Thomas Varghese

Congrats @Aus Alzubaidi

@Frederic see u on 2nd of next year 😀. Its been almost a month I have met u for my 1st drive as an absolute newbie. Very excited to see u again and drive under ur guidance. This will be my 4th drive with carnity. Let me put to test the lessons given by @Frederic, @Gaurav & @Rahimdad in this drive. @Shehab Alawadhi we meet again for some pictures as u wished. Hopefully we will get some time to drive when we get bored of clicking too many pictures. @Gavin Hill I know you have learned to tame that hummer beast. @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader it will be a pleasure to meet u again in the desert. I hope @Danish Mohammad will lead me to the next bowl to tackle and we can show everyone how @Rahimdad took out our 4X4's with such grace & ease. The rest of the desert adventurers, we will be getting acquainted with during the drive. Hopefully we will not tax @Vanessa8580 & @Mukundan Nair with too many refusals and stuck like our 1st drive like we did to @sertac.

In short, the path chosen by @Rahimdad for us to drive as a newbie was excellent in terms of learning how to negotiate with very loose surface. I understood the importance of this learning when I myself was sinking into the sand while walking up the bowl. Unfortunately I couldn't deflate myself to support me in the sand as I'm heavy at 120kgs. I clearly understood the importance of deflating the tires to very low pressure so that track lengths are increased and pressure exerted over the sand is decreased. Its a wonder how the hefty cars hold up against the sand by just decreasing the tire pressure. It was really a good experience. Hope to have the drives open soon and see you all at the next drive.

@Danish Mohammad I enjoyed it more when my car also slid into the bowl & @Rahimdad just took it out as a walk in the park. I am thankful to him to show me the power of my XTERRA. Really enjoyed the whole drive as never before. Looking forward to the next RSVP so that I can be with you guys again for a drive.

@Rahimdad this weeks drive will be special as my only son will be joining me My son landed in Dubai after finishing his aerospace engineering from Bangalore today afternoon. Till last time it was my son in law and daughter. I will teach him how to deflate & inflate tires before the drive. He will be my handyman. So I will be joining with my son in law and son. Both of them are fans of my driving. @Rahimdad if you will please mention the frequency we will using so that we can set our radios too.

I'm sorry to trouble all of you by my doubts. I believe understanding your machine and taking care of it accordingly makes you a better driver. I always believe automobiles are toys but serious toys. It can kill if abused but can give you all the fun if we understand them and take care of them. Carnity has given me an opportunity for me to understand my machine better.

Is there any provision to check the transmission temp? @Mohamed Seidam

I think it will be me learning from you.

@Rahimdad I hope you will keep me @ the sweep position for this drive. I was wondering why I was always at the back for the last 2 drives but I understand now its a very important position.

@Chaitanya D excellent advice. I checked the manual of XTERRA and it says exactly same what you stated. All the time (actually only 2 times I did the off road drive and it was as as Absolute Newbie & Newbie with Carnity) I was driving in D and that was the reason I had to throttle up from the beginning for not to lose momentum and make jump over the crest. This time with the drive with @Rahimdad on Christmas Day at Nazwa Farms, Sharjah I will try @Chaitanya D's advice of driving at 3 & 2. I think it will work and I should be having a smooth drive up and down the dunes in those gears.

@Rahimdad I have joined. I wouldn't be missing the drive under any circumstances. So lets celebrate Christmas by meeting up & driving. Thanks for all the support.

@Chaitanya D I got my XTERRA back from garage after fixing the steering rack leak today morning. I was impatient to try out yours & @Mohamed Seidam advices on the lag in acceleration when cruising @ speeds above 120 kms/hr. Viola the switching off of the OD button on the gear shift worked like magic. The lag is GONE. I understood what was happening before and the reason for the lag. Once you cross the speedlimit for the OD the gear shifts into overdrive but when you want to accelerate more the gear shifts to the 4th and it takes 2 or 3 seconds for this process. If the OD is switched off the car has no need to shift gears and speed up and its instantaneous. I believe it will cut the km/liter of petrol and as I run it regularly its not economical on highways. Surely in my next drive in carnity it will be switched off as who cares about gas mileage when you are enjoying and I believe it will be safe also as lag in acceleration is eliminated which is very crucial. Thanks everyone for the very valuable advice.

@Rahimdad I really appreciate. I always believe I was born to drive but forced to work. Used to attend bike rally's in my younger days. Now kids are all grown up, standing on their feet and plenty of time and energy for me. Wifey may not like me chasing girls but will allow for chasing the dunes. To tell you the truth I liked the carnity club and will not miss a drive if possible.

They are not open today and I can only pick up the car tomorrow.

Thanks for the generous offer @Rahimdad. The car is ready at the garage since yesterday night but I didn't pick it up.

Sorry for withdrawing from the drive @Shehab Alawadhi. My XTERRA"s steering box developed a leak and is gone for repair. I didn't want to deny the chance to somebody else incase the car didn't come out after repairs. The car got ready yesterday night and I could have joined but didn't want to take a chance and deny somebody else the fun. We will have soon a drive together - hopefully next week. I suppose the offroad bug has bitten me and I'm seriously infected. Hopefully nobody comes up with a treatment for this bug in the near future.

@Mohamed Seidam Thanks for the insight into using the gear system of the XTERRA. Will surely try this in my next drive.

@Rahimdad kindly remove me from the drive as my XTERRA unfortunately developed fluid leak from the steering box and its gone for repair. I really wished to participate but looks like I got to leave.

@Sajit Modiyil Thanks for the advice. Its almost time to change the plugs but the problem is there from the 1st day I bought it and plugs were changed that time. As I'm the 2nd owner no clue if this is normal. This is the problem - No issues in accelerating from stand still but when u r cruising at a good speed and want to accelerate suddenly the Xterra suddenly shifts gears down and then start to accelerate. Shifting gear takes 2 to 3 valuable seconds. Don't know if its normal behavior for an automatic transmission as the only automatic transmission I have driven is the CVT in Altima.

How-to: ABS Off Version 3 | Second Generation Nissan Xterra Forums (thenewx.org) Very interesting and a new method How-to: ABS Off Version 3 | Second Generation Nissan Xterra Forums (thenewx.org) Very interesting and a new method

Looks like some of the problems got solved yesterday once I changed the front differential oil , transmission gear oil & the transfer case gear oil. XTERRA is a very underrated 4 X 4 and I regret not owning one before. The car sails almost like my Altima now and the throttle response has become little more better even though I'm not 100% satisfied. The mechanic told me some XTERRA's have this lag and some doesn't. Can any one advise if its because of the torque convertor wear out? I have a hunch if this is the problem. By the way ABS kill switch got installed and all the other functions of the car looks normal including the 4Hi & 4 Low. All are functioning when I checked. Will know it better when we meet in Fossil Rock.

Around 300 to 400 kms a day. Stay in Ajman and office in Dubai plus sites running in Business Bay, JLT & Jabel Ali

The XTERRA has run 90000 kms with me after I purchased it in Feb. Its like choosing which car to drive everyday as I like both of them very much and pains to see I always choose the XTERRA over Altima as having a construction company, I need to carry lot of materials around which the Altima cannot take. Hopefully my son or daughter will take a license soon and take charge of that car.