Pajero is not good in the desert ???

[MrTwister]

Let's see what car is an alternative to a Pajero in the desert.

Landirover 1st gen V8. Cheap, cannot break, not powerful, small tires, heavy as a lokomotive. Good starter kit.

Jeep 2012: expensive, not a daily driver with constant steering wheel corrections above 100km/h. Acceleration is still not impressive.

Nissan Xterra Off Road: Very good engine and transmission, difflock. The front bumper and radiator is very sensitive, even after lifting and with 16-285-75 BFG AT tires. Little heavy, but I liked it.

Long Wheel Base cars are not for the desert, thely are not only heavy, but their belly will sit and stuck on top of the dunes. Speed will be needed to compensate, and that is the first step before a jump. Usually their rear end is long and caches the sand. No engine power can compensate for a Long Wheel Base. LWB Pajero is not for the lonely offroader crossing the desert.

Short Wheel Base Pajero 3.8: Light, powerful, easy to lift by 4cm plastic spacers and twisting the front torsion bar. With 16-275-70 tires (or 75) and 8psi and difflock it will go anywhere. Front bumper lower flaps should be partially cut. Rear bumper needs to be fixed, or will be damaged. It has got the best 4wd that can be used on road as well, if needed. Good daily driver, too.

The SWB 3.0 GLS is also amazingly good, but it will not go on top of extremely high dunes.

Toyota: I do not like it.

Al Ain story with Pajero SWB 3.8: I popped a tire and because the wheel nut was overtightened could not replace it. I drove out of the desert, approx 10km on 3 wheels, in 50 degrees heat. Local came to me and said: Mitsubishi not good, buy Toyota.

[pardeep]

pajero is the best car for dessert its powerful with light body and excellent torque. i will go for this car any day.

[eliasfarah]

Pajero is a desert disaster

[pardeep]

eliasfarah, learn how to drive in desert first than calling Pajero a disaster.

Or at least explain why its a desert disaster? If you take LWB 3.0 Pajero with 5 people and camping gear than it will die on roadside sand.

Please explain which Pajero experience you are referring to?????

[yusuf]

eliasfarah, learn how to drive in desert first than calling Pajero a disaster.

Or at least explain why its a desert disaster? If you take LWB 3.0 Pajero with 5 people and camping gear than it will die on roadside sand.

Please explain which Pajero experience you are referring to?????

i agree its a desert drive and if you want to play carrying all that weight is not advisable for that you should have taken land cruise which is a long wheel based car and go to the desert with family and camp

for extreme desert drive go alone in pajero and see the fun.

[reinbraz]

I kinda agree to some extent with eliasfrarah on the power and totally with MrTwister regarding the bumper issue on a LWB 3.5L Pajero. I am a proud owner of a 3.5 LWB machine and have done few trips to Fossil Rock (entered the desert from Dubai and exited from Sharjah) and have also done the Red Top journeies. Everytime my rear bumper gets damaged including a minor damage to my front bumper.

I do most of my desert drive using the triptronic shifter to maintain the rough power and torque – the machine performs well in this mode and you can navigate most of the dunes easily in this mode – never use the D mode here. However you must know the capabilities of your machine… Had to abort some high inclination dunes due to lack of power wherein my friend’s XTERRA did them easily… I did not want to put my machine to the extreme revs…

For an intermediate level this is a good vehicle in the desert… but for what I wanted to do, this machine cannot achieve. It’s been a year since I have this vehicle and now planning to sell it off for a XTERRA or SAFARI…as I have progressed to advance level…stopped taking my Pajero to the deserts for extreme drives…always hired a XTERRA (off-roader) or WRANGLER.