Some interesting views in the last 2 pages
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Originally Posted by ringoism You don't need AWD or 4x4 even for Ladakh unless you're getting well off the beaten path. Even in Spiti, where roads are much worse, commercial taxi-wallahs use Sumo Gold / Spacio / Traveler more than anything. Ground clearance is the main thing. |
Going by this logic would you ever need a 4x4 vehicle unless you engage in offroad sports? One can always lift Sumo by 2 to 4 inches and just drive through the boulder laden water crossing at double digit speeds.
What about the WD that just turned your favorite pass white with a feet of snow overnight. Lets spin our wheels frantically and push our vehicle (traction be damned).
We shouldn't assume that everybody is going to go to Ladakh or Spiti in the driest months where water crossings are without water. Even the humble Malling nala can be a problem to 2wd vehicles and vehicles get stuck there also.
As a recommendation, I'd always say that you should have a 4x4 vehicle doing the kind of terrain that Ladakh and Lahaul (if not Spiti) have in store for you. A fellow bhpian did Ladakh in his Civic but that doesn't necessarily translate into a recommendation.
The purpose of having a 4x4 vehicle in such terrain is not to use it 10 hours out of your 12 hour drive but to be able to make across that tricky patch with ease.
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Originally Posted by ringoism The thread started with an appeal for a relatively basic, affordable 4x4. |
Which are very much available but when we want Endeavour like comfort in Thar or Duster not being adequate for its price then there might as well be another thread on Affordable Yachts.
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Originally Posted by DirtyDan The new Jimny would sell decently in India, I think. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. |
While I would be happy to be proven wrong but I think Jimny won't be a success in India. There isn't really a big 4x4 market in India and most of the Jimny owners would be the ones who are making do with Thars, Gypsys & Duster AWD today. By this I don't mean all Thar / Gypsy owners but those who are struggling with these vehicles shortcomings.
Majority of Thar owners are buying it for a Jeep (read showoff) than its 4x4 capability.
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Originally Posted by ralto After upgrading to a pseudo-SUV, I found out how it fares far worse than a humble ALTO, in the hills and that is when I realized that I should have gone for an AWD, if not a proper 4x4. |
I know, at least Alto was much more fun around the corners
Whenever someone says India has a huge 4x4 market just waiting for the manufacturers to offer the right products I just look at the sales number for Brezza, Creta, Ecosport and then at Duster AWD variant.
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Originally Posted by SnakemanJohny In snow and ice conditions,4x4 alone does not suffice, agreed. |
But a 4x4 is still going to give you a 10x advantage compared to a 2wd.
It was January this year and I was on my way back from the first humongous snowstorm in Narkanda. Snow had reached Solan after almost a decade so the traffic situation at Shimla can be imagined very well.
Shimla's roads were mostly quarter inch of snow & ice but nothing that a carefully driven 4x4 couldn't handle even without the snow cables. Since I had snow cables on all 4 the drive had become bothersome because without adequate snow or ice its pretty gut wrenching to drive with snow cables knowing you may be damaging them.
I removed the snow cables undermining the traffic situation even though it was 9pm in the night. In a few hundred meters I encountered a heavy traffic jam.
I was going downhill and the jam was because cars going uphill couldn't climb the not so steep gradient that was in front of me.
There were around 10 people trying to signal 10 other drivers and in this mess somebody asked me to drive down. I did and then the other 9 got angry because no one was able to even move their car and they got worried that with my Fortuner there nobody would be able to move an inch. Why?
Simply because people even in hills don't understand the significant difference a 4x4 vehicle can bring to a situation. I just backed up my car around 10 meters so that the fish tailing dzire could be pushed to the side without ramming in and continued on my way back to Delhi.
In reality, one may not always encounter a situation where all 4 wheels only have butter smooth ice as the only contact patch. Even if one wheel gets little traction it makes all the difference.
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Originally Posted by GrandTourer Suppose a survey comes your way which looks like this: - What is your monthly mileage?
- What percentage of it is off-road?
- If offered with an off-road variant, how much would your offroad mileage increase to?
- Would you use the offroad vehicle as a daily driver?
- Select a suitable price range (<10L, 10-15L, 15-20L, >20L)
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This is exactly where most go wrong. A 4x4 vehicle doesn't become a requirement only if the usage goes above 10 or 20 or 50 percent.
It is for those few hundred meters or just 5-10 meters where one can either test their vehicle's suspension or rock crawl out of there like a boss.