The Best Off-Road SUVs And Trucks For Real-World Adventure

0:00Welcome to the Inwheel Time car talk show just ahead our US News and World Report car connection. John Vincent with the 2026 Best Adventure Vehicle Awards. You're going to get a charge out of these. The Jeff has his car culture feature this week on white letter tires. Remember those? And Mr. Mars has hidden species in the Houston area. Be sure they're not needle and I think that they start there and they trickle over this side of the wall down there. How do you along with bike out of this world Mars? We always need more Jeff Zekin. Chief Engineer David Ainsley will be joining us for real next week when we venture up to Grandbury for our remote broadcast up there. And I'm Don Armstrong. Thank you very much for taking your time this morning to be with us. So let's go right out to Mr. John Vincent and he is with US News and World Report.

1:03And hey John it's great to see you again. Have you been great to see you guys it's been a minute since I've been on. It has been a minute not our problem. You're always welcome here and all you got to do is give us a buzz and we'll get it all on you. The other people to talk to you guys I don't know why I don't just show up every week. Yeah exactly because it should be at least a once a month or don't you think. Sure. Yeah that's what we think. So they have just released the 2026 Adventure Vehicle Award. That's something different over there at US News and World Report. So we're going to talk about best vehicles for camping, best vehicles for road trips, best SUVs for off-roading, and best trucks for off-roading. I don't know where you want to start but any of those are good for me. Well why don't we just start with the best SUVs for off-roading. All right let's do that. Yeah this is a very long list of cars but out of this whole group there's one big winner and it's GMC. But we'll talk about that a little bit more as we go on here.

2:04Okay. So best subcompact SUV for off-roading, Ford Bronco Sport. Ford Bronco Sport is a vehicle that's built off the escape but is a much better escape than the escape. And let me just add to this. You know since that car came up we thought it's just a makeover. No it's not. It is really a nice vehicle and I have always said that from the day that it hit the ground. And it's pretty capable of getting in its Saskwatch trim. Yes and I've had one of those and loved it. So best compact SUV for off-roading. Of course this has to be on the list. Jeep Wrangler. Yeah I see I don't even put it in a class like a compact or subcompact. I just put it as a Jeep Wrangler. The Jeep Wrangler. The Jeep Wrangler. Yeah. Uh oh. We lost him. Oh he's back. Yeah you're there. We see.

3:04The Wrangler is actually a pretty big vehicle for a compact but the EPA classes it as a compact. Of course the EPA does. Your government it worked. Yeah. So what makes it interesting because it's chief competitor the next winner. The best midsize SUV for off-roading. The Ford Bronco is in a different size class. Huh. It is. What's what's what size class is it? It's mid size. A mid size Bronco. Yeah. And a compact Wrangler. Correct. So yeah it's one of those deals where. So what do they use to classify these? Is it storage? Is it space inside the cabin? I don't get it. I think they have a number of different measures that involves wheelbase overall length. Well it's all wrong. Yeah. It's a variable thing. Is anything in this range fits into this class is what they're doing.

4:04Yeah. Exactly. You know you guys have done this long enough that you know that their vehicles that span multiple classes and they're just hard to place. Yeah. You're right. That's large SUV for off-roading. Nissan Aramaura Pro 4X. Seriously. I'm surprised. Really good value out there. You know there are some really capable vehicles in this class. There's GMC Yukon 84. The Tahoe. Really capable vehicles. But when we looked at things like approach angles. Approached parts are in breakover angles. The Armada. Roast to the top. Didn't they just redo the Armada. They did. Yeah. And it's a different vehicle today than it was back when. It is. It's actually pretty nice and it's a good value.

5:07You can get good deals on our models. Interesting. Right now. Okay. All right. Next. Best hybrid SUV for off-roading. And that's the Toyota Rev 4. We, you know, these are all based on data. And we have a lot of discussions about this one because there's some. Pre-capable vehicles in this category. But the Rev 4. The woodland model comes on all three tires. Makes it decently capable off-road. You're not doing the Rubicon with this vehicle. But you can get you the trailhead and back. You know what's interesting. You mentioned that. That I don't really consider something like a Rev 4 to even go off road. Because that's not what it comes to mind. And I guess that some people will take them off road. But how big of a sales factor is that when you give it an award for a Rev 4. You know. You know, the thing about American car buyers. Is we car we buy the car for what we might do someday.

6:11Not what we do it every day. And we never do it. Exactly. So it looks like it might be able to do it someday. You're good. Yeah. I'm going up that road. That's right. Other people think that you've done it. That's what it is. That's it. It's not for you. Oh, hey. Yeah. There's a question that I've got. Johnny, you've got all the matrix that you go through the vehicles and you do all the checks, all the boxes. I don't know if this takes effect. But do any of the recalls affect how all this data is compiled or the data is compiled first and then the recalls happen after? So we don't put the recalls into this scoring model because these are new cars. We put the recalls into our studies when we're looking at used cars. But it's really hard to do that with new cars. And every new car has recalls. Every single one of them. Some of them more serious than others.

7:12But every car has recalls. Okay. What's next on the list? Luxury SUV for off-roading. There you go. Now we're talking. Defender. The what? The Land Rover Defender. You just had one of those. No, I had a range Rover range Rover. Range Rover. Wow. Yeah. 100 and $40,000. It's it's a tough. This was a tough category because the defenders up against the Lexus GX, which is also a great vehicle. But approach to departure. Branco. Virangles with the air suspension on the defender. May the numbers come out on top for it. Well, it doesn't surprise me after driving the Land Rover range Rover. You know, I don't get those very often. I'm sure you don't either. They just aren't that many around. But I will tell you that I was impressed. And I didn't take it off road. But it is so off road capable. I don't even know what controls what anymore.

8:14I mean, you can it'll do anything and everything. It's like a Swiss Army knife. Their electronics for traction management are stunning. I mean, they can make me look like MD's in off road. Yeah, the big camper that you are. Exactly. I think I think he's a glamper. Yeah, that's right. You're a clamper, not a camper. We just get the dog from one hotel to the next. There you go. Our best electric SUV for off-roading Rivian R1S. That's interesting. You should see that because you know, I was just talking about Rivian. And the Rivian truck is a contender with the Land Rover Range Rover. And I would have never even thought of Rivian being a competitor to anything they're so new. But apparently they are. They are. They are very good vehicles. This is a company that I'm really rooting for because they're doing it right.

9:14Unlike some electric car companies out there, they're taking more of a measured approach. And their second car is about to come out. The R2, which I just sent somebody to that launch event. And he came back with a big smile on his face. So looking forward to reading about what he says about the R2. But if it's anything like the R1s, they're going to be really good. Well, I'll tell you this. I got a chance to see an R1 up close in person while I'm going. Oh, my God, the fit and finish on this. It's like a custom car. Yep. So this category actually came down to very close between this and the GMC Hummer EV. And the Hummer EV beat it on a lot of the technical factors. The off road factors. But when you come down to a car that you want to live with every day, the Rivian was definitely the choice. It's interesting.

10:14It's such a new company to come this far and to actually win an award and be a contender at the beginning with it. Yeah, it's impressive. It's actually not that new new company anymore. It's five, six, seven years old now. We don't see a lot of them right here. Yeah, you know, yeah, for us guys, we go back to spoke wood spoke wheels. Yeah, I know. I know. I know. You're sure your arms are still sore from cranking. Exactly. Show them your guns, Mike. Let's get into the pickup trucks. All right, ready. Mid-size pickup for off-roading. Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. That's not a surprise. How do you with this one? And there are like two flavors of that truck that are fantastic for off-roading. There's the TRD Pro, which has the coolest seats in any pickup truck. They're actually air suspension seats with shock absorbers in the seat back.

11:18So you are isolated from the vehicle as you're ripping across the desert. How fun. It sounds like you know an 18 wheeler traffic. They're taking the same thing. Except much more managed than that. I mean, you're it's. I swear, it feels like you're it's a gyroscope where you're not moving and everything are also around you. It's really cool. It's really cool. And then on the flip side for the slow technical off-roading, they have the trail hunter, which it's a different setup, but just as capable in a different off-road realm. Very interesting. Yeah. Full-size pickup for off-roading for F-150. They have three flavors of that truck that are fantastic for off-roading. There's the FX4 package, which is just a basic off-roading package. There's the tremor. And then there's the Raptor. And it's hard to car that are you with a big Raptor V8. Yeah, the only thing that I can think that we come in close it would be the Ram TRX.

12:24Ram TRX, which is not currently available. Yeah. It's going to be again for 27. It will be available again for these purposes. Yeah. I got you. Yeah. Interesting. Although the Ram Rebel is still pretty capable too. Yeah, love the Ram Rebel. Best electric SUV for off-roading. People actually do this. It's the Ruby NR1T. Some pretty unique features. Hidden storage and its gear tunnel. Great range. And now people will be heading to the gas station with their trucks before you're heading to the charger. How was the interface there with the infotainment system? It's getting better with a lot of the new startup companies that are having trouble getting all the bugs work out of their infocainment systems. Although I was just in a legacy automaker's car last week that was just as buggy as any startup car companies infocainment system. They are getting better.

13:24One of the great things about them is they can take over the year updates. So you don't have to go to the shop to get it fixed. They just send a file into the car and fix his things. Nice. Well, that's handy. Am I does that? Yeah. We're looking for the maid to do that here at the house. Yeah. I've heard just come Rosie the maid. Rosie. Rosie. Yeah. Yeah. I just bought a new car a couple weeks ago. You actually bought a car? I did. What did you buy? I bought a Genesis GV70. That's not a surprise. I can understand that. That's a very nice vehicle. It really is. And I got the twin turbo twin turbo V6, which it rips. It rips it. Yeah. That's a spunk. Yeah. Was it real expensive? Because when I think of Genesis, I think a pretty expensive fire in vehicle. They are a, yeah, they're a higher end vehicle, but compared to buying a Mercedes or BMW quite the bargain.

14:26And in your warranty. Yeah. Yeah. They think different for that twin turbo. So let's wrap up the adventure vehicle awards. Let's go into best vehicles for camping. Yes. Through this list. Subcompact, Bronco Spartan. Subcompact hybrid Subaru Cross track hybrid. I need Subaru's coming. Yeah, Subaru's got to be on this list. It's not here as often as you would think. I think so. Compact SUV for camping. Hyundai Tucson. The Tucson wins on cargo space. Is just a little bit better than the RAV4 or the CRB. Interesting. Yeah. Same reason for the compact hybrid for camping. Tucson hybrid. Compact plug in hybrid SUV. We're slicing things pretty close here. Really? So I don't wrap for plug in hybrid. Mid-sized SUV for camping. GMC Acadia.

15:26It's a concept cargo room. Very capable versions of that vehicle are available. Mid-sized hybrid SUV for camping. Toyota Grand Highlander. And whether you put this in the mid-size or large category. It's just a really nice family vehicle. Yeah, they've grown that high. Big sizes now. Yeah, and you know, you gotta remember that when we're talking to venture vehicles, people might do this 10, 20 days a year. You want a vehicle that's going to, you know, do everything you need to do for the other 355. And be able to put the bicycles on top of all the junk that you've gotten the back. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, right. I've seen that, including the mother and mother. Yeah. Oh, you've seen vacation. Okay. That's right. Best mid-sized plug in SUV for camping. This category's gotten smaller.

16:26Mazda CX90 Pee-Hav. With the departure of the Grand Cherokee 4xE. There aren't many plug and hybrids available up there in this category anymore. Well, they don't sell that many of them anyway. Yeah, they don't. Yeah. Yeah. Large SUV for camping. GMC Yukon XL, which is essentially the suburban version. GMC suburban. Right. With a slightly nicer interior. Yep. Electric SUV for camping. Hyundai Ionic 9. I think you, I think we've talked about this vehicle and show before. This is just a great all around family vehicle that happens to be electric. Yeah. If we could just get the range up to the point where like this GMC that I had recently with a 500 mile range on it with the big battery. Yeah. And I think that that's going to be more of a thing of the future that more and more of these manufacturers are going to do that. Yep.

17:26I mean, evolving technology. Exactly. Yeah. Better faster, smaller. Yeah. So let me ask you this. So who wins the top tip top award for best adventure vehicle overall? We don't have one. We broke it down in the classroom. No. I think you're going to have a big trophy. Well, you know, yeah, it's what I'm thinking. And I'm thinking also that in next year when we do this for US News and World Report. Now that in wheel time has mentioned it, that's going to be the new deal. So all of the girls got to have number one. I will say I will say this in the politically correct way that a manufacturer would tell us. We will take that into consideration. Underwise. Underwise. That's perfect. Or that before. Yeah, somewhere. No doubt some of these that you mentioned, I don't have an affinity with their looks. So I'm thinking that some of these I they just don't do anything for me aesthetically. So I wouldn't be interested to begin with and looking at the vehicle.

18:28Well, that X is those all. Yeah. That's whenever you're a car buyer. Yeah. It's always that way. Yeah. Well, John, it's great to talk to you. Thank you so much for sharing the list with us today. And like I said, call anytime. Absolutely. Okay. Because we are your number one show, you know. Yeah. Or your staff. Anybody. Yeah. And if you ever need an expert to talk about pretty much anything in the car market, we have people. So that's right. That's right. Well, it was definitely John Vincent. Thank you so much. US News and World Report 2026. Best adventure vehicle awards. Thanks again, John. Thank you so much. Okay. Just ahead is Jeff's car culture. White letter tires. Yeah. The subject this week. Mars has hidden Houston Speakeys. He's. That's the one. Whatever. Well, coming up right after this break here. We'll be in the wheel. Car talk show. They won't be hidden anymore. Stay with us. The tax max dining experience is defined by loopy tortilla.

19:30Your destination for Texas is best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas. Since 1983, loopy tortilla has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients. Atmospheric is part of the award-winning experience at loopy tortilla. All developed in a little house in your highway six in I-10 in Houston. Visit any of the loopy tortillas and you'll see the same attention to detail in each and every location. Start your loopy experience with queso flammiato and guacamole, along with a classic frozen margarita. Dine on famous loopy beef and chicken fajitas or pepper shrimp brochette or a fish or vegetarian entre and finish with a scrumptious flan for dessert. Find loopy tortilla in Houston, college station, Beaumont, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas, Fort Worth. There's a Texas location near you. The recipes are authentic and time-tested. The ingredients always fresh. Loopy tortilla. East pre-de-good. Apple, Duran, Android, in-wheel time podcasts can be found everywhere on the stream and through downloads.

20:31Whether you're on the road or at home and searching for a fun car talk show, give in-wheel time a try. Honest new car reviews, fun informative interviews with real car people. Weekly automotive news, features like Jeff's car culture, mic striving destinations, all on in-wheel time. Check us out on SiriusXM Podcast, iHeartRadio or while you're shopping on Amazon through Amazon Music. In-wheel time.com has a list, so check us out. That's it for this podcast episode of the In-wheel time car show. I'm Don Armstrong. Inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning, 8 to 11 am central on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our In-wheel time.com website. Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Podcast, Podcast Addict, Tune in Pandora and Amazon Music. Keep listening and we'll see you soon. All right time now for the racing calendar sponsored by those famous people that we can never get on the year. The Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge.

21:31Thank you for that. Well Formula One is the Italian Grand Prix and that goes off. I think it's going to be on the internet and some FS1 channel. I'm not sure. Then you got Darlington for NASCAR. You got the O'Reilly series that's going to be at 2.30pm on the CW. And then you've got the big boys running at 5pm on the USA Network. And then of course you've got Indy at the Grand Prix of Monterey. That ought to be fun. And then second to the seventh you've got the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA USN. I have Indy. I have Indy. I have a Cornwell 12 meter. Oh wow. Very good. Do you know how old that is? Yeah. That's pretty old. When's the last time you had to check the dwell? I don't think they do dwells anymore. No, I don't think they do either. And then the lawnmower racing is off. No. Yeah, they're changing blades. They're getting tires and all that.

22:31Have you seen any of that on the internet? Yeah, I have seen. Oh my God, dude. They've got these things. They're being... I've got, I guess they got motorcycle engines and or something because they are fast. You're going to try to put an LS in one of them. I'm sure. Somebody's already done that. All right. Time now for this week at Auto History, Mr. Mars. Yes, sir. We found a few things this week in Auto History that I think people will be interested in. Checking it out. September the 6th way back in 1891. Puzzo took their Type III early gasoline powered engine, which was a damler designed two horsepower engine and they entered it into a race, a bicycle race, and they took it 1,271 mile round trip. Now this has only got about nine miles per hour to do it, but it did complete it. And the whole point of that was to show that automobiles were something that were dependable and could be used. And one of those guys in the car looks just like you, Mars. I think it's the one in the back on the other side.

23:31The thinner one. Yeah, I wish. So then on September the 7th and back in 1896. This was America's first automobile race that was held on a horse track or trotting track in crantston road island. Now this was seven vehicles competed over five laps. Now they had 60,000 people is actually there to watch this first race. Although it says, although it says near a Gansett Park, every time I've been there, I've got the trot. Well, I couldn't say near a Gansett's, but I just skipped in there again. But they had 60,000 spectators watching this and an electric riker. The car name was the riker won doing 20 miles an hour. Second place, finisher was also an electric vehicle. So it was third place was won by a gasoline power. But again, it helped to demonstrate that automobile competition could become a major nationwide spectator sport.

24:36Then moving up jumping up to 1949, Volkswagen returns to German control. Now this is after the war, the Volkswagen company was actually transferred from the British military control back to the federal republic, which was new. It's the original split window coup. It is. And so the reason this was important because it gave the after the war, they took control of the corporation, the company, the factories and all that. So they were putting it back into the hands of the German people, which that led to Volkswagen Beetle being built so long and so far and becoming such a landmark vehicle for the growth of the automobile industry. So Timber the night in 1954, the first Thunderbird Ford Thunderbird is actually completed for the 55 model year. Now they actually started this took them two days to build this car because it was really the first one. It's a two seat convertible had to be a power and it was designed to compete with the Chevrolet Corvette.

25:40So they ended up selling about 4.4 million of these vehicles before production into the in 2005. So it went through several generations. But the last of the long time in the first car here, I was in one of those once one of time. And it was to be what you'd expect from a 1955 car, but it was really nice. And September the 10th back in 1897, this is an important event. This is the London Police arrested George Smith after he crashed his cap into a building while intoxicated. So George Smith became the first recorded driving arrest. And his fine was 25 shillings. I have no idea what that means, but it is the first person that was arrested for driving under the influence. And in 1970 September 10th, this is important because the Chevrolet Vega goes on sale. Now this was a could you could you could you repeat that date again, please?

26:41September the 10th 1970. Yeah. Just for my edification because I had two and I had I had the original one like that, except it wasn't that fancy. It was the bottom of the line, but whatever I like that car. I've really had a great one. A lot of people like that car and it was really it was designed to challenge the imports of the domestic rivals that were coming in. The EPA was shutting down the muscle car world and the world was changing from automotive perspective. And this car was what they designed to compete with it. They also made a hatchback in it that I thought would be so cool to have an engine in the back, a rear mounted engine in that hatchback for Saturday night. Saturday night down on the drag strip. But and this was also one Jeff did a feature once upon a time about how they ship these cars upright on the rail cars so they could get more of them in that place. That didn't last long. No, it didn't.

27:41It's kind of like the car didn't last that long. Then September the eighth 1904. Now this isn't necessarily a automobile, but it is automotive in that 1904. And then the Harley Davidson prototype was actually built functional. And now of course William Harley and the Davidson brothers they went on to create Harley Davidson that the world wide world known. At this point as far as the motorcycles go so it was very important. And this vehicle this prototype was actually 400 cc had a one speed transmission on it and it had wide whites on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think they were all whites. Yeah, they're all white. But anyway, that was just a few things in automotive history this week that we thought were rather interesting. Yeah, well, that was a trip down the relay. Yeah, I bought two Vegas, a 70 and a 74. And I didn't have any problems with either one.

28:42Now the first one, four speed manual transmission. No air conditioning. Yeah, my brother had a stick in his. Well, I couldn't afford it. I was my very first new car. I was still proud of it. In the second one, then I bumped it up to the GT. And only had that for one year and then I bought the Monsa. Listen, I was on the cutting edge of the new car uptake. And I was so I was so cool. I had an aunt who her husband had a cause worth Vega out California. Oh, wow. Well, he died and she called me and said, Hey, you want to buy this car? I don't want the Vega cause we're for selling the cause worth. Nah, I don't want it. If you had it today, it'd be worth a lot of money. It's like the Encore of its day. There you go. Factory Encore. Hey, Tesla's winning in a shrinking electric vehicle market as other brands retreat the EV maker claimed more than 60%. Of the new US EV registrations in June. While registrations for other brands sharply declined according to the most recent study from mobility global.

29:46New total new electric vehicle registrations fell 11%. The ninth straight month of declines after the federal EV tax credits expire. All right. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be back after these messages. Your car is a direct reflection of you. So don't be satisfied with color fade or a dingy dull appearance. Get rid of those terrible automated car wash scratches. Golf Coast Auto Shield is your save the paint company. John Gray and his team of detailing experts can help your cars finish without a full repaint. Searching for real experts in window tender windshield protection. Golf Coast Auto Shield. Dash cams radar detectors. Golf Coast Auto Shield. Got a new car? Get it protected as soon as you take delivery. If you don't know which of the multitude of protection products to go with, John Gray will give you an honest opinion and won't sell you something you don't need. John will help you understand the many options in pricing, right on the spot. He's your guy to have your ride looking its best and protected too.

30:47See the state of the art shop yourself free tours anytime. Golf Coast Auto Shield is easy to get to located just south of the southwest freeway on the Sam Houston Parkway. Golf Coast Auto Shield. Full service luxury car care today and online at GCautoshield.com. Gift giving should be meaningful and we have an idea. A hand painted custom illustration of your car from one of the nation's leading artists. Now you can get one or a car show poster customized for you, a friend or a loved one. Bill Sites will be happy to guide you through the process. No matter what the day, birthday, anniversary or any day, an autographics custom illustration adds an extra touch of class to any home. Call Bill today 832-922-0963. That's 832-922-0963. That's it for this podcast episode of the Inwheel Time Car Show. I'm Don Armstrong. Inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and our InwheelTime.com website.

31:49Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, I Heart Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Tune in Pandora and Amazon Music. Keep listening and we'll see you soon.