Avalanche on Jebel Hafeet mountain road

Avalanche on Jebel Hafeet mountain road

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Naming a car after a natural disaster is never a good idea. It gives people like me a chance to come up with cheesy titles for articles. But I did take our recent Chevy Avalanche Z71 tester up and down the Jebel Hafeet mountain road. Considering it was a family picnic, I did not try to beat any records that I might have set with the Bentley. But it gave me the opportunity to try out some smooth driving techniques with a vehicle that has more body roll than the sinking Titanic.

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The Avalanche seems larger than the Titanic too, and it is a handy vehicle if one needs to haul stuff off-road or steal drinking water from labourers. And while it is an okay highway cruiser, it is definitely not built for carving corners.

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Smoothness is often mentioned within track-driving instructions, but it can come in handy on public roads too. While smoothness can be overlooked in a car that already has sharp handling, jerky inputs can cause havoc in a vehicle as lumpy as the Avalanche.

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The Avalanche has an extremely stiff structure, which I found out when I sat on the roof, but everything else is geared towards casual driving. Steering, braking and throttle all respond a few seconds after you command them, so a fair bit of pre-planning is required in quick-for-a-truck driving.

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In contradictory terms, smoothness comes from driving in a more relaxed manner, and yet paying extra attention to do so. Instead of sudden inputs, a car will of course handle better with gradual turns of the steering wheel, soft acceleration inputs and linear application of the brakes. With two elderly passengers and food in the back seat, I tried my best to keep things from sliding all over the rear floor. Sudden but minor changes in steering direction during a turn caused the Avalanche to squeal its tyres, and slight but sudden braking made the whole body lurch forward, so it was interesting to see how things settled down with smoother driving, as the effects of uneven driving was so exaggerated in the bouncy Avalanche.

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While I still didn’t manage to stop luggage from rolling around in the back, I did manage the corners quick enough to be faster than all the other cars nervously inching along on that mountain road, even though I wasn’t trying to drive fast, and the drive felt awfully slow too. Most overconfident drivers will probably think they’re already smooth, but they really need a passenger to point out where their rough edges lie.

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Comments

  1. Mash the first three pictures you took are absolutely hilarious. Can you take a picture of it lined up beside a truck also?? I so want to see it.

  2. Author

    I returned the car two weeks ago. Besides a truck?

  3. Buddy….are we expecting a review of the new Mazda 6 ?

  4. man i saw the new mazda in the road yesterday….i think its abit small 😕 😕 😕

  5. Nice read 🙂

    Did you get a chance to take it off-road into the sand? 🙄

  6. Did you get a chance to take it off-road into the sand?

  7. >>>>>>>>>

    I checked the newlay launched Infiniti Ex35 2 days back…Yes its here already without a proper launch..

    Its effin’ expensive…it comes in two variants…priced at 157,000 and 167, 000 !!!!

    The New G is 152, 000 I think…and the Fx35 still stands at 185,000 .

    EX costs between $30,000 – $35,000 with 4 choices in the Americas…which by conversion should’ve been around 100,000 – 130,000 mark here.

    Damnit !!

  8. OOOPss….I forgot to mention

    >>

  9. Author

    I did whatever limited off-roading I can do alone. It does really well. No issues with ground clearance or power, unless you try going over a steep dune peak (which I didn’t try). Too long to risk. I hate digging.

    Ace, thanks for the info. EX35 official launch is on the 30th. And I think you asked about a Mazda6 drive. That won’t happen. No press fleet.

  10. hey mash! i wanted to suggest somethin since long….why dont u start a seperate segment for bikes in this website? i am sure there are lots of ppl who likes to know about bikes available in the uae market…we rarely see middle east auto websites reporting about bikes….

  11. Author

    I can’t bike. And no time to learn. And the reader base is too small (a few Harleys, a few superbikers, a million couriers with no net access?). And I am not familiar with the models. And I don’t pay anyone to work for me, so any writer would have to do volunteer work, and that too without being lazy and without traffic fines…

    I can go on with a longer story, but let’s just say I cannot take responsibility for more reviewers (and the problems they might cause) at this point, without establishing further credibility myself. The bike idea has been suggested before though, so let’s see how things develop later.

  12. good u have it in ur consideration list and hope to see it in future…..

  13. i love chevy avalanches

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