Advice For A Newbie

[FTD83]

Hello there, been in Dubai for a few years but never made use of the desert or gone off roading. Want to pick up a 4x4 that will be used for short journeys in town and, hopefully, coming on some the organised trips. Trouble is my budget is only around 30k AED and I'm looking for suggestions and advice on what to buy.

I see Wranglers for this price generally are all pre 2000 and/or have quite high mileage. I'm not particulary mechanically minded so don't want something I have to keep working on to keep going.

There are a few 2003-2005 Cherokee's, will 100-120k mileage on them, in this price bracket which looks quite good value for money. I realise there is not much in the way of mods for these and they are a Chrysler not a Jeep but then I'm only starting out anyway and won't be doing anything extreme.

Anyone any experience of the Cherokee? Or any other advice, help or tips. Obviously Patrols, Land Cruisers and FJ's are out of my price range.

Cheers

[Desert Lizard]

Welcome on board FTD83. First a bit of clarifications: the 2003-2005 Cherokees you are refereing to are not THE CHEROKEE's we all love. These are not sturdy enough for off-roading and their trade name is LIBERTY (here is a picture to make sure). They are also terrible expensive to maintain (my wife has one)
The real Cherokee XJ (picture here ) was last produced in 2001 and most of them have quite a bit of mileage on them, but to the Cherokee mileage is nothing: if the engine and transmission are in good shape and the body is relatively rust free they will run forever. These are awesome off-road and acceptable on-road cars BUT since they are the fathers of all modern SUV's then by buying one you are guaranteed frequent visits to a mechanic and junkyards.

[FSL]

well if you're looking into cherokees, may be take a look at this one. i found this one while browsing on dubizzle.
http://dubai.dubizzle.com/classified/au ... ed-auto-2/

Looks good, already has some mods.
Any jeeper from the club can comment better on it.

[Abu Jimmy]

You can check the Nissan Pathfinder 2003 to 2005 model.

[caprihorse]

You can check the Nissan Pathfinder 2003 to 2005 model.

Small correction - 3.5L Pathfinder, from 2001 - 2005, preferably manual transmission, 240 HP, models before 2001 are 3.3L but with 168HP only, not advisable to use.

[FALCON]

in your budget you have to option
1- cherokee from 1997 till 2001
2- bathfinder from 2001 to 2005

[FTD83]

Thank you very much for the replies. I did suspect that about 2000+ Cherokees/Libbys just needed it confirmed by people with more knowledge than me. I saw that 96 Cherokee, FSL. Looks like it's been maintained and decent mileage on it too. As I know nothing about cars though I'm anxious about the support network required to maintain it. I also looked at Pathfinders but to be honest, and not offence intended at all, I find them a bit uninspiring.

I think I'm going to have to save up a bit more cash and put it towards a Wrangler while at the same time checking daily in case the odd bargain crops up. Again I realise there is no answer but what would be the oldest stock anyone would buy with a view to modding it slightly? Or would I be better looking at something with a lift and air intake already?

Thanks once again :)

[FSL]

Well our group is I guess the only group with ALMOST all kinds of offroading vehicles from new to old, from jeeps to trucks, from Japanese to American and hell yeah we even got a VITARA as well ;)

In case you get a JEEP (Wrangler / Cherokee) rest assured you are in right place for experienced advice, tips, tricks and sourcing the mods. Surprising thing many of our advanced drivers, marshals drive the original old Cherokee.