Leaderboard

It's been a while since I had led a drive so I was kinda anxious as well as excited about the drive. We all met at the deflation point and after a check up of one of the cars we entered into the desert. @Gaurav was my second lead and wherever I made an error he was there correcting the route for the rest of the convoy. We had @EmVarlet who was joining us on his first fewbie drive after driving quite a few newbie drives and boy did he do well!! He was matching everything that was being done from side sloping, ridge cutting, riding the ridge and that to at quite a brisk pace. Was very happy to see how much his driving skills had improved. While the first part of the drive was relatively easy with some medium range dunes, the second part of the drive was a patch of small technical dunes that we had to cross to reach the long range dunes. This area tested everyone with a few refusals and stucks. Rahim Bhai saw the opportunity for some spare time and started teaching Emmanuel the finer art of desert driving. I am sure it was a very valuable session for him. By the time we exited out of this area we all were looking forward to the long range dunes for which Faqa is famous. And once we reached there we could not control our temptations. The dunes were so awesome, that some of us started attacking one range after the other causing a break in convoy. The wise voice of Rahim Bhai brought us back to our senses. By then it was getting dark so we stopped for our evening snack and then we had an exciting good paced exit out of the desert in night conditions fantastically led by Gaurav. Thoroughly enjoyed the pace and smoothness of this part of the drive. Once again an excellent convoy comprising of @shadow79 @sertac with the full support of @Gaurav and @Rahimdad ensured that it was a fun filled drive. Thanks!!

Well written @skumar83 I was about to give my account of the drive but you've mentioned everything. It is wonderful to pass your knowledge on and see someone grow in front of your eyes. For me it is a great pleasure to see @skumar83 grow from strength to strength as he now sucessfully leads drives. More heartening to see him lead with example for newer people like @EmVarlet for him to learn and grow from an absolute newbie to a newbie to now a fewbie+ drivers. I'm sure a few more drives and he will be able to attend any drive with us and soon post drives of his own. Great also to see the @skumar83 can notice the difference in @EmVarlet driving style which has improved immensely. Well done to all and thanks to @Carnity to give us such an opportunity to learn new skills and enjoy our time with like minded people.

Never heard of this vehicle before, maybe one for the vehicles not sold in UAE thread? Also didn't realize Force were a proper vehicle manufacturer but I had heard of the Force India F1 team. Quick look at the specs and it isn't so impressive. I guess it's comparable to the similar Mahindra model but with slightly less power and better looks. Torque v HP ratio seems pretty respectable but as it's a diesel, it's to be expected. I imagine it would make a better tow car than dune basher. Still, a pretty cool looking 4x4. 4 cylinder common rail turbo diesel 2596 cc 85 hp @ 3200 rpm 230 nm @ 1400-2400 rpm 5 speed manual Selectable 4x4 with hi low Fully floating front axle, live rear axle Discs on the front, drums on the rear

Remember you might scrap few projects before reaching the perfect one. I scrapped 5 to be precise and learned from failure at every level. Always remember to not to overspend on any project until you are fully convinced.

Instead of mimicking G Wagon, it resonates a lot with Defender styling and ZERO comfort feel. I agree the price is a killer indeed for well built tough (hope so) 4x4x4 ROTFL

Sometimes the challenge is not having the money and making it work anyway

"Challenges make the man". True, but only if the man can afford the challenge at hand. However, if you can afford what you are doing, then yes, the challenge does make the man.

Enough time, money and knowledge and any project is viable. Especially now in the age of the internet where everything you need to know is at your fingertips. You might not get a return on your investment every time but sometimes it's more about the labour of love than the money. I'm working on 3 projects at the minute, the rat rod, a van and a twin engine jet boat. Most sane people would just nope right out of there but it's a good hobby and a good way to stay occupied. Challenges make the man.

I agree with what you said but only to a very limited extent. Buying brand new car is good for people who absolutely have no knowledge of cars, no time to spare and last but not least zero risk taker. However, I believe in buying 4-5-year-old luxury marque at the price of brand new Camry or Accord and drive for 2 years with minimum maintenance cost and limited depreciation - unlike when brand new. All car in my signature is a testament to this theory and I never lost more than 20% in depreciation for 2 years of ownership. Secondly, when buying slightly used car, you are more free to try new stuff or experiments than fitting the K&N will void the warranty. I even remember buying a non-working Jeep Grand Cherokee on recovery truck for 5K because it has V8 magnum grunt for off-road and then sold off for 6K after spending 3K to make it in running condition. The project car is always a gamble and more you learn the better you get in taking shots as per your need and expectations. And sometimes you simply get lucky by chance, in my case I bought 3.0 Pajero for wifey while I was having a 4.5 liter Nissan patrol. Once I sold that Patrol, I thought of testing that 3.0 Pajero in sand and to my surprise I was chasing a modified Jeep Wrangler of a seasoned off-roader in sweihan and that 4x4 never died. After fully testing I started searching for 3.5 liter (my present Pajero) as in that year 3.5 + SWB was extremely rare. For an offroad project car remember that Power - Weight ratio is king, I even remember maintaining an excel sheet from wikipedia stats of knowing which car has better hp/ton. That's why you see old Nissan Patrol sticking LS1 engines than any other car as it is the lightest shell with reasonable safety aspects to bump up the power to get the best power-weight ratio.

My Cherokee XJ is my project. Yes, I have spent some money on it with 50% of it being my fault. But I just love the fact that I can do things to that car not worrying about the impact on how it looks or feels while driving. I hope that I can build the audio system as the next step on the project. I had no idea about cars and it was never an outright passion, but I always wanted to learn. Possibly never had the right environment to learn till I met the Carnity members. I completely agree with what Gaurav says, that you need to be confident on the vehicle before you start investing money.

Not bad for a approx 60000AED price tag...