Hi gang!

Up until now I've only bought properties (and expansions for properties) so that I could make more money. A good strategy for a grinder no doubt, but it does leave little room to get some nice things to actually play with. Things like different cars for example. So far I've basically only used 3 vehicles: my Oppressor MkII, my Carbonizarre sports car and of course my Duke 'o' Death.

But ever since I managed to grab the Facility and the Avenger I figured that it is now time to slowly start building up a bit of a collection. And since the Facility was my most recent purchase I think that it might be a good idea to start with some military equipment. Should complement my Avenger nicely ;)

Anyway... I'm not the kind of player who wants to have everything. I'm only interested in stuff which appeals to me and which can also be actually useful (especially with the military stuff).


Very simple: you can't use everything at once. If you drive the Rhino tank (or the Khanjali) then you can easily fire your gun while driving. But if you drive a military vehicle then the weapon is usually only accessible to the passenger or worse: it's also often located on the outside of the vehicle (like in the back for example) which isn't of much use if you play alone.

Fortunately there are some exceptions, sort off... And since two of my favorites are sold with a nice discount this week (May 9th to May 16th 2019) I figured that it might be helpful to share a bit of a review. Maybe this is useful for those of you who don't buy everything that becomes available at a discount but would like to make sure that a vehicle can actually appeal and be useful to you.

One way or the other though: you can't really go wrong with these three. Not even if you mostly play alone.


I basically started on my Facility (Route 68) and from there I went to the city where I started a ruckus to attract some police attention. I then make my way into the city and head over to the LS Customs located in Mesa where I'll try to make a stand against the LSPD, at least for a moment.

Do note that I'm not going to talk about stats and speed and how many rockets a vehicle can take, you can find that kind of info all over the Internet.

Instead I'm going to focus on some (ab)normal use and how well the vehicles behaved and handled themselves.

The Dune FAV (FAV stands for Fast Attack Vehicle) is a modified and weaponized version of the normal dune buggy which you can find in some parts of Sandy Shores. It's also prominently featured in the mission "Chopper trail" where you need to get one in order to follow a police chopper to a meth lab.

Now, the main reason this vehicle is included in my review is because I got it for free when I picked up GTA 5 thanks to the criminal enterprise starters pack. But honestly? This thing is actually quite good, especially if you can apply some bunker upgrades to it.

I also like it because it's decently cheap to buy and it can be a nice vehicle to have, especially because of its mounted machine gun. The main advantage of this thing is that you can hop from the drivers seat into the passenger seat where you can operate the weapon.



As you can see in the first image above the dune buggy doesn't have much armor and it's noticeable. You'll be quite vulnerable in this thing, so even though it can be used as an attack vehicle this thing is at its best if you use it to avoid or outrun your enemies. And when you're driving through open and rough terrain you'll have little problems with that.

On the positive side the lack of any solid armor also means that you'll be able to fire your own guns from inside.

And the handling is really good, especially if you upgrade most options in an MOC or Avenger (things you'd also apply to a normal car like armor, engine and optionally a turbo feature).

Of course the FAV does have its limits, don't expect to get over the guard railing....

But don't let this fool you... If you pass some of the rougher terrain, for example a bit of a mountain and you have a section which is mostly stone and such then there's a good chance that the dune buggy can still scale all that.

And if you managed to unlock some upgrades in your bunker then you can turn this into a pretty deadly vehicle!



Seriously, the sooner you can switch your bunker to go from only producing (= making money) to producing and research (= also unlocking stuff, so it'll make less money), the better it'll be for you in the longer run! Some of the research can be quite invaluable. And one good example of that are proximity mines, as shown above.

I assume you know these from Ammunation? And if not: proximity mines are weapons you can purchase there, you can carry up to 5 mines at once, and the best part is that you can simply throw them on the ground and then wait for an enemy to drive over it. After that: b000m and they'll be (hopefully) dead. Do be careful because if you find yourself on that piece of road later on while no one has set off the mine then... you may get the 'honor' of doing so yourself :)

So, the cool thing about the bunker upgrade is that it can load an endless supply of these proximity mines onto certain vehicles, such as the dune buggy. And that allows you to blast everything that's chasing you, like I'm doing here with the LSPD.



Here I'm up to 5 stars (easily achievable if you keep blasting cops with proximity mines) but as you can see I've also taken quite a few hits. Which is easy to happen when you have to cope with road blocks and cops that are firing at you (also keep those NOOSE vehicles in mind).

As a result I didn't really manage to make a stand in front of the LS Customs because once I stopped to hop into the passenger seat and start firing my gun I had to cope with both choppers and police officers who were all chasing at me....

This didn't take long to happen...

Yah, and when that happens you'll have to get it back from the cops again because your car will end up being impounded.

So once again: this vehicle is at it's best if you keep avoiding your enemies. But that doesn't mean it's totally helpless, definitely not! The mounted weapon can be deadly, especially when upgraded and it's ideal to set some kind of a trap:



If any cop comes down here they'll be dead (some already are). And since you can quickly hop back into the driver seat it's easy to retreat a bit further afterwards to make your getaway.

But yeah, for quick missions this car can be really good. Especially if those missions happen out in the Senora desert or other rough terrain but its small size will also have advantages in the city; you can squeeze through some pretty narrow gaps with this thing!

This thing is totally amazing and by far my favorite military vehicle so far!

Now, I am a bit biased here because the very moment I noticed that it was available in GTAO I had already set my mind on getting one, because I've played with this thing before in GTA IV. So I was quite curious to see how they would implement this in 5.

In case you're interested then here is a nice Youtube video which shows you the mission "Caught with your pants down" from the GTA IV DLC 'The Balad of Gay Tony'. That mission is a classic (Yusuf Amir for the win). This video also features the APC and as you can see a lot has changed!

But I'll say this again: this thing is amazing!



So first the handling.... just as the Dune buggy the APC has no problems with going through rough terrain. And stone sides such as those shown above are also absolutely no problem for the APC to pass. This thing can scale just about everything.

As you can see it also easily plows through traffic, even larger vans stand no chance against it. But do you notice how the front gets raised? That's because it actually tries to run over cars as well. Cars, guard rails, fences... all those obstacles mean nothing for the APC!

And the best part is that, unlike the dune buggy, the APC actually has quite a bit of good armor which keeps you safe.



So here I'm back again at the LS Customs in Mesa and as you can see the LSPD doesn't stand a chance here. Also notice that my health is still pretty high despite the 5 star wanted level and getting shot at from almost every angle. As before it's quite easy to hop from the drivers seat into the passenger seat (provided that you're standing still) and you'll notice that things worked out as soon as you see the crosshair.

The cannon is very good. It can easily destroy cars and better yet: can also be aimed high enough to actually engage helicopters as well. As long as they're not flying too high above you of course:



But be well aware that this thing does not make you invulnerable! See, although it has some really good armor you have the best protection at the back. The rear end of this thing is completely bullet proof, but the front and the sides are not because of its windows, and that means that once you start dealing with enemies that can come up closer (or snipers maybe?) then you'll eventually die anyway.





So here I'm back getting chased by the cops and on my way to LSIA. Now let's say for the sake of argument that I called for my Avenger but it got placed on the beach. Now what?

Well....



Then you simply go over there because this thing can even go through water! That's right: it's amphibious which means that you can drive as easily through water as you can drive over land. Probably needless to say but that barrier in front of me? Not a problem, you just drive over it and if you keep some decent speed you'll hop right back into the water as well.

Now, it does have a few weak points... If you're in the water and you drive up against a wall or something then it can be a bit tricky if you get 'stuck'. You're not really stuck but for some reason it can be difficult to move away from the wall again. It also doesn't help that going backwards in the water can be quite tedious with this thing: very slow, not very manoeuvrable and sometimes it seems you're not moving at all.

But other than that it's very easy to 'drive' through water.

This is what beaches were made for: getting us out of the water ;)


The dune buggy is a two seater (driver + passenger), the APC can hold up to four players: one driver and three passengers where the person next to the driver is also the main gunner.

You can also apply proximity mines to the APC (assuming you unlocked this in your bunker research) which are extremely useful, also because of its very solid rear armor. The rear is bullet proof but also pretty resilient to explosions (for example from cars blowing up because of a proximity mine).

Unfortunately you can't use your own weapons as driver, but from what I read online the passengers in the back will be able to do that. So it helps to bring friends with this thing :) The cannon can be replaced by a missile launcher (if you unlocked that) but I wouldn't bother to be honest. The main problem is that you can only bring a limited amount of missiles while the cannon can shoot an endless amount of rounds. Another issue is that those missiles wouldn't lock on.

The best combination of military equipment in the game?

Combining the Avenger with this thing is deadly. I've tried this a few times now and it worked perfectly: move the Avenger over the water in front of the beach and engage auto pilot. You'll be high enough to be (relatively) safe from any attackers on the beach.

Then simply hop into the APC and drive out. The water will break your fall and because the APC can drive through water you'll soon get back to the surface from where you can attack the beach, if you brought friends then you can get full support from the Avenger as well.

Imagine the Avenger doing a carpet bombing on the beach and during that distraction some other folks drive up with the APC and start blasting from the seaside!

I can't help be convinced that you can do some serious damage this way, especially if you make sure to use options like ghost organization and 'off the radar'.

So yeah, the APC is most definitely my favorite military vehicle in the game so far!

The Insurgent can be purchased in 2 versions: there's the non-weaponized version which can be used as a personal vehicle. And you can purchase a weaponized version but that wil become a Pegasus vehicle, so nothing personal which you can store in your garage.

Fortunately this is where the MOC and Avenger can help: you can actually upgrade the insurgent to become a custom version. In other words: a personal vehicle. And the result can be seen above :)

Now, as you can probably see the cannon is positioned in the middle of the vehicle which means that you can't easily get there from the drivers seat. Although this could be considered a bit of a con the insurgent will more than make up for that with its insane armor.



Just as the APC the insurgent can easily move through traffic, but it will have more difficulty to deal with the bigger armored police vans, as can be seen here. But please note my nearly full health; although you're definitely not invulnerable in this thing the armor is noticeably useful!

The only (minor) downside of the insurgent is that you will have to get out in order to access the main gun. But it's actually quite easy... Either you can climb on top and then enter the cannon from above, or (much easier): you keep the 'enter car' key pressed for a moment and then you won't enter the vehicle as driver but as passenger (actually as the gunner):



And then it's time to blast away:



The cannon is very good and will make short work of any enemies. However you are very exposed there and that makes it somewhat easy for enemies to shoot at you. The cannon does have some armor plating which keeps you safe, but there's only so much that it can do:



Still, there are some very useful advantages here. If you are getting shot then why not hop back into the insurgent? In the insurgent you'll have better protection than you have when being exposed as a gunner. Another advantage is that you can also use your normal weapons inside the insurgent, so even if you do need to take some cover then you won't be fully helpless.

Just keep in mind that you can't easily hop back into the driver seat again, you first need to exit the vehicle and then enter it again.


The main problem with cars, especially if you get into a few collisions, is that your lights will be gone in no time. Well, not so much with this one:



Here I've been fully shot up, you can even see that one of my rear lights got destroyed, yet I still have full light in front. How does that work you wonder? Simple:



... they placed those lamps much higher up which makes them almost impossible to destroy by merely crashing into other cars. That is the kind of stuff you'd expect from a military vehicle in my opinion, and the insurgent more than delivers!

Three military vehicles which each have their strengths and weaknesses. But it is that versatility which makes these particular vehicles so extremely useful.


Pro's

• Pretty fast and very manoeuvrable.
  
• You can move between the driver & gunner seats.
  
• You can fire your own weapons from inside the vehicle.

Con's

• Doesn't have much armor, so you're quite vulnerable.
  
• Collisions with other cars can easily spin it out of control.
  
• Is at its best with some bunker upgrades (mostly proximity mines).

Pro's

• Extremely easy to handle, very good in rough terrain as well.
  
• Plows through traffic quite well.
  
• Can easily pass fences and guard rails too.
  
• You can move between the driver & gunner seats.
  
• Can move through water.
  
• Has very solid armor, but mostly in the back.

Con's

• You can't fire your own weapons from inside (at least not as the driver).
  
• Is vulnerable for bullets coming from the front and sides because of the windows.

Pro's

• Extremely well armored.
  
• Is very decent when moving through traffic.
  
• The front lights pretty much never go out because of their location.
  
• Handles very good in rough terrain, also has little issues with guard rails.

Con's

• You have to exit the car as driver to access the gun.
  
• Being the gunner also exposes you more to incoming fire.

And there you have it....

I hope this was useful for you. Keep in mind that at the time of writing both the Insurgent and APC can be bought with a serious discount. So maybe that's something to consider :)