desertdude

I always found the ZJ with in the inline 4.0 pretty anemic and a mismatch for it. The the 4cyl for the Prado.

I remember Gaurav had a ZJ with the magnum V8 in it. That thing was pretty fast and powerful. But as far as I can remember even he didn't like it too much and got rid of it pretty fast.

6 hours ago, Shadab Khan said:

Hahaha omg @desertdude looks like someone pissed you off real bad  Sorry dude! But I am not THAT guy, nor do I have a fear of driving. As I said, its a lack of trust on other drivers on the road that bother me – changing lanes without signaling, tailing you even on the lanes that are not meant for overtaking, taking a left turn without signaling from two lanes right to you, cutting you off so close you have to break to save yourself, rear ending into you even when you honked – all of these have happened to me in the UAE. It's the things that are not in my control that make me nervous. Also, please this article: Road rage is very high in UAE with a lot of angry drivers, so I do think that getting flashed/honked/tailed is not a good indicator of who is a good/confident driver and who isn't, though I do agree with you one must not hold up a parking lot with no access to a rear camera 

I am not a new driver btw, driven over 200,000 KM and Alhamdulillah no accidents as of yet  (excluding one time in 2011 when a deer jumped right in front of my car from bushes adjacent to a road in rural New England, I was within speed limit). I have done basic off-roading on trails in Alaska, British Columbia, Hawaii, etc which did not require any special skills or training. I am new to serious off–roading, and given the more raw and natural trails in UAE + desert, I figured I should educate myself on what real off roading is all about.

Also I promise I won't be THAT guy

NO! I very much appreciate @sertac's comments. I have now scheduled a viewing of this GC, hearing of his positive experience with his 5.7L engine:

https://dubai.dubizzle.com/motors/used-cars/jeep/grand-cherokee/2020/6/10/aed1714month-2015-jeep-grand-cherokee-summ-2/

Price is a bit on the higher side, will put a deposit and test drive after AD ends the travel restrictions.

4 hours ago, Gaurav said:

Woah what happen @desertdude again you woke up on the wrong side.....?

Not pissed or anything of the sort, just practical advice, you yourself admitted, nervous driver = not confident = afraid of driving on UAE roads hence looking to compensate or put more trust in gizmos rather than one's own ability. Guess what, everybody over here drives on the same roads and a lot have been for decades without any gizmos and we are all just fine.

Its the same concept of facing your fears by jumping in the deep end of the pool. Once you get over your "nervousness" you don't need those gizmos any more and a whole new bigger range of vehicles open up. Like everything practice makes you perfect, hence the suggestion, rent the shittiest car you can for a month, and get it out of your system. 

So instead of wasting 150-200k on a mediocre car than can barely off road and somewhat decent on road, you can get two specialty vehicles in that much one for off road and one strictly for mall crawling.


 

1 hour ago, sertac said:

Grand Cherokee's are my thing and 5.7 is what I have on my father's 2011 limited. I can't say much other than very good experience on that engine. Ours are currently at 130.000km on the clock and it's been with us since 60.000km. Only issue we had was some misfire issue. We change the 1 coil 2. Hand for 150aed and wolla issue solved. No any other issues with that engine. Note that this thing is quick, when you give the gas it will show what it got. Don't go with 3.6 if you can afford 5.7. 3.6 also and amazing engine but Grand Cherokee needs a V8 to have some fun. 

Air suspension is something I haven't tried. Ours is limited and came with basic suspensions. 

When I talk about general reliability. 1 year ago when car reached 110.000km it needed lower and upper arms to be changed. It wasn't quite expensive because we used dublicate Turkish made parts and no problem about that so far 6 months ago backup camera start not working and mechanics at Al Qouz couldnt figure it out, they are offering to change camera, since we don't need a back up camera it stays as it is. Biggest f*ck up was around 2 years ago battery died and after we put the new battery electric trunk stop working. Also few mechanics we went at AL Quoz couldn't figure it out and we end up going to Jeep stealership. They quoted 12.000 😲 when I check the list they put everything from trunk struts to computers to fuse box. So they weren't figure it out also they changed everything related to trunk. With negotiations we end up paying 8000 for that electric trunk. 

If you ask me would I buy that again hell yes what should I bought super reliable Prado 2.7 for that price definitely I will choose the grand cherokee all day long. After a hard day just go to the highway and slam the gas pedal orchestra named hemi will make everything go away. 

 

 

If you read, the poster is not interested in any of that he just wants the most autopilot functions he can on a car in his budget. 

7 hours ago, Shadab Khan said:

Hi @desertdude, please see response below:

1. As I mentioned in my other comments, its partly that I feel a bit nervous on busy roads given how irresponsibly a lot of people drive. The other reason is my wife would also like to drive the car we buy.

2. I was referring to the "New" Discovery (2017+) but even then I do believe its a capable off roader – just not the way LR has positioned it in GCC market (i.e. no option to buy one with 18" wheels, off road tires, and rear diff lock). None of the four trims offer an "off road package" or anything like that. This is what I meant – that they want you to think of LR as a luxury car with leather seats being the premium package (nothing wrong with that, but seriously is that why one looks at LR?), where as these new discoveries appear to be plenty of off-road capable but are hampered by how LR is trying to sell them here.

3. No sir! I came here for the same reason one goes to a trusted friend – you know the advice may not be what you want, but it is the one you need. Please read on below!

Hi @Gaurav, thank you so much for your suggestions. Actually I did a test drive and as you suggested tried out all the driver assist features that Volvo offers. Unfortunately the only feature that worked reliably was adaptive cruise. Other features like lane centering and steering control etc failed to function, I tried engaging them several times. It appears UAE highways are not "marked" as Volvo needs them to work reliably. Not to mention this car had poor suspension (felt over a bump and a pothole) and wheel alignment issues – I felt the steering vibrate at moderate speed (80–100 KPH). Not to mention this car HAD been through the Volvo 120-point check already! Also it was curiously missing the air suspension which was standard in the trim I saw in 2017. Given all this, and overall hesitation shared by you and other experienced members here, I have decided to look away from Volvos for good.

As of now, given my budget and the advice I have received here, I am thinking of holding on to my 7 seater traverse and seriously considering Jeep Grand Cherokee in Summit or Limited Plus trims. All Summit versions as far back as 2015 offer the driver assist features we are looking for and appear to be off road capable. Some of the recent Limited Plus trims also have the driver assist features.

In this option, I have two concerns:

1) Engine is 5.7L V8 – is it going to be more problematic than smaller engines, e.g. the newer 3.6L V6 that Grand Cherokee comes with?

2) Grand cherokee summit comes with QuadraLift air suspensions. I have read several bad things about these air suspensions.

Anyone has any experiences to share on the two points above? I am continuing to read more online and also looking more closely at the Lexus models suggested by Gaurav.

So basically your not confident about your driving  so you want to rely on gizmos instead. 

This way you will never learn to drive properly and spend an entire life depending on gizmos.  I know driver's who can't park in the open parking spot because they are so use to back up cameras and parking sensors

Here is some real sincere advice. Rent the shittiest car you can for a month. Maybe a Nissan Micra or a Mitsu Mirage 

And drive on the roads you think are the are the "most dangerous" and drive on then daily for a couple of hours without fail.

Come down to Sharjah once or twice a week and drive around in Rolla 

Your problem is nothing but overcoming your fear of the road. If you are never going to learn how to overcome it. You will always be that shitty driver who is holding up traffic, flashed at, honked at all the time. That one irritating guy who chokes up the entire shopping mall parking lot because he can't seem to park his car in a huge parking space and just keeps going forward and backwards until someone gets aick. Yanks out the driver and parks his car for him.

Don't be that guy.

Put all you car buying hopes aside and get over your fear of driving first.

Unless you want to be THAT guy 

P.P.S : When it comes to off road even the shitiest Land Rover which I believe was the 4 cylinder Freelander will leave any Volvo behind in the dust. 

Because Land Rover is the only Manufacturer that started off with a pure bred 4x4 and till today is the only one producing only 4x4s and AWD SUVs it has no sedan or 2wd drive in the line up and never has 

All their vehicles even from their cheapest to the most expensive are built around a certain minimum level of off road capability. 

This big boxy silver thing is the LR3
 

Maybe you were confusing it with this 

Anyways seems like your mind is made up and you just came here to get confirmation of your choice. So go for it, you only live once but like everyone here, don't get upset when they say We told you so!

1 hour ago, Shadab Khan said:

Thanks @desertdude for sharing your perspective, greatly appreciated! Please see my comments below:

1) This is my number one worry – parts. I did end up putting a 1000 AED holding deposit on the XC90 today. Fortunately car won't be available for test drive until later this week so I can sleep on my decision and think about the extremely useful advise I have received on this forum.

2) I am fine with paying for regular servicing actually, not a problem.

I am convinced XC90 won't cut it for off-roading. I am also convinced my needs are for two separate cars, and now it's a matter of deciding on a 7-seater family car (XC90 or not) with driver assist and safety features, and an off-roader, which I think will end up being Jeep given the great parts supply and community support here.

Well If you are looking for confirmation that yes XC90 is a great ride and checks all your boxes well that obviously isn't going to happen.

Personally I don't know why you are so adamant about these driver assist features that they are turning into deal breaker. 

And what are you on about LR not being off road capable? Are we talking about the same car here. 

The LR3 is a different car than the discovery. The "new" discovery I agree is useless. Not the the LR3 or even 4.

These are the boxy double roof beasts which come with adjustable height suspension as standard and a V8.

And they are comfortable as fek on road beat any Japanese luxury SUV in that dept and extremely capable off road right out the box.

18 hours ago, Gaurav said:

@Rahimdad he will be just lifting 2 inch for few drives only and not a long term solution that he needs to invest in widening the wheelbase. If he can be little careful, it will be fine. As 10 Inch ground clearance for Touareg wont be tipsy.

@desertdude it is much safer to lift 2 inch being his current vehicle to test than damaging the bumpers and sensors.

 

2inch spacers should be fine IMO as European cars are more geared towards "sporty" driving which usually means stiffer suspension more than soft comfort. 

Also a small 2 liter 4 cyl motor is never going to have that kind of low down torque that you need while offroading forget the top end HP numbers that's just marketing lingo 

Imagine it's a twin turbo squuezing out so much power from a camry size engine which is usually 100hp. So how much on the edge it will always be on. 

Plus I've seen nothing but trouble with people who have turbocharged engines who off-road with them. The turbo vanes always getting chewed up. Oil leaks. Intercooler leaks etc etc. 

Somehow turbos and offroading in the desert don't mix

Volvo's are great cars I had two buddies who owned them including a XC90 and I drove the Volvo a lot. Great cars. But wouldn't recommend them for your only DD and weekend warrior. 

With that budget you can get both a LR3 and XC90 of a slightly older vintage. It's a buyer's market out there chock-full of stock

LR3s are great offroaders and not as plasticiky as the LR4 and there is a great network of new and used parts as well as specialists garages

Same can't be said for volvos. I remember when my bud lost his coolant expansion bottle on his Volvo it was no where to be found new or used. Had to order it and wait a few days and needless to say car was out of action for that much time.

Since I'm involved in the community there are many who have LR3s hitting 300k kms and they use them regularly off-road in the sand and they still look and drive just fine. 

There was even a chap who was hitting 400k miles yes miles not kms. 

Also remember both these cars are not your regular old 90s Corolla that you can just keep driving them with 20dhs oil changes and be fine.

Nah I wouldn't suggest spacers unless you have one end sagging and just want to level your ride.

Unless your car is actually overheating and not just hot within operating range. Switching off the engine will just let it heat soak. Because it's just sitting there absorbing all the under hood heat  the heat is not being disapated anywhere. 

When it's actually overheating, meaning the cooling system is not working and heat is just building up and the engine is already very hot. Running it any more will just cause more heat build up leading to major damage then it's better to shut it and let it cool down.

2 hours ago, Wrangeld said:

So, the Jeep owner finally chips in!

Driving without airco. Helps a lot.

Turn off the engine when you are standing still. Idling at 45c does not cool the engine because the aux fan will not come on. 

Be sensible ... is that extra sidey necessary or will it take your engine or transmission over the red line?

Drive sympathetically. It's a lot more skillful than gunning the car for every incline and helps you think about better entry and exit points. 

Watch and listen. If you blindly follow the line in front of you, you could just be driving yourself into soft sand. So take a look and choose a better route. 

If you are worried about the heat.  Stop. If you don't want to drive because you are worried it over stresses the car. Tell the lead. The lead can always reroute if there is a risk that someone will break down.

Read your gauges. Make sure you know what the warning lights are for. 

 

When I had a jeep. My eyes were more glued to the temp gauge rather than what's ahead. 

Being a jeep owner and overheating go hand in hand

For a change there is mention of bans and I have nothing to do with it.

3 hours ago, treks said:

Maybe I missed something, but did this genius mechanic ever take live data on the actual coolant and/or cylinder head temperatures during the test drives? For all you know, you may just have a bad temp gauge. 

I think it's mentioned in one of the posts that he did.

Having just reread the top post on this page. It states it still has a coolant leak somewhere.

My guess is if there is a still leak. The system is still not pressurized properly, causing an coolant overheat condition.

First job would be fix the leak IMO then replace the radiator

It's not the heat of the engine that is giving you this issue. It's the dryness of the sand. As the weather gets hotter that sand dries out losing most of it's moisture content, making it more soft, powdery and fluid.

Even in summer. On a humid foggy morning you'll be able to drive better but as the day progresses, water evaporates it'll start to get more difficult.

A heat soaked motor will lose some top end power but not that much that it effects it performance so notably.

But that's true if any dune bashing drive in any weather

I'll have to ask. But dunno if they will rig it up just for one person for 1 hour though

I you still want to. I can pull old strings and get it done.

Let me know. It's not cheap though

If you haven't replaced the radiator and have it just cleaned. That's not going to work. Having it cleaned or rodded personally has always been a big waste of time for me..

Like I said if you have changed the water pump. Thermostat and rad cap but you only said cleaned the radiator.

Before throwing money at a head gasket ( without even confirming it ) 

I suggest change the radiator with a new one.

2 hours ago, Javier M said:

I guess the one who posted the add didn't know either. 

That's a JK!

What's with the single bed attached to the front they claim is a bumper. 

You can put your mattress on it and get a good lie down 

So much for off road vehicles having short overhangs

1 hour ago, Shiju Manuel said:

Used Car - Jeep TJ 2007 model , Manual Gear, Silver colour, 203595 km , original paint 

price - AED 25,000 ( can negotiable up to AED 23,000 

Errrr.....  This is NOT a TJ 

1 hour ago, Frederic said:

The Pajernity crew will strike back with excessive force and with all means possible, wiping out these Xcessive squeeking vehicles....

🤣

 

By the time you reach them you will look back only to realize you have left a trail of shredded rear bumpers in your wake!

And now your rear flank is exposed!!!

I'm been "playing" with this for years now on the off-road game Spintires.

1 hour ago, Frederic said:

Another Xterra ? It's becoming Carnity Xterra Club 🤣

No, on a serious note, you will enjoy your offroading more, and the Xterra won't let you down. Congrats @Kalahari and @Chaitanya D for making the perfect choice !

 

Are you worried Pajernity will become Xterranity soon! 

And so the game of thrones begins!!!! The House of Pajero is starting to hear the sounds of the advancing army of the house of Xterra.

P.S : I haven't watched a single episode of GOT so it's all guess work!

19 hours ago, Salarios said:

Love his channel, been following it for a while. He has a calm, methodical, non-judgemental approach to helping people out of sticky situations, while also providing a lot educational tips and tricks.
 

Carnity’s crew has a similar approach. I was thinking it would be very valuable for Carnity to make similar recovery videos on its desert drives. It would provide a lot of educational value, while also being an excellent marketing tool to promote the site and its amazing crew.

It could be done on a very low production cost: on each drive, a cameraman (or 2) with a gopro is nominated, someone narrates a storyline, and an editor puts it together in an entertaining and easy to follow clip. 

Only difference is he charges people a decent amount for his services

1 hour ago, Rahimdad said:

Parts are available for both TJs and JKs, as Fuad said a 2004 or 2005 model in Pathfinder will be amazing. I would not recommend something where the engine has already changed. Sure its only done a 100k Kms after the change, but can you verify how much it had done before the change, it is not a brand new engine. Plus you do not know what type of job was carried out during replacing the engine. I would not buy someone elses headache and I will not be in a hurry. Dr @Chaitanya D was lucky to get a 2008 model X-Terra with less than 200k on the clock for a very good price. Keep your eyes open and don't feel like there is nothing around, surely something better will come along at a price which will be more acceptable to you. Check for something above your budget and try to bargain, UAE is a bargain market, don't be scared to try out the vehicle and if you like it offer a slightly lower price you can afford. That way you will have some space for bargaining up to the price you want to pay. If you really like the vehicle than don't be afraid to go a little over your budget as long as it satisfies you. Don't be afraid to walk away if you feel it is not worth it, you will be sure to find more.

Tragedy in my life is whenever I have made the best deal possible and buy a car at what i think is a fair value, I see an ad placed for something similar at a lower price. All i can do is kick myself for having such bad luck. I bought my LR Disco 1998 model for AED 7500/- only after 2 days I saw one going for AED 6k pointed out by @desertdude, the Red one with the steel bumpers. I bought my Pathy for 10k and found one advertised within the same week for 8K. Although the difference is not much, but it is just my luck to get the short end of the stick.

That's SODs law but then have faith in the man upstairs. Before I bought my current L322 Range Rover. I had known two since they were bought. Single owners and knew both of them. Clean as whistles, always parked in shade and no expense spared to maintain them with all original LR parts .

When I was able to buy one these are the first two cars I approached. One guy said he will never sell it and he has passed it on to his daughter to now and she will not drive anything else and the other guy had a somewhat similar response.

So then I started to look outside. And found what was at the time the cheapest L322 Range River in the UAE ( aka hoovie style ) 

And exactly two weeks after I bought mine the first guy who was never going to sell it for it touch said he wanted to sell it now!!!!!

I was like WTF anyways not wanting to let a good car and deal escape I made a friend buy it who was after seeing mine wanted one too. 

Then two weeks after that the second guy got in touch and said he wanted to sell it now and I was like double WTF!!!!

So once again not wanting to let a good deal and good car go my friends brother in law bought it who also wanted to buy one now after seeing my friends.

So now there are three same year L322 Range Rovers among us.

But to be honest I have spent way way way less on mine then those two have on their two in the three years we have owned them .they have had some major issues with theirs Although compared to them even today mine looks more rattier inside and out. 

So as the saying goes. Careful what you wish for or you just might get it.

Fortunately in this case my wishes didn't come true