Fun 4x4 blogs and resources?

March 9, 2013 6:19 AM

I just got a Jeep and am looking for fun blogs and resources, something like Jalopnik but focused on 4x4s. (incidental language question: would you call a non-Jeep like this a Jeep? In Brazil we do, curious about your neck of the woods)
posted by Tom-B to sports, hobbies, & recreation (8 answers total)

Some older guys (wwII era) call all 4x4s jeeps and use "jeeping" as a verb, but everyone younger than that will be gravely insulted if their favorite brand is called a jeep. (I shudder to think what would happen if you called someone's IHC Scout a jeep).
Pirate4x4 is a huge site full of technical articles written by members, dig deep beyond the racing/competition stuff on the front page.
posted by 445supermag at 6:49 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]

I would call it a jeep, unless there was a reason for trying to be specific (i.e. a FJ40 sort of a jeep, but also not a jeep).

As for resources and forums - it depends on what you do with it. I do a lot of off-road travel/camping with my truck, and the forums at Expedition Portal have been a good resource for that.

For more generic 4x4 stuff, ih8mud and pirate4x4 have been pretty helpful to me.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 6:53 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]

I would only call a vehicle a jeep if it was made by the company of that name (I am American). A Cherokee is a Jeep, and a Wrangler is a Jeep, but a Land Rover Discovery is decidedly not a jeep.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 7:29 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]

Incidental language question: in American hip-hop circles, 'jeep' has long been used to refer generically to SUVs (see, for example, Biggie's 'But money looks sweet/ in the Isuzu jeep,' Project Pat's 'TVs is what I'm watchin' while I'm in my Mercedes jeep,' or Young Dro's 'I can make the heater breathe/ hangin' out the Bimmer jeep').

But there isn't much overlap between the hip-hop crowd and the 4x4 one and, as others have said, 4x4 folks generally only use 'jeep' to refer to Jeeps.
posted by box at 8:57 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]

OK, so what's the generic word to refer to a vehicle like my EE-12? It's jeeplike but not a Jeep, not a truck like say an F-150, not an SUV like an Escalade, so it's a...?
posted by Tom-B at 12:32 PM on March 9

SUV is generic enough. But you can say your EE-12 is like a Jeep or FJ40 - they are about teh same dimensions and shape. On googling, I did find this Brasilian 4x4 forum, and they have a subforum dedicated to Engesas.

That thing looks bad ass, and is probably pretty capable.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 1:15 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

two other Jeep sites that are of use for maintenance, resources, how-to's and everything in between are and if it is a cherokee, naxja. As for other non-jeeps, they are generally referred to as 4x4s or SUVs - with the connotation that SUVs are not necessarily 4x4s but bulkier mini-vans.

CDM
posted by Country Dick Montana at 3:20 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

Thanks Pogo! It's a military design, so yeah it's capable :-)
posted by Tom-B at 7:31 PM on March 10