Rahimdad

Great question @Danny and even better explanation by @Barry

Truly the vehicle you have is the bestest of the best in the world, in terms of brand, manual or automatic, a/c, etc.

I would agree with @Barry when he says that you should try both and then decide which one it is that you feel would give you most enjoyment, After all the drives we have conducted all were automatics and all performed well until @DiamondDallas came around with his unique manual Ralliart version of a Pajero. I managed to drive his ride and touched a manual gear after a good 7 - 8 years and I feel I can do with the automatic just with my age. I had driven a manual in my younger days and just changed to automatic back in 2001 due to the heavy traffic which has got only worse over time.

To answer your question i drive an automatic and enjoy it best because I can just shift it in D and drive it around and when need arises I can down shift to 1st or 2nd gear. I would personally recommend to get a ride which is reliable (Japanese) and with less computers, simple, as in the desert you are better of with less computers and fancy bumpers. There are plenty of vehicles to choose from and with the summers setting in and the off-roaders taking a break you are bound to find something in your budget.

6 hours ago, shadow79 said:

I m in for sure and anyone in for after training BBQ sessions...? 

Now why did we not think of that. Wonderful idea, what better way to spent time learning in theory and practical and having time over BBQ later just to sit and discuss and clear any doubts. Excellent initiative @shadow79, I am definitely in.

Sorry @nemo dat I was talking about rims only. But if you're going for 1 rim with one used tire you should be able to get it for around AED 350 - 400. You just need to drive a hard bargain with the Iranian boys. Gaurav Bhai knows some one in a car accessory shop, not sure if he can help.

@nemo dat Thank you for your question. If you go to Sharjah Industrial area any of the tire shops have plenty of them lying around. Last time I checked they were between AED 400 - AED 650 for all 4 pieces depending on the condition. I recommend you get them to put it on their balancing machine to check if they are not bent. if you are going from Dubai to Sharjah, after crossing Sahara Center you will see a few tire shops on your right hand side. When you cross the Sharjah University Signal you will find plenty on both sides.

Hope this helps.

I just love the energy in this group. Needless to say I am in with full support. Where is my trusted Batman aka @skumar83

26 minutes ago, shadow79 said:

and rahim bhai (sorry for using this language) you have balls of steel to sit with a novice level driver and novie level driver i have new respect for you you have raised the bars for few of us here at carnity.....

No need to be sorry @shadow79 you have won many hearts and I love your way of thinking. You are different in a good way and add to our community with a lot of positives. Love you bro. Hope to catch you soon. I was also a novice when I started and I never forget that, I would have never learned if people would not have given me a chance. You only grow better with experience and experience comes from actually being able to do it. Live and learn.

Now for my side of the story that unveiled itself yesterday. Sey an alarm for 3 and 3:30 am but was wakened up by a call from @Gaurav Bhai at 4 am. Quickly got ready and on the way not allowing me time to cook the Aloo Parathas I promised. Cursing myself I reached the meeting point on time. As we started to move from the meeting point to deflation point I realized I had forgotten my off-road bag. Now I had 2 reasons to curse myself until @Asif Hussain Bhai offered his radio for sweeping the convoy.

After the lecture session and on with the first section on 2 wheels I still was a bit worried about falling short on breakfast. We than went to 4x4 mode and continued through our plans As designed and implemented by @Gaurav Bhai. As the breakfast was laid and filled the table, I got more relaxed, special thanks to all who contributed.

As @Gaurav @Kavin to get him created on a sharp blade for our next session the rest of us attacked the slip face and had interesting results. Most impressive was Saleem Bhai with his Rav4 climbing and succeeding, the huge jump, or should I call it leap of faith from Dipak and the self recovery from Stella with her orange FJ.

As we headed to Kavin and his crested Pajero, I learned some thing new and was able to learn from Gaurav Bhai a very important lesson. We than headed down for some donuts after the heavy work load of digging. These replenished our calories count to complete the rest of the trip.

As we headed to the base of Fossil Rock and everybody managed to climb it well, it was time to head down which was part 2 of the challenge. We now engaged into 4 low with our trusted first gear. Once again all managed well and with almost 12 noon on the clock we head out to the closest petrol station. As Gaurav Bhai explained the few points left and debriefed everyone during inflation I quickly escaped to the mosque and offered my Friday prayers. In return some good byes and we were off to our safe haven, our homes.

Special thanks to @Gaurav Bhai for sharing his vision, arranging a very comprehensive session and teaching us so much in just a short span of time. Thanks to all for the great response and supporting the drive in good numbers. Thanks to all for the absolutely finger licking breakfast. Thanks to Asif Bhai for lending his radio to me. Thanks to @skumar for being an excellent second sweep and saving me on an occasion. Seems like you are really enjoying this position. A lovely day out with awesome people and memories that will stay embeded in my mind for ever.

@Barry very well done for a first time effort and your situation cannot be termed as stucks because no one pulled you out. You managed to self recover from both situations so they were refusals.

@Drewid The Consumer Rights people are also helpful to some extent at times. You need to log a complaint with Al Futtaim in writing and get in writing from them that it does not fall under warranty. Have all your proof of purchase and all your documents regarding the services ready and sent it to Consumer Rights. I know of a couple of cases where they stepped in and made things happen when the agencies had already declined.

On 5/10/2017 at 0:51 PM, Herry Das said:

Many user give details about spare parts and accessories need to make a car. But important part they not mention over here that is battery. Car battery is a rechargeable battery that supplies electrical energy to a motor vehicle. The car battery provides the jolt of electricity necessary to power all the electrical components in your vehicle. Talk about a pretty huge responsibility. Without battery power, your car as you have probably noticed, won’t start.

@Herry Das good point, but let alone battery, nobody mentioned any parts as the topic is more general and to do with the number of parts in a vehicle and not the details of the parts and what they do.

Thank for sharing though, a very valid point indeed.

9 hours ago, Gaurav said:

Alright guys, looks like we already have full house turn out now. This shows that we have enough car enthusiast's who have been bitten with sand bug in the past and want to graduate their skills further. And I'm equally excited as every one of you.

This desert training is always a kind of wish list training for me and Rahim bhai, that we wish someone has done it for us when we were learning and new in desert. We could have learn and understood the stuff faster in one or two drive than learning from our failures over multiple drives. And I strongly urge and request everyone to learn and pass on same in the future to help others.

Plan for tomorrow is divided in 5 waypoints as below, just to keep everyone updated:

1. Mahafiz Training Entrance - Intro + theory
2. Mahafiz medium dunes - theory + practical
3. Mahafiz Sabka - Breakfast + theory + fun stuff
4. Mahafiz long range - Drive + practical
5. Mahafiz tall dunes - Adrenaline drive and exit

Please bring your camping chairs if you have so that we can sit over the breakfast and run theory session.

This is great planning @Gaurav bhai. Looking forward to having the first of its kind ever.

On 5/10/2017 at 3:55 PM, Kavin said:

Thanks @Rahimdad, just called them to check and was informed that my car is also on the list. Donno if they were really gonna call me. Anyway I better get it sorted before it's too late.

@Kavin that is what a car community is all about, sharing information. Sometimes something small for us might turn out to be a huge help for some one within the community.

@RajuBhat It was a pleasure having you on the trip and I was impressed to see you follow instructions so well for the first time and saw vast improvement in your driving style and confidence in the last hour of the drive. Looking forward to having many more such drives and events with you.

@DiamondDallas you quote the whole thread which makes it difficult to see what you are trying to say. i have added your name on the main post on this thread.

@Gaurav Bhai. Knowing that you have just started to learn and experiment with putting these videos together, i feel that you are doing an amazing job of going through all the material, selecting the best of the best for us to see and releasing these videos well before the next drive. They turn out better and better every time and your choice of music is always appreciated to go with the awesome visual. Keep up the great trend bhai.

Unfortunately I work till late and cannot make it to See the site on a week day.

If I was not impressed with your idea when we had a little chat, I am drooling over the content covered in this training session.

Although it says Absolute Newbie Training, but this is bound to create a few experts by the time we are done.

Sounds promising and I would definitely like to be a part of this training, I am in 200%. Plus the area is apt for such a training and we will create plenty of opportunities to learn, hopefully this will also give a chance to clear up why so many recovery gear is required for a desert trip. You never know what you are going to face in the desert.

Good initiative @Gaurav Bhai.

I like the way you are thinking @Asif Hussain. Very true the fishes seem to have gone deeper and with all the rules around I dumped my fishing gear about 10-12 years back and never touched it again. But with all the talk about fishing I thought we had something solid in place. I did some research and there are boats that can take up to 10 people on board for about 4 hours at around AED 1200 - AED 1500. Although they recommend 10 people I would think around 6 people would be enough to share an AED 200 - AED 250 each. They will provide boat to take in deep sea, along with fishing equipment and they even clean your catch and let you have a refreshing drink while your fish is being cleaned and handed over to you. No more of those good old freebie days.

@Barry you don't need a fast machine in the desert, its more about the torque which gets you out of the soft stuff and gets you moving. But these things are huge and on any grounds you need to keep them moving, momentum is your friend.

Cool, post it in trips and its going to be Carnity fishing trip this weekend.

@Barry good point and a good question raised by @evoboy2016. I have used it a couple of times and felt that it just makes the engine run a little bit smoother, or it could just be in a mental satisfaction in my head.

Very nice topic @Barry and a very good observation from @evoboy2016.

To be honest, Jeep Wrangler is the best stock with enough ground clearance, and a good enough engine and gear to go. However the reliability issue kind of gets in the way. My favorite models are the TJs from 1999 to 2004 with the manual 5 gear. Most of the older vehicles are better in my opinion, as the lesser the computers the better control you have which is what you need in an off-road vehicle. I have had a chance to drive a couple of these TJs and they are better comfort than the earlier YJs, slightly less comfortable than the modern JKs. Although I have heard a lot of praise for the new Pentastar 3.6 liter engines on the new JKs, but recently after vehicles which have completed over 100K kilometers and are out of waranty a lot of issues with the engine have come to light. Some of these were also discussed on Carnity and seem common after the warranty period is over. With the newer cars the main issue is with the low overhang bumpers and the fancy kits that come off on a sneeze, let alone touching the sands.

In off-road the lesser is better, lesser electronics, lesser computers and lesser safety and assistance features, TJs from 1999 to 2004 fit the bill in every way.

I'm in, its been a long time since I have gone fishing.

@Barry is it still about fishing?

@ging very nice question, I have recently started to wonder the same myself, but never found the words to put it across as a question. Sometimes I have wondered that you want to buy part by part and build a car on your own would cost you 6 times as much. I believe you are not only looking for the major parts that run a car, but each and every part like the fender, fender flare if applicable, bonnet, glass, each and every piece of rubber, plastic, metal and glass that completes a car. Waiting for our tech dudes to answer this one.