Camping season is open: a 2020 to 2022 Pajero asks QAR 61,000, a Land Cruiser of the same age QAR 169,000

Qatar's winter camping season opened on Sunday 25 October and runs until 20 April, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change announced at the start of the month. Registration opened on 11 October on the ministry's website and the Bee'ah app, region by region: central areas first, then the south, with Sealine opening on 14 October, then the north. All areas reopened for registration from 22 to 31 October, so there is still a day left to book a site. This year the rules completely ban motorcycles in all rawda areas, and in every camping area between 10 pm and 5 am.

For a lot of households, the season is also when the question of a desert car comes up: replacing one, adding one, or finally buying the first. We looked at what that costs on BuMotar today.

How we measured it

We started from the same cleaned set we use for every article: used cars from model years 2014 to 2026, with between 1,000 and 500,000 km and an asking price of at least QAR 5,000, with obvious duplicates removed. That is 9,353 cars today, with a middle asking price of QAR 80,000.

From those we took 18 models that are bought for the desert as much as for the road: Land Cruiser, Prado, FJ Cruiser, Hilux, Sequoia, Patrol, LX, Pajero, Jimny, Wrangler, Tahoe, Yukon, Raptor, Bronco, Defender, G-Class, and the two Chinese newcomers, the Jetour T2 and GWM's Tank. That is 2,859 cars, 31% of the used market on the site, with a middle asking price of QAR 135,000.

Like for like: a 2020 to 2022 car

Asking prices across all years mostly tell you how old each model's listings are. To compare the cars themselves, here is the middle asking price of each model from model years 2020 to 2022, with its middle mileage, for every model with at least ten cars of that age:

• Suzuki Jimny — 16 cars. QAR 58,500, 61,000 km.
• Mitsubishi Pajero — 48 cars. QAR 61,200, 83,000 km.
• Toyota Hilux — 21 cars. QAR 77,000, 81,000 km.
• Toyota FJ Cruiser — 10 cars. QAR 121,000, about 69,500 km.
• Nissan Patrol — 92 cars. QAR 128,000, about 80,000 km.
• Toyota Prado — 26 cars. QAR 129,500, 76,000 km.
• Jeep Wrangler — 13 cars. QAR 129,900, 57,000 km.
• GMC Yukon — 11 cars. QAR 130,000, but 144,000 km.
• Toyota Land Cruiser — 286 cars. QAR 169,000, 126,000 km.
• Land Rover Defender — 37 cars. QAR 197,000, 97,000 km.
• Lexus LX — 42 cars. QAR 286,500, 89,000 km.
• Mercedes-Benz G-Class — 16 cars. QAR 529,500, 87,500 km.

Two things stand out. The first is the cluster in the middle: a Patrol, a Prado, a Wrangler and a Yukon of the same age all ask about QAR 130,000, give or take QAR 2,000. These are very different cars, from a seven-seat family SUV to a Jeep whose doors come off, and the market prices them as if they were the same thing. If you are choosing between them, the price is not what separates them; the kind of car you want, and the mileage, are.

The second is the Land Cruiser, which asks about QAR 41,000 more than a Patrol of the same age, while its middle car has done about 46,000 km more. That premium is the Land Cruiser's reputation at resale, which we have written about before, and it is paid even on cars with more kilometres.

A 2020 to 2022 Patrol, Prado, Wrangler and Yukon all ask about QAR 130,000. The market prices four very different cars as one.

At the bottom: under QAR 60,000

427 of the 2,859 ask QAR 60,000 or less. Only 112 of those have done under 150,000 km. The cheap end of the desert market is mostly two cars:

• Mitsubishi Pajero — 162 cars. Middle model year 2016, about 154,000 km. 44 have done 200,000 km or more.
• Nissan Patrol — 139 cars. 2015, 238,000 km. 102 have done 200,000 km or more.
• Jeep Wrangler and Toyota Sequoia — 27 each. The Wranglers are 2015s at 170,000 km; the Sequoias are 2015s at 280,000 km, and all but one of them are past 200,000.
• Suzuki Jimny — 16 cars. 2020 to 2021, 97,500 km. The only model whose typical car at this money is young.
• Toyota Land Cruiser — 14 cars. All 2014 or 2015, all past 200,000 km; the middle one has done 344,000.

If the budget is QAR 60,000 and what you want is a full-size 4x4 that has not already done a long working life, the Pajero is close to the only option on the site. A Patrol at this price has typically done about 84,000 km more than the Pajero.

The newcomers

Almost every Jetour T2 and Tank for sale is a 2024 to 2026 car, so they can only be compared against young cars. Among cars from those model years:

• Suzuki Jimny — 19 cars. QAR 66,000.
• Jetour T2 — 129 cars. QAR 96,000, 28,000 km.
• Toyota Hilux — 17 cars. QAR 112,000.
• GWM Tank — 119 cars. QAR 159,000, 18,000 km. Mostly the larger 500 and 700; only eight are listed as the 300.
• Toyota Prado — 14 cars. QAR 173,500.
• Nissan Patrol — 58 cars. QAR 219,000.
• Toyota Land Cruiser — 277 cars. QAR 240,000.
• Land Rover Defender — 60 cars. QAR 359,000.

A young T2 asks about QAR 77,500 less than a young Prado, and about QAR 144,000 less than a young Land Cruiser. That gap is the whole case for it. What the listings cannot tell you is how the T2 and the Tank hold up after several seasons of sand and summer, or what they will be worth when you sell. There are not yet enough older ones in Qatar to measure, and as we found with Chinese cars generally, that uncertainty is the price of the discount.

What to do with this

• If you are buying — Confirm the car is actually four-wheel drive. Hilux, Tahoe and Yukon are also sold with two-wheel drive, and our listings do not record which is which. Then have it inspected with the desert in mind: underbody, suspension bushes, the transfer case, and sand in places it should not be. A car that has spent several winters in the dunes can look clean from the outside. If you want a camping car this season rather than next, buy on condition rather than badge; in the QAR 130,000 cluster above, a lower-mileage car of a less fashionable model is often the better car for the money.
• If you are selling — If yours is a 4x4, this is the time of year buyers are looking for one, though we cannot show from our data that prices rise with the season. Price against the same model and age, not against the Land Cruiser. A Patrol or Prado is competing with Wranglers and Yukons at the same money, and a clean service history and photos of the underside will do more than a lower price.
• If you are holding — A 4x4 that already does what you need is worth keeping through the season. Selling one now to buy another at the same price mostly swaps a known car for an unknown one, and the market is not offering a better car for the same money, only a different one.

What we do not know, and what would change the answer. These are asking prices, not sale prices, and some cars will sell well below them. Mileage is as the seller states it, and we cannot see accident history, sand damage or service records. The 2020 to 2022 Land Cruiser figure mixes the older 200 series and the current 300 series, which are priced differently, and the Tank figure mixes the 300, 500 and 700. We have no record of which cars are four-wheel drive or what trim they are, and Pajero, Patrol and Land Cruiser trims vary widely in price. Our listings show today's prices only, so we cannot say whether 4x4 prices move with the camping season. And several of the figures above rest on 10 to 20 cars, so treat those as a rough guide.

Read next

• In Qatar, a used SUV asks about 39% more than the same maker's sedan. Most of that comes back when you sell.
• In Qatar, QAR 50,000 buys a 2023 crossover with 41,000 km, or a 2015 Patrol with 233,000 km