Frederic

Well done @Misha Puskar ! Onwards and Upwards !

Good morning all! @Glenn W @Giacomo@Alexanderrr@Imran Asghar@AlexM@Senthil Kumar@Ashutosh Garg@Ahmed Farouk@Srikumar@DP1011 I wanted to provide some preliminary information, so you are able to prepare for this adventure. Please read below carefully. 1. The main emphasis on every Carnity drive is safety, but in LIWA this counts even much more. The sheer size of the dunes and remoteness of the terrain means this is not a dune-bashing event, but a traverse that will provide its own challenges and where we all will have to work as a team. Please set your expectations accordingly. 2. This week please double check your vehicle's fluids, filters, overall condition, and off-road gears. Any car can break down, but in this terrain, it can turn into a recovery nightmare. Try to work preventively and check up on everything. If the car is already showing some existing issues or hiccups, please do not risk bringing it. Make sure your spare tire is checked, and you have the wrench and tools to remove it when needed. 3. Please bring a full 15-20l jerrycan with you, either mounted on the outside (ideal) or safely strapped inside. Many cheap plastic jerrycans tend to leak from the filler cap, so maybe test it before installing in the car, or fill it up 70-80% so when slushing around the cap remains free of fuel. 4. Take enough rest beforehand. Either by camping the night before nearby the meeting point or going to bed early the night before. Lapses of concentration due to fatigue can be very dangerous in this terrain. During the day we will take breaks for lunch and a few shorter ones in between. Hope to see you all coming Saturday!

Thanks @Yury ! Perhaps move this reply to the drive topic of the Scenic drive. I think you mistakenly put it in the wrong drive topic.

Yes absolutely; https://carnity.com/gallery/

I wanted to thank everyone and especially the support team members for making this drive possible. Without you guys we would never be able to take a convoy of this size through the dunes ! @Rob S@Ishak@Senthil Kumar After the briefing we all ventured out on the trails and came across several herds of camels. Some of them were happy to see us, some other... a bit less As a big chunk of this drive was on farm tracks, it kept a good momentum and only a few refusals. We took a break in a secluded cozy resting place surrounded with trees. I love that area and usually put it in my itinerary whenever i do a scenic drive around that area. Towards the end where we crossed some technical dunes on higher elevation, there were a couple of refusals but all of them handled brilliantly by Rob and Ishak. At one point @Yuryhis Dodge felt like taking a break, and did not want to start anymore for some reason. We disconnected the battery with the help of @Premjit Vappala and @Ishak and waited a couple of minutes and Voila ! The beast was roaring again ! All in all a great morning out with a fantastic convoy. The ones who were on their first drive i have to applaude ! You guys and gals rocked ! Below a screenshot of the track we did. If you want to revisit this trail you can download the Wikiloc app and find my trails under my profile. Frederic Nuyttens's trails and waypoints | Wikiloc : wikiloc.com See you all soon in the sand again !

I am afraid all your issues you’re describing are purely a lack of maintenance. If you decide to keep the car for another couple of years I would highly recommend to take the maintenance manual and go over every step needed. Fresh fluids for the differentials, transmission, spark plugs, filters, etc.. all comes to mind here. Suggest you keep your budget and desire for tuning and upgrading on hold until this is resolved, otherwise you’ll be driving a money pit and won’t recover from it.