I’m thinking it’s about time to make a thread here for Burly, the Imola red troublemaker, breaker of budgets and hearts, since I just looked back on the first Group drive I did here in Abu Dhabi in November 2010, 11 years back… Not only then can I keep track of the many questions and answers I need to address on this car, but I’m also not gonna stink up the other threads with my noob gaffes and blindingly obvious revelations.
Origin Story
I bought Burly back in August 2010 when my daughter reached school age so I needed a first ride in this country. The school run is about 20 mins through suburban traffic, so obviously a long-distance V8 cruiser with fragile air suspension was the perfect choice. Her justification was that if you don’t drive a big car to school, you’ll get mowed down and killed by someone else in a huge car. Lexus LX, Nissan Patrols and Toyota Land Cruiser VXRs make up the majority of the morning traffic here.
I bought the car as third owner from a shady Scottish fellow whose passport said ‘Gerry Black Brown’. Special Forces? I wondered…. Apparently before that it belonged to the wife of a CEO and was driven around by a chauffeur, such as things are here.
When I got it I’d had a row with “Gerry” about the price and he browbeat me into not getting a AED 5,000 discount, but paying AED 85,000 ($23,150.00) which was still pretty reasonable for a 4 year-old car with 77,000 Km (a shade off 48,000 miles) on the clock, also given our next choice was to buy similar spec from Sharjah which is like 3 hours drive and 2 Emirates away. (different registrations apply). So finally after the deal as I was about to pull away he said “don’t open that window all the way down otherwise you’ll need this to lever it back up” [hands me a potato peeler]… also the air suspension was malfunctioning. No worries, I thought – I can live with that deal. Can probably just fix it cheaply once and for all.
I certainly won’t go on about how many b****** air struts, window lifters and door handle carriers I’ve gone through, but prefer to focus on the amazing journeys we’ve been on throughout the UAE and Oman; beaches, mountains and deserts have made some amazing backdrops. And the kids love the car – my daughter is almost old enough to get her own license and we brought my new-born son home from hospital in the back seat, so it’s part of the family. You still can’t beat powering up a shallow curve onto the highway, or blasting up a multi-story car park ramp with the windows open. Music to my ears. Eventually the name came from a pair of carpenters jeans I owned for years, from the Burly Threads company, but there was also a ‘Lord Burleigh’, hero of the movie ‘Elizabeth’ (if you enjoy mediaeval dramas you should be familiar with that one!) so there was that, kind of.
For maintenance I’ve mostly been going to a workshop/ breakers in that part of town, owned by Jordanian guys with good connections. They seem to have everything you need when you need it, but kinda leave muddy footprints (occasionally torn door rubbers and broken plastic with their big boots) and aren’t so good at the electronics. They do seem to have a sixth sense about X5s. Anyway, getting this car right is not just one battle, it’s a war!!
I'm gonna start with the photos here, and post 'Things that I'm happy with' and 'Things I'm not happy with' after, cos yous guys are probably already going cross-eyed...
1) My fave photo of Burly, at the top of Jebel Hafeet mountain, 1,200m above the desert
2) Went there with a bunch of friends and their Bimmers
3) ... and the daughter - wife decided it was time to go
4) Coming home for the first time
5) We did many weekend trips to Fuajirah
6) Yas Island kite beach is also a great place to hang out!
7) What a road... up to the top of the mountain
8) How my seats
used to look
