[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by centaur

Nice video. Looks like you already had tow ropes attached to the XUV and the Duster assuming they might not cross it without some help. Surprised to see the Endeavour and Scorpio cross it out easily than the 1st Thar. Was there any specific reason for that to happen with the Thar especially when it came with AT tires?

Thanks centaur. Yes we did not think the XUV and Duster would come out of this pit, but they did quite easily. The Duster was shod with HT Tyres, so all the more surprised. The Endeavour and both the Scorpios were carrying much more momentum than the Thar, so they came out more easily than the Thar.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by centaur

Nice video. Looks like you already had tow ropes attached to the XUV and the Duster assuming they might not cross it without some help. Surprised to see the Endeavour and Scorpio cross it out easily than the 1st Thar. Was there any specific reason for that to happen with the Thar especially when it came with AT tires?

Correct me if I am wrong. Thar has open center differential and is bound to get bogged down sooner or later. Do Endeavour and Scorpio have lockable center differential? In one of the previous videos, I saw Safari (with all it's bulk) easily crossing slush/mud and I think the reason is, it has LSD.

[(Alok)]

Originally Posted by Guna

Thar has open center differential and is bound to get bogged down sooner or later.

No. It has Borg warner Transfer case.

Originally Posted by Guna

Do Endeavour and Scorpio have lockable center differential?

Scorpio also has Borg warner Transfer case.

Originally Posted by Guna

reason is, it has LSD.

May be. Safari has LSD only at rear.

[DirtyDan]

This has me scratching my head. I simply wouldn't drive an expensive SUV or Thar thru water deeper than 4-6 inches if I could avoid it. The risk of damage is too great.

If I am going to off-road, then I am going to do it in a vehicle well prepped to handle water, dirt, sand, titanoboas and love-sick yaks. The last thing I want to do is expose my undercarriage and electricals to a lot of muddy water.

[thedragonreborn]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Hexa does not have LSD as far as I know. It has got brake traction control that applies braking to the tyre without traction thereby forcing the differential to send torque to the other tyre with traction.

The SA at TMASS was fairly adamant about the car being decked out in both, front and back LSDs. I am yet to chuck her into situations where this would be required, so I cannot vouch for it.

Of course, in slippery conditions, the brakes and sensors have been ensuring rather surprising grip with the brake-traction-control. You can actually feel the traction being switched around through the feedback from the front wheels.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by Guna

Correct me if I am wrong. Thar has open center differential and is bound to get bogged down sooner or later. Do Endeavour and Scorpio have lockable center differential? In one of the previous videos, I saw Safari (with all it's bulk) easily crossing slush/mud and I think the reason is, it has LSD.

Thar originally came with open diffs at both front and rear, but from 2015 it started coming with rear MLD. Endeavour and Scorpio do not have central diffs, these are part time 4 WDs. Safari comes with LSD at the rear.

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

This has me scratching my head. I simply wouldn't drive an expensive SUV or Thar thru water deeper than 4-6 inches if I could avoid it. The risk of damage is too great.

If I am going to off-road, then I am going to do it in a vehicle well prepped to handle water, dirt, sand, titanoboas and love-sick yaks. The last thing I want to do is expose my undercarriage and electricals to a lot of muddy water.

Not everyone has the opportunity to do off-roading in real life, so they want to have some fun during the weekends and these people are rich

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

This has me scratching my head. I simply wouldn't drive an expensive SUV or Thar thru water deeper than 4-6 inches if I could avoid it. The risk of damage is too great.

These SUVs are designed to take the abuse to a great extent. Even a normal sedan or hatchback needs to cross 6" of water in Gurgaon on daily basis nowadays.

Please visit Amnshuman Bishnoi's YouTube channel to see how much fun these SUVs can be without spending anything extra on maintenance.

[DirtyDan]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

These SUVs are designed to take the abuse to a great extent.

I have owned 7 4X4 vehicles and I am looking for my 8th. I also was a test driver for Dana Corporation in North America for awhile. Part of my job was to break 4X4 vehicles in a controlled way.

I don't have as high opinion of their design and manufacture as you do, it seems.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

I hate water wading - even though they make great pictures! I'd drive through it only if i have to! Water will get in everywhere, remove oil and grease and contaminate everything.

After every wading, i will make sure i check diff oils and after a major water wade, i will drain and put new oil. And every time re grease all nipples and underbody oil spray as required.

[ClassicD]

So instead of XUV bashing, may I ask about the offroad and 4x4 ability of the Hexa. Been considering purchasing one and I plan to travel in the Himalayas. My main requirement is to be able to take that kuchcha road in the hills without worry and gradually move towards more extreme things like Winters Spiti and such.

Unable to find offroading videos/articles about Hexa and I was wondering what are its limits considering it in the light of purchase (and not just discussion). If purchased, I would be happy to go in for some mods (if available) like a higher bumper, bigger tyres (although they might be hard to find), suspension/height raise. Whatever is easily possible. (Afterall many other offroad and 4x4s are modified). I read that "Hexa would loose its bumpers in xyz terrain" - where most other cars are going in with heavy modifications including bumpers and suspension and what not.

So, assuming one purchases a Hexa 4x4 MT and installs some mods. What would be its capabilities and limits in the real world (not zabardasti wale mud climbs). Can someone tell from experience or extrapolate from the experience they have (specially in light of a missing low range but with its different modes).

What would a stock Hexa or a modded Hexa be able to do in terms of traveling in the hills?

Will it be able to Spiti in winters? (I think other so called powerful offroaders also face problems there). I am assuming this to be the most extreme option.

Would it be able to do a regular Laddak trip (in June Sept)?

Would it be able to do NE?

[nvldvr]

I have driven quite a bit to most corners of HP and UK. Have done these drives in a 2wd Scorpio, and quite a few of them in a Nissan Sunny (yes, with its extremely long wheel base and low ground clearance). Now I own a Hexa 4x4, though have never got an opportunity to drive it to the hills, as I have been held up with work. My comments based on my experiences are highlighted below.

Question 1: So instead of XUV bashing, may I ask about the offroad and 4x4 ability of the Hexa. Been considering purchasing one and I plan to travel in the Himalayas. My main requirement is to be able to take that kuchcha road in the hills without worry and gradually move towards more extreme things like Winters Spiti and such.

Hexa 4x4 would easily take you through all kutcha roads in the hills. No doubts about it. As for the snow drives, in my opinion with a good set of AT Tyres/ snow chains, it should get you through reasonable snow conditions. However, you would need to be careful and well prepared for engine starts in extreme cold weather conditions

Question 2: Unable to find offroading videos/articles about Hexa and I was wondering what are its limits considering it in the light of purchase (and not just discussion). If purchased, I would be happy to go in for some mods (if available) like a higher bumper, bigger tyres (although they might be hard to find), suspension/height raise. Whatever is easily possible. (Afterall many other offroad and 4x4s are modified). I read that "Hexa would loose its bumpers in xyz terrain" - where most other cars are going in with heavy modifications including bumpers and suspension and what not.

Despite its quite capable AWD system, Hexa will not be the best bet for the kind of stuff you see in those off roading videos, due to reasons like not so great approach/ departure angles.


Question 3: So, assuming one purchases a Hexa 4x4 MT and installs some mods. What would be its capabilities and limits in the real world (not zabardasti wale mud climbs). Can someone tell from experience or extrapolate from the experience they have (specially in light of a missing low range but with its different modes).

I have not done any off roading with my Hexa yet, but I am sure it would handle most real world conditions quite well. You should not be worried about this bit.


Question 4: What would a stock Hexa or a modded Hexa be able to do in terms of traveling in the hills?

Even a stock Hexa 4x4 would do very well on all hill roads. A change of tyres from the stock 19/17" HT tyres to 16" AT tyres would help a lot.

Question 5: Will it be able to Spiti in winters? (I think other so called powerful offroaders also face problems there). I am assuming this to be the most extreme option.

As brought out above.

Question 6: Would it be able to do a regular Laddak trip (in June Sept)?

Easily.

Question 7: Would it be able to do NE?

I have been upto Gurudongmar and Lachung in Sikkim. Hexa would have done very well on those kind of roads.

I would summarise by saying that Hexa would handle all your real world requirements, including all kinds of pakka/ kutcha mountain roads with aplomb. The best bit is, it would take you through these roads in the sort comfort that no other vehicle in even double its price range can.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by ClassicD

So instead of XUV bashing, may I ask about the offroad and 4x4 ability of the Hexa.

I bow to the 4x4 Gods before attempting a short answer here. I have only ever owned an AWD compact SUV which I used to drive on icy roads on milk runs and on family road trips.

Having said that - the Hexa only has an AWD system and not a 4x4 with a proper low-range gearbox. AWD by itself can work wonderfully in snow and ice since it involves a computer chip calculating how much power is to be sent to which wheel at all times. AWD will prevent you from spinning out in ice to a large extent.

But AWD cars cannot dune bash or drive all that well through thick slush or climb seriously steep trails as well as 4x4 cars can. AWD cars' clutch-plates can overheat since (I think) the ECU slips the AWD cars' clutch in order to achieve better torque (I can't find a better way to describe this - pardon me ye 4x4 Gods) and this can (and has) overheated many a clutch plate of AWD cars on offroad trails.

4x4 cars only have a serious shortcoming in icy conditions if you ask me. They can run rings around AWD cars in slush and on sand dunes all day in 4L mode.