Thomas Varghese

For sure it will be fun. How I wish I could be in that drive to click. But @Kailas drive in Sweihan is more tempting for 2 reasons. 1. I have never driven in Abu Dhabi deserts. 2. After the drive I can just head to Ghayathi to visit my daughter and son in law. By the way last time I visited her I noticed some beautiful deserts in that area. I mean outstanding landscapes which nearly prompted me to say khalli walli just drive into those dunes and forget visiting my daughter. Hope Carnity will organize a drive in that area soon.

Dear @Gaurav nothing wrong in shooting in Auto Mode. All other modes are creative modes. Shooting in Auto mode is like driving your car in D mode. All you have to do is press the shutter or the accelerator in your car when you tackle the dunes. You don't choose anything except click the shutter at the appropriate time, same as pressing your accelerator. The camera takes pictures for you just like the car chooses the gear for you. Fun is when you need to create a special effect. Don't bother about results. Now a days its all digital. You can adjust the settings just like you put your car in manual mode and experiment. Why should anybody care what pictures you should shoot? Just like its your car you are driving and its your wish how to use it, its your camera and you shoot what you like.

Everybody has commended on the lenses and camera they have. Nobody even mentioned if they are bringing their tripods. To capture a good shot of the action you need to be at a safe distance and for a close up you need a good telephoto lens with focal length exceeding 150mm to shoot from a little far. I didn't see many of them having that lens except the 1st 2 in the list.

I'm a beginner too. I believe F20 aperture will not be enough to have a proper exposure at 1/500 or 1/1000 shutter speed. All you will capture is a very underexposed image with lots of digital noise with the timing for the drive. Winter is approaching and light conditions to shoot at that aperture and shutter speed at the proposed time will be with a very high ISO. Probably the camera will not even open and close the shutter at these settings on shutter priority except on Manual mode. Burst mode is what is recommended as you mentioned is perfect. It is enough to keep the aperture at F11 and camera to choose the shutter speed to keep everything in focus. Don't exceed the ISO beyond 1600 or max 3200 to get a fairly usable picture. By the way all these settings will only freeze the picture and will not give you the motion feeling. To tell you the truth if you mount the camera on a tripod and slow down the shutter speed to less than the focal length of the lens the effect you capture will be mindblowing. It will give you the motion feeling. @Frederic I hope you know the technique which photographers use to capture the motion of flowing water rather than freezing the water droplets. Kindly don't be offended by my comments but a little motion blur will make the picture WOW (not the camera shake blur)

Dear @Kailas, Kindly waitlist me for my 2nd drive

Very short story. The business had a financial crisis and I was broke. Was afraid how I will repair the car if it gets broken down inside the desert. Now back to normal and some loose ends to tie up. Will see you on Saturday.

Congrats @Kailas. Well deserved

My Xterra doesn't squeak anymore after I changed the leaf spring bushes. It had a minor squeak but now not there at all. Xterra is a real powerful car. I drive it around 300 to 400km a day and I love driving it all day.

For me its always the Xterra both offroad and onroad. Cheap to maintain. Good gas mileage. Gives me 470 km approx on a full tank. Has good power and now my X roars like a lion when I accelerate after adding a little silicon oil into the fan clutch. I started to love that roar. Reminds me of being the alpha lion in the pack. I consider my X as a he. Getting his knock sensors changed now even as I type. 2nd hand cost me 50 AED. Hopefully the sensors will tell his heart to beat faster with less food. I don't know much about other cars much and I probably will not anyways as I got to get tired of my stallion 1st which I doubt I will never.

@Mario Cornejo what a wonderful opportunity I missed for taking some wonderful pictures during those delays as I couldn't join

Actually whenever I followed speed from google maps i never got a radar fine.

possible

I don't know the statistics. I told my practical observation. Can we get the same effect by engaging the parking break a little?

If you check your speed with google maps you will be surprised to find that when you are coasting at 140km/hr as per speedometer your actual speed is only 130km/hr. This error happens because the wider tires alter the aspect ratio as both tires have 70 as aspect height ratio. So its not surprising your car is not getting speed radar flashes when you are coasting at 140 km/hr as originally you are only doing 130 to 131 km/hr. Your car will only get a flash from speed radar if your speedo shows above 150km/hr.

I love my Xterra and will always vouch by the car for sturdiness and reliability. The 2nd hand versions are dead cheap to buy( now i heard the prices are creeping up ). Regarding the engine overheating issue its a simple fix and then you can forget it. Its not at all expensive. I haven't done any mods to the car other than a ABS kill switch and a front skid plate. All other cars listed here are double or more the price of an Xterra and I doubt will run 100 km with15 liters of petrol . I drive my car almost 300 to 400 km a day and maintenance is minimal after all the abuse it receives from me on road and off road.

Actually the speedo is showing 10% more and helps me in preventing speed radar flashes.

Thanks @M.Seidam. My confusion was the size too and you have cleared it. Stock is 265/70/16 and my present tires are 275/70/16. The only problem I experienced with the wider tire is the speedo is off by 10%. Plus the petrol mileage. Maybe more experienced drivers can clear this doubt.

To tell you the truth I expected 70k. The tires are still not bald. But considering @Srikumar's advice I'm changing it. Moreover last couple of week's drive I have felt the car is not holding steadily on side slopes and tend to slide down sooner than expected. Kindly give me your choice on manufacturer and make I should be fixing on my Xterra. My preferences are Yokohama and Kumho. Both are AT and almost same price with Kumho up by approximately 100 AED more each tire.

One of the most precise drive reports I have seen. Yes it was not the smoothest of IM drives and plagued with troubles from the start with my double pop out. Still one of the IM drives I have enjoyed fully. More than the pace and technicality it showed the team spirit of @Carnity club members in times of need. Short convoys are always great. It was worrying to see @GauravSoni's differential making sounds and wouldn't engage in 4 wheel drive. Same time he displayed utmost calmness and true professionalism by managing to drive it out of the desert in 2 wheel drive through some very technical and challenging areas all the while thanking Richard @Wrangeld for the practice he had given in a previous desert drive by driving less than 2000 rpm and at 2 wheel mode. Unfortunately I couldn't be a part of that drive and missed that opportunity to learn the technique. As @Srikumar pointed out sometimes my pace was slow and will definitely work out on that area. After the double pop out initially my whole boot was disturbed and everything was jumping everywhere inside. I got to find ways to anchor things back in the boot once tools are used and put back inside. Also I think I have reached the end of my tire life from my Dunlop Grandtrek tires for off roading as they have almost reached 50k kms. Will love to upgrade to Geolander or Kumho this coming week. Suggestions are welcome. Hope @Abu Muhammad reached home without more passenger discomfort.