Overlanding By Vehicle Or Bike?

[pauper]

By the time...

nevermind.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Ries-san, appreciate your comment.
I have spoken to a friend already established in the south of Chile and he said, no Bike trek due to my age!
I'll be sticking to SUV all wheel drive vehicle to see wide area of Argentina and some part of Chile, to see which
country best for my relocation destination.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I recommend the motorcycle ONLY if you have lots of experience and are in good shape. I had both and the trip still kicked my a$$. It was a blast, but was physically demanding.

Buy a used car in the US or Mexico. Get the correct title so you can cross borders. Drive it down here then sell it to someone for cash in the Pampa.

Good luck.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

I recommend the motorcycle ONLY if you have lots of experience and are in good shape. I had both and the trip still kicked my a$$. It was a blast, but was physically demanding.

Buy a used car in the US or Mexico. Get the correct title so you can cross borders. Drive it down here then sell it to someone for cash in the Pampa.

Good luck.

Thanks GS_Dirtboy-san, Yes I have been riding Bikes since I was about 16 y/o and now just became senior citizen LoL !!
Just sold my Yamaha R1 and having the FJR sport cruiser currently, much more plushy to ride...The R1, was draining my stamina out fast.
Couldn't to cope with the constant urge to open the throttle wide and always trying to gunning it down, just to feel the adrenalin pumping each and every time..However lately, no matter how many hours at the Gym, just do't have it anymore...

Can One sell a foreign titled vehicle in Argentina? I have been told that in Paraguay the Nipponese there told me very doable but to bring the 4 door Toyota pick up truck instead and 4wd no less due to their red clay and when rains it gets pretty muddy..

I will be throwing a few questions more when needed, do appreciate your honest input despite..

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

I would stick with the car, but I am in a similar age group as you.
As far as gatling guns- not really needed- you take a boat around the Darien Gap, which is the worst stretch in terms of bandits.
Central America is more dangerous than most of south america- I am sure there are parts of rural Columbia you would want to steer clear of, but in general South America has very little active daily small arms fire.
I have a friend who is a raptor expert, (eagles, hawks, that sort of thing- not airplanes) he does a lot of work and research in Chile.
He has his american vehicle (a 4x4 Ford pickup) shipped direct from California to Chile, when he goes down for a season. This has worked well for him.

Ries-san, thank you for the infos.!

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

GS_Dirtboy-san, just thought about it, so since you are in the real estate business, can you assist me when getting there and deciding to
settle myself for good then needing to buy a land or a property. Do you only deal on real estate goods just in Bs As or elsewhere too?

 

[ghost]

A 4 WD Tundra will sell so fast your head will spin. And for twice what you paid in CA.

 

[ElQueso]

I have a friend who bought a 2011 Toyota Forerunner here, from a French couple who bought it in the US, shipped it to Venezuela, and spent a month or two driving through SA until they reached BA. It's still sitting in a garage because of the problems of nationalizing the vehicle after the 90 day window on having it in the country expired, and the fact that it changed owners while here. Just saying, things are not so simple in the long-term here with imported cars. If you are going to keep it here awhile, make sure you nationalize it so you can easily sell it or even drive it legally. Of course, part of nationalizing it will be paying the import duties and such.

Also, think of the spare parts issue you're likely to encounter related to import/export restrictions (who knows how long these will last?). I might consider buying a car here instead of shipping it in, depending on what your base of operations would be.

I've driven through the north of Argentina and all through Paraguay quite a few times, and up and over to Cordoba once. Motorcycles may be easier to maneuver the roads here simply because it can be really difficult to pass a line of trucks moving around 70-80 kph (mostly two-lane country roads, few four-lane highways), but you're doing the right thing, I think, with the car. Just be ready to be real patient on the road (I'm not!). But roll all the windows down and you can still take in the fresh air (well, unless you're behind a smokey truck!) and have the convenience of sitting in a chair and relaxing while driving

 

[mc kenna]

IF i may......Dear Hybrid
By no means i want to offend you in any way,but for a person your age,considering a long trip by motorcycle is a little on the risky side and i wouldn't even consider a trip down the Panamerican hwy due to the political problems in LATAM and much,less doing it alone..... so my opinion on Panam hwy is a no go either by bike or truck
Now about importing a truck into Argentina... i have some personal experience on the matter, which i 'd be happy to share with you via pm if you'd like.
Things to consider when importing a vehicle ,besides the huge cost between shipping and paperwork and not counting the time you have to invest doing so. might make you change your mind.
But the main problem today in Argentina is the lack of replacement parts,(for whatever political reason, let's not get into that)
To give you and idea how serious it is, there are some tire sizes not available in Argentina at the moment and there's no projection when they are gonna be available.... so as you see , it doesn't need to be something complicated as for instance an electronic part to leave you stranded for who knows how long in the middle of where you don;t wanna be.
What i would recommend is looking into a local made vehicle(peugeot partner) comes to mind, being that is made locally with very little foreign components, very efficient fuel wise with a diesel and roomy to local standards(shares replacements parts with citroen berlingo and with renault kangoo)
I think for someone like you and what you intend to do would be the prefect vehicle.......lets not be fooled by 4wd vehicles .....around here a 4wd means you are gonna get stuck further out there where no one can get to you(please take into account triple A won't come to get you if you ventured to far and towing companies a locally owned)all of this based on you travelling alone,( two 4wd vehicles travelling together is a different story)
And the beauty of all this is that you can get a brand new one for under 15k dollars( at blue rate)
I hope you make down here soon and start enjoying this country before you get any older especially if you are going to be doing a lot of driving.
Driving down here is way different than the bay area,i have 20 plus years of driving commercially over there and never had a wreck and here ,in some cases i had to use up all of my driving experience to avoid accidents out in the pampas where if you get in a wreck,the first ones at the scene at gonna be the caranchos
I hope that helped some

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Thank you, Mc Kenna, no offense taken, it is just reality that everyone gets at one stage to be an "Anciano" and no fighting abouts that.
I was planning my journey of headding south across Tijuana, Mexico and keep on traversing, no sight seeing, just drive and before hitting other central American countries, just put the vehicle on a ship to Colombia or Ecuador then carry on from there, or, from Colombia make connection to Argentina. Got to study the map and read about security in the region to be prepared for this upcoming trip.

Being a Toyota man, one always and only to use this marque, despite the opportunity to be driving something else. I'm sure the the Citroen and the Peugeout are great but no other marques than the Toyota or its upscale brand, the Lexus to be consumed by this old fella ! Besides, I could be procuring a locally made Toyotas but if ever registering to my name, then won't be able to take it out of Argentina terra ever. Now if driving a vehicle with California license plate and vehicle belonging to the USA no Lat Am inmmigration or border control will create any problem for me and be much easier to manage. I wanting to cover a vast geography area of Argentina and Chile to see if those countries is the right ones for my retirenment. And if everything else fails, the Paraguay Japanese expats wanting to purchase my South America trek-mobile there, easy to get rid of it...But they wanting me to bringing in this vehicle seen below.

Toyota's Tacoma Double Cab 4x4 pick up truck...