Advice on buying new SUV for off-road

[Gautam Banka]

When I joined Carnity earlier this year, I had same question in my mind. I have 4 cars with 3 of family member including me driving those. One of the Car was 2023 Prado GXR 4.0. I started driving Prado last year and did a lot of fun drive with a group of friends - but nothing serious ones. Later when I decided to upgrade my driving skill, I did few modifications in Prado and it is working amazing - Both for Onroad & Off Road. Spend around 30 grands and you can play with the car to intermediate levels. Tune the car for Lift, Bigger rims & tyres, some lights, basics like skid plate, tow hooks, integrated compressor and some recovery equipments.

Now I am done with the thought of buying a separate dedicated car for desert. This car works well for both my kids/ grocery / guest duty - as well as desert drives. I also love driving Prado ditching my RRS for added maneuverability.

[Nilakantan Erode]

@Gaurav Well said and thanks for your candid comments. Did not realise the drop in front and rear bumper on Pajero signature. And… yes… with more focus on off-road sooner or later (as this is the 2nd car) got to draw a line on the mall crawler requirements. On Y62… don’t want to spend more and learn more on navigating dunes in the same better to spend that time in quality off-road drives.  I will have a look at the FJC. Wife  already has her choice . I just need to get myself a good Offroader and live with some limitations in city driving.

@Pavel Pashkovskiy wrangler is very much in play. But… was not sure of the price and will look around for a good PREOWNED wrangler and FJC. Agree on safari …great off-road vehicle but I will look at other options as a personal preference!

[Nilakantan Erode]

@Gautam Banka  thanks for the perspectives on Prado. Seems difficult to get a good one in the PREOWNED market these days and new ones have long delivery time : but will continue to look out. 

[Lawrence_Chehimi]

If you ever consider a Y62, never ever think the V6 will take you anywhere. It barely moves on road. Can’t really understand how Nissan installed a v6 on such size suv.

I had a V8, it was a beast and extremely  comfortable, can’t be compared really to any car. But be prepared for heavy maintenance fees, you will be changing oils of diff, transfer case, transmission every 40K, be prepared for 4000plus on service. At 80k your bushings will be worn out and thats 6k aed for control arms. If you damage the steering column that’s 10k.

if you reach higher levels you will need to switch to serious offroad tires, but before that the car will require a bash plate and an offroad front and rear bumper as the stock will be destroyed on fewbie drives.

Reaching Intermediate, the car is very heavy and it will bounce and bottom out when hitting bumps at speeds, you will spend anywhere from 10k to 20k on suspension.

Remember anything can go wrong while in desert, so if it does, you will cry like a baby after spending all this money on it.😂(ask me about it)

But It is a vehicle that will badly spoil you.

moving on to the y61 safari, the engine is underpowered, all these videos you see on instagram are for heavily modified patrols. You will need headers, cold air intake with filter and a remap this is for a start, or you will be disappointed when it fails to make a big climb.

I drive an xterra now, it is not the most comfortable nor the most powerful, it just does the job. The squeaky suspension at the back might drive you crazy though.

the Fjc performs pretty much similar to the xterra, yet i guess more reliable on the long run. But very noisy on highways compared to the xterra. 

The newer wrangler is very light and has decent power, so obviously performs better than all, some people will hate me but it is the least reliable, you will start making warranty claims starting from the first year, it also gives you headaches on highways even at low speeds.

 

[Hisham Masaad]

6 hours ago, Nilakantan Erode said:

Thanks Folks. Appreciate the feedback. Very useful. Lots to think about. Feels great to get these views and be part of the community already.

@Krishna RThis is my 2nd car. I work from home... so whereas city driving will be there this should be a good off road vehicle especially when i wont have access to my primary vehicle (often used by my wife). I like the Y62 but as stated above...have concerns on the heaviness). 

@Frederic Pajero does look like a good option. Used to own this late 90s (when i used  to live and work in Dubai in a different / simpler times) but that time i was  a light / casual off roader. Don't think Carnity existed that time. Not sure of support / spare parts for Pajero with Mitsubishi deciding to stop production. should be okay for a few years...i guess! The Wrangler is good...but is not passing the wife approval test (critical stakeholder) for city driving!. Nissan V6 VTC..is of course very popular and proven off-road but if i start using this for city  ...not that comfortable. And ..again ...not something that would pass the wife test easily. Titanium V6..seems good for city ...even my wife likes it...but therein lies the catch..as i do feel that stock car may not do for dune bashing. Tough choices!

@Benjaminyes...doing some scenarios on city / off road usage. this is the key. Wrangler is good...just have to get some critical stakeholder across the line.  

@Rizwanm2Am on the look out for good used Prado / LC. not been easy to spot. Not surprised...but search will continue.

@Gaurav Rubicon does sound attractive...but i don't want to be overambitious. maybe can start with Sport / Sahara and have off some $s.  Will think about Patrol SWB. FJ sounds interesting. No new stcok though and will need to looout for used / preowned. Don't understand the visibility issue but will check out. I do like the Prado / LC options but . need to wait for a good one. New ones are anyway 2-3 months away at least.

@Hisham MasaadWill check FJC. Prado ...need to search more...new ones not avalbl readily and need to search more thoroughly for a good used one.

At his point of time...Pajero is one option ...relatively new and lowest cost option in my set.  Wrangler Sahara is another one...off road credentials are good ignoring relatively less city comfort and resale later . Will try to understand Y62 limitations and costs to make it fully off-road capable (cant believe i am saying this about a Patrol). City / casual off-road is fine for the stock vehicle i guess... ignoring fuel efficiency! And not sure i should be locking in this much in a new vehicle.

Need to also explore used vehicle options further. But some of the above feedback and other views in the forum provides a good starting point. Am certainly better off than i was a couple of days back when i was wondering how to start my off-road vehicle buying journey.

Again...lots of things to explore. The forum has given some good points to think about. A week back...I was not sure how / where i should start in my off road vehicle hunt. Feeling much better now!

FJ  2022 used to be available in a very good condition, low mileage and certified. I bought one last few months and as good as new. Hope they are still available, check Al Futaim.

[Stumpy]

When purchasing a car I always revert to what my local Dictators/cartel/UN use

No1.

Toyota, any Toyota will do.(Hilux, Pardo, FJ, landcruiser) Landcruiser is the best and they will all transport your 50cal with ease.

Best suited for: war zones 

reliable: will out last your natural life and your sons

 

No2.

Nissan, y61 is the pick, great out of the box with minimal mods required. wouldn’t look at the others, they make brilliant drive trains but the rest of the car tends to fall apart around it.

best suited for: light AA/rocket launcher work, transporting livestock.

reliable: will last until retirement 

No3.

mitsubishi, only look at the 3.8, great for the UN/governments on a budget. Does nothing particularly well but won’t let you down and parts are cheap.

best suited for: budget oriented dictatorships, old men towing caravans.

reliable: will last until the next civil uprising or cartel leadership challenge, probably 15-20 years

 

No4

Jeep, has not been used in anger since the Korean War, can not find any government or warlord who has ever put their trust in them. Great as long as you don’t dive above 80km/h. 
 

beat suited for: frat boys driving to the beach, make sure there is a workshop on the way. Also good in movies

reliable: should make it to the beach this weekend but will need a rebuild afterwards.

 

 

😂 I jest, get what you like, they all have pros and cons, some you have to spend a little more on as you move up drive levels and some are more difficult in the sand but that’s part of the challenge.

I would Always look at what the locals and tourist drives are using as that a good indicator as to what works (they are out there every day unlike us weekend warriors)

word of caution, get one that a good support mechanism as most workshops here are rubbish, the simpler more common car would be my pick as they would have the most experience repairing.

 

good luck.

 

p.s. get the super safari 

 

[Frederic]

39 minutes ago, Stumpy Paj said:

When purchasing a car I always revert to what my local Dictators/cartel/UN use

No1.

Toyota, any Toyota will do.(Hilux, Pardo, FJ, landcruiser) Landcruiser is the best and they will all transport your 50cal with ease.

Best suited for: war zones 

reliable: will out last your natural life and your sons

 

No2.

Nissan, y61 is the pick, great out of the box with minimal mods required. wouldn’t look at the others, they make brilliant drive trains but the rest of the car tends to fall apart around it.

best suited for: light AA/rocket launcher work, transporting livestock.

reliable: will last until retirement 

No3.

mitsubishi, only look at the 3.8, great for the UN/governments on a budget. Does nothing particularly well but won’t let you down and parts are cheap.

best suited for: budget oriented dictatorships, old men towing caravans.

reliable: will last until the next civil uprising or cartel leadership challenge, probably 15-20 years

 

No4

Jeep, has not been used in anger since the Korean War, can not find any government or warlord who has ever put their trust in them. Great as long as you don’t dive above 80km/h. 
 

beat suited for: frat boys driving to the beach, make sure there is a workshop on the way. Also good in movies

reliable: should make it to the beach this weekend but will need a rebuild afterwards.

 

 

😂 I jest, get what you like, they all have pros and cons, some you have to spend a little more on as you move up drive levels and some are more difficult in the sand but that’s part of the challenge.

I would Always look at what the locals and tourist drives are using as that a good indicator as to what works (they are out there every day unlike us weekend warriors)

word of caution, get one that a good support mechanism as most workshops here are rubbish, the simpler more common car would be my pick as they would have the most experience repairing.

 

good luck.

 

p.s. get the super safari 

 

This is the post of the year. @Carnitygive this man a medal and voucher for Vox Cinema !

[Bravoecho]

7 hours ago, Nilakantan Erode said:

@Gautam Banka  thanks for the perspectives on Prado. Seems difficult to get a good one in the PREOWNED market these days and new ones have long delivery time : but will continue to look out. 

@Nilakantan Erode I would agree with everything @Stumpy Paj has said. If you look past his poor sentence structure there is solid advice there.

Late last year I was in exactly the same situation and built excel spreadsheet comparing power to weight ratios, test drove lots of cars and got my list down to two cars:

* Y61 Patrol Short Wheel Base

* Toyota FJ Cruiser

The reason I picked these two is that I wanted something that had a short/medium wheel base which made cresting and navigating tight dunes easier, great power to weight ratios which helps you in those tight spots and last of all reliability.

I ended up buying the Y61 because a great car became available but would be equally as happy with the FJ.

[Frederic]

@Nilakantan Erodewe also need to clarify a little bit with what we define as offroading in the UAE. We generally see two types of Offroaders here in the UAE:

1. The occasional weekend explorer

Any Newbie or Fewbie level drive has enough excitement for you, and you bring your daily ride to the game, so you don't want to get your bumpers damaged. You prefer the easy calm stuff and prefers camping and doing gentle drives with existing farm tracks. You couldn't care less if your car cannot climb Faya from the front.

2. The addicted dune basher

After having done a few Newbie or Fewbie drives, the sand addiction kicks in hard and the entire week you are looking forward to deflating your tyres and heading out to find new tracks and up your level. You research a lot and do everything to master your skills and climb higher (not just on the dune but also in your skills). You love the thrill of ridge riding, criss crossing, and high paced drives.

Congratulations you are now an addict and will justify any expenditure  to remove your inhibitions.

 

The thing is, if you know that you will be staying in category 1, get yourself a reliable 4x4 with few creature comforts, plenty of space for the kids / camping gear / others, and enjoy the hobby. The Nissan Patrol Y62 falls into that category but many options are there.

BUT most people don't know if they will become that category 2 person. In that case everything changes, and you might become very disappointed, since you have bought a category 1 car and now you need to turn it into a category 2 car which will cost you a bit and will never do what you want it to do.

For that reason, you need to find the sweet spot of understanding what you want to do and finding the right tool (4x4) to do it. After offroading for about 5yrs with older dedicated offroad toy, i purchased a Patrol Safari which i use more for overlanding/camping and less for dune bashing adventures. I absolutely love it and yes it is underpowered in stock version but gets me anywhere and i found peace with what it is. I happily take out my Trooper for the more challenging stuff where i can rev out the engine to my heart's desire.

Long story short: Buy yourself a 4x4 that can master both categories:

* Prado or FJ. FJ needs no mods, Prado needs bash plate and bumper trim.

* Jeep Wrangler. no mods needed.

* Pajero. Needs bash plate and rear skid plate.

* Xterra second hand (up to 2015 model). no mods needed

 

 

 

[Hisham Masaad]

1 hour ago, Stumpy Paj said:

When purchasing a car I always revert to what my local Dictators/cartel/UN use

No1.

Toyota, any Toyota will do.(Hilux, Pardo, FJ, landcruiser) Landcruiser is the best and they will all transport your 50cal with ease.

Best suited for: war zones 

reliable: will out last your natural life and your sons

 

No2.

Nissan, y61 is the pick, great out of the box with minimal mods required. wouldn’t look at the others, they make brilliant drive trains but the rest of the car tends to fall apart around it.

best suited for: light AA/rocket launcher work, transporting livestock.

reliable: will last until retirement 

No3.

mitsubishi, only look at the 3.8, great for the UN/governments on a budget. Does nothing particularly well but won’t let you down and parts are cheap.

best suited for: budget oriented dictatorships, old men towing caravans.

reliable: will last until the next civil uprising or cartel leadership challenge, probably 15-20 years

 

No4

Jeep, has not been used in anger since the Korean War, can not find any government or warlord who has ever put their trust in them. Great as long as you don’t dive above 80km/h. 
 

beat suited for: frat boys driving to the beach, make sure there is a workshop on the way. Also good in movies

reliable: should make it to the beach this weekend but will need a rebuild afterwards.

 

 

😂 I jest, get what you like, they all have pros and cons, some you have to spend a little more on as you move up drive levels and some are more difficult in the sand but that’s part of the challenge.

I would Always look at what the locals and tourist drives are using as that a good indicator as to what works (they are out there every day unlike us weekend warriors)

word of caution, get one that a good support mechanism as most workshops here are rubbish, the simpler more common car would be my pick as they would have the most experience repairing.

 

good luck.

 

p.s. get the super safari 

 

Fj