Rahimdad

Mazda RX7

Hahahahahahahaha. Jeeps are Jeeps Sirjee, Jeeps always run hot, Its a Jeep thing. I agree with you @Barry, However, the Defender sells more expensive than Jeeps here, I heard you can dismantle the whole Defender with a single spanner.

This one is for @evoboy2016..... Mazda 6

What is the reason for the Defenders holding their value. They are bare basic, they are old, driven, as per a couple of owners who I knew the Diesel option is under-powered and unreliable. Why than are they so highly priced?

Wow, this is now turning out to be a great group, love your company guys. @Gaurav kindly update the main list on the first post.

Welcome Stefan to a forum with like minded people. Hope you enjoy your stay.

Sure I will Play... Porsche 911 Carrera 4S

Thanks for sharing @Barry

No thank you, I will pass on this one @Barry. I am an adventurer of a different sort, not a kamakazi pilot.

I had seen @desertdude put in a cone filter on his 1998 LR Discovery and he had used one of the cardboard sun shades to make a partition between the filter and the rest of the engine to keep the hot air from going in to the cone filter. Sounded amazing and gave him slight gains, but I don't think the air filter will give you 100 HP increase alone. As @Barry has already explained very nicely, you need a high performance exhaust too. My believe is you need to change the headers and reprogram the vehicle to get the best gain. However all of this is not allowed in Dubai and RTA would definitely fail your car if they see a cone filter or any modifications to your header, Exhaust pipes without cat back system, like straight pipes are also illegal in UAE. If you head to Sharjah in a moded vehicle and if the Police hears a changed sound of your engine, they would stop you, check the car for mods and confiscate it. So best possible solution is to keep it as close to original as possible, go for option 1. Also follow Barry's advise to get a proper cleaner for your filter, as it does extend the life of your investment.

You cannot see my car in front of him because I had already turned right and gone down, if you take it a couple of frames back, which Gaurav bhai would have to help us with, you will see that he was close to me. Plus a chat with him and he agreed that he had got to close to me and his car had started sliding to the left, but he tried to go right.

Just like the Defender.s never saw one in my budget, even if they are 15-20 years old.

@Barry I believe you hit the nail on the head. Mezcal it is.

@Barryyou got it right, SWB Nisan patrol either means and arab kid driving it, or knows someone high in the Police department to get it passed. However, Sharjah police is cracking down and if you drive down the Kalba/Maliha road with any mods, there is a police every 2 -3 Kms waiting to catch and confiscate these vehicles. Once again knowing the right people in right places means you can get your vehicle released ahead of the designated time frame. Wasta here big time.

I have not seen many, but for the rich kids they even manage to drive a Bentley through the desert. I also met a guy who has a garage in DIP and he modifies all the vehicles for the Military, he gets the G-Wagons from the main source with any fancy stuff fixed and than modifies them for Military use. I was able to join him for a testing of one of these military vehicles which was a G Wagon and they made it jump 50 feet high without any harm to the vehicle. These were fitted with tires which he said costed AED 15K each, with a promise that you cannot puncture these tires, guess they were bullet proof. My Land Rover Discovery at that time did not even cost AED 10K. Since this was a testing for a Military Vehicle I was not allowed to take any pics or videos. But they are amazing vehicles, but too expensive for someone like me to afford in the sands.

@Jeh please note Gaurav bhai and myself had considered doing a drive into the wadi, however due to the heavy rainfall which is to continue until Thursday. This will make it slightly dangerous due to the land slides. That is why we decided to take the on road route this week, however a wadi drive is in the pipeline and we are supposed to announce that shortly. We would love you to join us for this trip and we can plan to do a wadi trip next Friday as I have heard that you are an expert when it comes to wadi drives. Thank you for your suggestion and I would like to meet you personally so that we can plan the wadi drive with your expert help.

Let me introduce myself first. My name is Rahimdad and I have been on the off-road scene now for over 10 years. I am registered with EMSF (Emirates Motor Sports Federation) and I have marshaled many events including the Gulf News Fun Drive, Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Dubai Desert Challenge and the Dubai Desert Moto X events. Now that you know me a bit better, lets find out what are modifications, basically modifications are any changes made to your vehicle which change the characteristics of the vehicle from its original built. There are power modifications, which change the power and torque ratio of your stock vehicle, some of these can be done without detection while others are visible and illegal in UAE. The ride height of the vehicle can be modified, and where some people prefer to lower their rides as a sports modification, the off-road community looks at increasing the height of the 4x4 for better clearance. Than there are visual modifications which change the look of your vehicle, this can be achieved through some body kits, spoilers or something as simple as stickers. So with all my experience what would I recommend for off-road modifications. many a times I have seen people who get interested in off-roading and want to experience it first hand. First things first you need a 4x4 which would serve your purpose, so you ask a few experienced drivers and they give you a few models to choose from. Than they start asking for mods for their chosen vehicle and they would go for the mods ending up spending a small fortune. Than they would venture out to the desert with a group who would guide him through the terrain. They would either feel that the small fortune they have spent in making their ride does not perform well as it is getting stuck or its not quite the sport for them. Guess what, this small fortune they have spent is a complete waste, as now they do not want to pursue the sport for one reason or the other and they would never get back the money spent to built the vehicle, which means a total loss. I have never made any power mods and never felt the need to upgrade the power of any of my off-road vehicles due to my style of driving. As I have not made any power mods I am not the best person to comment on this either. For small power gains which would not be noticeable and would not get you in trouble with the law, you can install platinum plugs with high performance wire set. Another small gain from changing the stock filter to an after market one with similar look and feel as your original air filter (cone filters are against the law, although sold in a few shops). Changing the exhaust pipe give you moderate gains, but a nice sound to your car added with a cone filter (straight pipes are also not allowed as cat back system is important). he main gains would come when you change the header and reprogram your vehicle (also not allowed in UAE). This is for information purpose from my understanding and I have never made any power mods and I will not recommend it to anyone. The lesser engine power you have, the more scope you have of learning and the better you can perform with a higher spec vehicle. I feel a lift is important for some of the vehicles, specially the newer ones, but you cannot make any mods on a new car without losing warranty. Trading Enterprise, Jeep are the only one who void only the warranty for the suspension if you make any mods through them and loads their system with the warranty of the company that you are using to change the suspension system. There are many ways to lift a vehicle, mostly through aftermarket suspension kits which come with a warranty of their own. in my case I had lifted my Jeep Commander 5.7 Hemi with Coil Spring Spacers which were the only option, this gave me 2 inch more of clearance and the ability to put in slightly bigger tires. On my Land Rover Discovery i did not lift it at all, since I really liked the feel of the original soft suspensions and I found a way to manage my Discovery without having any major issues. For my pathfinder I have just gone to one of the Sharjah suspension shops and got it done really cheap by just changing the springs to slightly harder and about 2 inches bigger than the original springs. With bigger tires I have managed enough height to give me a peace of mind in any terrain. With my Pathfinder I do feel that there is slight issue with the tire rubbing on full turns, but I try to manage it without further mods. I have never tried to change the looks of my car, and it is also something which is not allowed by the laws in UAE, even stickers are not allowed and at the time of passing they can fail you car for a simple sticker. This is just a short write up to make people aware that you do not need to mod your car before bringing it out to the desert, only make the mods you feel necessary when you are serious about the sport. Don't think that overly modified vehicles will give you knowledge on how to treat a terrain and navigate through it. I will end with one of my friend's example, he had a Pajero 3.8 liter 2008 model and the only modification he ever made was a steel plate on the rear of his vehicle to protect the rear bumper, this was a bolt on application that could be removed at the time of passing. He has manged all terrains with us and is very capable with minimum modification. Everybody, please feel free to comment and add to this thread, or start a new thread on this section if you feel you have something new to add.

Hi @Baraz I have been a victim of this used car prices dropping. At one point i was quoted AED 17K for my previous car which I wanted to sell and just 2 days later nobody would pay me AED 10K for the same. Bad decision on my part, but later I came to know that the Saudi, Oman and other car buyers who used to buy vehicles in Dubai and register them in their country, that market is almost closed due to some new rules. The new rule states that any car over 6 or 7 years cannot be imported to these countries and would not be registered. This means less buyers and more vehicles for sale, thus demand is not there, but supply is plenty. The economic situation is also gloom and lesser people want to invest and buy any cars. This has also driven new cars to come with lower prices or attract the customers with offers which save the end user some money. If you are buying a used car you would now like to take the cost out of the vehicle for the freebies being offered by these companies. hence the resale value of the used cars has decreased somewhat. If you go to Al Aweer Car Complex you will also realize that these showrooms are so full of cars they want to sell and they are not keen on buying anything, as it takes than now more than 6-7 months to turn it around and sell it to the end buyer. If they will buy, they want it for peanuts as they would depreciate the car for another year, to make sure if their car does not sell for a year, they are covered. Just my view and opinion as to why the resale value of used cars have decreased. Everyone, please feel free to add if you have any inside information which I would have missed out.

I am in with full support Gaurav Bhai, might also get my family along as it is a road-trip.

It is brilliant to see so many valid points of view, but one thing disappearing from this world is patience, and that stands true when it comes to driving also. I have been driving in the UAE since 1994, that is 23 years now and every year I find the patience is running out a little bit more than the previous year. Plus the different styles of driving from different parts of the world, the driving culture here is not the best, but with time and patience everything can be sorted. i was surprised when i was driving in Europe and I gave an indicator to come to the over-taking lane and the car in the over-taking lane slowed down to give me way, as soon as I completed over-taking the car and moved to the right the driver behind me speeded up and over-took me. In UAE if I indicate that I want to take-over, even if the car in the over-taking lane is 2-3 cars away from me, they would rush in not to give me way and opportunity to change my lane. It seems here that everyone thinks that the lane they are in is theirs and do not want anyone else to use it. Another example is I was on a red signal and while waiting an interesting topic came up and I lost track of when the signal turned green. Not a single person in behind me honked at me, one of my passenger's pointed out that signal was green and I moved out a little embarrassed from that incident. If I am in the same situation here, I would be honked at when the signal turns amber at the other junction asking me to race off as soon as our signal turns green. Simple equation is there is no more patience in driving. For instance, when I want to overtake, I so not use my high beam, from a distance I give my left indicator which is little less offensive and demanding and little more pleasing to the car ahead, and due to the distance he has time to move. If the indicator does not work, my next step is to use my high beam to make him aware that I need to over-take him, if that does not work either than I use my honk. i do all this from a little distance and do not tailgate any cars. As pointed out slow drivers in fast lane are a problem in UAE, but so are tailgaters. 2 wrongs never made a right. We should at least take a pledge among us not to tailgate anyone, and at the same time if we have place to give way to the car approaching behind us to overtake us. Someone has to start the right culture for it to catch on, lets us be the pioneers of a good driving culture in the UAE.

Wow @desertdude that looks amazing...ly expensive, I might go for it in about 25 or 30 years when i can get it for AED 20K or less. Remind me of the AMG G55 ad for the crash test.

The beauty is in your eyes @evoboy2016 these are some awesome pics and that too from a moving car. Hats off to you, you even got the Gazelles which were maybe 400 or 500 meters away from us not half a mile.

@Gaurav Can this drive be a mix of Sport cars and super bikes?

@Danny, please note @Gaurav had started a thread which I think has been forgotten, please follow the below link.

Bump.