WE ALL WANT to escape to the hills during the summer. It's one of the countryside's biggest selling points over the city. The elevation means it's often a few degrees cooler throughout these dry and dusty months and we can't wait for the weekend to roll around to enjoy it.

If you're the adventurous sort you'll no doubt want a vehicle to reflect your love of traversing dunes and hills, one that has enough space to store your expedition gear and a decent amount of cabin space to protect you and the family/ mates as you head to the UAE outback.

Here are our five favourites for just such a voyage.

From snow to sand

Get in the ultimate off-road gear with Arctic Trucks' Isuzu D-Max AT35. Nothing says you take your outdoor activities more seriously than this absolute beast. It's fitted with 35" tyres on 17x10 wheels and the body has been raised by 30mm with 20mm raised suspension. Its three-litre twin-turbo common-rail diesel engine produces 163hp and it has a 3.5 tonne towing capacity. We love the strength.

The popular kid

The Ford F-150 is the most popular pick-up ever. Sales figures can prove that beyond doubt. That hasn't stopped the people at Ford trying to make it better though with this new version of the F-150 Raptor. It has just been unleashed on the road and possesses a mud/sand setting for it to keep its feet in, well, mud and sand. Need you know any more than that? If you must, the Raptor also has gismos to assist with rock crawling.

The Sierra just got 'mas Grande'

The GMC Sierra All Terrain has got attitude. You can't deny it. You could imagine someone chasing Walter White across the deserts of Albuquerque in this thing. It's equipped with Z71 Off-Road suspension and your choice of a 5.3-litre V-8 engine or a 6.2-litre V-8 engine which produces a staggering 420hp! Now that's a fast car.

Welcome to the Dark Side

An all-black Midnight edition of the Chevy Silverado is in showrooms now and we like the moodiness. Blacked out 18" wheels always work for us and this even comes with a blacked out Chevrolet bow tie. Subtle. Midnight special editions also include off-road suspension, a locking rear differential, Hill Descent Control and a trailer package.

The wildcard

Not immediately one called to mind when thinking of trucks, Nissan has its Navara and we are pleasantly surprised. The reason we like it is because it starts from Dhs66,000. For there or thereabouts you get a good 2.5-litre engine producing 168hp. There's also a lot of room, it's just as sturdy as the competition and it looks unusual.

Source: Khaleej Times