Rahimdad

Thank you @shadow79, @desertdude and @Barry for all the useful information. I would be delighted to see you again. I get off around 6:30 pm, hope you will be around for me to pop in and you can have a look. BTW, I will start working on your package now.😃

Trip Report - @shadow79 coming to a drive and it goes without hiccups, never gonna happen. Being a busy Thursday I was glad to leave office on time. But the universe was already in action knowing @shadow79 was on hos way too. My car started hiccups so I would momentarily loose power and back again. So forget about any rest, dropped my wife home and headed to his garage. After 40 minutes of sweat and hard work it seemed better. Headed home again to pick up my stuff and on to the meeting point. I was the first one to reach and after consultation with the car doctor decided to take my vehicle any ways. After deflation and a brief we headed in but close to the road to be on the safe side. We had 2 long climbs and I missed out on both of them and couldn't manage to reach the top. At this point I felt that I was totally off my game, and the throttle seemed to be high as well. After a quick reset which had no effect we headed in deeper. At one of these points I felt the race had gone normal and everything seemed smooth. The convoy was also moving well and we were thoroughly enjoying what the area had to offer. Playing through some wonderful but challenging dunes, we reached the Super Bowl. At this point we all decided to take rest and fill up with some nice food and a refreshing cup of tea. After the rest with the sun about to come out we headed towards the Iftar Bowl. These dunes are really nice for playing and keep you engaged throughout. We were not even half way through when we heard @Gaurav bhai on the radio that something strange was happening with his car. Unfortunately the tire rod end had broken, but luckily he was on a small dune. After taking out the tire rod end we backed up the Pajero on to a slightly straight ground. We had to leave her behind and @Gaurav bhai rode with me. With a little play still left due to awesome dunes we exited the area, inflated and headed back home. My car trouble also started again but reach both of us home. Thanks to @Javier M for the second lead. Since I was not there for the second part of recovering the Pajero I will let @Gaurav bhai tell you the rest of the story. My pics have been uploaded on the gallery.

I have recently tried yo get the plugs changed as my Pathy was missing. Coming home on Thursday evening the race drops and picks up again causing a hiccup effect. I took it to the garage and they cleaned the throttle body and checked the fuel pressure and that seems in tact. So now to the speed of 80 KPH it's all OK but once I go past 80 KPH the hiccups start again and very violent at times. My suspect is still the plugs. However when trying to remove the plugs I've been told the they might break and once broken we would have to open the head. I've been watching some YouTube videos and patience seems to be the key. As long as there is some movement we have to turn it off as much as possible, again tighten it and keep repeating the exercise till it comes off. Still there is a chance that the plug might break. But on YouTube there is a solution other than opening the head. There is a tool called a screw extractor. Need to just hammer it into the broken spark plug and start screwing it. This should get the broken piece out and we are ready to fit the new plugs. Can someone with the right tools guide me where I can get this done, as I am a bit tight on cash and don't want to get into a big expense right now. Any help will be much appreciated.

I would recommend to check with Oman consulate as well if they would accept her by road.

I don't clean my car, no use, it gets dirty again.

Just an update, U-Drive skeewed me for AED 280/-, when I called and checked what the charges were, they informed me that it is a fine for leaving a Dubai car in Sharjah and those are the removal charges. I argued that their website says that the charges for leaving the car in another Emirates in minimal and even Taxi's charges AED 20/- for crossing the Emirates, but they told me that that is a fine and just like a Dubai taxi needs to go back to Dubai, their cars from Dubai should also be left in Dubai. I could have taken a taxi for atleast 3 days at that price. So be careful, not everything that shines is U-Drive.

@Barry when i carry something in hand and refuse taking a plastic bag the shop keeper normally give me a big smile. Maybe their reaction is different because you are gora party. Hahahaha

Just to add my 2 cents. I too like @desertdude have grown up in UAE and we used to drink water from the tap. There was an incident quite some time back when I was still a kid, there was an oil leak on the UAE shores. As the water in the taps is purified water from the sea we started drinking bottled water. Recently I did try to drink from the tap and got an upset stomach. I have now invested in a decent RO purifier and have been using water from the tap, after the RO purification which has been great for the past 3 years. this way I avoid plastic bottled water which was the point in the first place to avoid plastic. Only when I am going for off-road drive I buy bottled water as I have been too lazy to invest in a good water carrier which can be reused. But after reading this column I am definitely going to try to invest in a reusable water carrier.

Won't be able to make it and not interested in this movie anyways.

@shadow79 well written, but surprised where this is coming from. The king of cheap fixes.

I have 4 cats at home, one just smells and turns around even for good food, he likes specific food from specific brands. The other eats her food, whatever left over and still begging food of me when I sit down to eat.

It's a daily hire for around AED 270 which isn't bad at all. But recently used a Peugeot 206 from my office on SZR to home in Sharjah and cost me just under AED 50 for a per minute use. Hated the initial experience as code was not sent on my email and had a real rare rude Filipino telling me no way I did not receive the code. However a helpful agent on my second call send me the code and I was on my way. Cost me less than taxi. Could drive it myself rather than at the mercy of a taxi driver. Free Patrol and free parking just about made up for a bad start.

I hate headphones, really loved the Bluetooth headsets and used them for sometime, but eventually quit on those as well. When driving I listen to very light music as I like to talk a lot. No idea if ear phones would compare driving, but no matter how good we think we are at the art of driving, only God Almighty gives us the power to control these machines and I always start with the dua for starting a journey.

If people don't know Fluffy, that's Gabriel Iglesius. He's one funny dude.

I learned after the second time around, got hit much worse. Got a Nissan Pathfinder 2001 3300cc happy since. For daily use Mitsubishi Pajero 2014 3800cc for daily use.

Yes @desertdude got a Silver one 2008 model.

I'm totally lost.

So many memories. My best, bought a Toyota Echo of the showroom floor for AED 34K and sold it after 7 years and over 100k kms for AED 15k. My best, bought Land Rover Discovery 1998 model for 7.5K and abused it for 5 years and sold it for 4.5K My worst, bought Jeep Commander 5.7 Hemi for 85K and sold it 2 years later for 40K. As if it was not enough, went and bought the same for 36K and sold it a year later for 14K.

@Shamil thank you for understanding and I am glad you got your throttle body sorted out, On road it took 2 days for the problem to recur, but in the desert it could have reared it's ugly head at the worst of maneuvers and spoilt the fun plus could have got you into a terrible position. Better safe than sorry. @Frederic thank you for sharing your point of view, it is always good to read through the experience from another persons point of view. Hope your clutch is not giving you any troubles. I love to see you grow in Carnity in regards with your level, it has been just as smooth as the rhythms you adore. Love your attitude and we should be more careful with the time we finish as everybody is tired by the fag end of the week and on our last drop of adrenaline pushing us through. Good point raised and we will be more careful with timing in the future drives.

I had checked with Infinity Dubai regarding a similar option some 3 years back. @Javier M is correct in saying it is a lease option. I was given a figure of AED 2200 for 3 years with an option to pay the balance 50% at the end of 3 years to keep the car with a compulsion to buy the car if I exceed 30000 kms in 3 years. They can also arrange loan for 2 years on the balance 50% at little over AED 3000 which I found ridiculous. If I go for conventional method I would have paid AED 2400 for 5 years. Having been to US with my cousin brother working for Infinity I can get a spanking brand new Q50 at USD 199 monthly for 3 years and they take back the car after 3 years with unlimited mileage and acceptable condition. The consumers are happy there, the showrooms are stuck selling a 3 year old car at high prices.

Are they going to stop every car to check what foot wear you have on?