Yeah why not just take your TD5? You are familiar with it and seem pretty content with it's abilities and performance.
If I was doing that journey I'd go with a Patrol 3.0Di or a Landcruiser 4.2TD, but since you mentioned a smaller vehicle, I'd probably go with (nobody laugh) the Suzuki Vitara, had a three door V6 one years ago, was a proper dog of a car that I basically used as a pub/train station car, was great offroad and in the snow, I didn't really look after it properly and nothing ever broke.
My experiences with Pajero might be sort of relevant as I've used them here in the UAE and they are pretty woeful in the desert, the gearing seems wrong for sand driving and the engine isn't responsive enough or have enough torque for the job but that may be down to the crap engines they import them with here, I guess in Europe you'd get a decent modern turbo diesel.
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