• Home
  • Projects
    • Overland OC Atlas
      • Taxa Outdoors Woolly Bear Trailer 9 Months Later
      • TAXA Outdoors: Tiger Moth vs Woolly Bear | Which One?
      • Spring In or Space Out | H&R Adventure Raising Springs
      • fifteen52 Traverse MX x Falken Wildpeak A/T3W
  • Gear
  • Events
    • Family Campout
  • Blog
  • About
    • Our Story
  • Home
  • Projects
    • Overland OC Atlas
      • Taxa Outdoors Woolly Bear Trailer 9 Months Later
      • TAXA Outdoors: Tiger Moth vs Woolly Bear | Which One?
      • Spring In or Space Out | H&R Adventure Raising Springs
      • fifteen52 Traverse MX x Falken Wildpeak A/T3W
  • Gear
  • Events
    • Family Campout
  • Blog
  • About
    • Our Story

Overland OC Atlas

April 16, 2020

Taking a vehicle from dealer specs to passion project takes time, planning and resources. When I decided to begin my overlanding journey it was with the intent to travel with my family using a vehicle that didn’t need too many upgrades to make it capable of what I wanted to do. This led me to my first option, the Lexus GX 460. Based on the Land Cruiser Prado platform this had the blueprint of a mountain climbing machine with mall crawler comforts.


2018 Lexus GX 460 Premium

The GX platform has remained untouched for over a decade and if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Those design queues make this vehicle appeal to a certain group of drivers. The quality and craftsmanship is Lexus throughout and you would be remise to think that such a well appointed SUV could take you from pavement to dirt without breaking a sweat. As much as the family and I enjoyed everything the GX had to offer we started to long for modern touches like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on a touchscreen display with USB ports and a panoramic roof. Enter the Volkswagen Atlas…

Volkswagen Atlas SEL Premium

I already know what some people are saying… “Why go from a Lexus GX, body on frame to a VW Atlas unibody design?” The answer is simple, I wanted to give it a try and VW covered the 2019 model with 6yr/72k mile warranty. Made in the USA and featuring a spacious interior cavern, this 4MOTION Atlas fit our needs and would be a fun project to convert for overland use.

VW Atlas Specs
– SEL Premium w/4MOTION
– 12.3 Display x Digital Cockpit
– 20 inch Mejorada Wheels
– Panoramic Sunroof
– 12 Speaker Fender Sound
– Dual Tone Leather
– Running Boards
– Towing Package (5000 pounds)

Overland OC Future Upgrades
✔ fifteen52 Traverse MX Wheels
✔ Falken Wildpeak A/T3W
✔ iKamper Skycamp 2.0
✔ H&R Coilover Lift Springs
– Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform
– Batwing Awning
– Solar Panel
✔ TAXA Outdoors Woolly Bear
– Long Travel Gas Tank
– Rock Sliders
– Baja Design Lights
– B2B Wookie Pipe

Luckily, Volkswagen created the Basecamp Concept to showcase the capabilities of their first ever 7-passenger Atlas as an overland platform. Using this as the blueprint I had a clear path to create the Overland OC edition. And with that… check back often to see how the build is coming along.

Volkswagen Atlas Basecamp Concept
atlasbuildgxlexusoverlandVolkswagen
Share

Project Vehicles

You might also like

TAXA Outdoors: Tiger Moth vs Woolly Bear | Which One?
June 4, 2020
Spring In or Space Out | H&R Adventure Raising Springs
April 28, 2020
fifteen52 Traverse MX x Falken Wildpeak A/T3W
April 21, 2020
  • Categories

    • Camping
    • Cigars
    • EDC
    • Events
    • Featured Reviews
    • Food
    • Gear
    • Lifestyle
    • Project Vehicles
    • Reviews
    • Uncategorized
  • Recent

    • Overland OC Family Campout Event
    • Unboxing | Joolca HOTTAP v2 Nomad Kit
    • Taxa Outdoors Woolly Bear Trailer 9 Months Later
    • Joolca HOTTAP V2 | The Best Shower System for Overlanding
    • Showering Outdoors | Hike Crew Portable Propane Shower Review
  • Free Overland OC Stuff



  • INSTAGRAM


©2020 O V E R L A N D O C | G E T O U T D O O R S