desertdude

Same on the RR

I hardly get tailgated or flashed, I guess one of the advantages of driving a vehicle with some "street cred" and image. But when I do, I just flip on my rear fog lamps or sometimes I indicate right and the do the most slowest lane change im the history of the world, which annoys them even more! LOL In most cases I just ignore the fool. Then then undertake me, and when some one slows down next to me, as if looking for trouble, one " you wanna get some of this" look is enough for them buzz past me

There is no gray area, you cannot use the hard shoulder to drive on in any occasion, just like you cannot jump the red light in any circumstance. It's a very black and white matter.

Well just for bragging rights : I got to hang out with Jacky Icxs and entrusted with the keys to the actual Rothmans Porsche 953 (also knows as the 911 4x4) for three days which won the Paris to Dakar rally in 1984, when we were doing the launch of the Cayenne back in the day. At the end of the day when everyone left I would sit in and pretend to be rallying, I didn't dare to take it for a small drive in the dunes, even though it was left parked on top of one in Aweer overnight. 

This actual car 
 

Everything made by Porsche looks like the 911

The problems with Sheeps is, hard to find a sheep that hasn't been absued, If I was into sheeps I would go for a bone stock one, first of high chances it hasn't been abused off road, secondly you never know what kind of and what quality of mods have been done, better to buy one and build it yourself, which eventually all sheepers do.

Personally I wouldn't touch any sheep even with Barrys barge pole

Alright cool with me, carry on.

Correct, a US import, you get toms of 2drs which never made it to other markets, like Corrolla 2dr even a Tercel 2dr and whole variety of American makes

@Ak do read the date before replying,for instance, this thread is from 2014!

Necro

I think @Gaurav is still driving a Pajero of that vintage

RD that is also true, but I stopped doing these "kachra drives" some where in mid 2000s you've know me for years in various clubs have you ever seen me in any kachra drives?

Meh! Autonomous my @ss 

Looks batmobile-ish

Love these old Merc, although my fav in this gen is the 560SEC coupe. You can buy these in pristine condition imported from Japan in Ras Al Khoor

Just one of the many available for sale there 



https://www.dubicars.com/1990-mercedes-benz-560-sel-53567.html

I stopped doing any sort of clean up drives after I was detained by Omani Police for taking part in Hatta Wadi clean up sanctioned by the Dubai Govt.

Well at least now you have a super clean engine  First with water and then with terraclean. Most probably a burnt valve 

Grand Service Station was still doing a good job last time I checked, and ( not saying you are ) if you are the kind of person who stand on the cleaners head making them wipe each nook and cranny with a tissue paper for 1hour then you'll never be happy anywhere.

Also you could hand the guys a tenner or twenty before they start cleaning, be nice and strike up a fun convo with them, go their regularly so they get to know you, they'll do great job every time.

Thats sad to hear, prayers are always with you and your family. Job situation sucks nationwide, the Mrs also lost hers a couple of months back and a couple of friends and their jobs are also in the doldrums. 

So pray too that things get better for everyone. 

On 11/7/2016 at 7:29 AM, Barry said:

There is a reasoning behind Teajays logic. If oil in automatic gearboxes hasn't been changed for a long time, say 100k+, sometimes it can be better just to leave it alone. Fresh oil can dislodge all the built up deposits and crap in the gearbox which can then circulate around and block up valves etc which can stop things from working properly. It can and does happen. I recently had a lot of problems on a Dodge Avenger where this was the case. I'm not saying that people should or shouldn't change their oil. They should go and read specific information and reports about their own vehicle and make informed decisions.

There is no such thing as a "sealed for life" gearbox. This is something that was created by the vehicle manufacturer to save money in the short term and sell parts in the long term. If you go direct to the gearbox manufacturer, wether it be ZF, Allison or whoever and check out the specific gearbox model, there will be a service schedule for it. 

No gearbox is unserviceable but sometimes it's not as simple as just dropping the oil out, changing the filter and refilling. It is very important that correct procedures are followed or damage can occur.  These procedures may include special flushing or filling techniques and computer resets or relearning programmes. 

Operative word being "sometimes" and its very rare and If your box is so down the line that only pieces of gunk are holding it together then its time to have it changed or overhauled anyways, and most probably getting super crap performance out of it anyways. 

Its about taste, European sensibilities dont translate well here. Just like Europeans poo poo American Muscle. For example I could not think of a single reason why I would ever ever want to buy a station wagon no matter how "sporty" it is unless I was a salesman who supplied large quantities of stuff or moved large cargo on a routine basis. Even then I would get a LR3/4 instead of some sporty wagon. 

P.S : Cars like Innova or Avanza are 99.9% bought by companies to transport staff or hotels and tour companies to shuttle guests around. 
 

When I was younger there seem to be quite a few on the roads here, mostly carrying children in the back! Now they are replaced by SUVs. I don't see any use for station wagons as they are known here. Not many in North or South America too. I guess in Europe it makes sense as fuel is pricey and most country lanes and village road SUV unfriendly.  

No one is saying its a routine service item, like every other oil change or so, read the owners manual, look up the manufacturers recommendation adjusting for things like dusty and hot climate just like you do with engine oil.

I've always said oil is cheap, engines and transmissions are not. And I always tend to err on the side of caution in this regards.

I disagree, it's not a "no touch zone" specially in this climate and if you for example take it off road on a regular basis, if you follow procedure and use the correct fluids and parts you should have no issues.

FYI both my cars are above 200k and my third car which I sold last month was at 320k kms.

No my friend, no such things as lifetime oil, they are not made of unicorn farts. The problem you must have had in the past is that nowadays most used specialized oil and you just can't dump regular ATF in them but unfortunately most So called mechanics here couldn't tell their elbow from their a.hole and just fill it up with the regular stuff and that soon leads to problems, big problems!

80-100k is a good interval to change Tranny oil