Going off-road in a self-built Porsche Taycan (yes, a Porsche)

With 670 horsepower, 626 pound-feet of torque and all-wheel drive, a Porsche Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo has a high-tech cabin and dual all-electric motors. This vehicle is made to cruise smoothly on the road, with sleek lines that cut through highways and neighborhoods. However, the Porsche isn’t typically the vehicle you take on a camping adventure off the tarmac.

With a new set of Nitto Nomad Grappler tires, Porsche Aero wheels and a Tequipment roof rack and roof tent, the parts and accessories team at eBay Motors decided to push the boundaries of convention in a 2022 Taycan Turbo Cross Turismo. Behind the wheel near Vail, Colorado, I found the Porsche had enough power to climb small hills and traverse the dirt, and the rooftop tent was up in less then five minutes. Other drivers on the trail stared and did double takes when they saw the Taycan in the realm of Jeep Wranglers and other four-by-four vehicles; you don’t see that every day.

Drivers and camping enthusiasts are hitting the road, and the next vehicle you see in the national forest might be a Lamborghini. Wait, that’s already been done. The Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato, which the Italian supercar maker bills as ‘beyond the concrete’, is a high-end manifestation of DIY overland modifications, and all signs point to more like it on the horizon.

All about land? Yes, as long as you are realistic about it.

Overlanding has blossomed in recent years and has been booming since 2020. The Specialty Equipment Market Association represents the voice of the aftermarket parts industry and says that while overlanding has historically thrived in remote parts of the world, its popularity is booming across America.

The site has experienced explosive growth of 3,500 percent in items sold from ads containing the term “overlanding” over the past five years. Can you turn your Volkswagen Beetle into an off-road vehicle? Yes, as long as you manage your expectations. It’s one thing to hit the mud with some camping supplies, but quite another to think you can take it on the Rubicon Trail. Still, it’s nice to know that there are opportunities to push the limits of a car.

Along with the Porsche Taycan, the eBay Motors team purchased a 2009 Lexus GX470 and a 1999 Jeep Cherokee from its own auction site and fitted them with overlanding accessories to show off a range of modifications. Already a sturdy and reliable SUV that can withstand dirt, the Lexus was equipped with RCI Offroad skid plates, a Dobinsons panhard bar (which improves vehicle stability), Icon wheels, BFG KO2 tires and a water crossing snorkel. It also included a roof rack, tent and bat sleeve canopy that spans 270 degrees for shade on the trails.

Even the 25-year-old Jeep Cherokee proved it’s still kicking with the addition of a new suspension, skid plates to protect the underbelly, new bumpers, Nitto tires on beadlock wheels and a winch to get the vehicle out of mud or treacherous terrain to pull . Each car is an adventure package that you can put together yourself, depending on how involved you want to be.

“What this market has brought us is new manufacturers and better quality products,” said Andrew Funk, president of Cap-it International, said in a SEMA article. “There’s new ‘glamping’ and creature comforts that are fun when you’re off-roading in the bush, but it’s really become more mainstream, sometimes putting tents on very small SUVs – and before that on cars. matter. It is now becoming so mainstream that the average consumer is seriously exploring it as an option.”

DIY overlanding

Of course, you can take a vehicle to a specialist and have it outfitted to your specifications if you have the extra cash. On the other hand, Jo Figueiredo, eBay Motors’ U.S. director of commercial operations for parts and accessories, says enthusiasts appreciate the DIY options. It gives strength. Of course, you’ll want to read the fine print of your warranty if you have a new car to make sure you don’t void it with any modifications. Otherwise, parts on the eBay Motors site are often brand new and available for immediate purchase with the ‘buy it now’ option rather than waiting for an auction to end.

Purchasing accessories for your vehicle or swapping parts may be just a YouTube video away. eBay Motors has gone to the trouble of creating a series of step-by-step how-to videos for everything from changing the oil to replacing engine mounts and everything in between. With 550 million parts and accessories on the site, including whole block engines, the company is prepared to offer a buffet of overlanding options. With opportunities like that, I think I could start tinkering with my own vehicle, and my tinkering experience is pretty limited.

Be smart about DIY, warns Sarah Morosan, president of LGE-CTS Motorsports, which built two of the overland-ready rigs that eBay Motors displayed in Vail.

“YouTube has quite a few videos you can watch, [but] When you watch tutorials, I recommend watching more than one so you see what the common denominator is in what everyone is teaching,” she says. “Some people will have different tips and tricks that you might not think of; Watch at least two or three so you can see if they train the same way and what the differences are.”

In other words: trust but verify; that’s good advice for everything on the internet.