Leaderboard

Trip Report - as I walked out of the house today I felt like it was December again, pretty cool and pleasant weather. Filled petrol and was excited like a school boy to meet up @Asif Hussain after a long time. With a great big hug from him we set off to the meeting point, with the chit chat on the way I completely lost track of where we were. After a polite enquiry Asif bhai confirmed that we were on the right path. It was great to see so many smiling faces this early in the morning and set off to the deflation point. At the deflation point we split the convoy to newbie and Fewbie. As we deflated and after a newbie briefing we were off with our newbie convoy. Sadly one of the driver had a moment when he was unconscious and since it seemed he was not feeling all that well I had to turn him back home for his safety and the safety of others. The route was more or less what we normally take with small dunes and easing our way to Pink Rocks. There were some soft patches on the way and a few refusals. But it is moments like these which challenge your skills and test your patience and span of attention. It was great to see everyone following the instructions well and maintaining a good convoy discipline. At this point I would like to thank @dberclaz for helping @Emmanuel with the sweep duties as Emmanuel had to skip to the front to help stuck vehicles. Thanks to @S1DD who taught @dberclaz something about his Jeep today in the true spirit of the community. This proves that if you are paying attention and are of a truly helping nature you don't have to count on long time experience, you can do it on your second drive within the club. Also thanks to @eduardo who was actually with the Fewbie drive but took time to help Pajero drivers light up their Christmas lights on the dashboard by removing the ABS fuse. As we got closer to Pink Rocks the terrain got a bit tougher, but after a few refusals on a demanding climb all made it to the top. From here we headed to the point where all 3 convoys had decided to meet up. We had fun trying to explore what our cars could do. Once everyone was together we headed to the other side of Pink Rocks and headed out towards the 2nd December Cafeteria. As everybody took put their bag of goodies we feasted as we do at the end of any drive. A celebration to celebrate the awesome time we had enjoyed together. At tis point I was getting late for Friday prayers, so loving hug from all and I was off for the prayers. Luckily just in time for the prayers, I inflated my tires just after praying and headed home only to prepare something awesome for next week. Until next week I bid you all farewell and looking forward to catching you on the next adventure.

Happy birthday to you bhai I am coming for the cake 😀

Yet another fantastic drive. thanks rahimbhai, Emmanuel, Asif Bhai for all the tips and help and banter and the aloo paratha thanks to gaurav bhai for the sandwiches and sri for the powerful tyre inflator. thanks to the rest for making it memorable. after my initial refusal and the usual confusion of 4 high and 4 low I settled into a rhythm of sorts and enjoyed the drive. i particularly enjoyed driving up the slope in pink rock and then being driven by rahimbhai up the same slope. The car seemed to behave better with rahimbhai than when I drive it- I wonder why!!!😁 i can see that I am improving and enjoying the drives with all the expert help and tips. the final highlight is the brunch at the end of the drive. As usual a great spread ofeats. Thanks again. thankfully, I did not have any drama after the drive unlike the previous week with a flat and the drama with the spare! oberall, wonderful time. Look forward to my next drive. thanks again everybody

Did anyone say cake? When? Where?

Started off the day with some lovely weather. @amir.rophail was the first guy at the deflation point. With a short convoy of me in lead, @amir.rophail in second position and @Javier M in sweep we headed out to explore the area around Big Red. The sand was hard in some sections which helped in a relatively easy climb. After spending some good amount of time exploring the area we headed in the direction of pink rock with some nice rolling dunes along the way. All the drivers managed extremely well and there were minimal refusals and stucks. The pace that was set was extremely good and we almost touched every possible dunes that were between the Big Red and Pink Rock area. We covered close to 40 km in a span of two hours as we played back and forth in this area. As we came close to the meeting point we met with the Newbie convoy lead by @Rahimdad. While we were waiting for the Fewbie convoy, @amir.rophail and @Javier M took multiple attempts at reaching to the top of pink rocks and were quite successful. We then were able to hear the Fewbie convoy on the radio, so we decided to take some nice set of dunes while searching for them. Finally after the merger of all 3 convoys we exited out and shared some nice food and drinks brought by all the drive members. I thoroughly enjoyed leading such a set of good drivers who were able to keep a high pace throughout the drive.

happy birthday Gaurav Bhai. it is always a pleasure to know wonderful humans beings like you. your parents should surely be proud of you. live long and rule the dunes bro God bless you

Happy belated 50th bhai. You’re doing a good job of hiding the white hairs, henna dye is amazing stuff 😊

Belated Happy Birthday, Gaurav Bhai

Hey gaurav happy belated birthday..... I just read it now.... have a great year ahead and looking towards having many more fun drives with you....✌🏻

Well written Dr @srini62 and thank you for joining us. After a little deflation and getting the car in 4 high you managed well without another refusal. Since BF Goodrich are slightly heavy better to deflate them to 12 psi and do get another gauge to double check that both showing the right pressure. Overall a great day made possible with a great smile from you. Love your company sir, very humble and always willing to learn and grow. Great qualities.

Many many happy returns for the birthday. Happy birthday Sir.

I turned 39 with lots of white hair, never got a reason to hide with a henna or dye. I like salt n pepper style more.

Long time no see Rahim bhai. Will be good to catch up again. New job and I only have one day a week off now and I spend it sleeping. Miss going out with you guys. Must make an effort to attend a drive soon.

I think we have another Toyota spammer infestation again. I remember a similar infestation a few years back.

Many happy returns of the day @Gaurav bhai. May God Almighty keep you and your family blessed.

There is an independent off-road car show on Saturday 27th April. Location is, Hotdog garage, Dubai https://goo.gl/maps/L81F5UcQMzafZmiMA I am sending 3 cars, Ford F350 Terminator. Huge huge beast with massive lift on the biggest tyres you have ever seen, you need a helicopter just to get in the door. Comes complete with flamethrowers Tomahawk Jeep, some of you have seen this, WW2 aeroplane themed JK. The one with the machine guns on the bonnet. Built with original parts from a B52 bomber. Independent 4 wheel steering rock crawling beast. 1975 GCC spec FJ Land Cruiser. Fully restored and is in as new condition. Total time warp machine and very interesting to drive. Ive heard there is a decent sized crowd attending. Plenty of show cars coming too. Show starts at 18:00, hope to see some of you there. Any enquiries just ask or if you have a car you want to show off I’ll put you in touch with the organisers.

It was fun off reading with great company. Everytime its it's good to meet newbies with enthusiasm

Happy Birthday @Gauravbhai. Many happy returns of the day

At present, you can go for the Rush 2019 (1.5L 4-Cylinder, Dual VVT-I, 102 hp), the Rav4 2019 (CVT transmission, Electric Parking Brake (EPB) + Brake Hold System), the Fortuner 2019 (6-Speed Automatic Transmission, Hill-Start Assist Control), FJ Cruiser 2019 (265/70R17 Tires, 4.0L V6 268 HP), Prado 2019 (Tire Pressure Monitoring System, ABS, BA, EBD), Land Cruiser 2019 (6-Speed AT with Sequential Mode Transmission, VSC + A-TRC). You can pick one based on what features and parameters best suit your needs. No matter your selection, buying a Toyota SUV is a sound decision that is echoed by its popularity all over the globe.

Did those guys check the oil pressure after finishing up the work...we had faced something similar in a Camry long time ago when that engine was pretty expensive and he was determined to make it quite after changing few disc's it still had alil bit sound left after cleaning a sludgy strainer chain tensioner and changing the oil pump the engine became really quite...that guy still has the Camry but nowadays he himself uses camal oil and aftermarket filter whenever he comes for oil change...

Thanks for sharing @Barry. Will definitely try to be there. Hope to catch you there.

If you’re fitting any suspension parts when the car is on a lift, make sure the mechanic leaves the bolts loose and only tightens them when the car has all 4 wheels on the ground. This means your bushings etc will be unstressed. If the bolts are tightened when the car is in the air, when the wheels touch the ground, the rubber parts will be under stress and will wear out faster.

Amazing to see such a diversity in the club. I guess we all have one thing in common: We made the UAE our home away from home, and as an expat we need to get out, explore, travel, and meet friends, colleagues, buddies, that makes us feel as our home is here. I feel very blessed to have met so much amazing people yet, and look forward every day in meeting more !

I have New India Insurance, and for recovery they will only cover within the city limits. So if you have a breakdown in Dubai they will tow your vehicle only till Dubai which for me is frankly of no use.

I have an Axa « Premium » comprehensive coverage (2.4k/y) for my Xterra 2013 and I asked them about the restrictions. I was told that there is no limitation in terms of distance from the road. Just races not allowed.

Nothing is nonsense here at Carnity @Jayakrishnan. People like you, Emmanuel, Frederic who ask a lot of questions help many other users in clarifying their doubts without even asking. Insurance is more or less the same as the road coverage: the Third party will not cover your car and Comprehensive will most likely cover your car for any offroad damages. Yes, you do need a police report for any damage done in offroad so that insurance can open a claim. If it's a collision it's a straight case of red and green paper like on road. If it's accidental damage hitting the dune, trees etc. then police report will come with a fine amount of 400 dhs (I guess) as it's your fault and the insurance will take care of the damages within the stipulated excess amount you have as per your policy. Most insurance companies don't cover offroad damage, and others like RSA, AXA and Oman do cover offroad damage and one needs to read their offroad coverage clause carefully as some mention 5 meters away from the road and others have no distance limitation. If you behave well and follow all the rules and convoy discipline chances are you will never damage your car. Almost all the accidents I have seen are caused by drivers who either think they can venture by themselves or just like to try some more adventure by breaking the convoy. In my last 12 years of offroad, I have accidentally damaged my car twice - first was in 2006, when I was learning and broke the convoy to go little left and right and ended up on nose dive. The second was in 2017 when dune ended with a sharp drop and soft sand resulting in nose dive again because I was too fast in technical dunes (my mistake).

there is a very wide choices of suvs in toyota range like LC ,prado,fortuner,highlander,4runner,rav4 some from another specs and others are available here in gcc specs

Which options are available in Toyota SUVs?

I had very bad experience with Dubai National Insurance, I had to run around for 8 months to get my car repaired. They even refused to believe the police report for the incident.