The Best Car Camping Vehicles

Car camping and overlanding are more popular than ever, so we’ve found five vehicles that are perfect for your next adventure.

What Is Car Camping Exactly?

Car camping or overlanding is a unique and fun way to see places and things that very few other people do. Traditional RVs can’t make it anywhere near the campsites that car campers can, and that provides car campers with the opportunity to visit some unforgettable places. What’s important to remember though is that car campers and overlanders are entirely self-reliant. Often times civilization is a day or more away via their vehicle.

That means the vehicle you take needs to be capable of getting to the destination and back to civilization without major mechanical problems. It also needs to have enough space or storage to take everything you’ll need to complete the journey safely and of course, as comfortably as possible. While the journey is many times the principal goal of overlanding or car camping, none of us want to do it without things that make that trip sincerely pleasurable. So, today we’ve picked our favorite sets of four wheels that can take you where few people have gone before.

Toyota 4Runner

There’s simply no getting around the hall of fame career that the 4Runner has put together in its nearly 40-year history. Every generation is well regarded, but we’d suggest buying the newest one you can afford. That’s because the last couple of generations are really capable, comfortable, and reliable no matter what’s thrown at them.

For example, the 2021 4Runner TRD Pro has Fox bypass shocks and Nitto Terra Grappler tires, which are both serious pieces of off-road kit. Standard on all four-wheel-drive 4Runners are skid plates that protect the engine, transmission, differential, and front suspension, so buyers can be confident it will get them to and from their destination.

The 4Runner can also be optioned with extra storage and a 40-quart cooler. Overlanding has gotten more and more popular in recent years and it’s clear that Toyota knows its buyers. Still, this SUV is as comfortable on-road as it is off and offers many advanced safety features like adaptive cruise control. It also processes creature comforts like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity.

Jeep Gladiator

If there’s any off-road capable vehicle from America that can go toe to toe with anything anywhere, it’s got to be the Jeep Wrangler that its truck sibling, the Gladiator, is built on. Why the Gladiator over the Wrangler then? Well, adding the storage of a bed in the back is a complete game changer for car camping.

While most Wrangler owners are forced to pack lightly and carry only the essentials deep into their car camping journey, the Jeep Gladiator owners can make that same trip with additional space for extra supplies. In fact, Jeep demonstrated just such a rig at SEMA last year with something they called the Top Dog concept.

It featured much of the same bling that overlanders love and was specifically equipped to appeal to mountain bikers, but that’s the beauty of the Gladiator. It can be custom-tailored to your personal car camping needs, possibly more easily than anything else. It’s also important to note that while it might have a longer wheelbase than the Wrangler, that actually aids in higher speed trail running which is gaining popularity in the Overlanding community. It also doesn’t detract much in the way of pure rock-crawling capability.

Toyota Tacoma

The Tacoma is another historically great Toyota product. In fact, we’ve included it on our list of the best off-roaders that 2021 has to offer because it’s just so darn capable when the road runs out. It can be had with similarly off-road-focused equipment like the aforementioned Fox shocks and skid plates, but you can get really wild stuff like a factory snorkel. Add to that versatility that nearly matches the Gladiator and it’s easy to see why we like it so much. Almost anything you might need to get out of town and deep into nature can be had directly from Toyota and its TRD branch, so there’s no need to worry about the fitment.

A few notes about Tacoma trims. The base engine in the latest Tacoma is fine for most things, but serious overlanding isn’t something we’d ask it to do. With just 159 horsepower, it’s the weakest of the bunch here. Instead, opt for the V6 if at all possible with nearly double the power. That engine is going to make much easier work of any trail. For those concerned with the potentially limited space in this smallish truck, consider this, it can tow up to 6,800 pounds. So, strap an off-road trailer to the back and take whatever you need.

Land Rover Defender

Probably the poshest of our car camping picks, the Defender might also be the best available. It shares much of what we love about the other picks here. The Defender has great versatility thanks to numerous factory off-roading bits and bobs, lots of storage, and excellent towing capacity. What’s special about the Defender lies beyond those things though. First, nothing else can really match its cool factor both on and off-road. Whether in two or four-door guise, it has a presence about it that’s special.

Still, it doesn’t sacrifice any off-road practicality or ability for that coolness. Just like its predecessor, the new Defender is one of the most capable off-road machines ever built, and that exterior cool factor bleeds into the cabin. Nothing else here has as much advanced off-roading technology inside as the Land Rover. Here’s just one example. The Defender can tell you in real-time how deep the water you’re fording is. What’s even wilder is that behind the scenes it will be tweaking settings for the brakes, engine, transmission, and differentials to help you get through that creek or river.

Ford Bronco Sport

If there’s an off-road vehicle that’s more under-appreciated than the Bronco Sport, we don’t know about it. Many people have written this small SUV off as just a Ford Escape with a different body on it, but it’s so much more than that.

While it lies on the same general underpinnings and drivetrain, every single Bronco Sport comes standard with an all-wheel-drive system that’s closely linked to the one found in the Focus RS. That’s the same Focus RS with “Drift Mode”, so don’t be fooled into thinking this is a front-wheel-drive vehicle that pushes minimal power to the rears only when needed to achieve an all-wheel-drive badge. No, the Bronco Sport is seriously capable.

In fact, it’s so capable that Ford entered a stock Bronco Sport in the last Rebelle Rally, an off-roading competition that takes place over seven days and 1,200 miles of desert terrain. It won its class. No, it won’t offer the same amount of storage as the other entries here, but for those that just want to dip their toe in the world of car camping, the Bronco Sport is an excellent choice that will offer many of the same features as our other picks without compromising on-road comfort at all.