Spec me a car.

The older Kia sportage is a "proper" offroader and should be cheap enough, very capable and very reliable too. Land rovers of any sort break far too often, your toyota options will be very limited at the budget I would have thought though a hilux with a box on the back would be ideal.

Don't rule out something like a vitara either as again they're capable enough and generally reliable when not being abused offroad - Plenty of pajeros around too though again you'd need to look for a particularly good one
 
We aren't feeling this car, seems great and all but the complete lack of refinement has made us all think twice about it.

Would it be silly for us to get a 530i SE and retrofit the poor road package onto it?
 
You need something Japanese for this.

The poor road package on an E39 was just uprated dampers etc really, nothing that'll see you over roads which are more crater than tarmac thats for sure.
 
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[TW]Fox;21944846 said:
You need something Japanese for this.

The poor road package on an E39 was just uprated dampers etc really, nothing that'll see you over roads which are more crater than tarmac thats for sure.
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True, but the level of epicness will be win.

Another thing is that all three of us have encyclopedic style knowledge of them.

The dampers etc are really for the novelty value, however everyone seems to get about ok in corollas.
 
jamoor said:
True, but the level of epicness will be win.
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The level of annoyance will be higher when you keep needing to get stuff sorted after the cooling system explodes all over the desert. It wont be reliable enough, especially a cheap one, and all of the epic things about them that make the fact they sometimes break well worth the hassle are overshadowed by other things on a trip like this. You need something you absolutely 100% can depend on, given some of the dangerous places you are going to attempt to drive through.,

everyone seems to get about ok in corollas.
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Exactly.

Go Jap.
 
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jamoor said:
True, but the level of epicness will be win.

Another thing is that all three of us have encyclopedic style knowledge of them.

The dampers etc are really for the novelty value, however everyone seems to get about ok in corollas.
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Surely you need 4WD with the known conditions of the road. It is as much about safety as it is with comfort. And how is the 530i going to help with ground clearance anyway?
 
I know somebody who drove their Vectra from the UK to India, don't think they took the same route as you're planning but the Vectra did make it, they did catch the plane back though.

In terms of vehicle choice make it as simple as can be, something agricultural so that should you have problems, hopefully it can be massaged back into life.
 
[TW]Fox;21945076 said:
If you must go the exec saloon route what about a Lexus GS or LS?
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I think the level of annoyance on these things will potentially be serious, none of us know anything about them, nor does anyone else outside of Japan.

Something goes wrong, fixing it will be a nightmare, that's if though.

Sant FE does seem a reasonable option though,
 
jamoor said:
I think the level of annoyance on these things will potentially be serious, none of us know anything about them, nor does anyone else outside of Japan.

Something goes wrong, fixing it will be a nightmare, that's if though.
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Whereas you can rebuild a 530i in the middle of the desert :confused:
 
[TW]Fox;21945195 said:
Whereas you can rebuild a 530i in the middle of the desert :confused:
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We're not going through any deserts, or sparsely populated areas really.


I think trying to figure out which fancy denso sensor on a LS400 is broken will be a bit more difficult to fix than merely googling our problem with a 5 series, or just plugging in INPA and knowing exactly what the problem is, and getting the part for next to nothing within a few days.
 
jamoor said:
We're not going through any deserts,
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jamoor said:
the last thing we want to be doing is breaking down in an Irani Desert.
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:confused:

or sparsely populated areas really.
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Oh, I thought you were driving to India. It's hardly city all the way is it?


I think trying to figure out which fancy denso sensor on a LS400 is broken will be a bit more difficult to fix than merely googling our problem with a 5 series, or just plugging in INPA and knowing exactly what the problem is, and getting the part for next to nothing within a few days.
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Errr yea.

You asked us to spec you a reliable, dependable car because the last thing you want to be doing is breaking down. A 10 year old BMW 5 Series is not this car.
 
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[TW]Fox;21945324 said:
Oh, I thought you were driving to India.




Errr yea.
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Indeed, I've owned rare(ish) jap motors before, they're never fun as there's no knowledge about them anywhere.


We're going through Iran and Pakistan.

I'm liking the look of Santa FEs, cheap, carlike and in theory reliable.
 
If you want a car that there will be bags of local knowledge about in Iran you want a Peugeot 405 :p

Surely a Lexus isn't a 'rare Japanese car nobody knows anything about'? It's a Toyota and I'd imagine many electrical components are shared with cars like the Camry. The Camry being, of course, the WORLDS most popular car.
 
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