Rahimdad

@rubema my humble suggestion would be to test drive both and see which one you feel more comfortable in. I personally feel that cars have their own way of conversing with you, find out which one talks to you the way you like it. A few Dirhams more or less could end up with a realization that you should have gone with the other option. Just test drive and have a feel for each one and than decide.

Just my 2 fils.

Wow, maybe seems a but short now, but it was an amazing drive. The best part is all met in good time. I would like to thank @Gaurav bhai for putting ink to paper as there is so much knowledge to share that if it's not in writing some important information might be lost. Also this document will help all members as they grow within the club and post their own Absolute Newbie drives.

After a quick deflation we were off with total of 8 cars. I am impressed with the newbies as some difficult area which I felt would be somewhat of a challenge was very well managed by them. As we approached close to Pink Rocks we noticed a Nissan Patrol crested and along with @EmVarlet I headed to the rescue. When we arrived there they were actually struggling with a pop-out. At this point I called @Gaurav bhai for help. After trying to pop the tire back in on the crest we asked them to bring the car down.

As the brought the car to level ground we continued our efforts. The best suggestion came over the radio as @EmVarlet headed back to the group waiting for us. My hats off to @Asif Hussain, @EmVarlet and @Atif bhai to take responsibility and take @Frederic Nuyttens , @Julien V and @Jayakrishnan around instead of waiting for us. After useless efforts to pop the tire back in, we left our tools with them with a suggestion to take the tire to Tawi Nizwa shops and get it fitted and return us the tools after the drive.

At this point we headed back to the group with smiles on everyone's faces. Within very little time and no trouble we were at our beloved Pink Rocks. We each had a go to reach the top and was approached for help by a dune buggy which had broken down. The person was a gentleman to agree to my request of having snacks and leaving in about 30 minutes and waited patiently in his buggy.

At this point @Atif bhai opened his canteen and we shared different snacks from all which was absolutely fantastic. To top it off was the tea from @Atif bhai which was amazingly refreshing. At this point we packed up and helped everybody out along with the buggy.

The gentleman was extremely thankful and we had a debrief, inflated and left with the exception of @Gaurav bhai, @EmVarlet and @Asif Hussain who continued to take advantage of the excellent weather. Thank you all for joining, sharing your experience and memories through your pics.

Special thanks to @Asif Hussain for excellent video.

@Anand KA 2 inch lift is sufficient and both Old Man Emu and Iron Man are Australian made kits and both are excellent choice.

I'll just add people driving on hard shoulders and if you try to block them they would flash and honk at you as if you're wrong.

@NOOR OMAR Shukar Alhamdolillah all went well and glad to hear the ride is ready to take to the dunes again. It was a pleasure seeing you again and hope to see you more often.

@Asif Hussain thank you for posting such a wonderful drive in a beautiful area, apart from the one incident it was well planned and equally well executed.

@Gaurav bhai thank you for being you, keeping a cool and clam head and making all the right decisions. Making the best of the limited time we had in the area.

@skumar83 no drive is complete without you.thank you for being you, your infectious smile just lifts the spirit of the convoy.

@EmVarlet thank you for being inquisitive. Besides coming to a drive with loads of enthusiasm, you have some very good and engaging questions and I love explaining you those aspects as you are always willing to learn and develop yourself.

Thank you to all who rocked the Umm Al Oush drive.

Like @Barry said at least it was entertaining, which every tv show is expected to be today. I left watching after Clarkson, May and Hammond left.

God bless you @Gaurav bhai. I have tears in my eyes. I was going through this post and thinking which one was my favourite car. If I had to give an award to this post it would go to @Barry as his story is very touching. I was thinking about the Toyota Celica that Mohammed Bin Sulaiyem used to drive or the Porshe 911 Turbo Cabriolet which his Qatari opponent Saeed Al Hijri used to drive.

With all these thoughts flying through my head, your post touched me deeply and reminded me of what my brother Karamullah would have said "it's not the gun but the man behind the gun.". My moment was with the man behind the gun Mohammed Bin Sulaiyem and to share it with a brother who has always been by my side. Well on this occasion behind the camera to save my special moment forever.

Thank you Gaurav bhai.

It is a pleasure to have been in your company @vivian. All the best for your new life in Canada and selling your awesome Z71 package. The time I enjoyed most with you was on the Around the UAE in 1 day trip. We had more time to chat.

Carnity must be lucky as you are the second known Carnity member to head to Canada. Joseph is also settled in Canada and he was telling me he bought a 4x4 and going off road on Saturday as per his weekend.

Enjoy sharing your experiences and ideas here at Carnity as it is open to all.

Thanks for sharing. It is beautiful.

5 hours ago, Kamran89 said:

Hi!

Is the 2016 Pathfinder capable of taking in the desert?

It only has Hill Descent Control, 2WD, Auto and Lock rotary knob, no separate 4H or 4LO gear. (it is an AWD model)

Thank you.

 

Unfortunately like @skumar83 and @desertdude pointed out its not possible to take the new Pathfinder for off road. Try to get a used old working proper 4x4. There will be a drive every week.

I second you on that @Barry, it would be healthy to know the result of the advises shared on the forum. Sadly very few come back and provide any feedback.

Coming back to the topic I have been quietly reading through the posts and trying to figure out what I would do in a similar situation. I did not have to imagine myself a lot longer in this situation as one presented itself on this weekend newbie drive.

@Brette got himself a Crony CN888 and it was my responsibility to set it up. I am supposed to be the expert on this one. But practice keeps you perfect and I have been out of practice for over 18 months now. Who or which WhatsApp group should I approach now. Can't think of any, so I googled it up, and walla, I ended up on the Carnity page I had created almost 2 years back. It took less than 2 minutes for us to setup the radio and we were on our way.

Conclusion from a live situation for this particular scenario, it helps to save information on such an organized website for even your own future use. As with time you might forget and that's a human tendency. Not saying WhatsApp is not helpful, but in this situation where I have been the one people look up to, I couldn't think of anyone who could help. Thank you @Carnity and hope people would realize the importance of sharing technical knowledge here for our real life situations for future use by all car enthusiast hate to see this information wasted between a very few people on a WhatsApp group.

Seems like we will need 2 drives for one of these weekends as there are a few who missed on the recent absolute newbie drive and we need another one to accommodate the people who missed out on this opportunity.

What a day. What an absolutely beautiful weather. What great company and a fantastic day.

Firstly starting on time is always essential as we completed the whole trip and more in good time. Secondly with the on going debate about is having information on a website important or share on WhatsApp chat groups. Yesterday @Brette got a Crony radio, we googled how to setup the Crony CN888 and up comes my article on Carnity and in less then 2 minutes set it up. Conclusion for this particular situation information on website is way more useful.

We started with a short brief and setting convoy numbering was easy as we had 5 cars only and all expertise was passed on to @Brette as he grew in confidence and performed very well. By 5 pm we had crossed Fossil Rocks which we found a new way to cross even though it looked next to impossible without a single scrape or scratch.

This was due to the fact that we started on time. This left us with the question if @Brette would like to continue with us, @Mujtaba had to leave us here and we decided to continue to Faya. My original plan was to head to the lower track and head towards Faya, but crossing the a few dunes on the way my question to @Brette was if he was comfortable when we reach the track. His response was he was enjoying the dunes and we headed to Faya through the dunes.

On the way we helped a Rav4 struggling and continued towards Faya. Just as we came close we saw a huge crowd gathered around Faya which a couple of months back seemed abandoned. This is due to the weather changing for the better. The season is on. As I had to take a quick stop at the quad bike shop @Gaurav bhai led the team to a safe spot within the crowd. After finishing up I joined the team where they were enjoying the action.

As we observed the action we enjoyed the different snacks and drinks and watched the action unfold. Finally time to say goodbye and we inflated at the Adnoc pump in Mahafiz. Brilliant day with like minded people. Well done @Brette for your second time out. Thank you to @EmVarlet and @Gaurav bhai for the support. Until next time keep discovering.

Thanks for the heads up @srini62 hope to catch you on next drive.

I hail from the age when parking in UAE was free, pinches to dish out 2 per hour. 10 per hour is not a solution.

The extraterrestrial should also join Carnity and share their technical knowledge with us.

I have seen a Prado 2008 model with 700k on the clock. All the owner does is get maintenance at regular intervals and doesn't want to sell it. It's a work horse.

@Sidshk good choice. Toyota Prado is a very capable car with minimum options and one of the reason it never gives you trouble. Toyota reliability. Just the normal things to check like engine, gearbox and chassis. Being an old car it will give you some repair cost, but Toyota is easy and cheap to maintain. Just change all the oils, plugs wire sets, just to be on the safe side. Happy buying.

Congratulations @Gaurav bhai for being the second individual to cross 1000 likes. Well deserved bro.

Great initiative @EmVarlet and excellent suggest @Barry. We try our level best to help the newbies understand their cars, however having a technician present on all drives might not be possible. We want to learn more about new cars and all these extra buttons.

1 hour ago, Gaurav said:

What a brutal way to waste knowledge inside a closed box.

Truly you f o a lot of information. Carnity is supposed to be open to these discussions which would help thousands at any given time, but you choose to share it with the few on WhatsApp. It is difficult for a community to grow with distractions like WhatsApp.

Hope these technical discussions can be shared on Carnity.com henceforth to avoid all this useful knowledge to be lost.

Thank you @Gaurav bhai for working tirelessly behind the scenes in making this possible. Looking forward to a season under this new structure and hoping this will give a clear indication to all members evaluate their progress.

Great suggestion @srini62 will definitely incorporate practical training in the upcoming newbie drives to help newbies understand the concepts in a better way.

@Frederic Nuyttens thank you so much for your positive comments, suggestions. Definitely you have got some very useful advice and we will try to implement some of it in the coming weeks.