Rahimdad

Nicelyas per my limited knowledge of Korean cars I think the old Kia Sportage and Sorento were proper 4x4. Not so sure about the reliability and maintenance cost as haven't seen so many around lately. Should be able to get them well under 10k.

Nicely documented @eduardo

I hate people on signal honking when the other signal is just about to go red. I hate driver busy with their mobile phones swerving over or slowing down below 60 on a 100 road on the overtaking lane. I hate loose children jumping around the car or hanging out of windows with their parents not bothered. I hate people throwing put garbage of cars. I hate parents driving with children in their laps. I hate tailgaters. I hate people driving over the hard shoulders as if it their right. A few times I have tried driving on the edge of the lane to block the cars going over the hard shoulder, but they start flashing and honking as if I'm the idiot. In other words I hate anybody driving on the roads except myself.

Thanks @Barry, but somehow offroaders here prefer the nitro shocks because they're stiffer. Maybe we can get some shock company to demonstrate the different shocks on road and off road.

From my recent exposure to changing the shocks on my Nissan Pathfinder 2001 model R50 I came to know about the different types of shocks available in the market. Oil based shocks which last a bit longer, Nitro shocks which add a lot of comfort and Foam cell shocks which I know nothing about. The little I have discovered is that the Nitro and Foam Cell shocks are almost similarly constructed but have the foam along with the nitro. Anybody who has used the Foam Cell shocks and Nitro Shocks swears that the Foam Cell technology is much more comfortable. However my application will be more for off-road. The only drawback I have heard about the Foam Cell shocks is that although it does not get so hot so soon, but if overheated it takes time to recover after they fade. Any takes from anyone who can explain this all to me in lay man terms and give me an educated guess as to which one would suit better for off-roading?

As @Srikumar has pointed out and most people do, just remove the rear middle part of the bumper which is the culprit and you will be fine to go @Per A

In my personnel experience Jeep Commander is very powerful beast but expensive to maintain. Keep away. The LR Discovery 2 is a good option, but not a climber and missing central difflock unlike the Discovery 1. Toureg is fancy, but I have only seen one in the desert and after breaking a 40K bumper in a newbie drive was never seen again.

Really well done @Emmanuel, it was an effort to keep up with you pace. But at the same time highly recommend the effort As reading the dunes to perfection at this speed is not an easy task. Looking forward to many more drives in your leadership. It's a proud moment for us when somebody raises their hand and says I'd like to lead, followed by a drive like this. Well done.

Well deserved @Brette. Congratulations. We are your extended family and thanks for realizing it and putting it into such beautiful words.

It was a beautiful day out. Everyone was on time and after our introduction to off road driving we started off. It was a very nice drive with all participants doing very well till about the last part just before reaching Pink Rocks. As the convoy had split at start, we met up back on the base of Pink Rocks. We settled down to share some snacks, breakfast and some cold drinks. At this point part of the group headed back out, while the rest of us decided to continue. This part was slightly tougher than the first part but everybody was up to the task and with minor refusals we made it to the mosque in time for the Friday prayers. At this point it was time to test out @Emmanuel lead potential. He was heading in the right direction. Thoroughly enjoyed his lead and headed out with total satisfaction. Thanks to all participants. Until next time adios amigos.

My wife's Pajero has a Yvusa battery on for 2 years and just started giving a bit of starting problem but not dead yet. Got it checked and weak but not dead. Advised to use till it dies. My respect to Yuasa after Amaron. Today after 2 years changed Yuasa battery with Delkor. This is a Spanish battery and got good feedback from the battery guy, almost half price of Amaron but uses same Amaron technology. Will keep you guys updated here.

I love reading @Frederic writeup. With 10 years of off-road experience behind me I have had plenty of stories to share, but these are best done when everybody is sitting together and we are having our snacks and drinks. However I will share one of my worst with you here on the forum. If you like it, you can join us to hear many more. On a perfectly hot day all you want to do is get in to the sands, do a bit and head out without any issues. Sweihan is a place fully of dreamy dunes and following Asif bhai's wonderful lead we quickly forgot how punishing the weather was enjoying every rise and drop and playing around on huge virgin dunes. Our aim was to get to some alien like circles in the middle of the desert. Were we on to something? As fate would have it we came to the biggest dune in Sweihan and tried climbing it from the front. After being unable to do it from front, I have this habit of finding cheat routes to reach the top so headed behind the dunes. After successfully completing about 75% of the dune from the back, I was doing a side sloping when my car just got stuck for no reason. After following Gaurav Bhai's advise i turned my steering wheel completely right pointing downwards, but I was still not moving. Upon visual inspection Asif bhai discovered the reason why I was not moving anywhere. My left side tyre was pointing full right, but my right side tyre refused to move from a complete left. So my tires were pointing at each other. It was dangerous to tug the car normally downwards, so we tied the rope to the wheel and slowly tried to get the car onto the flat surface. After close inspection we discovered the culprit was a bent tire rod end. By this time it was pretty hot and we tried to make a shade and think what we were going to do. Before our thought process was over we had our darling Saleem bhai heading of to get a huge hammer from one of the many farms around. What happened to him is another story, but close to evening as the weather was just settling down we had him back with a hammer, we tried our level best but we were unable to straighten out the tire rod end. Close to sunset we decided to leave the car overnight, get the spare parts on Saturday and comeback to complete the drive the next day. Verily once I have the spare parts all the participants were back to the sight where we had left the car overnight. It was not only repaired in teh middle of the desert, but a very good alignment job was also done to get me back to Sharjah from Al Ain. That still leaves one mystery, what happened to those Alien circles? Yes we did reach the spot after a quick drive. But just before the area that we wanted to explore there was a huge fence which was guarded by security and we were not allowed inside. Was the information which was in there so sensitive that we were not allowed to go in? As we drove back we saw the circles the best we could from the road. What was it than? As i said I am only going to share this one story on the forum. All interested to find out more please join us on the drives to find out what lie in those circles for it to be heavily guarded. Hope you are happy now Derik.

@Barry the rant was supposed to be what mechanics hate the most, but now its turned to hate mechanics.

@derik I can write up all I want, but you will only realize the difference if you join us once. We too will get a chance to know you better and discuss this further. From my personnel opinion having driven off-road for over 10 years and been on both sides, when I have done a few drive with friends and done it as a club. When you are driving in private you might take things seriously and have all the equipment, but those around you would always keep depending on you, where as in a club as you grow you realize that you need to carry some equipment as an individual and along with your driving capability your safety tools also increase. Within 10 friends you are limited to certain areas and would not venture out much, plus if friends are busy or have other engagement you will be left with no drive at all. Whereas in a club there is a drive posted very week, sometimes multiple drives and you can join one which suits your level, having a 100+ members helps, because atleast 10 - 15 cars would want to attend every week. The first year we had no official structure in Carnity due to which we faced several problems, after introducing structure last year, more people enjoy their level of drive, learn with enthusiasm as they want to grow and help others and we make new friends every week. in a friendly drive you will not be able to discover so many places as the comfort level is not so much, you might always sacrifice your drive style to suit the lowest level member in your friends, whereas in a structured club you can join the drives you like or lower level drives knowing that it is going to be slower than your style of drive. As a club you will get to taste several flavours as everybody as individuals has their own preferred terrain and drive style. plus with so many minds at work we are always trying to discover and try out new areas with intermediate drivers and above. I like the way @Frederic has tried to give you an example of a gym, or the way @Emmanuel has expressed his concern as we do not know your drive level or drive style along with your friends or the equipment available to you or the areas you visit or if you have tried to explore new terrains. We are always open to questions and appreciate your question. I have been off-roading for over 10 years, but I still learn from people who ask questions and the many challenges we face during each drive. We are blessed at Carnity to have a very strongly knitted team and all those who join have a like minded approach. Once again I would like to welcome you and your friends to join us and we can chat further on this subject. I am sure after driving with us a couple of times most of your questions will be answered without a word being said.

@YevgeniyDYM looking forward to seeing you on Friday. Missed out last time.

Hi @GhalibDXB. You are not bound to get anything for the first drive except for your smile, willingness to learn, maybe some snacks or breakfast with a little extra to share, plenty of water and stories to tell. However it will be helpful if you can get a flag and two way radio (walkie talkie) but not mandatory for the first drive.