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So basically Nissan now wants "NEW" Xterra owner to really work hard on off-road skills than just push and go. 165 hp over 2 ton = 82.5 hp/ton super underpowered for sand (at least). But still Nissan marketing wants to highlight it as an offroad vehicle.

Yup definitely a worthwhile trip and a worthy drive for me especially since its been a while since I've been out to the desert. Was honestly worried about the weight on my H3 with some of the exterior modifications made on it, but still manage to reacquaint myself with the dunes. Cheers to @Ale Vallecchi for leading this drive, with @Jeepie and @Niki Patel coordinating the rest of the group. Most of all I'm grateful that this drive was a success as my friend who hadn't been to the desert in almost 10 years sat alongside me and enjoyed herself! Cheers guys!

This one is extremely common for newbies or amateur offroaders and we have seen many similar side flips and roll-over, the key culprit here are below two reasons: Follow the line of car in front has taken, as precisely as possible. If you slip down, then call it a refusal and exit safely to circle to make a second attempt. Fighting with gravity when you missed the line is the key mistake that many new offroaders make and they will only learn to perfect the line with continuous experience. Soft sand, tire pressure, leaving gas all come secondary and play very marginal role to save or worsen the situation.

Dear Desertnauts. Welcome to the first Full Day drive of 2021. Those of you who drove in Liwa, at the beginning of December, are already acquainted with these types of drives. For both these more experienced drivers, as well as for those who will do their first Full Day drive, a few notes about what to expect. Concentration will be a mandatory requirement on this drive. Usually, on a half day drive, concentration starts to ebb after around 3 hours. You may have noticed that refusals and stucks often occur toward the end of the drive. In this case, while we will be able to take a break to lunch and refuel, we will expect drivers to remain alert and concentrated for much longer. There is no secret for this. It's just something each will have to work on, and train (to increase one's ability to concentrate). Being able to sustain longer drives will come in very handy in the occasion of long treks, cross-country trips, camping excursion to other countries (Oman, Saudi, etc.), so we feel it's something which an experienced off-roader should be able to develop. Water and refreshments are also important. Be sure to have enough to drink (losing 2-3% of your body water leads to a significant loss of attention, energy and clarity of mind), and bring dry sugars to nibble on (dates are the preferred snack of long-trek drivers across the Sahara, but cookies should do as well), and we'll help you along the way by taking a few breaks, to stretch, and take your hands off the wheel (ideally, if we were on a long Saharan trek, tea would be served during these breaks). Drive's breakdown will take us from Lahbab to Skydive, in the first half, and from Lisaili to Solar Park, or Qudra (depending on convoy's behavior). Throughout the drive we'll check our tires' pressure more than once, and of course we'll stop at a gas station to refuel (no extra jerry cans are needed). I will let you know if I identify a suitable restaurant where to stop for lunch, or I'll recommend that each brings his own lunch, which we'll take, if necessary, in the desert, just before reaching Skydive, and crossing over to Lisaili. As mentioned in the drive's post, we'll drive through every possible terrain, from sabkhas to technical areas, from small sand bowls plateaus to long range dunes. I will get back to all of you on Thursday, with the final information about the drive. @Foxtrot Oscar, @Kalahari (welcome back!!), @Ken Hüüdma, @Athula Dharmadada, @Thomas Varghese, @Ahab Shamaa, @Yasas Dharmadasa, @AlexPol, @Joe Biju Joseph, @Arda Yagcioglu (is your car sorted out since our last drive?), @VipinShetty and @sri ganesh, I look forward to seeing all of you on a chilly Friday morning in Lahbab. Have a nice week ahead. Yes @Alphin Aloor.I am sorry about this, and look forward to seeing you soon in the future. Thanks a lot.

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi and @Rahimdad; it’s great to be back (even though I’m still in the air, so technically not back yet) 😀 I’m looking forward to nature after being surrounded by the cold and grim hospital scenery for a week 🤣 @Thomas Varghese, my first fewbie drive ever, was with @Ale Vallecchi in Muquab. I had done close to 10 newbie drives before that. Let me tell you, after that first fewbie drive, I went back and signed up for newbie drives for two weeks, until I felt comfortable and confident I can tackle the next level, and more importantly, not be a burden on the more experienced drivers, bu getting stuck on every maneuver. Last week I got bumped to Intermediate, and what do I do with the promotion? I sign up for this fewbie drive 😀 It’s definitely not about the rank, but the enjoyment. Differently put, it’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey 😀 See you on Friday!

Mario Cornejo @Mario Cornejo BipinM @BipinM Ashok chaturvedi @Ashok chaturvedi Ben84 @Ben84 Mike Kraher @Mike Kraher Jen @Jen Sanjay Malik @Sanjay Malik imranaasghar81 @imranaasghar81 Tareq Ghosheh @Tareq Ghosheh Nitin Mohan @Nitin Mohan Baskaran P.R @Baskaran P.R Lee Wilson @Lee Wilson Myself and @Chaitanya D are looking forward to an amazing drive on Friday. This route has such a varied selection of dunes that it's impossible not to have a great drive. The plan, for anyone wanting to know that sort of thing is to enter some of the playable dunes around Murquab before we venture into the technical dunes that lead to the SZS (Sheikh Zayed Sandway) and the high long dunes around Solar Park to the East of Last Exit. From there we will swing West towards Bab Al SHams and then the final drive Northwards into Las Exit. I'll make no bones about it, this is a challenging drive for Newbies because of the complexity of dune, the length of the drive and the need to be in full concentration though the changing type of challenge along the way. We estimate that taking refsuals and stucks into account, we should be able to reach Last Exit within a 4 hour drive, but if we don't, hey, we don't. The sand is a fickle master and frankly, you never know what it throws up to us. There's a chance we will be lucky in part of the drive because it's been really windy over the last days. This will mean that a lot of the cross tracks that have been a signature feature of drives over recent weeks will have been covered so we get the chance to drive on realtively virgin sand. More details to come during the week aslong with radio frequency and potentially a convoy numbering. If any one cannot make it, please let us know early. There is a waitlist for the drive and we really don't want to leave people on the waitlist if a driver that is signed up is not going to make it for any reason. See you soon in the sand.

Finally as you taught us, it has a lot to do with the drivers driving skill... 👍 example @Vanessa8580 could so so much with her Pajero that we as beginners can only dream of with the same vehicle in our hand @Danish Mohammad 😂

Congrats @Thomas Varghese

Many congrats @Thomas Varghese

Aww yisss!! Congrats man! time to get nice pictures from atop the highest of dunes!

It counts as 1 drive, the duration doesn’t matter.

This is the problem when decisions are made by financial spreadsheets and not listening/aware of the needs and wants of consumers. Nissan could have offered both engine variants. The 2.5 for mall crawlers and bigger engine for dune climbers. Nissan already has Pathfinder and x trail as AWD. No need to add Xterra to the list.

@N@ved very well noticed and I love this about you. Your attention to every details. Tire pressure normally goes up after about 30 - 45 minutes of off-roading, any time you feel the car is being more stubborn, or having difficulty negotiating dunes which you have done earlier with ease, check your tire pressure. This Friday was cold and yet when we reached Faya my tire pressure was at 14 PSI instead of 11 PSI. Could the car flip if it has improper tire pressure, rarely seen that happen as the car would get stuck before it has the chance to accumulate all this sand on one side, but just because I have not seen the tire pressure as a culprit so far I would blame it on the driver's response to the situation. When off-road you should switch off all distractions and concentrate on the path ahead, any distraction or ego can be damaging both to you and your vehicle.

@Ale Vallecchi apart from the steering direction, could it also be that the approach of the jeep was not correct? the car capturing the video seems to be on the top of the dune whereas the Jeep tilted on the left. Another query is if off-roading during summer should we be checking our tyre pressure frequently or keeping it lower as hotter air will increase the pressure. could that also be one of the culprits for this rollover.

@GauravSoni certainly steering down would have helped, possibly even without further accelerating. I have the impression that the car dug sideways into the soft sand, creating the stumbling block on which it rolled. But, as always, the first mistake was steering up and not down. If done, at worst it may have been stuck in the soft sand, but favouring gravity, not fighting it.

It seems that the driver left the gas pedal while there was still sideways momentum as the car was fishtailing. That brought the car to halt with momentum still very much in place. @Ale Vallecchi would keeping the gas and turning left helped him to avoid this?

It doesn't only happen on high, steep, sharp dunes. VID-20210111-WA0012.mp4

Monetro has 215 hp on 2 ton = 107.5 hp/ton is a not bad of an off-road vehicle it's just that we have not seen many Montero owners pushing 6k rpm at 1st gear for long hill climb and leave the gas in between. I rem driving Angela Montero once on sideys and it matched my Pajero height very well. Back to OP 82 vs 107 is a big notable difference.

Very strange this 2.5 engine, if you google around you'll find ratings of 165 hp up to 190hp. Maybe this depends on the market and emission rules. But if you look at the 0-100kmh of 8.4 seconds that is pretty nippy. Maybe because of the 7 speed gearbox, or lighter weight materials... @Vanessa8580 told me last week that @Jon M took his Montero Sport 3.0 on Faya from the front. Another mystery thing to me, as i don't underestimate these cars at all, but it defies most logic we apply here. Maybe the 8-speed gearbox allows to keep the car at its max torque during the climb...

Congratulations Mr. Thomas Varghese

This drive filled up so fast. I almost missed the registration. 😂😂

Thanks @Chaitanya D for the amazing report which is no less than your amazing lead and long enjoyable ride you took us along. Can’t wait for the coming Saturday 😉

Looks great @imranaasghar81, guess it's time to try it on the dunes now

Will do @Francois Germishuys. Thanks a lot.

Count me in

@Ahab Shamaa thank goodness you are back, America went bonkers with you there. @Thomas Varghese I really appreciate your impatience to discover and learn at the new level. But everything matures and gets better with time. Like @Ale Vallecchi put it so nicely every driver and every car has it's own story to tell, take your time to write your story as you go, you will not get this time again.

Dear @Thomas Varghese, as @Rahimdad said, these drives will count as 1 single drive (as the full day drives in Liwa, at the beginning of December). Regarding the goal of reaching the minimum number of drives, I can share with you my personal feelings that it's not so much the sheer number of drives that count, rather the quality of the drives. Each driver, and her/his car, represent a different story, and may learn the necessary off-roading skills and poise earlier or in more time. My recommendation is to focus on one's improvement, bettering one's feeling with the car, and demonstrate, with each drive, how skilled one has become. Rest assured that all seniors on each drive will notice these improvements, and will be able to support the promotion to a higher rank of every single deserving member. I look forward to see you on Friday. Let's have fun!!

Good to have you back @Ahab Shamaa. See you on Friday.

Yes @Mehmet Volga, the sand seems soft (you can see how much was displaced on the surface of the dune with the roll), and the more important mistake, in my opinion, was steering up the dune, probably exactly because the driver thought the dune was low and not sharp, so he would make it anyways. Just to show you it can happen anywhere 😅

very soft sand should generally be avoided I think. no one would expect this on such a hill...

Junaid here Toyota FJ cruiser 2013 Little bit of experience of desert driving Yes front and back two hooks are thr Yes 8 inches of ground clearance Yes watched the newbie video twice Regards

lets hope we get time for some donuts 🤣

@Thomas Varghese I agree with @Francois Germishuys, it should be counted as one drive. These kind of full day drives are only possible during the winter months as it is more comfortable in the afternoon as compared to the summer months. Another point to have such drives is to prepare drivers for a longer span of attention. With shorter drives we have noticed team members getting tired and loose concentration during the last part of the drive. But if you have prepared your mid for a longer day and have enough rest on the previous night it should help you improve your concentration on longer journey times.

Thanks @Rahimdad. I'm presently learning throttle control in these drives and I think there is a lot of improvement.

Thanks @N@ved

Lets gooo!!!

I have 1 doubt. As this is almost an 8 hour drive from 8 in the morning to 4 in the evening which is double the duration of a normal drive of 4 hours will the drive be credited as done 2 drives in counting the drives for the next promotion? @Rahimdad, @Gaurav, @Ale Vallecchi, @Foxtrot Oscar please clarify this doubt.

@Lorenzo Candelpergher lots of great information! I definitely echo your sentiments about keeping the original aesthetic because this is my daily driver as well. Will definitely look into your suggestions. Much appreciated.

Dear @Pranjal Varsani with my Nissan Patrol Y62 (2020 model) I went through the following learning curve: 1. I damaged both front and rear bumpers on my very first drives off-road (after just 2-3 drives, at Newbie Level), then: - Changed the front bumper from "City" to "Offroad" stock version (Nissan said it couldn't be done, but with some fighting I got it installed) - Installed a Front Skid Plate (8mm straight and stiffened with two double ribs) + 35mm steel rod behind bumper for protection for frontal impacts; - Installed a Rear Skid Plate (4mm, rounded) to protect rear bumper from being ripped apart by sand scooping in the central part. If you go for skid plates make sure there is adequate space between plate and bumper to allow for elastic deformations in case of impact, otherwise they serve little purpose (I asked for 20mm min). 2. After approx 30 drives (having reached Intermediate level) I damaged my front bumper again, despite the skid plate, due to an impact from the side while attacking a dune from the slip side, then: - had the front bumper replaced and cut by approx 13 cm and installed a 35mm steel rod below the cut line with welded lower metal plates closing the gap left by cutting the bumper at sides of the skid plate (to minimize sand intake) for protection for angled / lateral impacts 3. After approx 50 drives (having reached Advance level) I damaged again the rear bumper again despite the skid plate (bent it outward from the side during a forward tug due to sand accumulation between the rear wheels and the mudguards, which were stuck in the sand with heavily digged in wheels and held the bumper back while the car was being pulled from the front), then: - removed the rear mudguards I am yet to replace the back bumper (currently held in place with gorilla tape), as I am waiting to see if with no mudguards I still have issues and need to cut the rear bumper as well or not (which looks horrible as you end up seeing the whole exhaust pipe and the spare wheel). It must be said I'm a bit fixated with maintaining as much as possible the original aesthetics and doing always the less invasive and less visible changes, as the car is still meant to be driven on-road mos to fhte time.. I therefore hate the idea of installing proper aluminum or steel off road bumpers. They are bulky and squared, and I don't like the aesthetics (personal taste), so I prefer to keep stock bumpers and have them cut and modified in a smart and less evident way. All work done at Bahwan Motors, even if I suspect in the end the job may have been done by the usual guy in Sharjah. I must say I have put a lot of effort myself (and shown my most annoying attitude as an engineer by mindset and education) in the design and execution of all changes, otherwise aestethics would have been totally compromised and (skid place were redone 3 times each before the guy could get them right l).. I learned by my own mistakes and damaged and progressively understood what I needed. A bit annoying, but quite instructive. I have mentioned the number of drives above so you could realize you don't need to do everything at once.. I'll share some photos tomorrow.

Trip Report I would try my best to match the fantastic description by @Mohamed Seidam. We did arrive in time and prepped, with a short-ish convoy things looked much simpler and after a quick brief we started at Murquab Driving through the terrain from Murquab to Faqa via some tight dunes at start later on through a dirt track for few min , we made it to the Northern side of unknown road in Faqa where we generally start our drives. This terrain tested our ability to get in and out of smaller bowls with soft sand, but you all did extremely well. Especially at the back as sand was getting churned up. We drove across the tarmac avoiding the fence and had a break under a tree. Quite impressive how you all were very aware of not leaving any trash - even a cigarette bud which is technically non biodegradable. Thanks to @Alexander Alcala for reminding this. Then we headed across another tight patch of dunes , taking a slightly straight route crossing up and down baby dunes, which looked simpler at this level, but as you all remember these were the dunes where we crested as newbie and fewbie. Once on to the long range "honeymoon" dunes which Faqa ( and Lisaili) offers we did every thing at fast pace - slope, climbs, ridge riding, and criss crossing. Some of the ridges we rode were as close to almost a Km long, and it was great sight to watch you all enjoy it. We played here , doing multiple long ridge rides and then headed towards Little Sweihan. Such was the intensity here that we all wished we could ride more in these dunes - some of which were untouched and pristine considering the offroad season. We reached Little sweihan on time as planned and played into and out of the white sand bowls which this area has to offer. As we were heading towards south Qudra , Alex car had some mechanical issue causing clunking and hence exited through a straight route towards solar park. Thank you @Alexander Alcala for a perfect second lead, as always your presence with the experience you bring along is amazing. Hope your car issue is sorted soon. @Mukundan Nair, @Tero Vallas, @Mohamed Seidam, @Kailas thank you for joining and driving wonderfully well. @Anand Nataraj you missed a wonderful drive, but hope your issue is sorted. @Yousef Alimadadi appreciate you sweeping the convoy and congratulation on being an advance member now, eager to be on your leads soon. In all we did 100 + Km of off roading , which included all aspects of desert driving - at a faster pace with a "spunk". This is indeed a testament to how well you all drove, with very few refusals and stucks. We all like this kind of off roading once in a while but bear in mind it takes a toll on your cars, so please keep them maintained. Well done everyone of you!

Hello @Islam Soliman. You are #1 on the WL. Thanks Hello @varunmehndiratta. You have the #2 spot on the WL. Thanks. Hello @Francois Germishuys. You are #3 on the WL. Thanks.

@sri ganesh I have added you to the drive. See you on Friday morning.

It should be 255 mm I suppose. 255 cm is even higher than a bull dozer may be 🤣. New x terra main draw back supposedly has been the non availability of a V6 engine option. Probably will perform similar to a V4 fortuner once one is seen on sands 😔

@Goutam unfortunately its not all about height and ground clearance. I have recently seen a brand new Xterra in Bur Dubai area and it definitely looks modern and might even have all the necessary gadgets on board. But with time and due to some safety regulations coming in and Nissan trying to fulfil those conditions to keep running their vehicles on the road the attention has some what shifted from its earlier version of a rugged off-road vehicle. The low bumper overhangs and many other factors will also be taken into consideration. I for one have always been proven wrong by the likes of @Brette with his JGC or with @Lorenzo Candelpergher with his Y62, but we cannot be sure of it's true capabilities until we see it in the sands for ourselves. Our expert with the figures about ride height and clearance angles @Frederic can share his point of view on this and of course @Gaurav bhai who has driven almost every beast in this world and settled for his capable Pajero and its quirks can shed more light.

see u for the drive.

Ahmad Shaker Toyota fj cruiser I have little experience off the road driving Yes my vehicle has front and rear tow hooks / eyelets. My vehicle has 9.6 inches of ground clearance Yes I watched the Newbie video

The Jeep went off track compared to the truck in front of the Jeep

Thank you to each one of you for the well wishes. Its been quite a journey and I for 1one have enjoyed every bit of it. Look forward to being able to share all what I have learnt with the new off roaders. @Gaurav @Rahimdad @Srikumar @Emmanuel @Frederic @Asif Hussain thank you for all the support and advice through this journey. Its been one hell of a ride with learning the art of off roading from scratch to taming the JGC or Black Stallion as Sri named it. Rahim bhai, the intent was never to prove you wrong with the JGC, every bit of advice you shared helped and I just tried to work on all the areas you told me the JGC falls short on. There are still a few drawbacks and it will never be the perfect off road vehicle for all the automated controls that come with it. IF I am able to handle it well today, a lot of credit for that goes to you. Please tell your wife that those late nights didn't go in vain. @Ale Vallecchi @Wrangeld @Jeepie @Vanessa8580 @Chaitanya D @Desert Dweller @Foxtrot Oscar @sertac @Shamil @Tbone @Lorenzo Candelpergher @Janarthan @Pancho @Luca Palanca Falsini @Mehmet Volga @Anish S @Yousef Alimadadi @Nivin you guys as part of the advisor group have also been a big support and thank you all for the help and advice when needed. Looking forward to what comes with this new level and hopefully live upto the expectations. See you in the sand.

congratulations @Thomas Varghese me you and @Arman will meet sooner than expected!!

Going against Gravity. Car was leaning towards the right when the driver tried to turn left. Tail of the car moving towards right just assisted in the topple. Reasons possibly due to higher tyre pressure, accompanied by higher speed?