desertdude

China is definitely ahead of the curve much more than the west would want us to believe. As of now China is pretty much a cashless society and has been for sometime now and Im not takomg cresit cards but smart pay, e wallet, most monetary transactions are paid through phone, wechat seems to the weapon of choice their, even the smallest vendors are using it. Just scan the QR code which you can find at the counter or even on shop fronts, amount to be paid and done. China has been unnecessarily demonized in the west.

definitely the stuff nightmares are made of!

He was talking about legends, not burnt out shells. But hey if a Jeep Cherokee can be considered a legend then pretty much everything is up to grab that title!

Dunlop Grandtreks are literally one of the worst tyres. And I speak from extensive usage. Within 20k kms they start to get i even ridges even in the most balanced and aligned setup. Road and offroad performance is mediocre.

Who told you I liked my jeep? I HATED IT!

Saudi Plates!

I'd get a Range Rover SV Coupe that in itself costs 1,1 million AED A Rollys Royce Phantom a Nissan Patrol Gazelle X edition And mint condition 79 Lincoln A S600 V12 AMG A 2001 BMW V12 7series

Its all up to how parents bring up their kids. My 6 year old daughter wont sit in a car unless she is in her child seat and buckled up. Because since the day she was born she has never been allowed to sit in the car unbuckled. And as she grew up she just knee this is the right thing to do, never protested or cried etc etc Om a few occasions just going down a short distance on the inner roads to a grocery shop or something out of laziness I didn't buckle her up and she started raising hell that her seatbelt wasn't clicked in. But some people just don't get it. I've actually scolded a couple of good friends for not strapping in their children but there is always an excuse Oh but the he/she wont stop crying. Even scaring then that if god forbid something happens to them you will be charged with murder. As was the case when a father was charged with killing his unbuckled daughter who flew out of the window in an accident on palm island a few years ago

Too little too late for damage control. Engine, transmission, suspension, diffs, electronics, 90% other parts from the BMW parts bin. Makes it a BMW. Just tuned different

Last time I checked and it's been a while, visit visa holders with international license can only drive rent a car cars P.S : I wouldn't let any one drive my car who doesn't have decent UAE driving experience from our south east Asian countries, even if it is my brother!

Not really its mostly a BMW Z4 Toyota just put some Toyota Supra badging and a different front end on it. Open the hood and everything has BMW labels on it. Same motor too Interior is also the same from the steering stalks to the in car entertainment. It's all BMW. Seems like Toyota has lost the ability or appetite for developing new cars other than cheap econoboxes.Even its flagship SUVs the Land Cruiser and Lexus LX are overdue for a new generation by two years. But they just keeping giving the old ones facelifts. The Toyota 86 was a rebadged Subaru, the new Rush is a rebadged Daihatsu Terios,. The Supra is a rebadged Z4

P.S : Don't get me wrong I think convertibles are great fun but just not practical for this country. My buddy had a soft top modified mustang and he never drove it and since we hung out everyday I was always the one driving it, Think I drove it more than him. In the cooler months it was great fun and we never rode it with the top up. But even then you couldn't drive it for any length if time in the day time unless it was cloudy and cool. Even at peak winter time being out in the sun for an hour or so isn't too great. But as soon as the weather turned even slightly it started to get uncomfortable. Just waiting at the lights you could feel the heat just coming off from all around you from the cars next to you. Another drawback you really can't have any sort of decent conversation at a speed above 60-80. I think that's why hard tops are more preferable but regardless after sometime if the roof mechanism goes. It will burn big holes in your pocket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJkfrY2owb0

Or simply dont but convertibles. What's the point of having a convertible in this country when 10 months out of 12 you can use them. I see convertibles all the time but can count on my fingers the amount of times I seen them with the top down in any given year. OR do what my friends boss does, never open it. He won a Merc CL 500 at the Dubai duty free amd for the 12-13 years he had it never once opened the top and strictly instructed everyone in his family and all his drivers to never touch the roof.!!!!

That's what I thought after tye Uterus. But apparently Italian designers skills at designing ugly SUVs is bottomless.

After the Lambo uterus didn't think SUVs could get any uglier, but Ferrari seems to have accepted and won that challenge.

Toyota rebadged Bmw Z4

To be totally honest I don't remember that incident. And yes Discos torque which starts from very low rpms and pretty much stays level throughout the rpm band makes it a tough offtoader. Even after many years of driving it it would occasionally surprise me. Like a drive in wagan ( anothe one of those private drives ) I was following PR on his quad badger. We had to cross over a big wall of dunes and there was a little dip on top between the peaks so he chose to go through that. He went across and I went after him after completing ty climbing instead of a ridge there was a tiny but deep bowl on top between the dune peaks and I had no choice but to go into it. It's sides were steep and twice or thrice the height of my car. If I bent down I could barely see the edge from the top of my windscreen.and maybe 5 feet space in the back and front. I knew I wasn't getting out of it easily and without help but I sais what's the harm in at least trying once. So I backed up as much as I could in the tight bowl which wasn't much and then just mashed the pedal. AND LO and behold. The thing slowly like a tank on tracks climbed up the wall and over the edge to the other side. I saw the look on PRs face, his jaw firmly on the floor and then realized so was mine! Just couldnt believe what had just happened !!! Ayoubs XJ was next followed by a TJ wrangler needless to say we spent sometime trying to help those cars go through this bowl. So back on topic the most fun I've had was in nom club drives and new to me areas. Like when me Sikander bhai in his TJ and ayoub in his XJ went for a full day exploration drive from marqaub to lisaili. Hitting the small technical dunes first to get to the shade of the trees for some lunch. Then checking out the sandstone formations and then hitting the big dunes to end the drive. Or my first drive to sweihan once again with two XJs. Almost flipped on that one as I got stuck on a very high and very sharp ridge. With the ridge going from the center of the car front to back. Was ridge riding and got bogged down in soft sand. And while trying to reverse it started to tilt dangerously to one side so had to anchor it to one of the XJs on he one side and slowly crawl back. And many such drives. Yup got to agree, 8-10 drives over a span of 2 yrs is nothing.

When I was doing drives. When I wanted to do a serious fast pace drive specially exploring some new area I would go with a few friends, who were good drivers aswell as friends. When I was more in the mood for a chilll relaxed affair with lots of chatting, eating and just loitering I would go for a club drive. On rare occasions when I felt like letting other join in the fun of new areas I would post a drive on the club and let most join, buy never newbie drives. I really don't have the patience for it and full marks to people who do and do them regularly. My last was with RD long before carnity came into existence and it just got my goat. Just sitting there less than 100-150mtrs from the road ti get out and finish the drive and see everyone just getting stuck again and again. I think the convoy cleared that single stretch in like over 2 hrs. That was it for me never went on a newbie drive after that.

Before I switched to dishwasher, then just water I always used Sonnax windscreen washer fluid. Available for 5 DHs at the gas stations. Unlike dishwasher it wasn't too sudsy and didn't leave streak marks.

Now this is a LC I can get behind. Not just a conversion by putting in a big motor to go fast but purpose built for off roading

I think its a wise decision and good preventative maintenance to change it all, don't forget the coolant hoses as well. Keep the ones you have now as spares in the back. Incase you ever burst one, so you have back up to make it till a shop. That's what I do with any part I change, example if I change hoses or sparkplug leads I keep the old ones just in case in need one in a fix, And this has been very useful. I even have a spare radiator for my car. Incase if I pop mine. I have one I can change and drive it to a shop rather than be stuck with an undrivable car at the mercy and expense of recovery trucks..

I have no issues with letting my friends drive. Strangers, why would anyone let strangers drive their cars anyways?

Difficult and expensive repairs. Rest not much at all.

Do other Pajero fans also freewheel for such a longtime before coming to a stop after being switched off? (2nd video) Looks to me a totally gone fan clutch. And for clarification purposes, close the hood of the car and let it get to normal operating temps before testing. If fan is still stiff after switch off. Blowing a good deal of air ( referred to as gushing over here) then its ok.