How hard-core do you need?
Will you trailer it to an offroad site, or, expect it to resist damage and drive the family home after a day offroad?
Any Jeep is an obvious choice. Or maybe a Toyota 4-runner and its clones.
For family adventure use - I've had several 4x4's that were suitable to take the family far beyond the end of the road, since I have a mining claim deep in the Sierras. When there is a logging contract then the only hazard is to avoid the logging trucks. But after the first year or so with no logging, we are on our own to fill and climb through washouts or winch across slides that block the haul trails. (the places that wash out or slide are nearly straight up/down side slopes). Plus we often went in before the snow on the north-facing slopes cleared, driving on drifts that contained a dozen or so layers of compressed ice. (Average snowfall there is about 14 feet. After the freeze/thaw layers compress the snowpack, the drifts are like 4 ft of concrete but with rotten spots.)
I started with two Willys Wagons, then two Wagoneers. Finally the second Wagoneer would stand up to this abuse and never sustain any damage, although I always made it home (135 miles) with the prior rigs as well.
The best rig for this use was an 88 Trooper I bought new. Even today I think the early Troopers (88-91) are a good choice if you want something inexpensive and cheap to fix, maybe 5 -10 k cheaper than a Land Cruiser which is unquestionably more competent. The Isuzu 4 cylinder had more hp and better mileage than the 6 cylinder (Chev V6) but today the chev engine is the one with plenty of parts available. Also the Trooper LS, the premium model, had a limited slip differential and bigger tires. Avoid a Trooper prior to 88, those had carburetors and much lighter running gear. And if your state's smog rules allow it, you can replace the little citation v6 with a larger modern chev v6.
There's nothing wrong with having a good stereo and A/C in a rig that will go through someplace where your wife and passengers insist that they get out and watch, when you have to return through that bad spot.
re tight on space - Just leave it outside. For 16 years my Trooper was always parked outdoors and the paint looked fine, better than most 5 year old cars.
The final irony was I couldn't wear this Trooper out in 130k miles, 16 years. It was totalled by a falling tree limb.
