The 25 Best Off-Road Cars

Base Price: Craig's List has the answer
Gnarly Features: Difficult to drown, really difficult to kill, cheaper than the dirt it runs in
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: The damn thing IS a scratch
Complex Says: It doesn't matter that rear-wheel drive doesn't make much sense for an off-roader. Just enjoy the fun of a Baja bug in the sand, and you'll be hooked. Since all the important stuff is in the back, it's cheap to fix after a crash, too.

Base Price: $23,295
Gnarly Features: Symmetrical AWD, good ground clearance
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: Subarus: not just for hippies and lesbians. No really. Subaru offers good performance at a good price in a number of models. The proprietary AWD system takes what the company has learned from years of rally competition and applies it to the whole line.

Base Price: $40,930
Gnarly Features: Locking limited slip differential, body on frame construction
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: Perhaps
Complex Says: Toyota may have the reputation for being the blandest of the bland, but the company's SUVs have some serious off-road ability. No vestigial 4WD systems here.

Base Price: $43,995
Gnarly Features: All-around camera view, electronic wizardry, still a Land Rover
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: Definitely
Complex Says: Land Rover may have morphed from a Mil-Spec off-roader manufacturer to a luxury SUV marque, but all of its models have retained their "go anywhere" ability. Even the Victoria Beckham spec Evoque.

Base Price: $46,875
Gnarly Features: Diesel torque, adaptive torque distribution, good angles
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: A little
Complex Says: The Touareg is built on the same platform as the race-winning Porsche Cayenne and the Dakar-dominating Touareg Race car. There's serious potential here.

Base Price: $24,890
Gnarly Features: Boxed ladder frame, locking rear differential, two-speed transfer case
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: You could do much, much worse than this solid off-roader from Nissan.

Base Price: $31,090
Gnarly Features: Limited slip locking differential, body on frame construction, traction control
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: It may be a Toyota SUV that's primarily driven by soccer moms, but it has some real performance hidden in there. Take the 4Runner back from the latte-sipping masses and get it dirty.

Base Price: $32,180
Gnarly Features: V8, Z71 off-road suspension, locking differential
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: Regular: No; Denali: Yes
Complex Says: It's basically a Chevy Silverado Z71. It's a little lower on the list because it's a little...prissier.

Base Price: $30,010
Gnarly Features: V8, Locking 4WD, shift on the fly transfer case
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: It's a big, American pickup. What more do you want?

Base Price: $32,795
Gnarly Features: V8, Z71 off-road suspension, locking differential
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: The Chevy's Z71 package adds a ton to the Silverado, which is already a great truck.

Base Price: $53,245
Gnarly Features: V8, Crawl control, dynamic suspension system
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: Indeed
Complex Says: It might be a Lexus, but it's built on the same platform as the FJ Cruiser and the 4Runner. That's an impressive pedigree.

Base Price: $23,360
Gnarly Features: Skid plates, great angles, awesome 4WD system
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: Jeep makes damn good off-roaders. The classic Wrangler might be the hard-core option. But there are capable alternatives available for those who would sacrifice a little off-road performance for a lot of on-road usability.

Base Price: $28,510
Gnarly Features: Locking rear differential, Bilstein shocks, clutch start/cancel
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: We love a good pick-up truck. The best pick-ups aren't just the ones that can haul a lot of crap. They're the ones that can kick the metaphorical ass of the toughest terrain around.

Base Price: $22,045
Gnarly Features: Tubular rock rails, skid plates, 73.1 crawl ratio
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: The Rubicon is like a mountain goat. It might take a while to get there, but it is perfectly capable of crawling over just about anything.

Base Price: $27,490
Gnarly Features: Air-suspension, great angles, traction settings
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: Wrangler too mediocre on road for you? Too hard-core? Too compromised as a car? The Grand Cherokee is a killer, full-sized off-road SUV. Just don't drive around in it without some mud on the sides.

Base Price: $48,200
Gnarly Features: Great differential, speed, air suspension
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: Certainly
Complex Says: It may be widely regarded as heresy, but we say it's not. The Cayenne is a race winner. It may not be the types of races the Porsche is best known for, but anything that wins the Transsyberia Rally is awesome in our book.

Base Price: $107,100
Gnarly Features: Made for the German military, three lockable differentials, rigid axles
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: Yup
Complex Says: Let's face it. The G-Wagen is just bad-ass. The new Land Rover Defender might end up being a chic little mall hopper. But the G-Wagen still looks like it will kick you in the balls and make fun of you for blinking when it happens.

Base Price: $49,750
Gnarly Features: Air suspension, good angles, V8 engine
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: Yeah
Complex Says: The LR4 isn't quite a Range Rover, but it can still keep going over just about any terrain.

Base Price: $16,865
Gnarly Features: Hill assistance, skid plates, good differential
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: The Tacoma is already a killer truck. The TRD version makes it a killer off-roader as well. We can't wait to drive the TX Baja version.

Base Price: $43,565
Gnarly Features: Supercharged V8, miles of suspension travel, 100mph on sand dunes
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: If your idea of off-roading involves more racing across the Arizona countryside than crawling over boulders, there's no vehicle you want more than this one.

Base Price: $68,920
Gnarly Features: Aussie approval, built to survive nuclear war, nice limited slip differential
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: You will
Complex Says: This thing is a legend in some of the toughest areas of the world. Places like the jungles of South America and the Australian Outback that don't just kill trucks, but have a very limited supply of spare parts.

Base Price: $60,895
Gnarly Features: 39.4-inch wading depth, killer angles, V8 power
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: Dear God, yes
Complex Says: Land Rover's off-road course is used by other manufacturers to see if their own trucks and SUVs have what it takes. They know what they're doing. The Range Rover Sport is the obvious choice for a reason.

Base Price: $27,170
Gnarly Features: Skid plates, bilstein shocks, TRD wheels
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: It looks like nothing else on the road. And with the TRD package, it is capable of some serious ass hauling on just about any surface.

Base Price: $24,545
Gnarly Features: Skid plates, solid axles, body-on-frame construction
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: No
Complex Says: The Jeep Wrangler is the classic off-road vehicle. It has everything from real performance to image to military history. To top it all off, there's immense aftermarket support. You can kit out your Wrangler however the hell you want.

Base Price: Can you weld?
Gnarly Features: Bad-assery, whatever gnarly features you want
Will You Be Paranoid About Scratches?: HELL NO!
Complex Says: The Best off-roader is certainly the one you and your buddies weld together in the garage. That applies only if you know what you're doing. If you don't, this is probably the worst off-roader. Consider paying an expert.