enfant_teribl

How do the Nissan Qashqai or Mazda CX-5 compare? Saw quite a few in Doha recently.

fezzer

Qashqai is pretty good as a family car. Solidly put together, cheap to run and a comfortable ride. If you get the AWD model you can just about take it off-road, but it's not really designed to play in the sand.

enfant_teribl

Thanks Fezzer - how about the dealer network, costs etc in Doha? Good deal there?

fezzer

We've had no problem with Nissan here and had the car from new for about three years. They have a quick service centre near TV roundabout so you don't have to hack over to the Industrial area each time it needs a standard service (and minor services are required every 5000km on that car). Not sure what the service is like if you require anything more serious to be fixed though..

OriginalSunshine

T8.XC90 is what you really want

DXBtoDOH

I spent some time yesterday arvo poking around the various dealerships.

Pajero interiors are better than the Fortuner, but Fortuner will come with 10km servicing instead of the Paj's 5km. Does it make a difference? For me, yes it does. A shame that the Fortuner's interiors are crap and cheap looking. Fortuners also only comes with 30K free servicing, while the Pajs get much more.

I don't see any advantage in spending more on the Jeeps, including the Wranglers and Laredos.

Don't know why Prados are so popular. Their interiors are crap too, and for the same $$$ you can get a Toureg or Audi.

Dunno what I'll do at the end of the day. Maybe just go with the Jetta (15k servicing!) and rely on friends for when I want to go int the desert. My fear is that the Jetta will have terrible resale.

Tiguan is in the budget but it looks like a car designed by a three year old after watching too many cartoons.

Millhouse

People buy Prados and Fortuners as they can be sold onwards quickly. The interiors are nasty in both, but then again you don't really want a car packed full of electronics and soft plastics in this heat.

My fortuners had 5km service intervals...

DXBtoDOH

New thing. There's signs at dealership saying Toyotas now come with 10km service intervals, including the Fortuner.

I rather like the older Prados. The 2008-10 ones were quite decent looking. But the ones at moment are bulky and ungainly.

Tockalosh

I'd say the fortuner interior is pretty solid. Wife kids etc never managed to break anything. Looked better than the Pajero which whilst better looking appeared thin, cheap and breakable by a 4 year old
Buy a 4 litre and you'll not regret it except when you make the payments and wish you had bought a duster

Did you check out the LC70 series pick up and 5 door in Toyota? Perhaps the most unbreakable, capable vehicle ever made by anyone and a bargain to boot.

OleJanx

Twenty years ago I had an LC 70 series LWB ( Land Cruiser II ) It looked the part, was built like a brick shit house, but had an absolutely pathetic 2,4 litre 4 cylinder engine. I later swapped it for a 3 door 'Troopie' with a 4,0 litre engine, and finally ended up with an FJ55 GX Land Cruiser. Also in the dim and distant past I had a 2,0 4Runner, another decent if under powered car. The great thing about Toyota 4x4s is that if you need to sell in a hurry, there is always a market for them at a good price.

Greenways

I've just bought a Tiguan, I agree the looks are not as sleek as some but for us the drive was great. I'm moving on from a Kia sportage 2.0 which never seemed to accelerate too great. The vw is 2.0 also but significantly faster.
We test drove a Pajero -liked the idea of it but just too big for me, I could see the garage wall being bashed (again).
The rav 4 and Audi q3 were next best drive to Tiguan but Audi a bit too saloon like and RAV4 has lip in the boot (it's the little things!), Audi dearer too, Toyota cheaper & top spec. Also drove Honda CR-V and Mazda cx6, really wanted to like the Mazda as we have had them before but just didn't like the drive.

I recognise that we will probably not be able to go off road, but in 3 years we haven't done so... Most of my driving is on Al Kahil road!!
it made financial sense to buy - Kia was 74k to buy (base, servicing & 1st yr insurance) we financed 60 and had loan for 1777 aed per month for 36 months. Insurance was 2k per year. Just traded it in for 40k.

Millhouse

your prior car choices preclude you from commenting on this thread.

Millhouse

interesting, when mechanically they haven't changed a nut on the fortuner/prado platform for at least 10 years!

I wonder if that means i can service the FJ less often...

OleJanx

I had a breeze block Pajero Mk 1 V6 in Oman, and the only time I let the dealer service it they mislayed the oil filler cap on the engine and it overheated and was never the same again. On the other hand I did a mega millage and had the company workshop change the oil and filters and made Al Zubair, the Omani Mitsubishi dealer look like amateurs. Down side was the gearboxes on early V6 Paj's went pear shape after 200,000 KMs and they were a bit sloppy in the suspension front after that milage. There again, I've had 12 Range Rovers and they couldn't stand up to the Pajero's, and Discoverys were even worse, but the sound of a Rover V8 was better than a Mitsubishi V6 and a Toyota straight 6....

Greenways