Rahimdad

@Barry.all technology when newly introduced is expensive, but eventually new things get invented and you would find the technology being mass produced and cheap. I agree with @Gaurav bhai that they need to introduce a system to monitor exact volume of fuel. Although it never really bothered me, but when using a rent-a-car which I am not used to, sometimes it surprises me when the needle drops from half tank to below quarter within no time at all. The point about the fuel tank being produced in any shape they can fit is even valid with mobile phone nowadays as the non-removable batteries are no longer rectangular, they shape it in any way they can maximize the space usage and increase the battery life by 2 -3%.

@waqaszohair I am glad you are one of those 15K members and your idea is amazing, I am all in for this drive. The empty quarter will be filled in the winter months after some planning as we need to overnight camp, drive in the Liwa desert and some planning and good cold weather is always more than welcome on such a trip. Most probably we can do it in December on January when it is a bit cooler.

For any troubles with the wheels, axel or similar, i have used John Auto Balance and they have been a bit higher price than others, but their work is amazing. The guy you want to meet in John Auto Balance workshop is Abid, a short guy with a shorter temper, useless to ask him for discount as he will tell you there are garages that will do discounted work, but his work is thorough.

Let's be cool, but in a different way. Will try to conjure up something once my mind is free from all the work pending for me on my return.

What can I say for my come back drive? What a drive? It had suspense, drama, excitement, lots of food and variety of drinks. We started at a good time, it was a bit humid and my car AC and Rav4 AC were not working, on the way a burned the AC clutch and we stopped momentarily for the belt to break on its own as we argued whether I should cut it or remove it. Waited for the smoke to settle and we were off, with the Rav4 AC clutch already burned, Sree had something bigger in mind and ended up burning his clutch plate all together before the end of the drive. The area was challenging and everybody managed well except for the usual stucks and refusals. As the night progressed towards morning the breeze was nicer and cooler for the 2 cars without an AC. @Gaurav Bhai, nice selection of area and a great lead to further challenge the hardened drivers we have in our group by now. @Asif Hussain a great second lead to keep the convoy alert and occupied at the same time. @shadow79 great third place to keep the Rav4 moving amazingly smooth through some rough dunes. @Skumar83 to keep on trying your level best to manage the dunes with your manual shifter, it's not easy but you did very well, the only bummer was the fact that the clutch plate was burnt to keep you away from the awesome action at the end. With a brief stop to eat some nice shawarmas and falafel sandwiches that @Gaurav bhai had got along with some nuts and chilled drinks, and @Asif bhai's coutesy extended with some amazing cup cakes and tea and Saleem with his own giant cool box that is really cool. After the break we headed towards Super Bowl which we reached close to day break, Cool weather in the early morning hours and good light made it a blessing to make first use of the front face of Super Bowl. We all had our turn and it was really fun, We than decided to head to the side of Super Bowl which was not that high, but the length of the dune looked amazing for some lip-smacking side sloping. However, after first use @Gaurav bhai advised us that there were some bumps which took away the fun and we need to be extra careful if we want to do the same. Next was Saleem and he soon realized the depth of the warning from Gaurav Bhai as after a jump his front wheels were swallowed by some soft sand as the car landed taking control of the steering and turning towards an upward direction with Saleem having no say in it. As a result the RAV4 flipped and was on it's side. Gaurav Bhai and I rushed to the scene with everybody else following us closely. Saleem had managed to do the one thing he was in control of, which was to switch the engine off immediately. After discussing for a while we put our plan into practice and soon Sreekumar had his rope with the shackles from the front to the rear end of the Rav4, my viking was attached to Sreekumar's rope and I slowly moved back to see if the pull would be what was required in the right direction. After making sure that we will have the desired result I made a first attempt which only slightly moved the vehicle in a sideways position down the dune, I had to than give it a little bit more power and the Rav4 was on it's 4 wheels, but had a couple of pop-outs. There were a few challenges but with the sun rearing it hot head and getting heated, we quickly popped the tires back in and were on our way to Iftar Bowl which by now had become a highway with loads of traffic. Only Gaurav Bhai made it straight up, with myself making it through my cheat route, Asif Bhai making it to the top of my car almost due to some confuion, but closely missed my car. and the Rav4 almost making it to the top just touching the peak. Unfortunately Sreekumar could not play because of his burnt clutch. All in all, the drive was challenging and eventful and I could not have asked for a better gift on my return.

If you are in Al Nahda, just make a 10 minutes drive from Sahara Center Road towards Sharjah and you will see a lot of shops doing brake pads for Pajero. My tested and tried workshop in Sharjah is John Auto Balance. I am not sure if Grand Service Station in Ghusais will change brake pads, but they are reliable and do a good job.

Try Mansoor tires behind Gold and Diamond Park, they are reasonably priced and do a good quality work as per my personal experience.

Just to add to what @Gaurav bhai has mentioned, it is always better to know your vehicle and check you Pajero Manual that comes with the car to make sure what is required on each service. If the garage people have a hint that you are not sure about the work you want to carry out, they will take you for a ride and at times be more expensive than the stealerships in town.

We need to find the ABS fuse and remove it for the drives, or you can install a switch to turn it off and on as required. Saleem might be able to help with the switch installation, but his garage is in Ajman.

I missed a great trip with some amazing people. Wishing @DiamondDallas all the best along with his family for his future.

Should be coming up soon with the birthday celebration for Carnity just around the corner. Suggestions are most welcome to make it big.

Firstly I would like to thank @Gaurav bhai for making the change of venue and to all participants to make it to the new meeting point and making this trip happen. The briefing was comprehensive and there was a surprise in it for all. The once banned Rav4 was not only joining us for the drive, it was going to lead us all for a while. How exciting!!! So we started cautiously, but tried to build up some difficulty level, unfortunately one of the dips meant we has a broken radiator again. Saleem was quick to the rescue and MSeal was once again our savior although Gaurav bhai had a few tricks in his bags other than our regular MSeal. So the bar was open for service and some tasty treats from Gaurav bhai kept us full while some snoozed away at the opportunity. Surprisingly, although the city was hot, but the spot we got had a nice cool breeze to keep us all comfortable. Stories were also exchanged and it was total fun. By the time the radiotor was fixed the sun had also made its way to spread its light without making a full fledge appearance.As Saleem continued to lead the drive he was extra careful in selecting the route and took us to the spot where we love to do some side sloping. We had plenty of fun taking turns and although Asif bhai was a bit hesitant in the beginning, but eventually got his monster to growl, Saleem who was making rounds as if he wanted to reach somewhere yesterday and Gaurav Bhai showing us exactly how it should be done. We than drove to the top of Fossil Rock where we stopped for a BBQ breakfast which has been the highlight now for 2 drives. This is how health conscious we are. After that we came down on the other side and just before heading out we decided to play for a while. This too gave us a lot of thrills and some show-off time. Once again all I will say is brilliant time with amazing people. Gaurav Bhai treated us to some ice cream before heading back and it was another one for the books. Thank you from the bottom of the heart to all participants for being flexible enough for the venue due to my situation and well done Saleem for keeping everyone excited and well fed. I will be missing in action for a couple of weeks as I will be taking on a trip to the wild wild west and I will see you all on the other side of my vacation.

Alf Mabrook @BENNY THOMAS as @shadow79 put it, may this car bring you luck and happiness. You are most welcome to join us for a newbie trip and once your confidence level is up and you know you red dragon better we will teach you how to make it breath fire.

Hey!!! I loved my Jeep Commander 5.7 Hemi, it had the looks of a bouncer with a black suit.

Me!!!

Hi @Hassan Fakhry welcome bro. I lost interest in the Jeep Cherokee years back, my last favorite one was the 2000 - 2001 box shape. The last time I checked with Trading Enterprise they told me that the lower versions of the Jeep Cherokee are not for off-roading, the only one capable is the top of the range Stealth which costs over AED 150k and I dropped the idea of even test driving the thing. As pointed out on several occasions, any American cars are only good within their warranty period, once their warranty is over they are a headache to have.

I love the Skyline, the Ford F150 and the Suzuki Samurai. Poor people.

It looks like a train, really ugly. Moreover, in off-road exposed parts like this is not a good sign, only means more damage.

@treksThat's a long tattoo, having mechanics doing a bad job is definitely more painful than getting that tattoo.

@shadow79 have to give you marks for persistence. Some people like to burn their fingers to realize what a burning sensation is, and you are adamant in your ways. I would gladly take a Suzuki Jimny on my trips, because they are proper 4x4, they might be under powered, but their power to weight ratio might put better 4x4 to shame. @desertdude and @Gaurav bhai you might remember Rehan (Psycho) who had a Suzuki Jimny, he used to travel to UK every time to get mods for it as they were not available here at that time. He used to be all over in the desert like a bee and whenever he got stuck we would just push it over. @desertdude I am still in touch with Fayette, she is in UK and travelling all over the world. We used to call her Rav4 the little red ant, however her Rav4 was the older model which I felt was so much better in the desert than the newer ones, but she once came to Area 53 and Faya with us and was getting stuck every 5 minutes. Thus the rule of the trip leader being able to choose the convoy to make sure that the trip is smooth and enjoyable to all.

@hAwX Both are good vehicles and equally capable. As was pointed out by Gaurav Bhai the reliability is slightly better on LC whereas the power off-road is slightly better for the Patrol. However, if coming out to the desert, the lesser the electronics and computers the better. A simpler vehicle is also less heavy on maintenance.

@shadow79 although I would like to agree partly with you when you say the driver makes a big difference, but that difference always comes from experience. Once you have started on the wrong foot it is very difficult to correct yourself. We do not support an AWD in the desert or rocks for several reason. The main focus is on safety as I have seen a few AWD burst into flames, break things under the chassis due to no proper protection, no transmission cooler, and not a dependable 4x4 system. If the tour companies could take a RAV4 or similar to the desert and save costs, they would not spend so much money on Land Cruisers and the likes. As per my experience I would not allow an AWD on my trips again.

Thank you Sree for such a wonderful trip report and sharing your experience. After a long time I was the first vehicle to roll in to the pump, which means I had to wait for everyone to arrive. The last minute confirmation from @malav1210 meant we had one more experienced driver. There were many firsts for this drive. The first time we fitted a tire on to a rim all thanks to Sree for giving us the opportunity and Saleem who managed with loads of help from all to manage the task with limited tools. As we headed to the deflation point another first was having @shadow79 as passenger and giving the Rav4 a much deserved break like the Camry the previous week at the mosque in Mahafiz. After the briefing I lead the first 10 minutes in to the dunes before giving @skumar83 the lead. After the first couple of minutes he got so comfortable I had to literally talk him out of the lead. This is where for the first time ever @ @Asif Hussain took the lead and took us very close to the base of Fossil Rocks. They must have both lead for about 20 minutes each and did very well with zero stucks and loads of fun. This whole time @baselsm83 did the thankless job of sweeping us and making sure the convoy was moving at all times. Another first was with the time on hand doing the dunes to Camel Rocks and on to the top of Faya from the back side. We than headed down Faya and found a suitable spot for BBQ, with the sun peaking and cool breeze to keep us all comfortable. For the first time we had steamed chicken and potatoes for breakfast, thanks to Saleem for the nice and healthy option. The. Final first came when Malav lead us out with a bit of a twist. With the mercury rising it was time to inflate, hug and say See you next time. All in all a very nice trip with just one pop-out and I stuck. Loved the company, the food, the chat, the drive, every aspect and can't wait for the next one.

@Sidshk, this is not going to be for newbie, so if you are a first timer than I am afraid this trip is not for you. As for the vehicle we have quite a few Pajeros' on our drives and they are very capable. If it is your first time and you do not mind taking a passenger seat than you are most welcome to join one of us to experience it first hand. We are having regular weekly trips and you can keep checking in for the next newbie drive that will be good to get you started.

Thank you @baselsm83 for joining and @malav1210 for the heads up. Many more drives and opportunities, looking forward to seeing you soon.