redonettii

8 hours ago, Rizwanm2 said:

If you can find a 2014/15 with less than 70000km in good condition, that is a real gem, 

in terms of price its subjective. since its off season, my wild guess is around 45-55k 

Oh no I haven't found one, I am just wondering because my friend has one (but he will never sell, he bought new)

On 5/16/2021 at 10:16 AM, Rizwanm2 said:

with the GCCVIN decoder you can check the vehicle specs and details. here is the link. 

https://www.vindecoderz.com/EN/check-lookup/5N1AN0N61BC501592 

its a factory offroad version. it should have all around yellow bilstein shocks.  

 

i bought my xterra about 9 months back. that is also after continues search for about 4 months. I came across lot of lemon cars during my search specially offroad version.  

my advice is don't buy in a hurry do the research and test drive as many as possible. when you test drive couple of cars you will notice flaws in each once. try to test drive a low mileage high priced pristine onces as well even though its out of your budget.    then decide the right one for you and get it thoroughly checked it from a trusted mechanic.  

Good luck.. 😊

Hi Rizwan,
What is a good price for a clean low mileage (<70,000 kms) 2014/15 GCC XTerra with Off Road Pack?

@Gaurav @Rahimdad I have an update question - a family friend has recently now left the country and left me their 2016 Range Rover Sport V8 to sell. They told me I could purchase it from them for a very good price. The car has ground clearance of 8.4 inches, angle of approach 33 degrees, angle of departure 31 degrees, front and rear tow recovery points. For newbie to fewbie level drives, could I use this car for occasional off-road drives? The car has a twin-speed transfer case and low-range gearing, hill descent control, all terrain progress control, crawl control, low traction launch, active rear locking differential, and sand and mud mode. I am aware that if something breaks, it would be expensive to fix, but this question is more about capabilities for a newbie to fewbie driver - obviously, for something that gets offroaded often, it would be better to go for a less luxurious, potentially more robust, easy to fix car!

1 minute ago, Rahimdad said:

It's an old car. Firstly I cannot believe the car has done 120k kms only in past 20 years. My 2001 R50 has 265k kms and I use it only on weekends. If you have it checked with your trusted mechanic and he confirms engine, gearbox, chassis are in good condition and there is no rust than its your decision to put 10k on the line. If the engine is a 3.5 litre in that case the engine has been swapped, with this model engine will not be the only swap, the gear, ECU and some other components also need to be swapped. I would not be comfortable with somebody else's headache in this case.

With the season getting better the prices will rise, but don't be in a hurry and get the right car which will give you some satisfaction for at least a few years.

Thank you very much for your sound advice, I am very grateful. I too have some concerns about the odometer in the car - I will leave it be.

15 minutes ago, Rahimdad said:

For R50 go with the 2005 model and above. 2000 - 2001 came with 3.3 litre engine. 2002 - 2004 came with plastic part in the Maf sensor and required regular changing. 2005 model and up 3.5 litre engine produced healthy 225 hp. But condition would put the car value anywhere from AED 6000 - AED 15000.

Ok- so in your opinion, 2000 model with 120kms, auto, Not worth for 10k aed?

26 minutes ago, Frederic said:

Hi @Sreejith Sreenivasan big difference between the two. The Armada is pretty capable but very heavy and not so nimble. The older Pathfinder Series R50 are easy to fix, are smaller and more reliable as well. 

How much is the market price for a 2000/2001 Nissan Pathfinder R50? I found one through a contact at the auto market with around 120,000kms mileage. Looks in decent condition for the age.

51 minutes ago, Sreejith Sreenivasan said:

I would be interested to know more about Nissan Armada.. Looking to give some rest to my LR2 and in need of something better for future levels. Nissan Pathfinder 3.5L (Old model) is another one I'm eyeing at.. Waiting for the expert opinion..

Dear Sreejith - how do you find your LR2 in the desert / offroad in general? Capable? Is it a good option for a newbie to learn offroad driving? Does it have low range gear, locked diff etc, full time 4x4 - all the essentials?

3 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

Y61 has no V8 to best of my knowledge, but you might find some Y61 example in market with LS1 - Chevy small block V8 - purposely modified for higher performance and then discarded after 1 year of hard-core abuse. Stay away from those.

Safari and Super Safari has few cosmetic differences and external red stripes only. Focus on 4.8 VTEC models and not 4.5 older models, they had bad gearing for off-road use (I suffered with one for 2 years). 

Thanks Gaurav. I was doing some research today about Nissans and discovered this model called the Armada, which was sold in the GCC with a 5.6L V8 and 4x4 - are you familiar with this model, would it be recommended? Prices are very reasonable, ranging from 45-60k for low mileage 2013-15 examples.

5 hours ago, Rahimdad said:

If you're looking for a big luxurious car go for Infinity QX 56 or Lexus LX470 or GX470. Sure it will be a bit old depending on your budget, but capable off-roaders with ample of power and torque.

Thank you Rahim! I am now leaning towards Prado, Y61 Patrol - trying to find good clean examples. Are there V8 versions of the Y61 Patrol? I am not sure of the difference between the Safari and Super Safari?

10 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

Too fancy with super low ground clearance made only for road and not off-road. Land Rover Discovery Sport can "BARELY" survive off-road till newbie level if you are super careful and cautious on every dune crossing.

@Pickey Singh has driven his Land Rover discovery, so far the maximum I guess 4 or 5 newbie drives and in the last drive he had slight frontal damage. Now he has bought FJ cruiser recently and will be resuming the off-roading from coming Friday.

@Gaurav, I think thats very clear, thank you. I was told by the JLR salesmen that the Discovery Sport is perfect off-road, so I guess it was more of a sales pitch then anything accurate! 

12 hours ago, Gaurav said:

Hi @redonettii welcome to Carnity and I hope to explain a bit about your shortlisted cars, so you can choose whatever fits the best based on my explanations.

• V6 Prado: Best combination of all the things that you expect from her, but minus the intermediate level off-roading in case you wish to do. It will be good for newbie to fewbie level, unless you trim or modify the front bumper. But it's adequately capable to reach to any decent level of off-roading (not extreme off course) in terms of power. For road it comes with comfy ride and features to check almost all the essential boxes.
   
• Y61 Patrol: Tiny bit lesser comfy for road, but super ready for off-road for any level in stock shape. And like Heisem mention super thirsty. I had older one 4.5 and on highway at 140 speed I could feel the fuel tank needle movement. Being 4.8 must be more of a fuel guzzler.
   
• Y62 Patrol: Best of all in terms of comfort and power but with limited off-road capabilities and unless you do serious bumper trimming, bash plates, lift kit etc. In stock state it's OK for newbie levels only if you drive it sensibly, the day miss the "sensibly" part front bumper will take a nasty hit. For fewbie level - I haven't seen any Y62 reaching there yet without breaking the bumpers, but recently seen 2020 Y62 model with very good clearance and they might survive better than the older shape.
   
• Land Cruiser: Same if not better than Y62 in terms of road comfort but with good off-road stance that can easily get you till fewbie drives without much headache. But again LC200 and Y62 are inherently heavy beast that require special skills to learn to offroad with such heavy cars.

If you are buying this 4x4 purely for off-roading then I would highly vote for Prado or Y61 Patrol, because no matter which type of offroading you will "eventually" like after few months (sand mostly), these two vehicles will scale to those needs perfectly.

Last but not least, if you don't have big family or big plans for visitors than SWB (short wheel base) Prado or Patrol will be more fun for off-roading in the long run. Short and nimble to go anywhere, light and powerful to scale to any off-road needs plus slightly lesser of fuel guzzler than LWB.

@Gaurav, what do you think about Land Rover Discovery Sport etc? I see some attractive offers on these cars for the new 2015+ shape,  the Land Rover Discovery Sport also has crawl and terrain response and terrain modes, it has no dedicated low range gear, but has a ultra low first gear for takeoff from difficult situations. Do you ever see these on the Carnity trips?

Just now, sertac said:

In this list i would go for Y61 Patrol. It is all in one kind of very capable beast. Also i believe you will love to drive that on road as well. In this country Patrol means getting Respect on the road.

Y62 or Land Cruiser will be very heavy unless you need that big of space.

Prado V6 can be a good choice if you are sure you not goin to go for higher level drives.

Fortuner basically Hilux truck with closed bed. It is very capable but i don't think it will be much comfortable. 

Pathfinder new models are useless. Pre 2015 models are also not very capable unless you trim the bumpers and lift it. But you can look for Xterra. Xterra as well closed bed Nissan Frontier Truck. It has minimal comfort, but very high off road capability. 

Thank you! Is Any XTerra OK? Do all of them have the required 4x4? I see that there is an offroad version, but apparently it is hard to find, I only find very high mileage ones that are still expensive.

Thanks @Gaurav, @Heisem for all your help! I have added the Fortuner V6 to my short-list on the recommendation of some friends - it is cheaper than the Prado, I was wondering whether that is because the Prado is a bit more luxurious, or does the Prado have some other mechanical or off-road features that the Fortuner lacks?

9 hours ago, Rahimdad said:

Just to clear one thing here, last I heard Toyota does not provide the V6 for the SWB anymore. It seems because they are concentrating on telling the Ruba.

Thanks @Rahimdad, I see that you drive a Pathfinder. Are the 2015+ Pathfinders also good offroad, or would you recommend sticking to the pre-2015 boxy-looking ones. Do all of them have 4x4 and low-range gear, or only the Offroad version?

Thanks @Heisem ! Budget wise, the Prado would be better for me - am I sacrificing a lot capability wise if I go for the Prado over the Land Cruiser due to budgetary constraints? I note that the Prado doesn't appear to have multi-terrain select modes, or crawl mode - which only the Land Cruiser has. Not sure how much I would need such features?

Hello everyone, new member here. There are so many useful posts and I have really enjoyed reading them all. I am in the market for a 4x4 SUV to go camping, trail driving to wadis, up and down mountain roads (like Jabal Akhdar in Oman), and the odd desert camping trip / dune bash (not too extreme, just going up and over dunes mainly for movement from Point A to Point B across the desert. By the way, I have another car for daily driving which I enjoy, but it is a sports car, low to the ground, so I am looking for something that will offer something different.

My shortlist so far are the Toyota Prado (v6), Nissan Patrol Y61, Nissan Patrol Y62, Toyota Land Cruiser. I also heard that the Fortuner (v6) was good, but the newest generation does not have full time 4 wheel drive - will this be problematic? I was very interested in purchasing a Land Rover Discovery Sport, but after reading this forum I got discouraged as many people said it is not a true 4x4 due to lack of low range gearing and transfer case.

My question is, I would love to hear people's opinions on my shortlist - the best combination of comfort for a long range trip, and then off-road ability as well. I am attracted by the Prado for example due to its large fuel tank (150L), are there other cars with large fuel tanks as well? I also heard that although the Patrol is super popular, it isn't necessarily the best offroad car on sand due to its great weight. Is the 320HP V8 engine enough power for such a large car, or do I need to go for the 400HP VVEL DIG engine in the LE Platinum? 

Would be grateful for all your help!