Leaderboard

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

a couple of charts from me: This is the chart that shows the last car used by approx. 433 members with whom I have driven since I joined the club. It's 183 drives for you. As you can see the big four are Jeep, Toyota, Nissan, and Mitsubishi. This one is a bit more comprehensive chart. where i have listed models. There are a total of 118 Wranglers in the mix. And the winner is Pajero LWB with 57 driving it currently. followed by Wrangler JL LWB (44) and FJ (41) Cruiser and Xterra (38). of these four only JL is currently available, and the rest have been phased out. --- There are 118 Wranglers in the mix.

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

This was my fourth drive on this particular track. and a question arises why am I doing so many Lisaili Drives? There are a few reasons. First is, as I mentioned in the drive plan - it provides a bouquet of terrains and one can expand to any level that one wants to depend on how the convoy is performing. Second this track provides a lot of easy exits in case we need to, and as I am trying to get myself as familiar as possible with this track it is an ideal track to drive and learn. Third, till now I have done four leads in this track, but I still find few pockets of surprises. Fifth, this drive also ends conveniently at Qudra. Sixth is the most important reason, which is that I had drawn up a plan that I have still not achieved, so expect few more to go. This drive came quite close to my plan in the first half, but the second half got jinxed. We drove quickly and did a lot of ridge riding and finished the first 25 km in the first hour itself. But then we had to face a silly issue with @Anoop Nair's Jeep that developed an issue with the gears not slotting. I put all the learnings I had in my Leaders Lead training to drive to an easy exit for the Jeep. After we dropped @Anoop Nair and our surprise guest and birthday boy @M.Seidam at the at the initial exit, we carried on. It was a 20 km detour to drop them and get back to the desert to resume our drive that consumed another hour of our drive time. By this time, the sun was shining very brightly and the white sands at Qudra were very tough to comprehend. Anyways we did another 20 km till the exit, which saw us driving on the tall dunes of Qudra as well as a bit of Baja style fast paced drive towards the exit. After the exit at the time of inflation my car won't restart. I found that the positive terminal was completely out of its slot. I put it back and started which it did, but it stopped charging the battery. I drove to Qudra fuel station where I called a recovery, and at the service station they found that one a fuse bust - but why? A short circuit while placing the positive terminal, it was technically an easy fix and I had those fuses as well but did not have the knowledge to look at it, any ways lesson learned. To start with, thanks a lot to @DP1011 for your continued support and appreciate you being there when needed. You did an excellent job in second lead, and I very much suspect the reason for your asking to be there, but I am happy you are taking this step as soon as you are doing. @FERNANDO SYRIO, you should have realized that your Fortuner is more than capable of what you throw at it and it performed as well as you wanted it to. @Mohit Gurnani, you are a regular on my drives, so I see the progress you have been making and it is impressive. I keep pushing the level depending on the convoy and you keep performing at every level. @Anoop Nair, the minor hiccup aside, thanks for joining this drive and you are a support for this drive i could count on. and Finally, Doc @M.Seidam, thanks for joining this drive and while you did not mention at that time, doing your celebratory drive with us. It was a pleasure as well as an honor driving with you always. Gaia GPS track

This is a million-dollar misconception. Let me explain to you why. I have been under the same influence (in 2006) and bought Land Cruiser - thinking, it was a king of desert as all desert safari companies are using it. After the first few drives realized its boat size was heavy and long and not practical for any good dune bashing. Why Desert Safari companies use it because it's the most forgiving and economical car for their daily business - which require a 15 min - 30 min desert trail in a 5 km radius for tourist to show sand splash, few sideys and moderate climb at sunset point. This train track route is miles away from what weekend offroaders do - explore, push the limits, and cross the desert from one side to another. Fast forward two years, after seeing so many Patrols flying thru the dunes - bought a SWB patrol in 2008. It was much better than LC but still unable to fly through anywhere. The simple reason was Patrol used by local and racers boys has been heavily modified with a buffet menu of 400 HP - 800 HP - 2000 HP depending on how deep your pocket and wasta. Now, if we buy a new car and are scared of voiding the warranty, we have to limit our reach and find peace somewhere in between. Why ppl love Patrol to be modified is the core reason that it has a huge engine bay with the smallest engine size, that can fit a hell of a mod, turbos, fans, and headers and still disguise as regular Patrol. If you really wanna base your offroad car purchase, go to any offroad club drive starting point and see you will find: 75% cars with a mix of Wranglers, FJC, Patrol (SWB) and Xterra (older model) 20% Land Cruisers, Patrol Safari LWB, Prado and Pajero's 5% Patrol Y62, Grand Cherokee, Discovery, Liberty, Fortuner etc.

Fj

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.

And if you are really lucky, you might sight a near extinct XJ. Some believe they have seen a unicorn 🤣

Here is my opinion after some good time off-roading as a passenger and a driver. Get a Japanese car, preferably Toyota(FJ, Prado, Hilux) or Nissan(SWB VTC). Sincerely, FJ daily driver.

Happy to see my Isuzu in the list 😜

@Frederic You are giving me PTSD. Its just Tuesday still Fred has a very good point here (Occasional Vs Addicted) I started offroading with an infiniti QX (similar to patrol). I bought the car due to guests coming from India for vacation and then realized its a 4x4 and took it for a newbie drive. ADDICTED and pushed it till fewbie. Realized early that offroading that car in higher levels would make me a pauper, hence bought a dedicated offroading toy. I spend quite a bit on that as well which is a part of the hobby. So, getting a car higher up the offroading capability curve (Xterra, FJ, Prado, Y61, Pajero 3.8 SWB) would see you spending less on mods and maintenance. Would also give you peace of mind as it wont be your daily. Popular hybrid cars (on road and occasional offroad) are Y62, Land cruiser stock, Pajero LWB 3.8, Grand Cherokee, Fortuner 4.0, and any other car with 4X4 and 8-9 inches clearance. However, stay away from bringing Range rovers(except defender), cayennes, Q7s into the desert just because they are 4x4s. You will regret it.

@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.

@M.Seidam although this time its not a surprise from you, but please do let us know if its any other special day for you 😉😅, so we make sure we wish you in person😂!

Jeeps forever! I will buy Isuzu next time to bring statistic higher 🙃🙃🙃

Pleasure is all mine dear @Looper and yes despite the little hiccup I enjoyed very much the drive till I exited with @Anoop Nair . regarding Lisaili specific I drove tons of times and always I find new things ( land of mystery ) .

@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

@Marketa Dobesova Ur belated bday celebrations?? 😉 Looking forward to the cake in desert😁!

Let me shed some more light so your choice can be realistic. If you own a Pajero, then it can be a good offroader with little love and care, but if you are thinking of buying "dedicated offroader" Pajero will be the last on the list - no offense. And when you are viewing the signature edition, that car will drop its front and rear bumper on the roadside sand, let alone dunes. Same story with Y62, you can force them to be an offroader with a lot of tinkering (which I personally don't like now), other than that they are awesome mall crawlers. Heavier or larger the car it will slow you down in the desert, and you need a bigger learning curve to master driving that size of the beast in the sand. FJC, visibility means how the driver views ahead and side of the car while driving is a little tight due to smaller windscreen and side windows. It is not a deal breaker and if you drive one, you can get used to it within a week's time. Nothing alarming about that comment, I just raised that as many new buyers make a big deal out of it. BIGGER ISSUE: What I think is you are mixing two different needs and eventually might end up making a bad choice tbh. What a wife would like with all bells and whistles and creature comfort will never serve you as a rugged offroader. And wifey will not like rugged offroader - looks, comfort, features. So, you can split the budget and let her get whatever she wants (newer model), so that you can make a pure offroader choice (little older model).

Hi Doc @M.Seidam it tuned out to be a minor issue with the shifter. Got it back on Sunday itself . See you soon

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!

@Nilakantan Erode FJ or Prado only !

As your profile shows you have X5 for office and mall duties, so better buy a dedicated desert toy to not have a regret later on after a few drives or a year. For that sake: Options 1 and 4 are straight out. Wranglers are awesome from the factory floor to tackle any level of offroading you wish. Worth the buy (any trim), but if you can stretch the budget for Rubicon trim, it's worth the extra features (bigger tires, lift, diff lock, etc). Patrol super safari is over-rated for true desert toys, as they are heavy and long (unless you wish overlanding vehicle). If you like Patrol, then as Fredy mention, opt for SWB for maximum fun, or else be ready to spend another 20-50K on LWB to make it a climber (which they are not from the factory floor). More options to consider: FJ Cruiser: Rock solid offroader from factory and capable - if you can live with tiny visibility issue. I would prefer FJC over Wrangler simply because of Toyota's reliability. Prado: Same as FJC, but with more features and comfort and a tad heavier and longer than FJC, but totally manageable. You need little bumper trim and lift (beyond FB+ level) it will serve you for years with the performance, comfort and reliability of Toyota.

Relive

See for yourself. It is by @Batuhan Kulac's YouTube channel and the Jeep that I can see here seems that of @Gok Krish and he is talking about THIS drive.

Thanks @DP1011 that's sufficient for me.

@FERNANDO SYRIO - Since you are not looking for exact location - Knowing @Ale Vallecchi - The close to proximate location for his Faqa drives is https://maps.app.goo.gl/u81DGTzZ4dsw1bAEA - I will let him confirm this though, but anywhere Faqa as location would not be too far from start point ;)

That Duster was a great little 4x4 and he did great in the dunes as it’s super light.

I am more surprised about there being a Duster in the group. Was he lost and joined the group mid drive?

@Krishna R Yes. I hear you! Y62 v6 dropped out of my picks! And...valid points on popular hybrid cars and getting higher on offload capability curve (nice terminology!) and sticking to a budget!! No end to mods!! @LooperAwesome statistics. The Big4 and the long tail (poor Isuzu...barely hanging on!). Nice to see the Merc. Time to get my BMW on the chart as well (wont tell my wife!). But..Yes..Can see a clear topper in wranglers (okay i am having my eyes on one now..so the bias ) and surprisingly (actually maybe not) ...Pajeros. lots of references made earlier on Pajero and XTerra having their proof here. Couple of more drives and FJ will take the pole!!

Congrats @Frans MEnjoy the new level!

Congrats @Gary F Enjoy the new level!

@Gary F congratulations mate 👍, look forward to driving with you when I catch up. The sand runner has become a iconic part of carnity drives

No No. Never Y62 V6. You will hate the car and it cant do anything in the desert. Maybe newbie drives.

Congratulations @Gary F !

@Gary F congratulations mate. Great to share these desert experiences with people like yourself

@Stumpy PajAwesome post indeed. Was a good read and a Fun ride (read) by itself with some hidden (or more obvious ) pearls of wisdom. And..i second @Fredericfor the award. If i end up buying the Mall crawler (!)...the Vox ticket is on me (MI - dead Reckoning is releasing soon!!). Like you said ..all have pros and cons and sooner or later ...will feel the urge to change the car / upgrade / modify...and contribute to the economy. or some lucky Carnity person may get an opportunity to try out a preowned car (at my expense)...when the next such post is released!!! @Bravoechoyes..Can now understand the shortlist well. I am also a compulsive Excel person...though that is only confusing me. Easier to read the posts here and go for the test drives and make some dealer salesperson frustrated (or see preowned cars and wonder what is going on with the prices!) @FredericLike your segmentation...would add more ...but that would only confuse everyone more...starting with me! Problem is the cost of moving from one segment to other with the investments involved in time and $s. Need some zen thinking and clear my mind. And for that i need to go deep into the desert and need a good Off roader (to come back). The off road vehicle search continues..or should say..going to start!!

Well deserved @Frans M !

Well done @Gary F Enjoy the new level !

Congratulations 👏 👏.. well deserved my friend.

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.

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.

The choice only Wrangler or Safari, and not any other definitely. Safari have good resale value, but car itself very outdated. My suggestion to check Trading Enterprises used car department. You can find there near brand new Wrangler for 30-40k cheaper than new one. For example i bought my Gladiator for 40k cheaper than new one, and it was only 42km milege on it, not 42k, just 42 km. Jeep is Lego on wheels. You can build what ever you want and this is amazing experience. No any other car have so many professional accessories for modification like Jeep Wrangler.

Hi guys, just a quick update. I decided to go for Jeep Wrangler 2009, as I managed to find a very clean and stock model. Had to stretch my budget a little, but I am happy with the decision. See you on the desert!

Congratulations @Gary F and well done 👏

Thank you @M.Seidam for a very interesting drive without moon! I also had the opportunity to use my winch and practice a tricky recovery in coordination with @Zulfikhar Naiyar Thank you for the detailed report as well. It’s always a pleasure attending your drives. Rest of the images in the gallery. Cheers!

Thank you guys for sharing this lovely Sunday morning in Lisaili and sorry for Anoop and Looper cars to be back on recoveries. Hope all good by now . See you guys soon in the sand 🙏

Hello @Nilakantan Erode Welcome to the club! All the cars mentioned above are good offroaders. However, You need to identify your requirement between offroad performance and on road comfort. Once you figure that out, you can decide easily. Eg: Jeep is great offroad but on road comfort is a bit less. Patrol Y62 is amazing onroad but a bit heavy for spirited offroading. For this reason, many club members have atleast 2 cars - a daily that comfortable, economical for the road and an older offroad beast.

I forgot to post this the entire time. Just 15 minutes of the drive. Thanks again @Tbone and @Nabil Bishara for leading. Thank you @Gok Krish for filming.