[s4ch]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

This is just a screen, and no matter whichever you you move it, the image in it is exactly the same. Therefore, I keep it parallel to the front of the car. You can easily flip between front and rear camera feed on the go (there is a direct flip button on the front), and you can easily move it around till you get the front image you like. And leave it there. The rear camera is fixed and the rear image never changes no matter how you move this screen.

Originally Posted by tilt

Either @s4ch has not phrased his query clearly or @Dr.AD has misunderstood the query. Anyway...

To answer your question, @s3ch, the front camera attached to the IRVM is on a swivel, so, irrespective of the angle of the IRVM itself, the camera's lens can be swiveled to be properly straight.

i hope this is what you wanted to know?

Cheers

Yes I did mean to refer to the angle of the front facing camera, especially if the IRVM is angled towards the driver. Thank you both for clarifying.

Looks like a nifty bit of kit and am strongly considering getting it for myself.

Just a question on the placement of the camera at the rear: Would it be better to have it slightly higher, say just below the HMSL, so as to provide a more realistic view of what would normally be seen in the IRVM?

[megazoid]

Very engaging to read ownership experience. Hope you have a fantastic time with the Thar. Congratulations once again!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by s4ch

Just a question on the placement of the camera at the rear: Would it be better to have it slightly higher, say just below the HMSL, so as to provide a more realistic view of what would normally be seen in the IRVM?

I have seen both locations used: Rear camera below the HMSL or at the rear number plate (as in my case). Both are valid options and you could choose which you like.

Remember that this camera is a wide angle camera. Therefore, it gives a much wider, and unfortunately distorted image of the rear. When you mount it near HMSL, the spare wheel blocks some part of the filed of view. Further, from that height, you mostly see above the cars behind you. And there is still that big blind spot just behind the tailgate. You will never see if a bike is stopping right behind you just behind the tailgate (the spare wheel will block this portion from the HMSL mounted camera).

On the other hand, in my installation, I am covering almost 100% of the rear view. I get a clear picture of the bikes or anything else right behind my tailgate, which is otherwise invisible from the top of the rear windshield. I find this to be a much more useful information to me than what I can see from the camera from top.

Remember that image distortion is a serious problem no matter where you mount this camera. Because of the wide angle distortion, the objects close by (like a bike or an auto standing right behind me) look much bigger and distorted, and a car say 20 meter behind me will look much smaller. It takes some time to get used to this distortion and estimate the distances. But once your vision gets used to this and you get an estimate of distances, this is all good after that.

Anyways, enough on the dashcam. It is just a small accessory and one could play around with this as they wish. Let us move on from this dashcam :-)

Originally Posted by megazoid

Very engaging to read ownership experience. Hope you have a fantastic time with the Thar. Congratulations once again!

Thank you very much, @megazoid! Really appreciate your comments here. Hoping to meet you in person soon and showing you my new Dusty in person, and of course, seeing your 'Peregrine Falcon' too. That car is always a delight to see in real as well as in photographs!

[seawolf]

Congratulations on an excellent automobile review! Your analysis clearly demonstrates your knowledge and meticulousness. It is impressive how well you were able to describe the features, performance, and overall experience of the car. You obviously have a great love for cars and a gift for sharing your knowledge with others. Your review enthrals readers while simultaneously educating them and enabling them to picture themselves operating that amazing car. Keep up the great effort, and may your future articles inspire and educate auto fans everywhere. Good work!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by seawolf

Congratulations on an excellent automobile review! Your analysis clearly demonstrates your knowledge and meticulousness. It is impressive how well you were able to describe the features, performance, and overall experience of the car. You obviously have a great love for cars and a gift for sharing your knowledge with others. Your review enthrals readers while simultaneously educating them and enabling them to picture themselves operating that amazing car. Keep up the great effort, and may your future articles inspire and educate auto fans everywhere. Good work!

Thank you very much for your kind words, seawolf! Really appreciate these. Although I am not sure I deserve such praise. I just do simple local drives and love to write about those. And yes, I do love cars. I love cars and more than that I love driving those. My trips and the trip reports are motivated by just that simple joy of taking a car and driving it on the road. But thanks again for your kind words!

By the way, on that note, please allow me to share a "road trip coincidence".

A couple of weeks ago, in the drive to Old Kent, I stopped at my favorite coffee shop in Coorg. Now last weekend, while on another drive but this time in my 320d, I stopped at the same shop again, and somehow parked at the exact same location and ended up a with a photo that looks exactly the same.

Two weeks ago, with my Dusty:


Last weekend, with my 320d:

[Dr.AD]

My First Solo Drive with Dusty

The moment that represents the whole point of driving a Thar: (finding myself alone with my my car on a hill, with beautiful views all around, dark clouds hovering in the sky, refreshing breeze flowing across, absolutely enjoying the perfect weather and the fresh air, and getting lost in that solitude and the peace made me forget all the pains of the bumpy ride, the "impracticality", and everything else):




I love solo drives. Actually I love all kinds of drives, including group drives with my driving buddies, drives with my family, drives in a fast car and drives in a slow car, I love them all. But solo drives have a special place in my heart. Nothing beats the feeling of solitude, peace, freedom, and to some degree of adventure that I get in a solo drive. Every solo drive brings me back refreshed and rejuvenated.

Solo drive with a new car is even more special. A real emotional bond between a person and his/her car is established only after a long solo drive. You are alone with your car. You get all the opportunities to observe the minute details of the car's behavior, you get to trust the car and see it stand true to your trust, and you get to observe the pain points too. All without getting affected or influenced by others who may have different priorities and expectations from the car than you.

I did plenty of solo drives in my old Dusty (the most memorable of those was a monsoon solo covered in this travelogue). And I was really looking forward to start my solo drives with the new Dusty too. Thankfully, I got a chance to do my first solo drive with the new Dusty and loved every moment of it.

By the way, just last weekend I drove my BMW 320d in a group drive with my driving buddies to enjoy the delicious food in Mangalore and in the western ghats along the way. That "foodie drive" is covered in this travelogue. While I enjoyed every bit of that foodie drive, in a fast sedan, chasing a pack of fast sedans, this solo drive with Dusty was totally opposite. The two weekend drives had a stark contrast! A fast BMW vs slow 4x4 SUV. A group drive vs a solo drive. A foodie drive vs a drive where I did not care for any food as such. This contrast made it even more fun. Variety is the spice of life, as they say it, and I love to have variety in my road trips and driving patterns.

Anyways, coming back to this solo drive, the rough plan was to drive around in the hills of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, drive through some lovely forests, enjoy the slow and scenic routes (and avoid the highways as much as possible), explore some simple off-road locations where I could take my Dusty and enjoy the views, and come back rejuvenated and with better understanding of the new car. That is all. While I was not sure how much of this I would achieve, I am glad that I ended up achieving almost all of the above in this weekend drive!

The "rough route" was this, just to give you an idea of the areas (in reality, I drove on and off this route, explored some local roads, and deviate from this route from time to time):


This was a two day trip. Let me cover the first day in this post, and I will cover the second day in the subsequent post below.

Day 1: Driving Through the Hills and the Forests

My first stop on Day 1 was this MTR, where I had a nice breakfast of fresh hot idlis and vada:


In contrast to the previous weekend's "foodie drive", in this drive I did not care much for food, and focused more on driving and exploring roads than stopping for food. Apart from this breakfast at MTR, I did not care for any proper meal the rest of the day (all I had was one snack brake somewhere).


Lovely roads as I approached BR Hills area:



Dusty enjoying the lovely weather and the dark clouds (it was cloudy pretty much all weekend, but I did not encounter rain anywhere):



Although I was looking out for "Thar kind of roads", I ended up on these these lovely tarmacs and corners that made me wish I was driving my BMW here:



However, not disheartened by that, I kept on looking for spots/trails where I could venture at least a little bit away from this amazing tarmac, and soon enough, I found something.


Finally on some appropriate tracks, at some random location:



Dusty was at home here, and felt like she never wanted to return back to tarmac:



But we did return to tarmac soon, only to see such lovely corners all over again:



I decided not to worry too much about my choice of car for this weekend, and just enjoy such inviting roads and the magical weather:



A close of Dusty somewhere on those roads:



As I drove further, enjoying the roads, the views and the weather, I entered reserved national forests. There, I saw signs saying stopping the vehicles and getting out was prohibited. Therefore, I did not stop or take photos from outside. Instead, managed to click a few photos through my windshield just to show the lovely forest roads I drove through.


Thick forests and a lovely roads going through it, as I drove around the K.Gudi area:



The roads very scenic but narrow, although with Dusty it was never a problem if I had to drop down on the grass to give way (but luckily for me, that entire weekend I faced very little traffic, and hardly any other vehicle passed by):



Little bit ahead, the roads became a bit bad, and I finally felt happy that I took Thar there:



Another patch of lovely forest roads liked with lush green trees:



After exiting the K. Gudi forest area, now back on main roads, with still some nice trees for company:



After driving through these mesmerizing forests in Karnataka, I entered Tamil Nadu and descended the famous Dhimbam Ghats. Those roads are absolutely fantastic too, and I enjoyed driving through those lovely Tamil Nadu roads. However, I just enjoyed driving through that entire section from Dhimbam to Sathy to Salem in one go, in a non-stop manner, and did not stop to take any photos.

At the end of the day, after that longish and circuitous drive, I ended up at Radisson Salem, our usual stop for an overnight break in our road trips.

Back to Radisson Salem for an overnight rest after an enjoyable and long day on road:

[Dr.AD]

Day 2: Exploring Hills Around Yercaud, Tamil Nadu

The plan for this day was to drive up to Yercaud (a nice hill station in Tamil Nadu, with scenic ghat roads all around), explore some known and some unknown roads there (with hopes of finding some trails for Thar), and then to return to Bangalore via the "back roads" (avoiding the main national highway as much as possible).

Ideally, for such plan, I would start early, say around 6am, if not earlier. However, this day, I started only at 8am. There were two reasons for this delayed start: 1. The breakfast buffet at Radisson Salem is irresistible. In fact, the breakfast here is so good that many times I and my friends do breakfast drives to Salem to enjoy this buffet spread here. I found it hard to let go of this breakfast and start before the breakfast time. 2. More than I needed that breakfast, my Thar needed petrol, before I head into the hills again. Thar has a crazy drinking habit. She drinks three times a day.

I am always fascinated by how doctors prescribe medicine dosages by something like 1-0-1 which indicates 1 tablet in the morning and 1 tablet in the night. If a doctor prescribed fuel breaks for a Petrol Thar, that would always be 1-1-1. You need petrol in the morning, again petrol in the afternoon and then petrol in the night when you take a Petrol Thar on a long road trip and drive around all day in the hills. The Thar guzzles petrol, and needs a petrol break all the time, especially before venturing into forests and hills when you are not sure when you would get the next opportunity to fuel up.

In short, first thing before hitting Yercaud hills, I refilled petrol in Salem and ensured I had a full tank.

Views from the side windows while climbing up on Salem-Yercaud ghat:



The lovely ghat road with 20 hairpin bends and lot of scenic sections:



Some views from the side of the road while driving to Yercaud (I think that is Mettur Dam backwaters, but I am not 100% sure):



Plenty of monkeys in that ghat road, and most of them looked very curious about my Thar and many wanted to jump on it and check it out in details. This mother-baby pair was very curious to peep inside my window and stare at me:


After I reached Yercaud, I did my favorite thing there - dove on Yercaud Loop Drive. This is a lovely loop drive, a small narrow road that runs through thick trees and deep forests on both the sides, and completes a loop of about 30km. There are a couple of nice coffee shops on this loop drive for a coffee break.

On Yercaud Loop Drive (the road it too narrow to stop at most places, so just took a couple of shots through the windshield):



The Thar Moment: For me, Thar represents the spirit of exploration, of venturing into the unknown! On a relatively smaller scale, I enjoyed my "Thar moment" on this drive. While driving on the loop drive, which is quite familiar to me as I have done this drive several times, I saw a small narrow road that exits the loop drive and descends sharply into the hill below. I drove past this junction, as usual staying on the loop drive, but kept on wondering where that road would go. When I got some wide space, I pulled over and started searching my maps to see if I could make sense of where that small road would go to. There was no network connection there, but thankfully, I had downloaded the maps of that entire area in Google Maps, so I could still search the maps there. It is imperative that one always downloads maps for offline use in Google Maps when venturing into such area. Without these offline maps available to me, I would have been clueless.

Anyways, even in my offline maps, I could not see any existence of that road. However, after multiple zooming in, at the highest level of zoom, I saw a tiny white line representing that road, with nice curves and hairpin bends, going down into the valley, and disappearing into nowhere. Intrigued by that, I decided to explore that road. With my BMW, I would usually not explore such tiny roads which are visible only at the highest level of zoom in Google Maps. With the BMW, I usually prefer not going below the district level marked roads. But with Thar, the whole point of Thar ownership is to be able to explore such roads. And the Thar subtly encourages you to explore such roads, even without you realizing it. This was one such Thar moment for me that happened to me even without I realizing it.

In an instance, I decided to explore this road. So I abandoned my loop drove, took a U-turn, and started driving back towards this tiny road that I had never heard of or seen before. I was surely expecting some tiny, narrow, broken down, potholed road, with some scenic views, and something where I would be proud to drive my Thar!

When I actually reached that junction and took this previously unknown to me road, I realized how wrong I was! I was right about the scenic part. This road was incredibly scenic. But I was 100% wrong about the broken down, potholed road part. This was a butter smooth tarmac, with lovely corners and twists, and absolutely breathtaking views on both sides. And this road had zero traffic! A beautiful scenic road all to myself! This was a road so good that a BMW would feel right at home here. My explorations in Thar had led me to discover a road where my BMW would love to play around the next time.


This was that hitherto unknown road, which turned out to be a lovely tarmac:



A bit further ahead, this road had such lovely corners where a BMW would love to play around:



My Thar at that surprisingly beautiful road where I am sure to go back in my BMW very soon:



Lovely roads and views:



Looking down into the valley, I could see the road down running around the hills and another dam in the distance:



With great excitement, I drove further to check out the next corners, and found more exciting corners like these:



I absolutely loved this road, and just parked there and stood around enjoying the views and the weather:



My Thar parked there while I got lost in the beauty of that location and the weather:



Another view of the beautiful road ahead:


Although the road by itself was great (and I am sure to go back there with a right car very soon), Thar was not meant to be just driven up and down that road. I wanted to go off-the road somewhere, and luckily for me, there were a couple of small trails there which led to some hilly viewpoints, where I could drive my Thar. So at one point, I just went off-the road, took a small trail and reached a viewpoint. Of course, with a solo driver, one can not do (nor did I intend to do) any serious off-roading (because that always requires a rescue team). But I wanted to do some simple, easy trails where a solo driver could go without much risk. My risk appetite was limited to such simple trails and I was thrilled to actually find such trails in that area.

Dusty off-the road now, where she really belongs:



Lovely valley views on the side:



A close-up of Dusty on that small hill:



Another photo of my Thar there, where she felt very much at home:



A wide-angle HDR to illustrate the beauty of that location:


It was really a magical experience to be there, at that unexpected and unknown location, all alone by myself and with my car, and enjoying absolutely the perfect weather and the scenery. The breeze was refreshing. The clouds were mesmerizing. The views were gorgeous. I just did not feel like moving away from there. I spent a lot of time just sitting there, lost in my thoughts, and enjoying that priceless experience!

But eventually, it was time to head back, and this is how it looked while joining the tar road back again:


From there, I drove back to Yercaud town, for another "special agenda". While this was not a foodie drive by any definition, I still had one food plan specifically on my agenda. Yercaud has a nice lake, and around that lake, there are shops selling the famous Tamil Nadu style mirchi bhajjis. These shops serve absolutely fresh mirchi bhajjis, which they serve on a piece of paper straight from the frying pan, and they are amazingly delicious. In that weather, these fresh hot mirchi bhajjis are heavenly! This one thing was surely on my agenda, and therefore, after completing my morning explorations around the hills of Yercaud, I drove back to the town, straight to my favorite mirchi bhajji shop near Yercaud Lake.

These piping hot, fresh bhajjis in that weather tasted heavenly, and this (and a round of ginger tea) was my lunch that day:


After that light but delicious lunch, I decided to start my journey back to Bangalore. This time, I would not drive back via the main route that goes back to Salem and then from Salem to Bangalore consists of the four-lane national highway. Instead, I decided to take the "back roads", via Kuppanur ghat and then via some state highways. A couple of years ago, this road was in such terrible conditions that it was said to be worthy only of SUVs. There are some steep and tight hairpin bends there, and those coupled with totally broken tarmac were too difficult for something other than an SUV. Thar being the perfect vehicle to tackle those, I decided to take this road back.

However, throughout in this drive, wherever I was hoping and praying for a bad, terrible, broken, challenging road, my prayers failed to bring any luck and instead I was "disappointed" to find lovely smooth tarmac. This was no exception. I was secretly "hoping" that this Kuppanur road be as bad as it was 2-3 years ago. But to my surprise and disappointment, it turned out to be another awesome road with smooth tarmac and butter smooth surface! They have fixed everything. This road is amazing now!

This road is narrow, as expected, but the tarmac was smooth again:



This road is even more scenic (and with 10 times lesser traffic) than the main Salem-Yercaud road, and offered some nice views all around:



Another view from the side of the road:



Parting shot at that road which turned out to be much better than I expected:


After descending down the ghats, I was on the typical Tamil Nadu state highways, with smooth tarmac, and nice tamarind trees on all sides. I loved those roads.

A typical TN state highway that is a driver's delight:



Finally, a parting shot on some state highway in Tamil Nadu:

Epilogue:

A simple, solo weekend drive turned out to be a memorable affair for sure, thanks to the nice weather, the charming and scenic roads I encountered everywhere, and most importantly, thanks to the incredible (and very illogical and impractical) machine that was my companion on this drive!

As with any solo drive, especially with a new car, I got to know the car much better and got a deeper appreciation and understanding of her qualities (and a deeper knowledge of her shortcomings).

Now I can tell you that the ride with a single driver is even worse than the already bad ride of a loaded Thar, the handling on those narrow hilly corners is terrible, the car is unwieldy on those tight hairpin bends, and she drinks more petrol than I could ever imagine (she needed more refueling breaks than I needed coffee breaks).

But on the positive side, I now realized the engine is much better than my initial impression. It is a bit lazy if you are gentle with it (like I was in my earlier drives so far). But now in this drive when I pushed it hard, it responded really well and came to life every time I pushed it. I started liking this engine quite a lot here. The car is much more robust and well built than I initially thought it was. And most importantly, the car instills in you a spirit of adventure, a spirit of "go someplace new", and makes an explorer out of a routine weekend driver. There is something in this car, that invisible, intangible spirit, that makes you want to keep driving it. Your body may be shaken to the bones thanks to the bumpy ride, your arms maybe paining while turning that heavy and unwieldy steering all day, but your mind just wants to keep driving and driving and driving. I love that spirit and I loved the car exactly for that spirit. I had my moments in this drive when I truly appreciated the car for all it offered, while completely forgetting all the pains and inconveniences. The car is a great company and I loved my time with this car.

In a way this car represents life for me. It maybe slow and bumpy, but it is an incredible fun!

Let me end this story by quoting a sher by the legendary poet Ahmed Faraz:

वो ख़ार ख़ार है शाख़-ए-गुलाब की मानिन्द
मैं ज़ख़्म ज़ख़्म हूँ फिर भी गले लगाऊँ उसे

She is all thorns, like a branch of rose
I am all wounds, but I still embrace her

Thank you very much for reading!

[ampere]

Some drive that is AD! The snaps and location are just awesome. The car looks brilliant in that green back ground and and black serpentine roads!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by ampere

Some drive that is AD! The snaps and location are just awesome. The car looks brilliant in that green back ground and and black serpentine roads!

Thank you very much, ampere!

By the way, since we keep discussing roads and road conditions in the "routes thread", it is amazing to see how fast the roads in Tamil Nadu are improving and how good they are now. I know the Kuppanur route to Yercaud is discussed a lot in the routes thread, and many people have said that route condition is bad. On the contrary, I found that route to be in great condition. It was all fixed. All smooth tarmac now. This is such a nice road now and it makes no sense to go to Yercaud via the regular Salem route. This Kuppanur route will be my main route now for next few drives.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

….
It is imperative that one always downloads maps for offline use in Google Maps when venturing into such area. Without these offline maps available to me, I would have been clueless.
….

Wow, what an amazing read this was! The pictures, the monsoon green is really captivating. Loved reading and seeing the pictures AD!

By the way, what I do apart from the offline maps, I note the lat-long of my via points on a note/ phone and use MMI inbuilt maps as my fall back plan to depend on to get out of the “woods”. The combination of offline maps from google, pure offline maps from cars ICE MMI and some “ask the locals” approach natures that you are lost but not really lost!

Does Thar have the offline MMI maps? My #theredsparkle has and I use it pretty often. Just yesterday, it got me the simplest and least crowded roads out of Malshej - Karjat section after it was dark and pouring rains!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Wow, what an amazing read this was! The pictures, the monsoon green is really captivating. Loved reading and seeing the pictures AD!

Thank you very much, Avinash!

By the way, what I do apart from the offline maps, I note the lat-long of my via points on a note/ phone and use MMI inbuilt maps as my fall back plan to depend on to get out of the “woods”.

That is a great safety tip! Thanks for sharing. I also use "offline MMI maps" as a backup plan. In my BMW, the car has built-in offline navigation which also acts as another backup.

Does Thar have the offline MMI maps?

Unfortunately, no! Thar had built-in navigation (which was MMI maps) earlier when it was launched. However, for some weird reasons, in the 2023 models (or maybe sometime during late 2022), they dropped that. The latest cars, including my car, does NOT have the built-in MMI maps which the earlier cars had. The navigation tab on the infotainment system is missing altogether in the newer Thars.

I use the mobile app version of the MMI maps, and that is very good too. I have purchased the MMI maps of the all the states I travel to in my mobile app (It is a paid app and they have state-wise maps for download for a fee), and that is my backup plan.

However, touch wood, but so far in all my travels in either the Thar or the BMW, I never had to use these back-up maps. The Google Maps, with all the relevant maps downloaded for offline use, works great for me every single time. It is a part of my travel routine to download the Google Maps of the entire area (and some adjacent areas) too where I might drive to, before every road trip. And so far, touch wood, that has never failed me yet.

Looking forward to seeing your Malshej ghat photos and photos of your Red Sparkle in those beautiful settings soon in your thread!

[raptor_diwan]

The pictures you've shared are truly amazing! I must say, the picture in Karnataka is particularly breathtaking. Your Thar looks absolutely stunning amidst the lush greenery and fantastic weather. It seems like it was an incredible solo journey in your life.

[gunin]

Beautiful pictures Dr.AD! Going through your thread is making me think about trading in my Bolero 4wd for a petrol Thar- with more than double the power and a much more refined vehicle overall. However, you have also pointed out the Thar's shortcomings very nicely- one major one for me being its thirsty nature and the resultant frequent refills. Do keep posting more awesome adventures of Dusty!

[Kkumar]

A wonderful travelogue and great photos. “It’s not the destination but the journey that matters”. In this fast moving world people have forgotten to enjoy the finer aspects of life which can only be savoured in a relaxing and calm manner. I am truly happy for you that you could take out time and enjoy the beautiful drive. And thanks for penning it down for all of us.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

The pictures you've shared are truly amazing! I must say, the picture in Karnataka is particularly breathtaking. Your Thar looks absolutely stunning amidst the lush greenery and fantastic weather.

Thank you very much, raptor_diwan! I was lucky that I got great roads and lovely forests in both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. These forest areas covering both the states are really amazing and provide a great escape place from the city life in Bangalore.

Originally Posted by gunin

Beautiful pictures Dr.AD! Going through your thread is making me think about trading in my Bolero 4wd for a petrol Thar- with more than double the power and a much more refined vehicle overall. However, you have also pointed out the Thar's shortcomings very nicely- one major one for me being its thirsty nature and the resultant frequent refills. Do keep posting more awesome adventures of Dusty!

Thank you very much, gunin!

I am a big fan of your travelogues with your Bolero 4WD. Thar will be a much more compact car compared to your Bolero, but it has its own appeal. As you said, the power and refinement in Thar petrol is great. Throughout my journey, going just by the engine refinement, I would have never thought I was driving a heavy, body-on-frame 4x4 SUV through those hills. The engine was smooth, quiet and refined and at times would have fooled me in believing I was driving a lightweight petrol sedan. The engine + AT combination is both refined and smooth. That is a joy!

But again, there are shortcomings which I do not want to repeat anymore. So that is the beauty of this car. It has its own big weaknesses and big strengths. It is extreme in either ways. In effect, this is an extreme vehicle. It is not for everyone. Either you love it or hate it.

Originally Posted by Kkumar

A wonderful travelogue and great photos. “It’s not the destination but the journey that matters”. In this fast moving world people have forgotten to enjoy the finer aspects of life which can only be savoured in a relaxing and calm manner. I am truly happy for you that you could take out time and enjoy the beautiful drive. And thanks for penning it down for all of us.

Thank you very much, Kkumar! I completely agree that journey matters much more than the destination. My whole life is governed by that philosophy. And I am glad I am able to enjoy my journeys on the road as well. Thanks again for your appreciation and kind words!