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@Jas Gajaria it was wonderful reading your thoughts, my feelings exactly. Can't wait to drive with you, it will be an honour. I had the LR Disco 1 for 5 years and it taught me a lot. BTW I was there when @desertdude was chasing Championdada in his Jeep Wrangler YJ and it just goes to show how a good driver can make the difference. I had an instance when a guy shouted out which is the best 4x4. Turns out most people responded Wrangler. He bought one for AED 60k. Next he asked what are the best mods. I told him at least step in sand first and than decide what you think lacks and apply the necessary mods. But he listened to everyone else and spend another AED 60k to make it look like a monster from moon. AED 120k spent he came for a Newbie drive and after 2 small dunes decided this was not the thing for him. He tried to sell his ride, but no one pays for mods, so he was stuck with a monster created by him which never fetched him anything close to what he had spent. So conclusion, just make the best of what you have and if the sand bug bites you, you'll make any 4x4 rock your way. Don't go by the reviews of a biased old fart who can complain about anything and everything.

I love nature, if it's not hot you would not appreciate cold, and without extreme cold you'll fail to appreciate heat. It takes all kinds to make this world worth living in.

LOL, Will await the drives! Completely agree with the mods, do what is required after you know your driving style! I will always mod a car after I master the technique, Learn the technique and then once you master it you can add a mod which makes your life easier. This way you'll not only be able to become a true pro but will also be able to help and drive ANY car in the dunes rather than only your expensive modded one I am currently away in Canada, coming back in a week so will join you guys for the next drives after the 10th for sure! Cheers, Jas

@Jas Gajaria, welcome to Carnity and it's offroad club. The very nice introduction you gave in the opening post, looking forward to driving with you. As much as I agree with everyone points here for the driver comes first, I also believe that car is equally important to really enjoy the dune bashing. I have changed 5 cars before I actually started enjoying the desert driving. @G.huz this guy video reviews and his credibility has been already discussed a few months back here so I really didn't pay any heed to his opinion and feedback, when he was crying for flat bench third row in Pajero for an hour long video. Having said that, I don't love new Pajero's either but the value of money they offer and reliability it comes with is close to none. With little expense, you can fix minor bumper trimming or lift issues and they can be good offroaders. Last but not least whenever you are confused for your next offroad rig, ask yourself which 4x4 you have seen in the desert more and you can't go wrong that way - it will be - Wrangler, FJC, Xterra, LC, Prado, Pajero, Patrol, older pathfinder, older Cherokees etc. I very rarely spotted JGC, LR4, LR3, Touareg, ML, etc in dunes tbh. Like I always mention that sand offroading is TOTALLY different than those overland trips, rock climbing, water wading etc. For Sand, you need basic HP first and then torque, for others it's mostly torque. That's why Landrover defender termed as best 4x4 by far coughs up on half the big red climb with 2.5 diesel engine unlike before V8 Petrol (1999).

This right here is the truth. Over my recently long offroading career this was very apparent because we basically all drove the same car. Land Cruisers. But some even after driving for years could not tackle anything more than some simple dunes ans while other having recently joined would go anywhere. There was a select group of drivers who were allowed to do the Liwa, Wagan, Shuaib type trips and out of those even a smaller number who were assigned to lead the convoy. Unlike majority of the tour companies we did not operate in the regular sandbox of big red fossil rock area but murqab, lisaili and what is now known as Qudra area. During busy time we outsourced drivers, even the so called ACE and best drivers of the sans box struggled in our area due to is varying terrain from small very technical dune to the big ones closer to lisaili close to the sand stone formations. So yeah I too 100% believe its the driver and not the car. As many know later on I moved to a big chunky Land Rover Discovery and everyone said its a whale and wont go anywhere. But I took it everywhere from Liwa to Wagan and once when involved in a friendly high speed bumper to bumper chase behind big red with a wrangler a Cherokee driver actually later on came up and refused to believe the car was stock other than a basic 2" lift after he saw us two giving it a go on the ridges. SO yeah its the driver alright, another example is Formula 1 racing basically they all have to drive same spec cars due to regulations. So only tye best driver wins tye race.

A big Shout-Out to all our offroad club members from across the globe 🌍 Congratulations on reaching a new milestone of having over 50+ Nationalities Offroaders in Carnity Offroad Club. One of the very few off-road clubs in UAE that welcomes and appreciates multicultural members. At Carnity Offroad Club, we drive united as a truly multicultural family, bringing with us our thoughts, experiences and share interesting knowledge with our ever-expanding Carnity family. We pride ourselves at speaking different languages, having different views on our car knowledge and Off roading, but drive in Unity as it is the - way of life in true Dubai, UAE style. So come and join our Carnity Offroad Club and add your own special flavour to enhance UAE’s ever-popular Offroad experience. Below is the list of the various nationalities. In some nationalities even though there might be more within our group, we have mentioned only max 3 people. If we have missed out any nationality, please let us know and we shall update this list. 56 and counting - as of Oct 2024 Afghanistan: Ali Abbas Ali, Abu Muhammad Argentina - Martin, Miguel Ibarbia Armenia - Yerem Davtyan Australia - Jessica Lambert, Luke P. Bangladesh - Jalil Belgium - Frederic, Vanessa8580 Brazil - Jorge Stepniak Felippe, Daniel Noguira, Daniel Rodas Canada - Adam Marston, Brett Eicher, Mike M, Emanuel China - Zixuan Hang (Charlie) Denmark - Soren, Frederik Bisbjerg Egypt - Melenany, Mark Sorial, Nabil Bishara El Salvador - Mario Cornejo Ethopia - Beide Worku Finland - Matti Brockman, Tero Vallas France - Emmanuel, Frederic Demolder, JeromeFJ Germany - Ace1988 Greece - Stav, Alex0171 Hungary - Tamas Hoffmann, Archibald Jurdi India - Srikumar, Asif Hussain, Gaurav, Ranjan, Indonesia - Zed, IMAMP Iraq - Aus Alzubaidi Iran - Yousef Alimadadi Ireland - Barry, Gary and Benjamin Furphy Italy - Magellan, Ale Valecchi, Lorenzo Candelpergher, Enrico Biscaro Jordan - BIG T, G.Huz, Hisham Masaad, Mahmoud Taha Kuwait - Azam V2.0 Lebanon - Edouard Malaysia - E.C Tan, Anthony Tan, Topgear Mauritius - AnishS, Veedooshee, Imteeaz Mexico - Javier M Moldova - Alexanderrr Morocco - Jamy B Netherlands - Panda82, Xaf, Jeepie, Mels Wolf, New Zealand - Warren Flay Pakistan - Rahimdad, Bilal Ahmad, Atif Palestine - Mohamed Seidam The Philippines - Jun Zamora, Rinelle Sanaani, Kaile Barrameda Poland - Szymon Stankiewicz, Piotr Kolodziej Romania - Arman Russia - Mikhail Lukichev Scotland - Foxtrot Oscar Serbia - Marko Todorovic, Predrag Acimovic Slovakia - Jaro Tuzinsky, Misha Puskar, Martin M Singapore - Jerry Han Spain - Vsmano, Nacho, Jose Martin, Sri Lanka - Rizwanm2, Athula and Yasas South Africa - Kalahari, Gertjan, Paul Zietsman Sweden - Per A, M.K, Christian Andras Switzerland - dberclaz Syria - Noor, Basil Turkey - Sertac, Halit Mert Issever, Denizzalbayrak, Mehmet Volga Ukraine - YevgeniyDYM United Kingdom - Richard Melish, LewisCocks90, Wrangled, Tom B. Imran Asghar, United States of America - Jeffrey Osito Pilgreen United Arab Emirates - Shehab Alawadhi Venezuela - Alexander Alcala

Self-drive your 4X4 to venture through the desert safely with offroad experts. Its time to enjoy an evening drive and adrenaline dose in fresh sand dunes to challenge your senses and 4x4, with the best offroad enthusiasts in UAE. As the summer is arriving so we are moving towards evening and night drives now, so let's open the first evening drive with an 80% mix of daylight and 20% with headlights surely able to thrill all your senses. This drive will also enable us to gear up and learn important aspects of desert driving in the nights, as it would be easier for newbies to join in night drives after this introductory drive. When: 3 May 2019 Meeting time: 3:30 PM, the convoy will move at sharp 3:45 PM Where: Adnoc Petrol Station Maleha Road GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/H2jguQQocz4gNCKY7 Level: Absolute Newbie, Newbie, more experienced drivers welcome to join to support this drive. Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance. Plan: Drive, train and enjoy till about 8:00 PM What to bring along: Snacks whatever you like with little extra to share, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 9:00 PM Please RSVP on the below calendar:

Thanks for the help, Ill definetly look into the steelies and the tires. Romit

am surprised with his verdict. does this apply on dunes? what do you guys think? it's a very interesting half hour video

For me it has to be the Mk3 Ford Capri. The 80s personified.

The transmission is coded to match the ECU. Its like getting a new girlfriend. You wake up one day after a few beers and there’s a different girl lying beside you. You’re going to think, hey, who is this, and there will be communication problems. When you change the transmission, the ECU is sending signals to the transmission and the transmission sends a signal back. The ECU says, hey, you’re not my transmission so they don’t communicate and work properly together. The ECU needs to be tricked into thinking the original transmission is installed in the car to work properly. This is why the coding from the old transmission is flashed to the new transmission. This is a big problem with new cars I come across every day. Some cars require simple things like window motors to be recoded to suit the car. Some new cars won’t accept second hand electrical parts, even after recoding. Brand new, dealer only, and they still require coding after that. I only work on classic cars now but I try to stay up to date with new stuff as much as possible and attend every course and seminar I can find. It’s getting harder and harder for the everyday mechanic to repair basic faults without having a degree in automotive or electric engineering. I only do it because you never know when the dream will end and you have to go back to the real world.

mind my ignorance, but how is that either of the two options (lift kit vs spacers) increasing the ground clearance. I thought ground clearance is measured from the lowest point of the vehicle (which in most case is the differential) to the ground. Now, this clearance can only be increased by putting bigger tyres which can be achieved by both options.

Sorry to say, both are lifting the body and increasing the approach and departure angle and not as pic posted - It's not right. However, with suspension change, you will get long travel suspension to absorb the bumps at high speed, where spacers might fail if stock shocks are weak or don't allow much travel. I'm using 2 Inch spacer at back and twisted torsion rod for a 2-inch lift from the front since last 6 years and waiting for my shocks to fail to upgrade the whole suspension. Reason for hanging for so long is that with my present suspension I have a Soft Medium Hard setting switch that gives a beautiful comfy ride for road and stiff for offroad. Unfortunately, in aftermarket suspension, you will most of the time driving hard even on road. I had Aragosta suspension on my Patrol and it used to kill my back even when set at the softest setting from the outside reservoir remote x 4 times changing the dial, instead of one switch inside the cabin to flick for all 4 sides.

Yes, it's diffinately the driver i thought maybe the video didn't tackle desert dunes very much, I was thinking maybe offroading on desert dunes is a big different than rock crawling, so maybe the judgement would've been different? Also I was hoping for bigger collection of cars to compare with, maybe in next episodes. Am hoping that my next car would be SWB Prado or Patrol, if I can't afford them, maybe a Pajero... Or I'll stick to my wonderful Pathy I loved the old Discovery, I watched couple of the Camel Trophy races years ago, insanely capable car, but the newest model, super ugly in my opinion, and kind of expensive.

I think the design itself is flawed. All the power is being transferred through a tiny mostly rubber belt slipping and sliding on two cones. For low power applications it might work and I mean 2 wheel moped type stuff. There is a reason why there are no big power engines coupled with CVTs. I think the biggest motor with a CVT you can find is NA V6 just over 250hp

If you can just tell me where can I find the blinker fluid I will be all set. 🤣

I just meant night drives.

I need more info about this. What is it?

i don't know man, i need a deflator, if it's not important, i'll join 😂 naaaaah, am just kidding... i have other arrangements on Friday, promised my son to go watch Avengers: Endgame with him, if i managed to get away with it, or attend an early show, i'll join you for sure 🤞 @Emmanuel, is this as beautiful as Big Red dunes? i don't like Iftar and Super Bowl area very much, a lot of crazy drivers there, no flags and crazy speeds and stuff.

You should wait for Friday and see, it is a joy following the velociraptor in this area, you can actually tell he is enjoying by the way he drives.

@Frederic most welcome. You can always choose a drive that you wish to be in. Hope you guys have a wonderful drive in Shuwaib. Love that entire area leading up to Iftar Bowl

Love to join in on this one, led by an expert @amir.rophail @G.huz let's go guys. @Gaurav @Rahimdad @Srikumar i am fine with either drive on Friday afternoon, but i'd like to go for Emmanuel his intermediate drive if that's ok to make sure there will be at least 3 cars. @Emmanuel i'll need to pickup my mother in law from the airport later that night, so i would like to refrain from sweating too much or having my car full of sand 🤣 (just kidding)

That's easy. The first Range Rover