who’s laughing now! 25 years later we still ‘shit’ on them about it.

Submitted by Xanthophyll and Arnold Rimmer

We do need more small SUVs with convertible tops that aren’t doors-off trucky things like the Bronco and Wrangler.

If someone already said it, my bad, but the Golf Country was my unicorn for a long time. I always wanted one, but obviously the low production kept that from becoming reality. I have no idea how it would work with the current Golf generation. I. Just. Want. It.

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. The Golf’s floor pan is already adapted for AWD with the R (which I just purchased a brand-new example of), so all the body components are there. A modern Golf Country would probably end up being a detuned, lifted and somewhat rugged-ified version of the Golf R.

Submitted by Chubby Cox and Kyree

This is another huge “hell yes” from me.

With as popular as overlanding seems to be right now, I’m genuinely surprised Nissan hasn’t revived the Xterra. With some parts-sharing between it and the current Frontier, I think they could build a fairly economical (for them at least) off-roader that would bring in some desperately needed cash for Nissan.

Easy answer is the Xterra.

Submitted by Fluffy6709 and Shift24

The Xterra is iconic to me because of the cover for the incredible off-road racing video game 4x4 Evolution.

A proper FJ40 Land Cruiser. Convertible to compete with Wrangler/Bronco.

Also, I would love a 2 Door 4Runner/Land Cruiser along the lines of the Defender 90 or 2 door Bronco. I’d buy something that can handle a logging road and also parallel park in civilisation.

Submitted by Ted Ladue and Michael Peltier

Toyota keeps teasing smaller Cruiser concepts, I think a truly retro small off-roader would be awesome.

GMC Safari/Chevy Astro should come back as a eco platform as a 4WD competitor to the current Ford Transit.

Submitted by Gwillian

It baffles me that no one makes a small off-road van in the U.S., especially given how popular the Mercedes Sprinter 4x4 is.

But given the fact that it is likely to be bloated, weigh 9,000 lbs, cost $80k+, I gotta be a grinch and say “none of them.” Considering what Jeep did to the Wagoneer, Chevy did to the Blazer, GM did to the Hummer, etc. I don’t have a lot of faith in any company to get it right. Maybe a Japanese manufacturer could get it right?

None. There are enough trucks and SUV/CUVs that never leave pavement. But if we must play this game, I’d buy something like the 88/91 Civic Wagovan with “RT-AWD.” Sliding doors like a Mazda5 would be handy. Or just reintroduce the Element. I don’t like dogs but market it to dog people and chubby women who wear athleisure all day and it might sell.

Submitted by SantaCruzin6 and spookiness

Booooooo.