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Trip report - hard work. Reached the meeting point to see everyone was briefed by Gaurav bhai and ready to go. Weather took a pleasant turn to a nice cool breeze and with a cresent for a moon we had to rely mainly on the lights on our cars. With 10 cars in this area it was always going to be challenging, but thanks to the direction chosen by @Gaurav bhai we were not facing any slip faces. Some of the crests were razor sharp and our skills and concentration had to be just as sharp to take on this terrain. We started off with some small technical dunes and the ropes were out from the moment we entered the first dune. Slowly but gradually we made our way towards the more open area and medium sized dunes. This area was fast paced and enjoyable. We did some side sloping, ridge cutting and kept on moving at a good pace which for me made up more for all the small technical dunes around. After some awesome dune bashing the last part again saw us managing some very small and technical dunes which kept us on our toes. The ropes were out again as we helped each other out to keep the convoy moving. This got us to a nice spot to switch off our cars and enjoy our snacks with a cold drink. @Javier M left us at this point but his contribution during the drive is highly appreciated. After the break it was time to exit and although it was the matter of crossing just one dune, but no ropes were soared for this exercise also. Once we reached the road we inflated our tyres and headed into the sunrise to reach home and grab a well deserved nap. Thanks to all who made it to the drive with lots of patience. With a 20 days break for me, I'll be seeing you on the other side of these 20 days break. Until than adios.

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As it's time to have an intermediate level drive, let's pay a visit to our beloved Sweihan, maybe the most thrilling dunes that can be found not too far from Dubai. After the last newbie-fewbie relaxed drives, the plan is simply to increase the pace and the altitude, and enjoy this amazing playground ! When: Thursday 13 June 2019 Meeting time: 10 PM sharp Where: In order to earn time, we will meet directly at deflation point (exit from E16). GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/VZRCeeQTKNaF9xZD8 Last petrol stations : 1. ADNOC Al-Hiyar (if you come from E66) https://goo.gl/maps/FU1LJn8bfaJ4AQXw5 ; 2. ADNOC Sweihan (if you come from E16, with a small detour) https://goo.gl/maps/kfRXapzVXqgp2F6E9 Level: Strictly intermediate and above Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance. Offroad lights highly recommended. Plan: Drive and enjoy till about 3-4 am. 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: 3:00 am Please RSVP on the below calendar:

Looks like some new car blood coming to cinema after years of franchise. Looks amazing and sound quite promising with the fight and actions.

Hi Team, Need your advice on buying, Dodge Durango 2014, RT. the vehicle has done 93,000 KM, asking Price is Aed 60,000. I am too tempted to consider the ride seriously because of the price. not sure how these dodge are on reliability. i am currently driving an 2008 Camry. Can you guys give me few advice if i really should go for the Durango. i normally use the car to commute from Sharjah to Dubai for office, and occasional long drives to Fuj or Khorfakkan. not a desert guy, may be will try out with Durango. Reasons to consider Safety Space, Price, Hemi engine, which works as 4 cylinder and on 8 only when needed, making it more fuel efficient.   Request your advices.

Hi Gaurav, Thanks for the Advise, sure i will wait for more feedback. Many thanks

All I know about Dodge in UAE is that they have notoriously bad resale value, and I guess that's why you are getting a good deal. Having that said, bad resale value is a sign of car model or manufacturer who time everything with warranty and the car breaks more than often as soon as the warranty period runs out. Secondly, bad resale could be because of expensive parts or difficult to work mechanics. Do bit more research on these pointers or wait for someone more knowledgable here to advise.

Thank you, @Sertac for reaching out. Many thanks for you feedback

My father have same engined Grand Cherokee. It is beautiful. We bought it 60.000km currently 115.000km. So far no issue with engine or transmission. Electric trunk made issue and some bushes worned out. Generally beautiful. It will be way better than a Camry.

tadios.thanks for sharing @Jeh. Looks like an interesting watch, after the demise of Carol Shelby 5 years ago. All I knew about Sheby are the fancy Mustang and F150 going around, will be a good watch to see how it all started with Ford.

Thank you all! Amazingly helpful advice, and I'm glad I hopped on here before making any decisions. I look forward to meeting you all in a drive somewhere when the season begins again!

Camembert ?

If you clean the bottle, it will just turn brown again. You need to do a full coolant system flush with a proper flushing agent then rinse all the flush out with clean water, bottom to top. Dishwasher tablets are great for this. If you rinse tip to bottom, the water doesn’t get into all the galleries and you miss some. Bottom to top means the whole system is filled and all the crap gets washed out. Be 100% sure the coolant you’re putting in is the proper stuff. Don’t listen to the parts shop monkeys, they will tell you this colour is better than that colour when colour has nothing to do with it. You can get extra corrosion inhibitors like Fleetguard DCA4 to add to the system. They don’t sell them in normal car part stores but a decent truck and plant parts store should have them. Personally, I would just switch to a waterless coolant like Evans. The engine runs a few degrees hotter but it will never overheat and you won’t have any more corrosion problems because there’s no water in the system to boil and no water to cause oxidisation.

I ended up just buying a floyd rose equipped guitar. Glad I did because I just didn’t get along with it at all and sold it a few weeks later. What kind of work do you need done? If it’s setup like truss rod, action, intonation etc I can do it for you. Can do wiring and other stuff too but I don’t have the tools to get into deep repair work.

Well looks like Ford following the footsteps of Raptor bringing down V8 - 6.2 to V6 with twin turbo. Hope they don't fall in Range Rover mindset of keeping RR with 3.0 and when sales dip they brought back the V8. For 64,000 Euro = 264,000 dhs this Ford Ranger raptor must be good. Running 33 inch BFG must be dead heavy for dunes with 2.0 litre having 210 hp and this big body.

If you go for an Xterra (happy owner speaking here), have a look at this thread above. My advice: look for the post 2008 models, third generation, the latest year you can. On those cars the year is more important than the mileage - bear in mind that an Xterra can go to 400-500K if well taken care of. Of course you need to ask a mechanic to check the car before you buy it. I personally drive an « X » model, which is the basic and cheapest one. I just added a skid plate and a light bar and for me it’s just fine.

@sertac it was your lucky day that I was all ready and loaded in my car to head to Dubai lake area and able to do a quick detour to reach you within 30 minutes, faster than pizza delivery boys lololol. Imagine a scenario, if I am in office or out with my family this can easily take 4-5 hours to reach you. Thankfully you have rescued all passengers and brought them to the Bidayer shop as that's the most important thing to do, well done. Cars can stay in heat for a couple of hours but humans may not. After this quick recovery, I headed to Dubai Lake area and found that Emmanuel and Sri left from the entrance as it was guarded and appeared to be private property. Seems like Dubai Lake is primarily developed for offering a good aerial view for Skydive and hot air balloon visitors than visiting and chilling like at Qudra lake or Love Lake in Qudra Desert. At least, we have explored and marked one less thing in our to-do list that Dubai Lake is not a place or a park which is open for public visitors and we shouldn't get tempted with a picture or description posted in google maps.

I couldn't make it 😥