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After such a brilliant video from Gaurav bhai, my words might not strike a cord, but here goes. It was a nice cool afternoon and after offering my Friday prayers I headed straight to Tawi Nizwa shops. As soon as the head count was completed we head to the deflation point. Thank you Gaurav bhai for trusting me with the lead. So we had the driver's briefing which seemed effective with healthy 2 way discussions. It was a pleasure to see Emmanuel and Ishaq as our new comers and Richard for his second time but this time in his Disco 1. It brought back a lot of good old memories as I had one for 5 years. We started easy and everybody managed well, so we picked up the level gradually till we reached the play area on Pink Rocks. Everybody experienced had a good time testing their rides, while the newbies picked on some nice tips and tricks. We than headed to the other side teaching the sunset point within no time. Upon the question being asked whether they wanted to stop for snake or later, unanimously agreed to leave snacks right to the end, so was the enthusiasm of the group. So we descended from the sunset point only to hit some high dunes on the way to Big Red. It was not that easy a terrain but I tried keeping it as simple as I could. I was surprised that everybody managed so well with the help of Sree and Gaurav in the sweep. I must admit, without the confidence of having a capable sweep team I could not have lead the way I did. As we reached the Big Red I safely negotiated the convoy from the back of Big Red to the front where all the action was taking place. While Gaurav bhai was racing to the top of Big Red to get some awesome clicks, we settled in and laid the snacks and drinks on the table. After all the sights and sounds of a truly live place and filled with some awesome snacks, we headed to the inflation spot and headed back out. It was special moment as we voted for the best newbie and Ishaq ended up winning after a close fight. It was a well organized drive and my first time to have Saleem as my second lead and Sartac keeping the convoy together in the middle. Well done everyone and till next time I bid you farewell.

Hi all, I am looking for some advice on which make and model would suit for a family off roader and daily driver. My budget would be around 45k. I have done a minimal amount of off roading before and would be taking it fairly handy (ie not hardcore) because of two youngsters in the back and I don't want to wreck or wragg which ever car I go for. I have done a bit of looking and have come to the following conclusion: it needs to be a long wheel base with 4/5 doors, Japanese make, roof bars for a roof tent and have decent space for car seats and all the camping gear. FJ cruiser would be my ideal, but seems to be very expensive and models in my budget are in sh1t condition. Patrol and land cruiser seem to be over priced. And way too much for what I need. Pradro seem to be priced quite high for the year/milage I am interested in. Kinda the same with Fortuner. Nissan pathfinder and armada don't have diff locks, but are well priced and have all the bells and whistle. Xterra off road is capable but is to high priced for the quality of the interior. I also wonder about Nissans electronic 4x4 system. Land rover lr3 seems like good value but resale would be a nightmare and the air suspension is sketchy. I'm kinda pointing to a pajero lwb 3.8 at the moment as it has what's needed, diff locks, low range and loads of space. It's well priced and can fit all the family and extra gear. Please tell me there is something I have overlooked and there is a really cheap off-roader we'll within my budget.

Yes pre 2014 have an upshot when reaching 6000 rpm even if you're in 1st gear it will shift to 2nd causing power loss and loss of momentum which is crucial in the desert, they reprogrammed the PCMs in 2014.

You better not go alone to desert. If you have friends with you they will help you to get unstuck or they can tow you.

The problem is you want to have your cake and eat it too. You will have to cross one or more out. You gotta be willing to give somewhere. And Ive been driving offroad almost 20 yrs now and none of my cars have had a difflock. Dunno why its such a essential requirement in your case, specially being newbie and with no intention of extreme driving? I'd go for the 100 series land cruiser. Buy the nicest one you can in your budget or even if you have to pay a little extra. Nowadays Im seeing some very good, house runaround Mrs 2 car in house non abused very well kept models going for as low as 20k from the early 2000s. If I wasnt so broke Id get one agaib. Always wanted to get one again. With your budget you should have no trouble to be in mid 2000s and the fully specced VXRs do come with difflocks if that is something for some reason you cannot live without.

I would go with xterra. Diff lock is good to have but if you dont have its not a big problem. With that budget i think you can get 2011-2012 mid option.

Great video and initiative ! We went camping with a few friends near the Akoya project but had to stay near the road because my buddy had issues with the 4WD activation on his Avalanche. Unfortunately this area is flooded with garbage and muppets on quads who are racing through the whole night. Nowadays we need to go pretty deep in the desert to find a really quiet spot i am afraid.