I’ve been looking for a small utility vehicle for around the house for a few years. Originally I was set on a Honda FourTrax 300 since that’s what I grew up with, I wanted something reliable, simple, and cheap to work on.
A few years ago I started looking at kei trucks with dump beds, but the prices kept me away. Most titled ones seemed to be $7k+, and I wanted something small enough for our trails but without a CVT like a lot of modern SxSs (too loud for what I wanted).
Last fall I started watching for a Suzuki Samurai on Facebook Marketplace. Samurais are all over the place, $500 rust buckets to $20k period-correct builds. I wanted something closer to the low end but with minimal rust and not heavily modified.
I found Mikan in Georgia before our Alaska trip in April, but it was more than I wanted to spend. In June I reached back out since it had been listed for a while and asked if they’d sell just the Samurai instead of the whole package with the parts rig and extra Sammy parts. They agreed.
So last Sunday Larry, Chris, and I headed to Georgia to check it out. One test drive later and Mikan came home.
A few years ago I started looking at kei trucks with dump beds, but the prices kept me away. Most titled ones seemed to be $7k+, and I wanted something small enough for our trails but without a CVT like a lot of modern SxSs (too loud for what I wanted).
Last fall I started watching for a Suzuki Samurai on Facebook Marketplace. Samurais are all over the place, $500 rust buckets to $20k period-correct builds. I wanted something closer to the low end but with minimal rust and not heavily modified.
I found Mikan in Georgia before our Alaska trip in April, but it was more than I wanted to spend. In June I reached back out since it had been listed for a while and asked if they’d sell just the Samurai instead of the whole package with the parts rig and extra Sammy parts. They agreed.
So last Sunday Larry, Chris, and I headed to Georgia to check it out. One test drive later and Mikan came home.
