It's a topic of hot debate anytime a group with a shared interest gets together: What's the best (fill in the blank) ever? It doesn't matter if you're talking quarterbacks, film noir movies, Kentucky Derby winners, or World War II fighter planes. If you put a bunch of buffs together, they'll eventually discuss-or, more likely, argue over-their favorites.
Off-roaders are no different, including those of us who are also magazine editors. While researching other 30th anniversary articles, I ran across story after story about what were purportedly the "best ever" 4x4s. In the process I wondered if there was any common ground in the opinions of three decades' worth of staffers. Was it possible that there was one "all-time best" 4x4 that every generation of 4-Wheel & Off-Road editors could agree on?
To find out, I compiled every "best ever," OE-vehicle-related story I could find and tallied the results. The articles stretched as far back as October 1984 and were as recent as September 2006.
In the first "best" story in 1984, then-Editor Michael Coates summed up the staff's (and some special guest voter's) opinions. Some stories had each staffer choose a vehicle and explain why it was best. In July 1997, then-Editor David Freiburger and then-Feature Editor Rick Pw chose 10 best 4x4s in several categories, including mud runners, rockcrawlers, tough-truck racers, and "just plain coolest." (For scoring purposes, each vehicle in that story received one vote even if it was mentioned in more than one category. One of their categories, tow vehicles, was left out of the final tally because of its pavement orientation.)
The staff took the grand-theft-auto approach in June 2001 by naming the "10 4x4s We'd Steal to 'Wheel." And in 2006, we ran four stories in successive months to give each editor (and Art Director Alan Huber) an entire article to voice his opinion.
And now, the winners, in ascending order.
The One-Vote Wonders
Not all the Jeeps on this list are Pw's choices, but a lot of them are. Just three of the top 4x4s chosen by Coates in '84 made the bottom of the list. The rest scored higher. Does that mean Coates and company were extra sharp, or that most of the best 4x4s had already been built by 1984?
The '83-'84 Chevy S-Blazer (seen here with its bigger brother in a 1983 PR photo) got a vote from the 1984 staff because it had the "right stuff." "We also suspect it's destined to stay [in the top 10] because aftermarket parts are finally becoming widely available, meaning that the S-10 Blazer will continue to be refined into a better 4x4." | 
In his June 2006 story "Best 4x4s on Earth," Jerrod Jones scored Hummer's only points, mentioning both the H1 Alpha (seen here) and H3. "If you can convince me that this isn't the most heavy-duty stock 4x4 ever built, then I'll swallow paint chips," he claimed. | 
The '84 Jeep Cherokee got just one vote, and that was back when it was new and the 4x4 of the Year. Rubicon Trail boss Mark Smith said, "I consider the Cherokee to be the all-around, ideal off-road vehicle. It's got everything-ground clearance, room inside, and comfort." |
* '60-'63 AM General M-422 Mighty Mite (July '97)
* AM General Hummer H1 Alpha (June '06)
* '62-'66 Chevrolet Carryall (July '97)
* '73-'87 Chevrolet K10/20 (July '97)
* '83-'84 Chevrolet S-Blazer/GMC Jimmy (Oct. '84)
* '91 Chevrolet Crew Cab Camper Special (Sept. '06)
* Dodge M37 (Aug. '06)
* '72-'93 Dodge truck (July '97)
* '80-'84 Ford F-150/Bronco (Oct. '84)
* '99-and-up Ford Super Duty (June '01)
* '03 Ford Ranger FX4 (June '06)
* Hummer H3 (June '06)
* '53-'68 International fullsize (July '97)
* '98 Isuzu Trooper (June '06)
* '55-'81 Jeep CJ-5 (July '97)
* '57-'65 Jeep FC-150 (July '97)
* '82-'85 Jeep CJ-10 (July '97)
* '84 Jeep Cherokee (Oct. '84)
* '87-'95 Jeep Wrangler (July '97)
* '67-'71 Kaiser Jeepster Commando (July '97)
* '93 Land Rover Defender 110 (Dec. '92)
* '95-and-up Nissan Frontier Nismo (June '06)
* '86-'93 Toyota pickup (July '97)
* '97 Toyota FJ-80 Land Cruiser (June '06)
These Got Two Votes
There are just two imports on this list. Most everything else is old-school and fullsize. Is a pattern emerging?
Dodge's fullsize Ramcharger was chosen by Freiburger and Pw as a top-10 truck for mud running and tough-truck competition, and Coates liked it too. Well, he reported on Rod Hall liking it as everything from a race prerunner to a grocery getter. | 
"How can one vehicle spawn an entire category of 4x4s, yet waste away to nothing?" asked Pw about the fullsize Wagoneer in his Sept. '06 story. He pointed out that you could have "nearly everything available on current rigs, sans the government-mandated safety crap and focus-group convenience blather. That's right, the lowly fullsize Wagoneer...started the true SUV market we have today." | 
The straight-axle Toyota pickups (a '79 is shown here) made the '84 story as well as Freiburger and Pw's lists of top rockcrawlers and tough-truck racers. "Its combination of reasonable power, intelligent gearing, and an easy-to-modify suspension has made it far-and-away the favorite among the mini-4x4 crowd for years," wrote Coates in '84. |
* '69-'72 Chevrolet Blazer/GMC Jimmy (Oct. '84, Dec. '92)
* '73-'91 Chevrolet Blazer (July '97, June '01)
* '77-'87 Chevrolet K30 (July '97, June '01)
* '74-'91 Dodge Ramcharger (Oct. '84, July '97)
* '73-'77 Ford F-250/Highboy (Oct. '84, July '97)
* '78-'79 Ford Bronco (July '97, June '01)
* '78-'79 Ford F-350 (July '97, Sept. '06)
* Jeep Wagoneer (Aug. '06, Sept. '06)
* '76-'86 Jeep CJ-7 (Oct. '84, July '97)
* '94, '97 Land Rover Defender 90 (June '01, June '06)
* '79-'85 Toyota pickup (Oct. '84, July '97)