Frederic

The Kia Mohave was pretty capable and powerful with low range gearing, but a bit more difficult to find and angle approach didn’t look very appealing. https://www.google.ae/amp/s/www.drivearabia.com/carprices/uae/kia/kia-mohave/2012/amp/

Is the previous Fortuner model 4.0 a contender here ? Prices came down since the newer model was introduced. I’m not so fond of the previous model but it’s probably the cheapest entry Toyota with that 4.0 ?

As you know i am on a manual gearbox, but had the same thing twice when being a bit too fast in going from 4LO to 4H without putting the transmission gearbox in N. I don't think that there is a locking system to prevent that. After all there is no physical connection between transmission and transfer gearbox i'd assume.

Bring some Swedish meatballs or blue eyed girl and all will be forgiven 😁

Nice topic ! i think you’ve covered 95% of them, maybe except for a few rare models such as Isuzu Trooper which I was looking for a while back. But like you say, finding the good condition rare ones cost money and lots of luck and efforts. How would a Hilux or L200 manage ? Probably somewhat underpowered and in need of some extra clearance? VW Touareg 2005 is also going pretty cheap. No idea how it would go in the dunes.

Fantastic @Emmanuel ! Looking forward to one of your lead drives soon !

Congrats @Brette !!

This sounds like an episode of Stranger Things: “In search for mysterious circles our friends suddenly experience mechanical issues as if the car was taken over by a evil force. The man with the hammer disappeared and reappeared without reason, and the Sweihan area became the backdrop for governmental experiments in alien technology”.... NOW on Netflix ! Love your write ups too buddy 😉

The funniest i saw was at the Qudra Lakes a few months back. I was inflating my tires on the side of the road after going for a small drive and a guy comes up in his Porsche Cayenne all nicely dressed up, he drives next to me and says with a grin "i don't think i'll need to deflate with my car", so he goes into the first patch of loose sand and immediately gets stuck. What he does next is what most idiots with 500+HP cars do: he starts revving like a maniac to get unstuck and all the time i am standing there looking at him with my biggest grin.... Eventually he gets out and approaches me with a 50dhs gas station rope and asks me if i can pull him out. I tell him in a friendly way that he should use that rope only to tie a floormat on his roofrack.... After deflating and removing the sand in which he reluctantly had to rollup his sleeves and sit on his knees to help me, he quickly got out and all this time his wife kept on shouting at him at what an idiot he was 😂. The worst stuck i've yet have to experience.. The Carnity boys are so experienced that even pulling out a Pajero from out of a massive deep bowl with several ropes tied together seems like a walk in the park for them 😉

Great article @Javier M I have seen those hi-lift jacks mounted on almost every Wrangler i see driving in my community. Hence i sometimes have the feeling it is more a form over function thingy like a spoiler, but i could be wrong. The bottle jack will do the job, but surely only when it's properly secured on a scaffolding plank / wooden board. The 2 ton floor-jack as @Gaurav points out is also my preferred one. I haven't got to buying one yet as i have one laying idle in my house in Belgium which i always talk about bringing it with me when i travel, but in the end my suitcase is full of other stuff .

They would make a great duet: Lady Gaga and Scotty Kilmer live at the Grammys 2019 😂

Talking about world famous engineers: Who has seen Scotty Kilmer on YouTube: He cracks me up, he’s a bit rough mouthed but his common sense approach to engineering is actually quite funny to watch, probably that’s what got him the 1,8 million followers

Well i'd like to compare it with going to the gym because you want to get in a better shape: Option 1: You go alone to the nearest gym, mess around a bit with the equipment, get sprains and injuries, and maybe you will become a bit more fit once you get to know how the equipment works, but you are left to your own devices and not always sure about if you are doing the right thing OR if it is even safe to do with the health or equipment you have. Option 2: You join a gym and go for 10-15 lessons. Your personal teacher will assess your current condition and will guide you safely to minimize injuries or accidents. Thanks to his experience and knowledge you will progress much faster than others and will be grateful for having somebody to learn something from. Joining an Offroad club like Carnity is free, and you get professional advice from people who can safely guide you through and avoid mistakes which in the desert can end up being costly or even fatal. But don't take it from me, take it from the dozens of people that joined Offroad clubs and learned essential stuff like how to deflate properly, recover yourself, and what you and your car can do. If you or your friends get stuck, do you know what to do or which equipment to use to safely recover yourself ? I go for regular camping trips myself with a group of friends, but we don't venture deep and definitely don't do the stuff we are doing in an Offroad club. We drive around a bit, set up camp, and have some drinks. We avoid the real dunes and difficult tracks because most of my friends have very little Offroad experience and we don't want to get in trouble having our car full with kids, dogs, etc... Joining Carnity Offroad and doing the Newbie drives gave me more confidence and far less stress when going camping with my friends, as i know that my car is always equipped with recovery gear and i know how to use it. And most of all i can help my friends by sharing that information. PS replace "teacher" by our Offroad Specialists like @Gaurav, @Srikumar @Asif Hussain, @Emmanuel, @Rahimdad and more team members who will take your under their wings and teach you all the skills and fun our UAE deserts have to offer....

Alcohol dehydrates....

Omg is that one of those tourist off-road organizations?

I have no experience with these but would refrain from using their own built in amplifier. Just check if they have RCA pre-outputs so you can hookup your own preferred standalone amplifier. Never put your headunit higher than 80% total output volume to make sure that you don’t send a distorted signal to the amp.

Hey Buddy, Your amp has 5 channels in total in one housing, just consider it as three 2 channel amps, of which the last one is connected in mono for your subwoofer. Each 2 channel amp has its own 30 amp protection fuse: - 2 channel amp (front) with 2 x 75 Watts Continuous Power Output (similar to RMS): That would take about 10,4 amps (150 / 14.4 volts) - another 2 channel amp (rear) with 2 x 75 Watts Continuous Power, same as above about 10,4 amps - another 2 channel amp wired in mono that outputs 350 Amps, that makes about 24 amps. Important to note is that your amp is able to run on an impedance of 2 ohms and that pushes the amp much higher towards that 30 amp fuse rating. Check how much it outputs at 2 ohms. Fully loaded at 2 ohms you are close to 1000 amps (that would make 69 amps in total). Running the amp at 2 ohm can be achieved by putting 2 four ohm speakers in parallel. Does this clarify your question ? Also do note that Pioneer states their values at 14.4 volts, so that means engine and alternator must be running. At 12 volts your current in amps shoots up due to the lower voltage.

A very simple rule of finding out the real wattage of an amp or headunit: look at the fuse size that is installed and use the very simple ohms law calculation: Watts (P) = (V) voltage x (A) Amps (A) Amps = Watts(P) / (V) Voltage Small example: a head unit with a built - in 10 amps fuse cannot deliver more than 130 Watts in total ( 10 amps x 13 volts) So most probably it is 4 x 30 W RMS. Most Watt ratings on speakers and amps are massively overrated. Always look for RMS values and never rely on PMPO values (peak music power output). In my first car I had a 2x85 Watts Rockford Fosgate 60x2 Amp that powered a 200 Watts RMS Sub in mono. It blew my socks off and came to know that high end audio underrates their values while the cheapo stuff massively overrates it. So above formula tells us: a 400 watt amplifier can easily draw 30 amps. If you see that it comes with a 15 amps fuse preinstalled than you know you’re being ripped off 😉

Found this one which also clarifies a bit on headunit watt power vs stand-alone amp power: https://www.crutchfield.com/S-dwXRxOwPi1T/learn/reviews/20030722/power-power_comparison.html

Definitely with you on Crutchfield. Fantastic knowledge base !

With regards to the Audio question: your sound will only sound as good as the weakest link. Do not expect any kind of speaker, subwoofer, or amp to do a proper job if wiring is too thin or cheap, or if you skipped on other things. My two cents on this one: 1) Invest in a decent headunit (Sony, Kenwood, Clarion, Pioneer) that has RCA outputs. DO NOT buy these crappy converters that convert speaker output into RCA.... 2) In upgrade phase one, buy some decent stereo speakers for the front and connect them to your head-unit. Your sound will already be 5 times better than the cheap Toyota crap speakers. Make sure all connections are properly soldered and not twisted like most shops in Sharjah will do. 3) Upgrade phase two: Buy a 2 channel amplifier and 2 more speakers for the back, OR buy a 4 Channel amplifier and connect also the front speakers. Install everything the way it should be done with proper grounding, power cables, fuses, and put new speaker cables all the way through if possible. Fine tune your amp and learn to set it correctly. A good rule is setting your headunit to 80%, putting the amp sensitivity to lowest possible and slowly start increasing until you hear some distortion, Then dial it back again a bit. Learn to fine-tune your settings such as Lowpass, Highpass, and EQ which you can set according to the speaker capability (regular speakers can be filtered to everything above 80hz). Give it some time and lots of listening to all preferred genres. 4) Upgrade phase three: Buy yourself an additional amp with sub or active system where sub and amp are in one tube or box. Only buy a sub if you really need it, because it takes up space and after having many subwoofers in the past, i came to realize that you can perfectly go without if you listen on "normal" volumes. If you have space for 10" rear speaker then they can deliver pretty good bass. I have seen so many friends and colleagues in the past that would go through these steps in one weekend and go for a full fledged audio setup in which they have either no clue what was installed and they ended up paying too much, or they blew up their amps or speakers after 3-4 months because they simply do not understand the basic audio rules. Can you blow up a 1000 Watts subwoofer with a 100 Watts amp ? YES you can; when you send a distorted signal from the headunit or amp to the speaker, this alternating sine wave becomes DC voltage that burns your speaker coil in an instant. Can you put a 1000W amp on a 100Watts speaker without issues ? YES you can, it is all a matter of setting the sensitivity setting correctly and learning to listen how your speaker reacts and plays. Beware, Subwoofer distortion is difficult to hear...

1) The dramatic soundtrack was basically asking for dramatic results (just kidding). 2) I feel he went pretty far up the ridge and completely turned his wheel at the last minute, which created the roll-over. If i am not mistaken you should avoid turning the wheel completely and suddenly in the desert and especially on slopes. He then put on full throttle expecting he could push himself out but made it worse by doing so. 3) The backside of dune was very soft and it looked like a LWB Land Cruiser or at least a heavy long car but i could be wrong.

Happy birthday @Barry, you’re the Matrix’ Morpheus of Carnity 😉

Legend says that the Batmobile was just a RAV4 with a body kit.