[navilan]

Hello everyone,

I live with my wife and 6 year old little boy in Chennai. I work from home as programmer.

My first ride was an RX 135. Unfortunately, that lasted just a couple of months as I met with a pretty nasty accident on it. After a long struggle after I was back on my feet and later got a chance to move to the US.

Having been fascinated by Jeeps (my father worked for the state government and sometimes was dropped home in a Jeep), the first car I bought was a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. After some good times with the Jeep (mostly highways, some soft-roading and a bit of rock crawling), I took up a consulting job and didn't get to drive it much.

Fast forward a few years, I am back in India - working from home. For our light traveling needs, we bought a used Vista. Given my rather immobile lifestyle, I had given up any penchant for driving. So, other than occasional stumbles via Google, I rarely used Team-BHP.

Then it happened. I reluctantly agreed to join a road trip (Chennai-Bangalore-Shakaleshpur-Chikmaglur-Chennai) with some friends and ended up loving the whole experience. The Jeep bug that was dormant inside me got a new life and I spent the next couple of months reading up a whole bunch of Jeep and travel threads here and finally booked a Rocky Beige Mahindra Thar at India Garage.

I am hoping to learn a lot from you all and hopefully gain enough experience to give back some.

Cheers
Lakshmi

[petrolhead_neel]

Welcome onboard. Great to see another jeep enthusiast on the forum. Look up the 4x4 section, it will definitely interest you. Mote about the Rubicon and some pics of the beast, please!!
Do let us know when you are getting your Thar.

[GTO]

Welcome Lakshmi!

Originally Posted by navilan

the first car I bought was a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

That must've been something, eh! A 'desi' in the USA buying a Jeep, while everyone else gets their 'Camcords' . Good choice man. I regret passing on a used Toyota MR2 for a 'safer' Accord during my MBA days.

finally booked a Rocky Beige Mahindra Thar at India Garage.

When I was reading the Rubicon paragraph, I was like "hope he gets a Thar". And here you go! Once a Jeeper, always a Jeeper.

[navilan]

Originally Posted by petrolhead_neel

Welcome onboard. Great to see another jeep enthusiast on the forum. Look up the 4x4 section, it will definitely interest you.

Thank you petrolhead_neel. I've been neck deep in the 4x4 section of the forum over the last few weeks and I bet its going to be a permanent fixture on my browser for the foreseeable future.

Originally Posted by petrolhead_neel

Mote about the Rubicon and some pics of the beast, please!!
Do let us know when you are getting your Thar.

I should be getting my new Thar sometime next week after the paperwork is completed.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to have any of the Jeep pictures handy. But I do have a horror story.

Within a week or two of getting the Jeep, I took it off the road (Cave Creek, AZ) with my girlfriend (now my wife) beside me and a friend behind. It was fairly a light trail (sand, dirt and few slopes and climbs). There was one scary moment where the Jeep was slipping to the side when we were climbing and engaging the lock pulled it through.

So far so good. On the way back there was a rocky area around which some kind of construction was built (pretty creepy btw). Having heard of the legendary rock crawling abilities of the Rubicon and seeing the rocks, 1 + 1 = 2. At one point there was little thud. We got down and checked and nothing seemed to matter and we continued the course and went back home.

I drove the Jeep back and forth to work during the next week. Seeing the Jeep my colleagues invited me to a weekend trip to Sedona on Schenbly Hill Road. So we take the Schebly Hill Road and almost mid way through, we stop at a scenic point to take in the view. On the way back, one of colleagues notices a spill below the Jeep. We investigate and ascertain that it was indeed a fuel leek.

Its pretty hot (desert) and forest fires are pretty common. So I am urged to take action quickly. We get the forest officers. They (couple of early 20 year olds really) come in a couple of hours and try to fix it. At some point they decided to give up and pour pet food to suck up the spilt and spilling fuel.

Now the situation is worse, not only do I have the spill, but also a tank that has been pulled down. I start calling tow agencies and no one seems to be interested in driving up to Schebly Hill Road and pick us up (its getting darker now). Finally, we get a friend of a friend of a friend of the forest officers to send down a tow truck for a premium.

The guy that comes in doesn't inspire confidence as the first thing he does is to light up a smoke and take a close look at the spill. A good 10 - 15 minutes after - he brings out the chains and ropes and arranges them such that when he moved the truck, the chains pull up the fuel tank shut and the jeep is towed in reverse. (I distinctly remember thinking about Richard Feynman and the boy that fixes radios by thinking).

After a couple of days when I visited the service center, they say that the exhaust pipe was hitting the fuel tank and the fuel tank( plastic) melted from the heat and caused the spill. Fortunately, looking at how new the Jeep was they managed get me a new fuel tank under warranty. Them good people.

So I escaped with a lot of sunburn (waiting for people in the heat), bruised ego and a minor dent only in my wallet.

Originally Posted by GTO

Welcome Lakshmi!

That must've been something, eh! A 'desi' in the USA buying a Jeep, while everyone else gets their 'Camcords' . Good choice man. I regret passing on a used Toyota MR2 for a 'safer' Accord during my MBA days.

Thanks GTO. Yes - my friends gave me a hard time for buying the Jeep. One guy said - "Dude, whats the purpose? You already have a steady girlfriend". "Well its hard to explain. Its a Jeep thing".

Originally Posted by GTO

When I was reading the Rubicon paragraph, I was like "hope he gets a Thar". And here you go! Once a Jeeper, always a Jeeper.

So true. I can't wait to get my hands on the Thar. Its been a very long time since I've felt such childish excitement.

Cheers!