Gaurav

I remember having the privilege to ride in that sheep for the last time when it went home on recovery from Lisali trip I added Armada and after little research, it seems that its offroad version is V8 Xterra ahead of Xterra time that comes with Ranchos shocks, skid plate, trimmed bumper for better clearance and tow hook package. Good find. Thanks. For Ford Expedition I had a word with my friend who drove his brand new Expedition for offroad and he doesn't recommend it due to being too long and heavy, but powerful, so will skip it from the list. I checked the price and cheapest is around 25k atm and that is 2006 Fortuner but 2.7 and not 4.0. Although 2.7 Prado and Fortuner are underpowered 4x4 for dunes, still classify as a full-fledged 4x4 with low gearing. Maybe next year will add them here once 4.0 drops below 20K,

Keeping our pattern for one-week fewbie and another week newbie, its time for a newbie offroaders to join the thrill. This time we will drive in Maliha Kalba are that offers perfect opportunity to learn in very safe and easy tracks to medium rolling dunes. Looking for an easy relaxing drive for everyone with plenty of opportunities to learn and grow, hill climb, and ridge riding. Newbies and Fewbies will have a great chance to see and learn the real fun that off-roading offers in a very safe and organized environment. When: 8 March 2019 Meeting time: 7:00 AM, the convoy will move at sharp 7:15 AM Where: Adnoc Petrol Station Maleha Road GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/ye28yTnTSYr Level: Absolute Newbie, Newbie, and Fewbie Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance. Plan: Drive, train and enjoy till about 12:00 PM What to bring along: Snacks - whatever you like with little extra to share, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 12:00 PM Please RSVP on the below calendar.

Unfastened kids popping out of windows and sunroof - should have license canceled Drive in fast and move with the flow, when someone gives you a way and not force them to put hard brake. Swerving 3 lanes in one go before exit. Me too, I see that very often and feel sorry for kids

Wondering if Pajero has a locker on 4x4 gear lever to stop shifting out/in from HI/LO gearing while a transmission is not in Neutral? It happened with me twice now that accidentally I pulled the 4x4 lever from LO towards High when the transmission was in D and that resulted in loud grrrrr noise and ending up my 4x4 gearing shifted to 4x4 Neutral. That means the car will not move in any direction until external help arrives. In the first instance, with a little fiddling it went in LO gear and allow me to exit to a road, but in second instance I have to open the lever console area to stick on LO gear by pushing hard to exit. Please check and let me know, If such locker exists in your Pajero, that means I need to figure out repairing that gear lever so this won't be repeated again.

Well that made up scale is based on real-life usage of BUYING and USING 4x4 for dune bashing rather than sitting on a laptop like a duck and watching tube and judging 60 - 80 hp/ton - Underpower for dunes - Not own, but driven few times 80 - 100 hp/ton - Borderline OK - 2002 Land Rover Discovery 100 - 120 hp/ton - Acceptable - 2003 - Land Cruiser GXR and 2006 Nissan Patrol 120 - 150 hp/ton - Good - 1999 Mitsubishi Pajero 150 - 200 hp/ton - Very Good - 2009 Chevrolet Trailblazer 200 - 250 hp/ton - Excellent - 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Thanks for your valuable input for Armada, I think Expedition also falls in a similar category. Will research both and add them in the list. Off course these numbers are to benchmark performance, but car overall condition really dictates the capability. As I remember buying 5.7 or 5.2 Magnum Jeep Grand Cherokee and spending money to make a project car, but every time I hit the sand in 4x4 gearing it starts heating up. Sold within 3 months.

Thanks @edouard for your scraper suggestion, feel free to add with whatever you can. Every contribution matters. What I really want someone to contribute if they have spare time is to research all the above models and get their power-weight ratio. That can help a lot of new buyers in identify Good and Very Good 4x4 than borderline/acceptable 4x4 in terms of offroad performance. Especially in sand higher the power with lightest of weight is better. Find the exact weight and hp of each car from Wikipedia or other credible sources and then divide hp by weight. Example: 1999 Pajero weighs 1.7-ton Kg and GCC specs has 225 hp = 132 hp/ton Power-weight ratio benchmark for DUNE BASHING for STOCK cars: 60 - 80 hp/ton - Underpower for dunes 80 - 100 hp/ton - Borderline OK 100 - 120 hp/ton - Acceptable 120 - 150 hp/ton - Good 150 - 200 hp/ton - Very Good 200 - 250 hp/ton - Excellent

Remember you are talking about 10 years old car in either case and being a German luxury segment expect a high maintenance cost on both vehicles. That's why you are getting at 1/10 of its face value. I was in similar research a few years back and Cayenne better reliability wins as per online research. Then I start seeing few X5 and Cayenne and saw the repair bills from owners that outweigh the Cayenne option hands down. It was based on 5-6 cars viewing for X5 and Cayenne in Dubai. X5 all owner had several sheets of bills from AGMC during the warranty and just after the warranty period, whereas Cayenne owners had very little repair bills. I myself had 2006 Cayenne Turbo from 2012 till 2015 and the only thing I remember spending for repair was one of the headlight cornering light failed, that forced me to change whole left side headlight unit. It was maintained at Nabooda throughout and if I remember correctly cost approx. 2000 for minor service and 4000 for major service. I think these service rates are pretty standard for most of luxury SUV in the UAE, as I'm paying a similar rate for my Range Rover now.

@Frederic if I'm not wrong L200 and Hilux cannot be registered for private use and only registered for companies. Isuzu, super duper rare. All German 4x4 from Touareg, Q7, Cayenne are delicate darling for regular offroad use. They are good for occasional beach trip or khawaneej level dunes, but not for regular dune bashing. @edouard I have added Discovery, LR3, Range Rover in the list. Thanks for the suggestion I have also added Nissan Patrol and Land Cruiser - "so-called" king of the desert @Praveenmp thanks for Nativa suggestion, but I have driven the same in the past and due to a 3.0-liter engine on LWB heavy chassis it's slightly underpowered for regular dune bashing and struggles a lot on cross tracks, soft sand, and long climbs.

Here's our new Velociraptor in action on his first lead. Well done @Emmanuel and Jawaher (Xterra) Emmanuel First Lead.mp4

The list is made with practically available cars than looking for a rare find and wasting their time, still, I will add it now.

I really hope that guy who put the insulation tape as a temporary fix (shady mechanic), secured it nicely and informed you to not rev too high. If this tape goes inside the engine, it will burn instantly and leave nasty plastic marks on cylinder walls (not good). Instead of insulating tape, he could have used broad duct tape that is stronger and harder to get it in and then secured that duct tape with cable ties on unbroken crease section.

Congratulations @Emmanuel for your first lead with Carnity Offroad Club. Leading an intermediate level drive from Pyramids to Iftar Bowl yesterday was totally amazing. At no point, we felt that it was your first lead and your choice of dunes, sideys, and climbs was brilliant. It was like a Velociraptor chase from Jurassic Park movie, where they first time experiences the run in the wild.

Congratulations @Brette for reaching the fewbie level with Carnity Offroad club. Within last few newbies offroad drives you have shown tremendous progress and well deserve this new offroad rank. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Fewbie: Number of drives 10 (16 regular drives) Level of drives Willingness to learn + Enthusiasm + Basic dune reading Off-road gear Flag, deflator, tire gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio, compressor (recommended) Drive teamwork Observe recovery from a safe distance and offer help when needed Drive posting/joining Join newbie and fewbie level of drives only Forum participation Active participation on forum. Share drive experience + feedback on forum and pictures in gallery Social media sharing & inviting friends & family to join an offroad club is highly recommended for faster upgrades at all levels.

I think you need to learn to drive the car in 1st gear in tricky climbs, soft patches, and cross tracks. When I have driven your car it seems it has enough power to do massive sideys let alone the newbie level climbs and cross track. Every offroader should drive in D in high gear about 75% of the time and the rest 25% of the time you need to manually select 1 or 2 gearing as per required terrain. For air filter torn neck, @Srikumar doubt is quite right to check all the mounts as apart from that there is no other reason you can tear that neck in spite of having so much play in 6 creases on the neck.

Here is a list of all the capable and best 4x4 cars in UAE that you can get under 10,000 and 20,000 Dhs in UAE. I have been asked this question on every off-road drive, so let's build a list with collective experience and knowledge: Best 4x4 cars in 10,000 Dhs 1999 - 2004 - Nissan Pathfinder 3.3 L / 3.5 L 1997 - 2006 - Mitsubishi Pajero 3.0 L / 3.5 L / 3.8 L (SWB is better than LWB) 1991 - 2001 - Jeep Cherokee 4.0 L (Finding clean one is extremely rare) 1999 - 2004 - Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0 L / 4.7 L 1989 - 1998 - Land Rover Discovery Series I 3.9 L / 4.0L (1995 - 1998 year is better) 1998 - 2004 - Land Rover Discovery Series II 4.0 L (Average offroader) 1995 - 2002 - Land Rover Range Rover P38 4.0 L / 4.6 L Best 4x4 cars in 20,000 Dhs 1996 - 2006 - Jeep Wrangler TJ - 4.0 L 2006 - 2010 - Mitsubishi Pajero 3.5 L / 3.8 L (SWB is better than LWB) 2002 - 2009 - Chevrolet Trailblazer 4.2 L / 6.0 L 2005 - 2010 - Jeep Commander 4.7 L / 5.7 L 2005 - 2010 - Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.7 L / 5.7 L 2008 - 2009 - Nissan Xterra - 4.0 L 2006 - 2010 - Chevrolet Tahoe - 4.8 L / 5.3 L / 6.0 L 2006 - 2010 - Hummer H3 - 3.7 L 1996 - 2003 - Toyota Prado VX - 3.4 L (SWB is better than LWB) 1998 - 2004 - Land Rover Discovery Series II 4.6 L 2004 - 2009 - Land Rover Discovery 3 / LR3 4.0 L / 4.4 L 2002 - 2006 - Land Rover Range Rover L322 4.4 L 1997 - 2005 - Nissan Patrol Y61 4.5 L / 4.8 L (Finding clean one is extremely rare) 1998 - 2003 - Toyota Landcruiser 4.5 L (Might be just little over 20K range) 2006 - 2010 - Nissan Armada 5.6 L (Offroad version - Ranchos shocks, skid plate, tow hook, trimmed bumper) Please, guys, keep on suggesting more options based on your offroading experience, I will keep on updating this list DISCLAIMER: I don't intend to put the price of your ride or contest the "ballpark" value that I suggested. The used car market is subject to huge fluctuation due to demand and supply based on season and offroad 4x4 cars in UAE will always sell for a higher premium in winter (Oct-Mar). P.S. Having said that, if you have any constructive suggestion to edit the list - I will accept that. This awesome scrapper pulls the average price daily and update in single excel

@Barry the bottle jacks are very easily tumbled in offroad due to the uneven surface and while fixing the pop out we shake and clean the wheel and tire. I totally agree on jack support to be used always as all jack can fail sometime or other, that's why while doing the popout repair we only reach the tire from outside and not underneath. And in some extensive work, if we have to carry, we use two jack or spare wheel under the car to save the day.