8)

http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/mot ... -coastline

After reading that, I am mentally planning a similar trip. Great stuff.

nice stuff

Thanks! 8) I thought Elsie would appreciate a 300,000km birthday present

Did you catch my other article, about preferring a used car for off-roading? http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/mot ... est-choice I'd like to know what you think.

Good advice. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a 4X4 because I didn't want to be scared to use it. I wanted something that works for my requirements, could be used everyday if needs be but still has decent off road performance. I wanted to be reasonably proud of the way it looks and goes but not scared to pick up the odd bump and scrape.

In my case, my choice of vehicle was partially dictated by family considerations (a Wrangler isn't much use for 4 people!), an XJ Cherokee likewise and so the Grand Chereokee is a good compromise. My experience of running Honda engined vehicles in the past has left me with a dislike of the way that Japanese firms overcomplicate their designs and make it hard to do DIY maintenance as a result. Range Rovers are great, as long as reliability ISN'T one of your requirements and that pretty much exhausts the list of options.

I like to do my own maintenance where possible and my experience with American cars is that parts are reasonably cheap, readily available and the cars are easy to work on (my ZJ has proved that to be correct all round!). I'm pretty confident that I can fix most faults myself, especially with the support of the iinternet, and I have never found myself holding back for fear of damaging or breaking the car. I think that freedom makes the driving experience more enjoyable.

One thing I would add is: You don't have to buy the best vehicle that you can afford. Don't be afraid to buy a vehicle that needs work - IF the purchase price is right. If you have the budget/skills/parts availability to bring it up to standard then it can prove a better option than spending more on a (supposedly) better car. I only paid AED8,000 for my Jeep but have spent about as much again on repairs, upgrades and improvements, but that's still not expensive. I also now have a pretty good idea of the condition that it's in and know, for example, that the cooling system is in A1 condition because it's all new! I have also put money into what I call "future proofing" - which is replacing parts early to give me the knowledge that they are OK for some time to come. However, if I'd spent AED20,000 on buying a "better" Jeep I would be always concerned that something was about to blow and cost me a lot of money, leaving me out of pocket overall.

One final bonus is that I also have two hobbies for the price of one: the driving hobby and the engineering hobby.

great articles PR,

as for the second one, i agree with you and richrad moss with having an older car to fit youre needs and preferences. I honestly as you said prefer Toyota Landcruiser ( 98 - 2007) and Nissan Patrol (1989 - 1992) for here in the UAE as you already probably know, Spare Parts can be found at the grocery shop and 90% of workshops know how to work on them.

Also as you said, one thing i really despise about new cars is that they are so.... "Flimzy" that the slightest touch or tap of something, its damaged wheras the older cars as you said can take big beating and still keep going with vengeance. Old cars Rule and Baja Truck


++ Happy 300,000km milestone and many more happy kilometers to come eace:

Agree completely with you guys and I have just purchase a 1995 Discovery serries-1 just under 7,000/- and spend another 3,000/ on bigger tires, lfiting springs, body chop to allow for new wheels and nice musik system

(I may spoken to ealrlier) but so far no problems with it and and being into the sand, mountains and wadis

I will just wait and see how long will it last before it break down.
Again with that price I wont worry much.

PR there are also nice beach in Khor Kalba but Won't compare it with Oman but it is nice to camp on the beach now and then.
Plaaning to do a Khor Kalba beach trip End of March when the weather is Fine.

Nice article ! So Elise came equiped with a Wimch as standard equipment ? Thats interesting !

How many years have you had her and how many KM did you put on it ?