Haven't driven the VX in a while (she's apart waiting to get the roof repainted), but when I did I really didn't ever use the back seat. It's so hard to in and out of the back seat that I never offered to take people anywhere, although it was fun to watch people try to get in and out when I did. When heading out to Moab or any other serious trip I would fold the back seat up to give myself as much cargo room as possible. I eventually ended up adding some quick release pins to the back seat pivot points so I could take it out when needed. The back seat is NOT light so it's a bit of a wrestling match every time I take it out and put it in, but it works. I can have the back seat when needed, but can totally get it out of the way when I need to cargo room.
I would have to hunt around a bit, but a long ago member (Grandpa Bob) set his VX up as an adventure rig. He had removed his back seat and filled the cargo area with storage and a bed. Pretty sweet set-up. I was told that he did the Rubicon Trail in his VX.
"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair."
-Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless