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I'm sure a lot of people will have had experiences where an independent garage has said they are unable to repair a car and it has to go to the main dealer. From 2018, all car manufacturers will have to make all specific diagnostic and repair tools available to independent repair shops. http://blog.caranddriver.com/automakers-agree-to-fix-your-car-anywhere-in-right-to-repair-pledge/ http://web.archive.org/web/20160227035540/http://articles.sae.org/11690/ This has been a long time coming and should have been done long ago as manufacturer software has been available on torrents for years.

Its that time when I recall the drive and try to live it again with my words. The drives so far have been so exciting that I do not need to think and type, this week was no different... Here goes... So I misunderstood the meeting point, but more or less I reached on time, thanks to @Gaurav bhai who did not sleep to wake me up on time. My alarm did not work as well as a call from a brother who loves and cares so much about me. Once at the deflation point, besides the usual suspects we had a smiling and enthusiastic personality with us in @Atif bhai and his faithful Prado. After deflation and a briefing from Gaurav Bhai we started our ride Heading to Big Red, @Gaurav bhai was the first one to reach the top, @Asif Hussain was the next to try and could not reach the top from the front face. Next was @Atif bhai who made it to the top, I was surprised later when I saw he reached the top with his traction control still on. @skumar83 was also on top along with @baselsm83 , leaving me with the same fate as Asif Bhai. As usual I took the cheat route with Asif Bhai to reach the top after a couple of difficult crossings. This is where I realized that Atif bhai's traction was on and turning it off gave him a better feel for the rest of the drive. Every one drove well and @Gaurav bhai chose the best possible terrain with @Atif bhai as it was his first time with us. A couple of refusals from @Atif bhai but remarkably he was able to get himself out of the sticky situations every time. At one particular situation he was able to slowly and with a lot of patience and an absolutely sound technique crawled himself out of some very long soft patch. As we headed from Big Red to Pink Rocks we had an amazing time. Upon reaching the top behind Pink Rocks we opened our coolers for some cold drinks and the croissants I got went along so well with the cutlets Asif bhai got.. Time for a surprise and a twist, Gaurav bhai wanted me to take lead and I just wanted a little more excitement due to last week Faqa drive. So after crossing Pink Rocks I saw some huge awesome dunes and somehow got pulled towards them. Once on top of one I found some virgin dunes and before I knew it we were slipping, sliding and making our way trough those awesome set of dunes. At this point Gaurav Bhai pointed out that we were heading back to the Big Red. I slightly adjusted my route as I wanted to depart at Tawi Nizwa. After a good 45 minutes where we had even forgotten how hot it was getting we could see Tawi Nizwa shops in front of our eyes, to our surprise though we were going to be faced with the first real challenge for the day. There was now a fence and a road running through where we never expected the same. As we tried to find a break in the fence, Asif Bhai was teh one to find it, we headed in the direction of the main road which was blocked, so we turned around and drove for about 7 kilometers before we headed left to connect with the road heading to the Tawi Nizwa shops. An inflation with a nice chat meant it was time to say Good Bye until next time. Thanks to @Atif bhai for sponsoring the inflation. over all an exciting day out with the best possible people, good food and great company. Thank you to all participants for the amazing time, loved every minute. Check the Gallery for my pics from the drive to get a better feel.

Much awaited, most amazing drive video