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Sweihan always comes with lasting memories and yesterday drive was no different. First of all, started with a major setback that out of 10 signups - 5 dropped off due to some of the other reason. Pretty strange and have never seen such major drop off in any drive. The second shock was seeing the wind speed picking up drastically since morning and as per weather forecast, we could get the wind at 50kmph speed inside the desert - not good for visibility. Keep all odds aside 5 cars still made in with several warnings, safety advises and high spirit to keep driving close to each other and not to attempt any new stunt due to low visibility. We started driving almost on time and @Javier M was my second lead and @Emmanuel was in sweep keeping an eye on @Brette and @Julien V to keep convoy moving at all times. After initial refusals and stucks, fewbie picked up the pace and we started moving with good speed. Although the wind was very high but visibility has not been compromised to a stage where we should halt or abort the drive. We stopped at our few playgrounds to take turns to reach on top and try the sideys attempt to our heart desire. Everyone had a good fun andkeep trying the scale those monster dunes from different angles, speed, and techniques. I guess @Javier M must have tried the stair dune almost 20-30 times while @Julien V was attempting to remove his Pajero back bumper. Good fun. Our drive pace was so nice that we almost reach the end of the drive before it gets dark and then we decided to backtrack to meeting point through dunes, instead of track. While backtracking through dune I literally pushed the level up to an intermediate level as we were close to the track and also done with our planned drive. Almost everyone kept a good pace and impressed with the fast-paced intermediate level upgrade. Due to the heavy wind and endless flies (due to wind), we decided to exit on road and then have our food session next to the restaurant having some close area. We exited by 7 PM and had our late lunch / early dinner by 8 PM and then start inflating the tires to say goodbye to everyone. Brette and his friend Brian has clicked and shared some nice videos of our yesterday's drive in Sweihan

So it all started on one fine morning. As a normal day started of with unlocking our Pajero and found some water drops on the seat. No rain that day, but still checked for roof leaks and found none. Maybe the leather sweating? But have not seen drops, if something spills it would cover much larger area. So we cleaned the water drops and continued on pur way. The next morning again we were surprised by the same water drops, but this time there were a few over the dash as well. The suspect was the roof again. But verily roof was dry. Still unsuspecting we cleaned the water drops and headed to our office. In the evening when my wife came to pick me up she was looking pale and scared. She explained as she opened the car she saw something white very quickly move from the passenger seat down and disappeared. She suggested we quickly go to a car wash and get the car cleaned out inside and out. Throughout the way we kept really silent and concentrated on any sounds inside the car. It was completely quiet and our hearts were racing throughout, even a breeze or our own movement would scare the he'll out of us. The strangest hour ever spent in a car in my whole life. There was a strange feeling of something or someone being in our car with us. I kept on thinking we would need an exorsist for our car instead of just a good wash. Finally we made it to the car wash and started emptying the car to have a good vacuum inside. As we were removing the items from our car we saw what once again proved the wife is always right. We needed a good wash and no exorcism was required. A grey mouse jumping in and around our car. What a relief. Tried chasing it out, but not quite sure if that little rodent was still there or gone. As the car was finished and we headed home, we decided to make sure and got some rat glue with mat. My wife could not take the suspense and headed back down to the car just before going to sleep. No surprise there it was the trouble maker, stuck in one of the mats we had placed. She took help of one of the supermarket guys and released the little rodent back in the open. With a few mats still in the car just to make sure, in 2 more days we were relieved and now pondering how he got in. Two days it was in there without making a noise. We recalled going to the tire shop to get a tire checked which kept looking the pressure. We had switched off the car, and since the car was getting suffocating, she opened the rear door for ventilation. The tire just had a bad valve which was replaced, easy and cheap fix, but it must have given the mouse to get into the car in those 15 minutes. My advise, please do not leave your cars open and unattended open the window a crack if required. Thinking of getting all the wirings and electrics checked as mice like to chew on stuff. Please recommend any other advise you deem right in such a situation, or simply share your strange stories here.

Engine oil level Transmission oil level Tyre pressure Tyre tread depth and condition Coolant level Windscreen washer fluid Brake fluid

For the 10 people that check theirs regularly the answer will be Yes !!, for the 90 others that hardly know which car they drive their answer will be How ?? 😂

Lovely dunes ! Good thing my desert dogs are keeping me busy cause I really want to hit the dunes again soon ! Will post an update soon on the Pajero !

There used to be a mouse in a warehouse I worked in here. The other guys used torment it, chasing it, trying to kill it, they even cut a hole in the wall to find his nest. I felt bad for the little thing, he wasn’t hurting anyone, so I used to leave some food at the entry to his hole every night after work, he seemed to love popcorn. Then a stray cat started coming around the workshop and the guys started feeding it every day. That was the last I seen of the mouse. Had a mouse in my house in Ireland before too. I don’t believe in killing an animal unless it’s trying to kill you or you’re going to eat it. So I started feeding him bits and pieces too. Life’s a struggle for everyone. Got semi tame in the end and used to sit at my feet. I remember my mother freaking out about mice in the house before when I was a kid and putting out glue traps to catch them. I used to have to check the glue traps and sometimes I would find a mouse stuck to one still alive and felt bad for them. You can release them from the glue if you run oil on them so that’s what I would do then set them free outside. Mice are cute little creatures and incredibly smart. And if it wasn’t for mice, our medicines wouldn’t be at the advanced stage they are now.

Sweihan drive pics

Here is a list of all the capable and best 4x4 cars in UAE that you can get under 10,000 and 20,000 Dhs in UAE. I have been asked this question on every off-road drive, so let's build a list with collective experience and knowledge: Best 4x4 cars in 10,000 Dhs 1999 - 2004 - Nissan Pathfinder 3.3 L / 3.5 L 1997 - 2006 - Mitsubishi Pajero 3.0 L / 3.5 L / 3.8 L (SWB is better than LWB) 1991 - 2001 - Jeep Cherokee 4.0 L (Finding clean one is extremely rare) 1999 - 2004 - Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0 L / 4.7 L 1989 - 1998 - Land Rover Discovery Series I 3.9 L / 4.0L (1995 - 1998 year is better) 1998 - 2004 - Land Rover Discovery Series II 4.0 L (Average offroader) 1995 - 2002 - Land Rover Range Rover P38 4.0 L / 4.6 L Best 4x4 cars in 20,000 Dhs 1996 - 2006 - Jeep Wrangler TJ - 4.0 L 2006 - 2010 - Mitsubishi Pajero 3.5 L / 3.8 L (SWB is better than LWB) 2002 - 2009 - Chevrolet Trailblazer 4.2 L / 6.0 L 2005 - 2010 - Jeep Commander 4.7 L / 5.7 L 2005 - 2010 - Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.7 L / 5.7 L 2008 - 2009 - Nissan Xterra - 4.0 L 2006 - 2010 - Chevrolet Tahoe - 4.8 L / 5.3 L / 6.0 L 2006 - 2010 - Hummer H3 - 3.7 L 1996 - 2003 - Toyota Prado VX - 3.4 L (SWB is better than LWB) 1998 - 2004 - Land Rover Discovery Series II 4.6 L 2004 - 2009 - Land Rover Discovery 3 / LR3 4.0 L / 4.4 L 2002 - 2006 - Land Rover Range Rover L322 4.4 L 1997 - 2005 - Nissan Patrol Y61 4.5 L / 4.8 L (Finding clean one is extremely rare) 1998 - 2003 - Toyota Landcruiser 4.5 L (Might be just little over 20K range) 2006 - 2010 - Nissan Armada 5.6 L (Offroad version - Ranchos shocks, skid plate, tow hook, trimmed bumper) Please, guys, keep on suggesting more options based on your offroading experience, I will keep on updating this list DISCLAIMER: I don't intend to put the price of your ride or contest the "ballpark" value that I suggested. The used car market is subject to huge fluctuation due to demand and supply based on season and offroad 4x4 cars in UAE will always sell for a higher premium in winter (Oct-Mar). P.S. Having said that, if you have any constructive suggestion to edit the list - I will accept that. This awesome scrapper pulls the average price daily and update in single excel

Or maybe try WD40 on stuck position too and spray from the thin pipe on top or sides of those buttons and let it soak for 10 minutes. Sometimes we can't see those minute openings where WD40 can seep into and do the magic.

Good thread @Barry and my answer is yes, just yesterday prior to my offroad drive So true, 90% of the car owners are always clueless of most basic stuff

Lovely write-up ! I can imagine these little ones are hard to find ! All’s well ends well and you didn’t have to kill the little creature ❤️

In Turkey people are using those Dusters. They are performing beautifully. But the Dusters there have 1.5 turbo diesel engine and manuel gearbox. In here 2.0 gasoline engine and auto gearbox it wont be same.

Bro I kind a understand, I presently drive a x5 so.... And the one I drive 06 model really is damn cheap and really reliable, so that's why a next buy was being consulted with experts like yourself. Have owned American, Germans cars for a while so repairs is not I was worried about it's just on general terms how does parts cost. Coz x5 from 07-09 show more reliability issues ,,, however Porsche do show less from same years was trying to purpotionate what's a better bargain. But appreciate your view