Advice purchasing a 4x4 in Dubai!

[redonettii]

Hello everyone, new member here. There are so many useful posts and I have really enjoyed reading them all. I am in the market for a 4x4 SUV to go camping, trail driving to wadis, up and down mountain roads (like Jabal Akhdar in Oman), and the odd desert camping trip / dune bash (not too extreme, just going up and over dunes mainly for movement from Point A to Point B across the desert. By the way, I have another car for daily driving which I enjoy, but it is a sports car, low to the ground, so I am looking for something that will offer something different.

My shortlist so far are the Toyota Prado (v6), Nissan Patrol Y61, Nissan Patrol Y62, Toyota Land Cruiser. I also heard that the Fortuner (v6) was good, but the newest generation does not have full time 4 wheel drive - will this be problematic? I was very interested in purchasing a Land Rover Discovery Sport, but after reading this forum I got discouraged as many people said it is not a true 4x4 due to lack of low range gearing and transfer case.

My question is, I would love to hear people's opinions on my shortlist - the best combination of comfort for a long range trip, and then off-road ability as well. I am attracted by the Prado for example due to its large fuel tank (150L), are there other cars with large fuel tanks as well? I also heard that although the Patrol is super popular, it isn't necessarily the best offroad car on sand due to its great weight. Is the 320HP V8 engine enough power for such a large car, or do I need to go for the 400HP VVEL DIG engine in the LE Platinum? 

Would be grateful for all your help!

[Heisem]

The Y61 is a beast in the desert, but its inline 6 cylinder 4.8L engine consumes alot of petrol, more than the Y62 V8. It will get you anywhere though. 

The Y62 is a heavy car, but its very comfortable to drive. Although it is advertised as good in the desert Id say its not as good as the Land Cruiser or the Prado offroad. But in good hands it is a capable car nonetheless. 

I'd go for the Land Cruiser, I think its a good balance of off-road and luxury and its good for long drives. You got the low gearing and difflock. 

However if you're going for the Y62 then get the 400 hp, its really powerful. (Make sure you get the one with difflock though) 

[redonettii]

Thanks @Heisem ! Budget wise, the Prado would be better for me - am I sacrificing a lot capability wise if I go for the Prado over the Land Cruiser due to budgetary constraints? I note that the Prado doesn't appear to have multi-terrain select modes, or crawl mode - which only the Land Cruiser has. Not sure how much I would need such features?

[Heisem]

@redonettii in that case go for the 4L V6 Prado, it is a very capable car. You don't need the crawl mode or multi terrain modes. People on this forum including myself never use this stuff anyways. In the desert most important is that you have traction control and abs switched off and the right tire pressure. I drive on 11-12psi on stock rims with Yokohama Geolandar tires, but my friend who also owns the same model FJ had a tire popout with his Dunlop at 13psi on same rims, so id say good tires are also important. 

[Gaurav]

Hi @redonettii welcome to Carnity and I hope to explain a bit about your shortlisted cars, so you can choose whatever fits the best based on my explanations.

• V6 Prado: Best combination of all the things that you expect from her, but minus the intermediate level off-roading in case you wish to do. It will be good for newbie to fewbie level, unless you trim or modify the front bumper. But it's adequately capable to reach to any decent level of off-roading (not extreme off course) in terms of power. For road it comes with comfy ride and features to check almost all the essential boxes.
   
• Y61 Patrol: Tiny bit lesser comfy for road, but super ready for off-road for any level in stock shape. And like Heisem mention super thirsty. I had older one 4.5 and on highway at 140 speed I could feel the fuel tank needle movement. Being 4.8 must be more of a fuel guzzler.
   
• Y62 Patrol: Best of all in terms of comfort and power but with limited off-road capabilities and unless you do serious bumper trimming, bash plates, lift kit etc. In stock state it's OK for newbie levels only if you drive it sensibly, the day miss the "sensibly" part front bumper will take a nasty hit. For fewbie level - I haven't seen any Y62 reaching there yet without breaking the bumpers, but recently seen 2020 Y62 model with very good clearance and they might survive better than the older shape.
   
• Land Cruiser: Same if not better than Y62 in terms of road comfort but with good off-road stance that can easily get you till fewbie drives without much headache. But again LC200 and Y62 are inherently heavy beast that require special skills to learn to offroad with such heavy cars.

If you are buying this 4x4 purely for off-roading then I would highly vote for Prado or Y61 Patrol, because no matter which type of offroading you will "eventually" like after few months (sand mostly), these two vehicles will scale to those needs perfectly.

Last but not least, if you don't have big family or big plans for visitors than SWB (short wheel base) Prado or Patrol will be more fun for off-roading in the long run. Short and nimble to go anywhere, light and powerful to scale to any off-road needs plus slightly lesser of fuel guzzler than LWB.

[Rahimdad]

Just to clear one thing here, last I heard Toyota does not provide the V6 for the SWB anymore. It seems because they are concentrating on telling the Ruba.

[redonettii]

Thanks @Gaurav, @Heisem for all your help! I have added the Fortuner V6 to my short-list on the recommendation of some friends - it is cheaper than the Prado, I was wondering whether that is because the Prado is a bit more luxurious, or does the Prado have some other mechanical or off-road features that the Fortuner lacks?

9 hours ago, Rahimdad said:

Just to clear one thing here, last I heard Toyota does not provide the V6 for the SWB anymore. It seems because they are concentrating on telling the Ruba.

Thanks @Rahimdad, I see that you drive a Pathfinder. Are the 2015+ Pathfinders also good offroad, or would you recommend sticking to the pre-2015 boxy-looking ones. Do all of them have 4x4 and low-range gear, or only the Offroad version?

[sertac]

In this list i would go for Y61 Patrol. It is all in one kind of very capable beast. Also i believe you will love to drive that on road as well. In this country Patrol means getting Respect on the road.

Y62 or Land Cruiser will be very heavy unless you need that big of space.

Prado V6 can be a good choice if you are sure you not goin to go for higher level drives.

Fortuner basically Hilux truck with closed bed. It is very capable but i don't think it will be much comfortable. 

Pathfinder new models are useless. Pre 2015 models are also not very capable unless you trim the bumpers and lift it. But you can look for Xterra. Xterra as well closed bed Nissan Frontier Truck. It has minimal comfort, but very high off road capability. 

[redonettii]

Just now, sertac said:

In this list i would go for Y61 Patrol. It is all in one kind of very capable beast. Also i believe you will love to drive that on road as well. In this country Patrol means getting Respect on the road.

Y62 or Land Cruiser will be very heavy unless you need that big of space.

Prado V6 can be a good choice if you are sure you not goin to go for higher level drives.

Fortuner basically Hilux truck with closed bed. It is very capable but i don't think it will be much comfortable. 

Pathfinder new models are useless. Pre 2015 models are also not very capable unless you trim the bumpers and lift it. But you can look for Xterra. Xterra as well closed bed Nissan Frontier Truck. It has minimal comfort, but very high off road capability. 

Thank you! Is Any XTerra OK? Do all of them have the required 4x4? I see that there is an offroad version, but apparently it is hard to find, I only find very high mileage ones that are still expensive.

[sertac]

Just now, redonettii said:

Thank you! Is Any XTerra OK? Do all of them have the required 4x4? I see that there is an offroad version, but apparently it is hard to find, I only find very high mileage ones that are still expensive.

%99 of Xterras you will find will be 4x4 some of the American imports might be 4x2 anyway get a GCC car for piece of mind. Off road version is full option package. It has better suspension and diff lock. Most of the Xterra owners here doesn't have Off Road package including me. It is not necessary. Try to get low mileage nice example it will serve you well. If you find a clean, low mileage Off Road package that will be the best deal. 

Try to get above 2011 model. Before 2011 models there is an issue called SMOD(you can google SMOD Xterra). Which means gear oil and coolant getting mixed in the radiator. But some says GCC versions are not effected. Personally i tried to avoid that and bought 2012 model.