Rented from Sixt in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia
Upgraded to diesel and damn glad I did... the entire country is in the midst of a gasoline shortage (they have no refineries and get 95% of their gasoline from Russia who has reduced exports due bombing of their refineries). Diesel, for whatever reason, is plentiful. We could not have accomplished this trip on a gas engine. We passed many closed gas stations and the few that were open had long lines, hours long. But we would swing in past all the waiting cars, pull up to the diesel pump and minutes later we were full and on our way.
The paved roads are generally in terrible shape and you must constantly swerve to avoid axel eating potholes. When it was unavoidable, the LC took them in stride.
We did about 500 miles of off-road... or rather "steppe roads" which are just rough tracks across the open plains and washes of the Gobi. Much of this was heavily washboarded... like 6 inch deep wash board. The LC did amazing... took a severe pounding for 6-10 hours a day without a hiccup. And this includes stretches of rocky dry washes, sand dunes and mud holes.
It was a great adventure and I came away in awe of the ruggedness of our rigs. I haven't done much offroad with my home rig, but now I will be far less shy tackling the wilds... these things can take a beating!
Fortunately for me, some previous renter had bashed in the sheet metal skid guard (can't really call it a plate), so though I probably crunched it a bit more on some surprise dips, I wasn't charged for the damage. But it was a good reminder that if you rent a 4WD vehicle, take good "before" pictures of the underside of the cars! Also, if I want to get frisky with my home unit I will definitely be adding heavy duty plates beforehand.
Mongolia is still 95% wild, rugged open land with no fencing. Steppe roads fan out in all directions from the few towns, leading to ger (the round felt tents of the nomads) camps. I recommend this adventure for only experienced and confident 4WD drivers... you are totally on your own out there. Most tourists hire guides with vehicles that tour them around. We saw no other self-drivers out there. Also, self-driving ain't cheap. You can get a car, driver, and guide $300 a day... renting your own LC is more like $450. But if you like living on the edge it's worth it!
