John Lee On: Sportsmobile

Going to Overland Expo and seeing the various vehicles in person and seeing their owners clarified some things for me. One of things clarified was my opinion of the Sportsmobile.

I used to hate it. Whenever some customer drove up to the shop in his Sportsmobile, my reaction was something like, "man, get that pile of shit out of here before someone else sees it."

I don't feel that way any longer. I now see the Sportsmobile as a legit vehicle. Several things changed my perspective on the Sportsmobile, including:

(1) I don't recall ever seeing a Sportsmobile stickered up with "endsoftheearth.com" or "globalexpedition2010.com" or "overlandsavethechildren.com" or what have you. The Sportsmobile owners don't seem to be like that.

(2) The Sportsmobile is what it is. It's just a 4x4 van. It's not some hyper extreme Xpedition vehicle. It's not marketed as such and it's not used as such by its owners. It seems to me Sportsmobile owners know what they and don't try to be what they're not. They just drive around their Sportsmobile on realistic trips and such. They don't tell you about their 1,000 range that they've never used.

(3) The owners of Sportsmobiles actually use them. Do a Google image search for Sportsmobiles or check out the Sportsmobile forum and you'll see that the owners use them. They may camp on a beach. They may go the desert. But the owners use them. Do another Google image search for the land yachts and you'll see stock photos. It's a stark contrast.

(4) The land yacht factor isn't there on the Sportsmobiles. Sure, the Sportsmobile has more amenities than a Land Rover, but I don't get the feeling that the owners are trying to show off their kitchen sinks or beds or air conditioning systems. The "I got the biggest and baddest Xtreme Xpedition Vehicle" factor just doesn't seem to be there with Sportsmobiles.

I want to hate the Sportsmobile, but I can't. I wouldn't be caught dead in a Sportsmobile. And I certainly wouldn't wheel with a Sportsmobile. But I can't hate the Sportsmobile. It's too legit.