[Dr.AD]

Two Thars and Two Jimnys on a Hill Climb!

Since I got my Thar about three months ago, I have done plenty of drives including some mild off-roading. For example, I did some mild off-roading in Coorg including climbing up the Mandalpatti Peak. I also did some mild off-roading near Lonavala. By mild off-roading I mean something where I use 4H, but beyond that I can just drive on without any special help from spotters or any extra planning. On the other hand, I was eagerly waiting for an opportunity to do "hard-core off-roading", where I would use 4L, would need help from expert spotters, and would need to carefully plan each maneuver. The adventure of doing this kind of off-roading in my own Thar was something I was looking forward to since I got my Thar. Thankfully, sometime ago, I got an opportunity of doing exactly that; proper hard-core off-roading in my own Thar and experiencing that adventure.

Sometime ago, one fine day, my close friend @robimahanta (aka "Robi"), who is an expert off-roader, asked if I would like to join for an off-roading excursion, along with a couple of other close friends. This was exactly what I was waiting for since the day I got my Thar, and I happily agreed to join him. A couple of other close friends joined immediately and in no time, we had a plan for an off-roading day out!

The team of four (four cars and four drivers) that got assembled for this was: @robimahanta in his Thar Petrol 4x4 AT, @megazoid in brand new Jimny AT, @Jkrishnakj (aka "KJ") in his brand new Jimny AT, and yours truly in his Thar Petrol 4x4 AT.

The off-roading location chosen was a small hill called "Achalu Betta", around 70km away from Bangalore. It is a lovely small hill, with picturesque landscapes all around. Atop the hill, there is a small temple. The path to drive up is a 3km of total off-roading track. It is mostly rocky track, with plenty of rocks and boulders, and some loose soil in-between the rocks. There are also many deep ruts and sharp steps on the rocks. This track would be extremely difficult when it rains and the loose soil turns into mud. Thankfully, it was reasonable dry when we drove up. Even then, this was a challenging track in its own right.

We had a nice combination of two Thars and two Jimnys. We would get to see first-hand how these machines perform at each obstacle back to back. Further, Robi and megazoid are expert off-roaders as well as spotters. And KJ and I are relative newbies in this game. Thus, we also had a nice combination of two experts guiding us and doing spotting for us, and two newbies who got to learn a lot in this hands-on experience of off-roading with the experts.

Well, enough of that prologue. Let us get to the actual drive and let the pictures tell the rest of the story now.

Regular road drives or off-road drives, early morning start is crucial (we usually start before 5am). This time too, an early morning meet after 5am start (My black Thar on the left, megazoid's White Jimny in the middle, and Robi's Thar on the right; KJ joined us a bit ahead in his Nexa Blue Jimny):



The four cars lined at the foot of the hill before starting the climb:


This order of the cars was chosen carefully. Megazoid, the expert, was leading the group in his White Jimny. He was also the expert spotter for everyone. And the other expert, Robi, stayed in the rear to watch and help the team from the rear. He was also the only guy with a winch on his Thar. That winch is in the front of his Thar. That means he was better positioned to rescue cars in front of him (if required), than cars behind him. This was also one reason he stayed in the rear of the convoy. And sandwiched between these two experts were the two newbies (myself and KJ). We ended up with the nice order of "Jimny - Thar - Jimny - Thar" in the convoy.

All of us had walkie-talkies and we could talk to each other from our cars. There were a lot of helpful tips and guidance, as well as some tactical suggestion for each obstacle given on the walkie-talkies. Of course, as the going got tougher a bit ahead, the spotters got down from their cars and literally guided the other cars to crawl over the obstacles, and often walked next to the cars giving instructions to the drivers. It was a great learning experience for me for sure!

The Thar and Jimny waiting at the start of the trail (At this time, we did not know what lied ahead and never knew of the difficulties of the trail ahead. That was surely a surprise for us):



The white Jimny in front was going to lead us on this tricky trail:



I watch from my windshield as the white Jimny traverses the trail ahead of me:



And in my rear view mirror, I could see the Blue Jimny waiting its turn:



As the track got tougher, the expert driver and spotter, @megazoid, got down and started guiding us. He did an amazing job in explaining the technical aspects of off-roading and helping each car maneuver carefully over the tricky sections:



The Jimny totally at home in such surroundings and terrain:



Another windshield shot of the leading Jimny ahead of me:



Soon, we encountered a really steep rock with a huge step to climb on, and we got down to inspect the difficult trail ahead:


And this is an example of another lesson we learned. @megazoid told us that it is always the right practice to walk the trail before driving on it. And I could see the value of that tip many times in this trail. We got down, walked the trail, and discussed how to drive on it. We discussed where each wheel would go, which rocks to avoid, and how to avoid any underbody damage. Here, a good knowledge and understanding of one's vehicle is equally important. Many of these rocks were big enough to hit the radiator or differentials and cause serious damage to the vehicles. We had to plan our path specifically for each vehicle so that the chances of underbody hit were minimized.

The White Jimny crossing the tricky terrain and we followed it right after:



As I got back in my car, the view of the track ahead (the elevations and the heights of the stones are hard to judge in the photo; that sharp jump ahead was quite tall and it was tricky to climb the car up that step without hitting underbody):



The convoy after conquering one tricky section without any underbody hits:



Another view of the convoy on that trail:



Robi's Thar carefully watching other cars from the rear:



My Thar enjoying its day out on the trail:



The trail turned left from there, and looked like this in my windshield:



A bit ahead, we reached another tricky section with plenty of big rocks, and @megazoid stepped out again to do spotting for us and guide us to carefully crawl over each rock without hitting the underbody:



KJ and his Jimny enjoying the thrill and the adventure:



@megazoid spotting for Robi on the difficult stretches of the trail:



Robi's Thar conquering the trail in style:



Another photo of Robi's Thar:



A couple of photos of my Thar shot by Robi (thanks to Robi for these pictures as I was driving the Thar):



Another photo of my Thar on one of the smoother sections of the trail:



@megazoid's Jimny finding the path ahead:



Somewhere at the mid-way point, a quick group photo (left to right: KJ, @megazoid and Robi) with the smiles telling the story of how much fun we were having on that trail:

[Dr.AD]

Ascending to the Top

We loved this experience because we did not do off-roading just for the sake of it. We did not just force our way without thinking about the technicalities of the trail and our vehicles. As @megazoid later used the term, we used a "scientific approach" to study the technicalities of the trail and plan our maneuvers and executed those carefully. We took our time for this and we were not in a hurry to finish the trail quickly. This slow, technical and methodical approach made the day a lot more fun than just a brute force approach.

And of course, we enjoyed the landscapes and scenery, and shared plenty of laughter too. That made the day a lot more memorable that just the off-roading part.

We took our time to take a pause and enjoy views like these:



The path ahead:



KJ's Jimny traversing the trail:



Another photo of the convoy somewhere on the trail:



Soon, the going got tough again, with another stone-filled section of the track waiting for us:



This section was way more treacherous than how it appears in the picture:



@megazoid's Jimny maneuvering a tricky section with KJ spotting from the rear for any underbody dangers:


This photo is another example of understanding the technicalities of your vehicle. Jimny and Thar have different track widths, and we had to plan different approaches for them. Here, for example, the Jimny had to drop the right wheel into the ditch just a little, whereas Thar, being much wider, could easily straddle across this ditch with both wheels going on the flat portions on either sides. And there were other occasions where Jimny's narrow width wad ideal for a narrow portion of the tracks, and Thars had to climb up on stones with one wheels just because of the wider track width. No one vehicle is better than the other. But understanding each vehicle's characteristics and planning the moves accordingly was the key part!

Then we reached another narrow stretch of the trail:



The experts @megazoid and Robi went on with their job of studying the track and deciding on the right strategy:



Robi guiding @megazoid while traversing this tricky section (and here the narrower width of Jimny was more beneficial than the wider track of Thar):



And now the roles reversed:



Robi's Thar was at home on every section of the trail:



Another photo of the convoy on the next corner:



Thanks to KJ for taking this photo after climbing up on a slippery hill to get the aerial view:


After this corner, the path to the top was relatively easier. It looked like we had crossed all the difficult obstacles successfully without any damage. However, this path next had a different kind of challenge. The path was still very narrow, and thick bushes and branches of trees were protruding onto the track from both sides. We had no option but to drive through that, suffering scratches on all sides due to the branches. @megazoid got down at a few places and tried his best to move the branches away with his hand, but in spite of that, we had to drive through narrow bushes and acquired a few "battle scars".

Once we reached the top, we missed a turn (there was no map nor any directions; we were out in the middle without any guidance and it was almost natural not to know the turns there), and reached a dead-end at the opposite side of the intended location.

We reached here at first by mistake, looking ahead at a lake as a dead-end:


Now the only way out was to reverse out of that trail (there was zero space for a U-turn). I found it quite tricky to maneuver that narrow trail, and that too a curving trail, all the way in reverse. I ended up scratching against the bushes on the sides while reversing out of this narrow and curving trail. My Thar acquired a few more battle scars here while reversing out of this mess.

Finally, we reached the right spot at the top of the hill:



Our vehicles standing there proudly, overlooking the views below, after a successful hill climb:



There is a nice temple on the top, and this beautiful Nandi stood there overlooking the great views below:



We enjoyed such views all around from the top:



These views felt sweeter thanks to the adventurous climb we had to reach the spot:



Our two experts, @megazoid and Robi, sitting on the edge of their seats, even here:



A parting shot of our machines before starting the downward journey:

[Dr.AD]

Descending Down and Wrap-up!

Descending down was again tricky on those huge steps of the rocks. Again, thanks to the expert spotting and guidance from @megazoid and Robi, we managed to crawl down those massive drops without any damage to our cars.

@megazoid guiding Robi descend down a massive step:



Robi's Thar looks amazing while in action on such tricky steps:



Thanks to @megazoid for all such expert spotting and guidance throughout this trail:



Almost there; on the last section of the trail after reaching the bottom of the hill:



A group photo at the bottom of the hill, after successfully completing the trail without any damage or hit to the cars:



It was a great feeling having finished this thrilling drive, and posing together in the end:


It was an amazing experience for sure! I loved every single moment of this drive. And yes, I got plenty of opportunities to use 4L in my Thar. At a couple of times, even the BLD kicked in. On some tricky sections, I also used Manual mode in the gearbox and used 1st or 2nd gears to crawl out of the obstacles. This was a great way to use and appreciate all the hardware that our vehicles came with.

We came back with plenty of sweet memories, and a few battle scars thanks to the tree branches and bushes. Both the Jimnys were brand new, and it speaks of the great attitude of their owners who took their brand new vehicles on such hard-core adventure drive! Hats off to @megazoid and KJ!

Before wrapping this up, please allow me to summarize a few of my thoughts:

1. We had a nice mix of vehicles and states of modifications (if any). We had two Thars and two Jimnys. One stock Thar and the other Thar modified to some extent. One Thar had AT tyres and the other Thar had MT tyres. We had one Jimny with stock tyres (HT) and another which had switched to AT tyres. But regardless of this mix and who had what, all vehicles did great and we managed everything together perfectly fine. It was a great lesson in not getting obsessed about vehicles and the gear, but rather using a scientific approach and careful planning while conquering the obstacles. It is the driver and not the car! Of course, it helped that the track wad dry. The same track in rainy and muddy conditions would become a totally different story.

2. It was interesting to see Thars and Jimny together at the same obstacles. It is not that one was better than the other. It is meaningless to even think along those lines. There were sections where Jimny was better (due to its characteristics such as narrow width and light weight), and there were some sections where Thar was better (wider track suits some sections, and more torque and power helps sometimes too). But overall, again, it is about understanding your vehicle and planning your moves accordingly. We got great lessons from @megazoid and Robi in this key aspect of motoring.

3. The expert off-roaders know this already, but it was a good first-hand experience for newbies like me to learn this: The spotter's role is crucial, and a good spotter can make the driver's job much easier. The driver has to trust the spotter, and this trust and coordination between the two is crucial for such off-roading. There is no way we could have done this trail without a good spotter helping us out. Thanks to our expert spotters @megazoid and Robi for their invaluable help.

4. Another lesson that I learnt (which again is well known to the expert off-roaders) is to always walk and survey the trail before driving on it. Understanding the trail and the obstacles, and planning the maneuvers in mind even before getting in the car was crucial and something that we enjoyed doing in this drive.

4. Interestingly, all four vehicles were petrol engines with automatic transmissions. I do not think any of us ever missed a manual transmission on this trail. The ATs did the job just fine!

5. While we put the vehicles to good use and enjoyed the adventure, at no point we abused our vehicle. There is a fine line between using a vehicle well and abusing it. We never crossed that line. We love our cars and we have deep empathy for our machines. We pushed them to limits, but never ever purposely let them take a hit. The scientific and technical approach mentioned earlier was the key again. We did our best to complete the trail without a single hit to our cars, and we managed that in the end! Lovely cars we have, and they are not garage queens by any means. But yet, we treated them with respect and our cars rewarded us in return with amazing memories from this beautiful drive. Hats off to our machines which managed this adventure so well.

With that, let me stop here. Once again, many thanks to my close friends and driving buddies @robimahanta, @megazoid and @Jkrishnakj for their wonderful company and this great day together! And of course, huge thanks to @robimahanta for planning this wonderful excursion for us.

That is all for now. Thank you for reading!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[megazoid]

Lived the day again via the writeup AD. Must doff my hat to you for hopping in and out of the car and taking so many snaps while also doing a challenging trail. Its because of these snaps and anecdotes that all those memories come flooding back. I am no where close to being an expert but I clearly admired you and KJ for doing the trail without any hangups considering that the cars were new and it wasnt exactly easy motoring. A small number of vehicles four wheeling without altering the landscape they are part off keeps the habitat happy too.

As for the Jimny, it felt good on the trail. Would have loved wee bit more clearance but the overall composure and prowess was quite encouraging. The Thars are easily the best looking shape on any trail, AD and Robi made the trail look simple and the pictures stunning as always.

Thanks to Robi for the plan and having the hardware to responsibly bail others out in the event of hiccups. And big thanks to KJ for offering to breathe after every obstacle.

Hopefully we get to do more of these trips.

[karthikd21]

Excellent! Glad to see you were able to use 4L finally and enjoy the trail. This trail is superb in the sense that it provides a lot of opportunities to learn as you have beautifully described. Things are fun when you rise early and shine with Robi for sure

[Passy]

Excellent post and pictures, Thank you so much. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Can this trail be done in a Fortuner?

[robimahanta]

Great in depth report and beautiful pictures as usual from you AD. It was good fun and glad you had an opportunity to use the 4WD hardware in your Thar. I am no expert by any stretch and off roading is all quite new to me. Just the love for driving since decades pushes us to explore the limits of different cars and terrain. Like they say “as slow as possible, as fast as necessary” is the theme for our style of off roading. Car preservation is paramount.
Thanks to Megazoid for letting me drive his brand new Jimny on the return stretch. Also grateful to KJ for joining us in such short notice inspite of his busy work schedule.

I knew AD will be covering all the pictures, so nothing much to add from my side



Looking forward to many more fast highway drives interspersed with off beat trails in the future. Cheers!

[megazoid]

Originally Posted by Passy

Can this trail be done in a Fortuner?

Oh yes. Will make a nice trail for the Toyota Fortuner 4wd.

[Kashi053]

The automotive scene in India is changing rapidly. A decade back, off roading means it has to be diesel and a manual. Good to see the total opposite of that, all 4 Petrol 4*4 with an AT.
Lovely pics and narration Dr. AD.

How does Jimny fair against Thar over extreme cases?

[Biraj]

What an amazing read!

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

2. It was interesting to see Thars and Jimny together at the same obstacles. It is not that one was better than the other. It is meaningless to even think along those lines. There were sections where Jimny was better (due to its characteristics such as narrow width and light weight), and there were some sections where Thar was better (wider track suits some sections, and more torque and power helps sometimes too). But overall, again, it is about understanding your vehicle and planning your moves accordingly.

Very well put! Totally resonate with this perspective. Every car has its own charm and strengths. It’s all about how it meets the owner’s needs. In the midst of all these pointless debates about which car reigns supreme, it’s refreshing to come across a viewpoint that cuts through the bias and unnecessary ridicule often seen online. After all, as you correctly summarised, it’s all about understanding your vehicle and making the most of it.

[TurboPetrol150]

Excellent post! Your reviews and experiences with the Thar are always a delight to read especially because you’ve kept the cosmetics of the car in absolute stock condition which I personally love very much. Apart from a head and fog light upgrade there is not much to change in the Thar in my opinion, in my case I have opted for DHC LEDs for headlights and fog lights.

Would you mind sharing details regarding the dashcam fitted in your Thar what brand is it and most importantly how is the fitment, how is the wiring placed is it similar to the wiring gets done in other cars or due to shape and style of the Thars cabin we have to do the wiring in a different manner i.e the wires are visible in the cabin and are not inserted in the plastics of the pillars and the roof. My main concern for dashcams is that in Thars it cannot be fitted like in other cars and the wiring cannot be flush like in other vehicles due to the design and they would stick out all over the cabin.

Thank you.

[Fiatfan]

As usual Dr AD enjoyed reading your adventure on a difficult off road track and well complimented by the others in the drive.

So far you've got your fill with the fast and elegant BMW, now it's the time to enjoy the other side of the rough with the tough.

Wish you many more drives and keep sharing your adventures for us to get an opportunity to enjoy reading.

Thanks for sharing, all the best.

[PrideRed]

Superb photos AD and good to see Thar and Jimny's in action. Its always treat to see these cars going OTR. Amazing location too.

[EeshanChatterje]

Amazing pics @DrAD - the trail looks fantastic! I wonder how a fortuner would do on this - there are some narrow sections we see in the pics!

Also - I appreciate another thing here- having met the folks from the travelogue in real life - it's a completely new and better experience just reading the post as well! I could hear @DrAD through his words!