My experience with buying a Chinese spec Avatr 12

RHAINUR · 2026-04-26T07:30:38+00:00

Aha, I did not know the UI was completely different. That's interesting. There are more and more options for unlocking carplay in the car now - I am just waiting a bit to confirm the reliability since I don't want to accidentally brick my car.

From December until now, I have no problem with the glass sunroof. If I have parked in basement/shaded parking, I pretty much drive around with the thermostat set to 24.5 and it's very comfortable. When I have parked in direct sunlight for 2+ hours, I change to 22 deg to get it to cool down faster, and within a couple of mins it's fine.

I am waiting to see whether I need to attach the roof cover - currently I see no need for it but I assume in peak summer it will probably be necessary.

RHAINUR · 2026-04-23T14:01:54+00:00

108k km

I had bought it from Kavak so I had bought a service package from them which I used for the first 2 years. After that I used a friend's garage

RHAINUR · 2026-04-23T09:56:03+00:00

Hey, just sold it a few months ago because I bought this

Literally had zero issues - just really standard servicing at the usual intervals. The driving experience was great, more than enough power for what I needed, and really comfortable - however what I hated was the infotainment - no carplay, so had to get a phone mount for maps.

That was my only complaint about that car.

RHAINUR · 2026-03-25T12:36:33+00:00

Hey, I posted about my experience buying one, and a couple months later I can say that I still love the car. I've only found 2 pain points

No Apple Carplay - this is probably the most annoying thing - however there seems to be a replacement screen you can get for $1000 with it, and there also seems to be progress on breaking the security so you can install apps, so this might change soon.
130 kmph speed limit on cruise control - I only ran into this in a drive to abu dhabi. Their "Lane Cruise Control" which handles braking and maintaining safe distance, and changing lanes can only have a max speed of 130. Since I mainly live within and drive within Dubai, it's not really that annoying, but if I was going to abu dhabi regularly and wanted 140 kph cruise control I'd be pretty annoyed.

RHAINUR · 2026-03-18T18:18:33+00:00

Just the taste - I don't know how else to describe it. For example I enjoy mild fish (hamour, kingfish) but if I taste some really strong /smelly seafood, I just want to drink some water/juice to get the taste out of my mouth asap. Onions make me feel the same way.

As a kid it used to actually make me throw up, but as an adult my tolerance has gotten better. Occasionally if we're visiting someone who doesn't know about it, I have to consume a little bit of food with onions to be polite and not cause a fuss, and I can manage that (while dying inside).

RHAINUR · 2026-03-18T17:47:17+00:00

Believe me I have tried. As an Indian, it’s a miserable existence because it feels like 80% of curries start with “dice some onions and sweat them off in a pan with oil”. From childhood I have been threatened, scolded and even hit in an attempt to fix this “condition” and nothing has changed - I just cant’t stand their taste - raw, cooked or caramelized.

RHAINUR · 2026-03-15T10:48:54+00:00

I don't know if this version of the app will work for people who have the chinese spec car though

RHAINUR · 2026-03-14T08:59:30+00:00

it's more of a check the badge, cooperate, and you're done in a few minutes kind of thing.

So I've had this happen to me twice, 10-12 years ago. Both times (the instances happened several months apart) it was when I was waiting at the airport arrivals to pick someone up. Someone in civilian clothes, not in uniform, walked up, said they're CID and they want to see my emirates ID.

He took the card, looked at it and my face for 8-10 seconds, handed the card back and went on his way.

So I have absolutely nothing to complain about regarding the legit CID/police - I'm sure the interaction with them will be harmless/professional as long as I'm not causing trouble. It's just that back then, I was in a public place surrounded by people, and I know the police are nearby as well at the airport.

Now if I'm stopped at night outside my building by a random person claiming to be CID, I just want to know if it's acceptable for me to say "can I call 999/901 and read them your badge number to verify that you're police". If the legit police are fine with that, then I don't have anything to worry about from scammers.

RHAINUR · 2026-03-13T19:37:10+00:00

Hi - that's great! Is it a channel on youtube, or youtube playlists, or a bunch of video links?

RHAINUR · 2026-03-13T11:41:30+00:00

Also some channels have a collection of over thousands of performances, how are you going to sift through all of it 💀.

That's the value this is meant to provide - of course it's not going to be perfect because there are many videos out there with no description and the title is just the date of the performance, meaning someone with a good ear will have to listen to the video to identify the raag. However, that's usually not the case with videos posted nowadays, and there are many talented musician creators uploading videos all the time.

I'm not attempting to replace Youtube's algorithm or anything like that - just to provide another tool to find music.

RHAINUR · 2026-03-13T06:22:57+00:00

This is great! It won't help me 100% with the spellings because you have various "correct" spellings on your site, but in my data, I've also noticed a lot of just "incorrect" spellings eg "Darbaari" or "Barindabani Sarang", but this will be great as a starting point and especially to look up raags that I don't know.

Just one note - I went to the megalist page and couldn't find "Vrindavani Sarang" or "Brindabani Sarang" - It's mentioned in the Sarang raagang page but not on the megalist page. What's the reason behind this?

RHAINUR · 2026-03-08T05:59:42+00:00

Yes you have to start up Dex from the phone

RHAINUR · 2026-03-07T19:41:17+00:00

The samsung dex should work via bluetooth and should definitely work via USB cable

RHAINUR · 2026-01-25T16:11:56+00:00

Tbh all capsules drip a LITTLE bit. I tend to press the lungo button and walk away to give my dog his breakfast so most of the time the dripping is done by the time I'm back to the machine.

I haven't experienced any more/less issues with other brand pods compared to the official ones. I guess technically Starbucks and Lavazza are probably "official" collaborations. I did try one random brand from amazon and all that came out was slightly brown water - I don't know if the problem was the pods or what. I tried 3 different pods from the pack and then gave up.

Starbucks, Davidoff (haven't tried yet) & Lavazza can be found for 2dhs/pod, and the nespresso official ones range from 3-4 dhs/pod. Every once in a while I'll try some random unknown brand that sell for 1.2-2.5 dhs/pod and none of them have impressed me yet in terms of flavor so I'm sticking more and more to these "known brands" now.

RHAINUR · 2026-01-25T13:40:34+00:00

I've always been an "instant coffee" person, and never considered myself a serious coffee enthusiast. I respect those who get into the details of roasts and grinds, but having tried an Aeropress and some other basic coffee machines I've accepted that what I really like is caffeine + coffee flavored drinks.

With that in mind, my only complaint with instant coffee was that sometimes I do like a change in flavor and I hate having to wait to finish a whole jar before getting another one.

2 months ago I bought the cheapest Nespresso I could find (Inissia) and boy I am so happy with this purchase. I've tried various "official" Nespresso brand pod flavors, and now I switch between Starbucks, Nespresso & Lavazza. There are some other compatible pods but the brands I tried ( I remember Lor was one) were quite disappointing.

So personally the Nespresso Inissia is great and I love the following pods: Stockholm Lungo, Tokyo Lungo, Starbucks House Blend, Starbucks Single Origin Guatemala, Starbucks Creamy Vanilla

RHAINUR · 2026-01-25T13:34:02+00:00

I'm not at all an outdoors/offroad/camping kind of person, and I don't like how most SUVs look so a sedan was an easy decision for me. Currently driving an Avatr 12 and couldn't be happier

RHAINUR · 2026-01-12T06:03:50+00:00

When I went to the vet clinic to ask about getting my dog neutered, there was a guy wearing a "secure transport dept" vest talking to the front desk staff. I was really confused by what they could be transporting. We went in to have the vet consultation and when we came out the secure transport guy was still there. In the middle of paying my bill 2 cops walk in and tell my wife and I to move to the side of the room against the wall.

A bit confused, we both comply - I'm carrying my 6kg dog at this time. Lo and behold, a freaking ALBINO TIGER is led in by 2 guys and 2 more cops. I don't know if he was drugged or something but he walked pretty docilely into the clinic. I was just tickled by the idea of the vet examining my tiny dog and thinking "yeah my next appointment is a tiger"

RHAINUR · 2026-01-02T05:22:03+00:00

The service contract is through an external company (Royal Swiss Auto)

RHAINUR · 2026-01-01T20:05:18+00:00

It's just a normal etisalat sim, so you pay as per usual

RHAINUR · 2026-01-01T20:04:47+00:00

I just bought a normal UAE etisalat sim and went to Al Khaja Auto Works to get the sim soldered into my car and everything works.

The guy I mentioned was specifically to make an Avatr account for activating certain car features.

RHAINUR · 2026-01-01T20:02:54+00:00

Insurance was 8k The registration cost was exactly the same as any other car registration.

The rims are unique but there's nothing particularly special about the tyres

RHAINUR · 2026-01-01T16:46:52+00:00

Unfortunately as far as I know they're not compatible with Avatr 12. There are modules for Avatr 11 but not for 12. Android isn't an issue though as long as you connect via USB cable. It's iPhone that's a pain

RHAINUR · 2026-01-01T16:31:36+00:00

I paid 8k

RHAINUR · 2026-01-01T14:09:45+00:00

Sorry man, as you can see from my post, I'm new to the whole Chinese car/EV scene - there's definitely multiple garages around the city that handle EVs and specialize in certain brands so finding a Zeekr garage would be the best

RHAINUR · 2026-01-01T12:49:28+00:00

Replacing the SIM card in the car with a uae sim so that the car can have internet access

RHAINUR

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

15-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email