Baja trip

[purdyd]

It was time for my annual trip to Baja. Roughly 1600 miles round trip across the wilds of the LA basin, past the Salton Sea, dodging through Mexicali, down the Mexican 5 (one of the great drives in the world), down the Mexican 1 aka transpennisular highway, and out to the secluded fishing village on the coast of Baja Sur.

i didnt get quite the gas mileage I expected, possibly because I was running 30 psi in the tires (as listed on the door placard) and got better at 36 psi going through Oregon last summer at similar speeds.

it could also be I discovered the joys of sport mode on windy roads….

ive done the drive a few times in my old 2wd tacoma, which did ok. i really liked the comfort of the ranger especially when, not if, you hit a pot hole. And passing is a joy in a turbo engine instead of an act of abject fear.

The drive is very pleasant as there is just the right number of pot holes, animals, and scenery to keep your attention. As an added bonus is passing semi trucks on the narrow no shoulder roads. You feel like you cheat death each time.

while I didn’t really need 4x4 it was nice to be able to pick where I went on the beach rather than where I could go. And I got to drive in sand mode Very handy for some of the very soft small sand dunes. Same with the ground clearance and suspension, just nice to have.

Desert sand is a great color as it hides the dirt and sand.

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[rocsteady]

Now that's a road trip...

 

[ryanO]

It was time for my annual trip to Baja. Roughly 1600 miles round trip across the wilds of the LA basin, past the Salton Sea, dodging through Mexicali, down the Mexican 5 (one of the great drives in the world), down the Mexican 1 aka transpennisular highway, and out to the secluded fishing village on the coast of Baja Sur.

i didnt get quite the gas mileage I expected, possibly because I was running 30 psi in the tires (as listed on the door placard) and got better at 36 psi going through Oregon last summer at similar speeds.

it could also be I discovered the joys of sport mode on windy roads….

ive done the drive a few times in my old 2wd tacoma, which did ok. i really liked the comfort of the ranger especially when, not if, you hit a pot hole. And passing is a joy in a turbo engine instead of an act abject fear.

The drive is very pleasant as there is just the right number of pot holes, animals, and scenery to keep your attention. As an added bonus is passing semi trucks on the narrow no shoulder roads. You feel like you cheat death each time.

while I didn’t really need 4x4 it was nice to be able to pick where I went on the beach rather than where I could go. And I got to drive in sand mode Very handy for some of the very soft small sand dunes. Same with the ground clearance and suspension, just nice to have.

Desert sand is a great color as it hides the dirt and sand.

You ran 30 PSI with stock tires even on the sand?

 

[purdyd]

You ran 30 PSI with stock tires even on the sand?

yep no issue.

 

[el_sabio]

It was time for my annual trip to Baja. Roughly 1600 miles round trip across the wilds of the LA basin, past the Salton Sea, dodging through Mexicali, down the Mexican 5 (one of the great drives in the world), down the Mexican 1 aka transpennisular highway, and out to the secluded fishing village on the coast of Baja Sur.

I want this in my life every day. Great trip!

 

[superj]

me too

 

[purdyd]

I want this in my life every day. Great trip!

That’s San Felipe at dawn just before I departed. I over nighted there on Mexican Labor Day but it was pretty chill. Although if you strained hard enough you could just hear the unmistakable sounds of a Mexican banda band playing until 4am. And I left just before the NORRA Ensenada to Cabo race rolled into town.

I caught some of the race support trucks, or rather they caught me and zipped by on the way back including one bad ass looking bronco raptor.

M

 

[Lion77]

I'm assuming the truck is stock correct?

I always have to laugh when I see these types of posts showing all the stuff you CAN do with a stock truck, beint XLT FX4 or even the top Raptor trim when 50% of the people on this forum would have you believing that you NEED 35's, 2" lift, Portals, 600lbs of overlanding gear, a 600 RWHP tune, 200lbs of underside armor and 20,000 watts of additional lighting just to drive off the road....

Don't get me wrong, those things have their place for specific use cases, but in the end, a stock 4x4 can still do 90% of what the highly modded trucks can do. You pay a BIG price for that last 10% and this is coming from someone who has a Raptor.

Great post and thanks for sharing! Go Ranger!

 

[purdyd]

I'm assuming the truck is stock correct?

I always have to laugh when I see these types of posts showing all the stuff you CAN do with a stock truck, beint XLT FX4 or even the top Raptor trim when 50% of the people on this forum would have you believing that you NEED 35's, 2" lift, Portals, 600lbs of overlanding gear, a 600 RWHP tune, 200lbs of underside armor and 20,000 watts of additional lighting just to drive off the road....

Don't get me wrong, those things have their place for specific use cases, but in the end, a stock 4x4 can still do 90% of what the highly modded trucks can do. You pay a BIG price for that last 10% and this is coming from someone who has a Raptor.

Great post and thanks for sharing! Go Ranger!

I am by no means the poster child for off road adventures but yes, this is stock, except for the rival towhooks.

I would just go through a couple of small sand dunes that normally I would avoid like the plague in a 2wd vehicle. I’ve seen those stop two wheel drive cars and even the heavy over landing Tacoma struggled a bit.

there was a ford f150 with a little wider tires and no load that impressed me. I think it weighs about the same as a ranger.

weight is a big equalizer in sand from what I’ve seen.

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