Sport Utility Vehicles Books

Great book with lots of good info. It's geared more to the SUV owner who does not really do any serious offloading, but hey, thats ok. Leaves the really remote places for those willing to go out on their own. It is a great way to discover new areas and launch off on your own.

I won't rehash how good this book is, you have all 9 other reviews to do it. Just a note of caution, make sure you buy the latest edition (from 2006). Amazon still lists the one from 2002 first in the search results.

I like the GPS coordinates, and the fact that it gives directions and mileage for each trail in both directions. So you have a lot more flexibility on how you plan your outing.

this series is extremely useful. covers offroading options from beginner level to seriously advanced. each option is rated for difficulty, accompanied by maps and directions and, importantly, gps coordinates at each key junction on the route. hence one could make the trip without road signs using a gps if absolutely necessary. great photographs and good history regarding each trip make this a stimulating and priceless resource.

We have two other 4-wheel drive books for northern California, but neither one comes close to this! The color pages, descriptions, and added history and nature lessons are great. We enjoy the eastern Sierra and were glad to find so many trips for that area in this book. We can't wait for the snow to melt so we can try some trips out!

This is the top dog for off road books. I've driven several of these courses in my stock Chevrolet truck with zero problems. Beautiful lay-out, great descriptions and GPS coordinates. Get this book!

This book has everything a casual offroader or overlander would want (this book does not cover the hardcore break stuff, tear up your rig trails). Great descriptions of the trails and the road surface you be riding on. Great turn bu turn directions to each trail with GPS coordinates! Also explains some of the history and highlights of the trail and rates all trails for remoteness and beauty. Interesting book just to read for fun. There is no better off road book available!

After being transplanted to Southern California from the Northwest, I felt hemmed in, separated from all things natural. Backcountry Adventures has helped to change that. It's a wonderful guide to exploring the region.

The hefty book begins with a historical, botanical and geographic guide to the region, highlighting Southern California's explorers, settlers, missionaries, bandits, flora, fauna and more. It then moves into the individual descriptions of off road routes.

The book is geared towards exploring Southern California's outdoors with a 4WD and might disappoint the Glamas crowd who is focused doing awesome things in their trucks. But, for those of us looking to justify the excess of our SUV's with some exploration, it's perfect.

Each route guide begins with a simple rating guide which rates the trail on a number of qualities like driving difficulty and remoteness, then moves into a description of its history and the history of the region it explores. Next comes a description of the route itself, and then a detailed turn by turn guide with GPS coordinates.

The only real complaint I have with this book is that sometimes routes can be difficult to find without reading through the entire guide. It does contain a few "20 most scenic routes" and whatnot lists, but includes no way to find, say, the most remote routes in the book.

The other thing I'd suggest to improve the book is an accompanying website with downloadable GPS coordinates and user comments. Typing in the coordinates for a route is needlessly time consuming, and being able to download them from the internets would be wonderful. Hearing feedback from other drivers would also be great.

All in all, this book has helped to liberate me from the urban sprawl of Southern California, and for that I'm very grateful.

Tons of info, loads of great photos show you clearly what to expect on each trail. I'll be buying the Northern Cali book next.

I've been using this book for close to a couple years now. While I don't consider myself a novice to off-roading, I definitely don't fall into the rock-crawling group, preferring to use my 4x4 to simply get me to new and out-of-the-way places when time permits. Thus far it has proven to be an excellent resource for quick weekend off-roading getaways and for reading up on new trails to explore. In fact, I've enjoyed this book so much I wound up buying two others as gifts for family and friends. The photos and overviews of each trail definitely help give a good feel for what to expect. If you're a techno-geek like me, being able to plot a computer-generated map using the detailed GPS coordinates will prove highly invaluable (though I have discovered a few critical--though easily identifiable and correctable--errors in the coordinates), and with a handheld GPS I don't need to worry about the often-unusual orientation of the printed maps. For those of us who love exploring, this book will make a fantastic resource.

I bought this, and another book about place to go off-roading in so-cal. This book is like the bible of southern California.
Not only does it have extensive trail location and info, it is a virtual encyclopedia of So-Cals towns, cities, how they got their start. In addition it has extensive info on native species, of plants and animals, important founders of California, and much more. I would definitely recommend it.

Here is the situation, you want to do some exploring and follow a certain dirt track and need to know the condition of it, length, and what you can expect for scenery, also, can your pick-up right from the factory handle the trail?

You swing into the "Poison Raven" shop and ask the senior manager, you have socks older than this kid but it's this or nothing, and you ask for info; Is the scenery worth it? " Yaahh, its awesome back there, Rad."
IS the trail passable , are there washes with mud or water in them, can a stock short bed make the trail, is there alot of scramble, boulder moving, or is it a trail an 'old man' of 40 can handle in an Escalade?

The answers are " Yaahh, its Rad. most is lame, but some is gnarly, no prob in your hummer dude, rock on and git er dun"

When you leave the manager turns to an employee and says, " Oh, Wait, was that old dude talking about the Yellow Cat or Hell's Backbone?...oh, dude, I screwed that up big time..." and they laugh and you end up screwed...big time..

Instead of that scenario buy this book and stop only for gas, water and a shovel, and "git er dun" on your own.

Even if you only have a stock SUV you will love this book, it will open up more areas to you than you will believe, even in places you think you already know.

Having explored canyon country in Utah for many years we bought this book and then went out and followed every track we always had wondered about.

It is not perfect in every way, but it gives you a great idea of what to expect, take the time to read the entire route description and then go out and follow one and see how things line up.This will also get you in line with how the authors are thinking and writing, understanding that things here change day by day, and year to year, but a trail that is a Difficulty 2 or 3 won't become a 6 and a scenery rating of a 10 doesn't become a 4 either.
Keep in mind this guide can not tell you it rained like hell yesterday and the washes are a foot of mud, or that there is bad trail damage from the ijits that went through ahead of you and tore hell outta the crossings and kept on going.
But , that said, it will tell you how long you will be in a wash, how many washes there are to cross, how many rivers or creeks, and gives a rough idea of the scenery you can expect and most importantly to us, the difficulty of the trail.

At 4 times the going price I'd still buy these gudies, they are a fantastic shortcut to exploring, and also takes the worry out of wondering where a track ends up, and if it does connect to another track how bad is that one?

Bottom line also-- this is NOT the beaches on D-Day----you don't HAVE to keep going, we can go back and call it a day.

Many of the trails that we decided from their rating were too much for our truck or suv we planned on hiking on foot, or mtn bike, without the guide we probably wouldn't have ever turned off onto these trails to begin with. Worth every penny and then some.

If you like to travel the back roads this is the book for you. It has excellent information, along with maps, GPS and history. Well worth the money.

I've got a lot of Utah guides but this one is the best by far. Very good maps at different scales. Trail diagrams with loads of point of interest. Detailed trail logs with turn by turn directions, scenic ratings, difficulty ratings. A great historical section about the people and places of Utah. This one has it all. We leave in one week!!

I have found this title to be very interesting, and very informative at the same time. It provides a great deal of background information and historical facts for each of the trails it details. The book also provides some historical and other information on the state of Utah, including info on the types of wildlife and plantlife that can be found in the different climate of Utah.

It includes many trails, all over the state. As the title suggests, mosts of the trails are ones that give you an alternate route, or backcountry route, to or through a city/town. The only reason that I didn't give it five stars is that I would like to see some more maps of the smaller, shorter off road trails in Utah.

Overall, this is an excellent resource to have, and I have found it very enjoyable. There are great trails and wonderful details in the book. I would say it is worth the buy.

Backcountry Adventures are the best guides of their kind out there. Odometer references, descriptive text, and (especially) GPS coordinates make these easy and foolproof to use. The map and index for the respective areas, Southeast, Central, etc., make planning your route easy as the different routes are color coded with their page numbers referenced. Good sampling of human interest content also, giving some history, flora and fauna, and geology information.

My only criticism is that these guides should be spiral bound, and pages removable. This would allow the book to lie flat and pages and/or sections could be removed to make it more concise for use on a motorcycle or bicycle. These guides are the size of a mid sized phone book and are too big and heavy for anything but automotive use.

This book is great. If you have a H3 and love it, you need to read this book.

You will learn things about your H3 that make you just sit in it and go....OOOHHH yea there that is...

It opens a whole new view on how a new auto is made.....

You won't be sorry....

If you own an H3, or are interested in the development of hard-core offroad vehicles, you will like this book. If you don't, then I would pass on this title.

A very well done book. From the concept through assembly at the factory, a very interesting book for those interested in the H3.
Excellent pictures throughout.

This is a great reference for repairing or "fixing" any part of a Toyota Truck between the years of 1970 to 1986. My father gave me his Toyota 4Runner and it was in great shape. I had a liver transplant and was given a wish from "The Make a Wish Foundation". I decided to "beef" up my truck so that I would be able to drive down main street and have one of the hottest vehicles for a high school student. Make a Wish, put in a new interior, a automatic transmission (from a manual), cleaned the engine, and gave my truck a terrific paint job. When I received the truck from them, it started to have problems. I turned to my Chilton Toyota truck manual, and in less than two weeks, I had "weeded out the bugs". My friends oohed and aaahhed at my glorious vehicle.

From the chilton manual, I found troubleshooting tips, great black-and-white pictures( so you know exactly what part your looking at, and helpful safety precautions. This book also has a sixteen full color page section to help you with tuning and repairing. At the beginning, it gives you the places of where to find your vin numbers and before you begin, a checklist for the tools needed. This book probably saved my fame from becoming a total mess. Everyone including I, loved that truck. And I owe it all the "Chilton's Repair and Tune-Up Guide for Toyota Trucks 1970-1986".

This is a great reference for repairing or "fixing" any part of a Toyota Truck between the years of 1970 to 1986. My father gave me his Toyota 4Runner and it was in great shape. I had a liver transplant and was given a wish from "The Make a Wish Foundation". I decided to "beef" up my truck so that I would be able to drive down main street and have one of the hottest vehicles for a high school student. Make a Wish, put in a new interior, a automatic transmission (from a manual), cleaned the engine, and gave my truck a terrific paint job. When I received the truck from them, it started to have problems. I turned to my Chilton Toyota truck manual, and in less than two weeks, I had "weeded out the bugs". My friends oohed and aaahhed at my glorious vehicle.

From the chilton manual, I found troubleshooting tips, great black-and-white pictures( so you know exactly what part your looking at, and helpful safety precautions. This book also has a sixteen full color page section to help you with tuning and repairing. At the beginning, it gives you the places of where to find your vin numbers and before you begin, a checklist for the tools needed. This book probably saved my fame from becoming a total mess. Everyone including I, loved that truck. And I owe it all the "Chilton's Repair and Tune-Up Guide for Toyota Trucks 1970-1986".

This book will pay for itself by helping to get a good deal on a used car or, perhaps more importantly, avoid a bad deal. The author does an excellent job speaking in layman's language helping us understand the used car market. He provides lots of questions I hadn't thought of and includes sources to gain information. I especially appreciate the thorough list of things to check before a used car is purchased. This information will save our family significant money!

Kyle Busch is a man who is 41 years old and lives in Erie Pa, He is a teacher and counsiler and wrote a great book called "Drive For The Best Price: How to Buy a Used Automobile, Sport-Utility Vehicle, or Minivan and Save Money" This is a great book which can help any person of any age buy a good vehicle for there needs and price they are willing to pay. This book is great for people who don't know much about cars and are wanting to get a good used car for a reasonable amount of money. I would recomend this book to any body who is wanting a new used car. Also I believe that this writer did a great job on this book. He was able to give my parents great tips on being able to save some money on a used car that my father bought last week. My dad saved $7,500 on his car and would not know what he would have done without this great help guide for cars.

First introduced in 1997, the ML 320 and the ML 430, have exceeded all expectations for the first SUV from Daimler Crysler. This is the book that outlines the development and the many ideas that came together to make this one of the most desirable trucks on the road! Many excellent photos by Road and Track author, John Lamm. The book also outlines a brief history of Mercedes-Benz. The factory photos are also included with a story of how Vance, Alabama, USA, was selected from all the sites that were on the table. This is a must read for the car enthusiast and a definite collectible for the Mercedes-Benz owner! Remember the old advertising phrase from Packard? "Ask the man who drives one!" The same applies for the Mercedes-Benz ML 320!

This is an excellent account of the development of the M-class sports utility vehicle by Mercedes-Benz. Replete with many pictures and stories about the genesis of this truck, I found the book informative and visually interesting.

Dear Sirs: I would like to know if you have the manual of maintenance for the Blazer 1997 from General Motors

i need to review the repair and tools to the fuse box between the fuel systems or pump thank

A book about SUVs? Aren't they just gas-guzzling road hogs that destroy the environment? Give me a break. SUVs deserve their place among the most respected vehicles ever conceived. And Chapman's encyclopedic knowledge of them (and cars in general) is on display in this highly readable and thorough book. It's loaded with great pictures (contemporary and vintage) and is written in a style that is anything but technical and dry. If you're a car-lover (or even if you're not) this is a great book. And if you're an SUV-lover in particular, this is a no brainer.