[vikram31]

Hey Sathya, Kudos on the trip. Fantastic experience I am sure. I have been wanting to do this on my SX4 VDi for over a year now. In your experience, do u think my sedan can make it on that terrain? Any specific pitfalls to be wary about ?

[MaxTorque]

Great travelogue Sathya. This is once in a lifetime experience. The photographs are superb. Did you face any problem with your Cheetah before/during/after the trip?

[Sathya_sc]

Originally Posted by somitra1981

By the way Sathya_sc did you face any issues with your XUV during these demanding 10,000 kms ?

Originally Posted by MaxTorque

Great travelogue Sathya. This is once in a lifetime experience. The photographs are superb. Did you face any problem with your Cheetah before/during/after the trip?

Thanks Somitra and MaxTorque. Nope, the XUV was super-duper. Did not miss a single beat through-out (before/during and after the trip). Completed a general check up (Specifically front suspensions and under-chassis) to affirm this.

Originally Posted by vikram31

Hey Sathya, Kudos on the trip. Fantastic experience I am sure. I have been wanting to do this on my SX4 VDi for over a year now. In your experience, do u think my sedan can make it on that terrain? Any specific pitfalls to be wary about ?

Thanks Vikram. I believe SX4 with that monstrous GC must be able to do this trip. However, exercise caution, since its a sedan. For normal routes like Ktop (Enroute to Nubra), Changla (enroute to Pangong).. I dont see an issue at all. But, if you are going to take off-beat routes like Chushul/Tsaga or Polokong La, I would suggest an SUV (just to be safe).

And for your information, a Linea MJD is doing these routes - Nubra and Pangong as I write this.

[venuraja]

I did "Hyderabad to Leh on my Ninja 250cc" bike( you can read my travelogue).
I think , you could have stayed in Leh (using hotel room for your extra luggage or for giving your cloths for washing at dry clean shops etc., ) and from there you could have done to & fro to sites you liked. For example from Leh I went to Pongong Lake and I came back 5 or 6 pm in the evening.

Next day I went to Nubra Valley stayed , there in Hunder village and then came back to Leh took rest for a day before I started again.

You should always carry a box of chocoletes and a water can.
Anyway you have had a very good drive. I could not do Delhi to Manali in a single day on my bike due to heavy rain.

[Mudhalaipatti]

Sathya_sc, this must be on of those lifetime trips. I'm sure you made the most of it.
Is this the second XUV, after Debuda's to have scaled this height. It's quite encouraging to hear that the XUV performed flawlessly. How about writing about the places you stayed and the places where you had food.

[vikram31]

Originally Posted by Sathya_sc

I dont see an issue at all. But, if you are going to take off-beat routes like Chushul/Tsaga or Polokong La, I would suggest an SUV (just to be safe).

And for your information, a Linea MJD is doing these routes - Nubra and Pangong as I write this.

Thanks Sathya, Super encouraging. Will plan this out. I think I will take the normal routes for a start. The offbeat ones, after my car upgrade in 2 years

Will let u know my plans soon. Cheers

[akabhp]

Well what can I say except awesome T'logue and an awesome journey. The pictures are great. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Take Care - Atul

[Joe M]

Thanks for sharing, Sathya. It was a nice read, and the pics were awesome. XUV looks like it's made for Leh. If you got an average 12.4 including all the terrain you covered, I feel it's good FE.

Day-wise trip maps could make the icing on the cake... If you have them ready please add them too.

[Utopian]

Nicely penned down. You must have the guts to take such a long trip, driving all by yourself. Loved the narration. How well did the XUV fare in the FE department for the trip?

[Sathya_sc]

Originally Posted by venuraja

I did "Hyderabad to Leh on my Ninja 250cc" bike( you can read my travelogue).
I think , you could have stayed in Leh (using hotel room for your extra luggage or for giving your cloths for washing at dry clean shops etc., ) and from there you could have done to & fro to sites you liked. For example from Leh I went to Pongong Lake and I came back 5 or 6 pm in the evening.

Next day I went to Nubra Valley stayed , there in Hunder village and then came back to Leh took rest for a day before I started again.

You should always carry a box of chocoletes and a water can.
Anyway you have had a very good drive. I could not do Delhi to Manali in a single day on my bike due to heavy rain.

Thanks Venu.. I specifically wanted to lead a nomadic life out of civilization for 3-4 consecutive days and hence wandered from Pangong directly to Hanle and Tso Moriri.

Also, we wanted to stay in each of these places (despite the altitude) and hence the decision to drive directly without losing days (coming back to Leh). We did have a lot of nuts and dairy milk chocklates.. which helped us. Reg. water, we had 36 bottles of 1 lt bottles filles (we got 3 cartons of water bottles in Leh itself and stored them in the Hawk).. Thanks again..

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

.....encouraging to hear that the XUV performed flawlessly. How about writing about the places you stayed and the places where you had food.

Thanks Mudhalaipatti... Will try to compile a list and publish. Not sure about where we had food (dont recall all names now), but stay-hotels, I can.

Originally Posted by vikram31

Will let u know my plans soon. Cheers

Sure Vikram. Any time.

Originally Posted by Joe M

Thanks for sharing, Sathya. It was a nice read, and the pics were awesome. XUV looks like it's made for Leh. If you got an average 12.4 including all the terrain you covered, I feel it's good FE.

Day-wise trip maps could make the icing on the cake... If you have them ready please add them too.

Thanks Joe. Yes, 12.4km/lt was for the entire trip, including the ghats section. Unfortunately, I do not have the individual FE details. But based on my experience with the Hawk, I get some where between 12.5 and 13.5 in plains (if I cruise at a constant speed). The miliage goes down to <11km/lt when I rip it.

Have never managed to get more than 13.5km/lt in Highways and am quite fine with that. So, it must have been in that range only. Sorry, that I did not note individual FE figures. On a lighter note, I did not mind about the FE too much..

Originally Posted by Utopian

Nicely penned down. You must have the guts to take such a long trip, driving all by yourself. Loved the narration. How well did the XUV fare in the FE department for the trip?

Thanks Utopian, FE - 12.4km/lt for the complete round trip.

[Columbus_500]

Originally Posted by Sathya_sc

Thanks Columbus. No problems with the front strut assemblies. I took my Hawk to a general check up today and everything was ok including the tyres. Naturally, there was some wear in thread and that is expected after 10000kms. But nothing unusual though. My tyres will last for a minimum of another 20-30K kms without issues. By the way, my Hawk runs on BS tyres.

And with respect to starting in the cold mornings, I did not have any issue.. for e.g. when I stayed in TSO Moriri, the temperature was -5C and the Hawk started in a single crank.

Thanks for your inputs Satya. Was mainly worried about the front strut assemblies, since I recently had some trouble with it. Have written more about in my ownership report here.

But anws good to hear the spectacular performance and that the XUV came through unscathed from this adventure. Fingers crossed, my Columbus will get up there next September!

[saadat1992]

Excellent Write up!
One of the best travelogues i have ever read!
The pictures speak loads about your trip!
Your thread got me hooked up and read it in one go! Also, good to know how your HAWK survived the terrains and the underbelly scrapes!
Thanks a lot for bringing the Leh experience to my desktop!
Truly enjoyed it!

Cheers

[Gannu_1]

Oh man! Doing a trip to Leh is one thing but doing it with your better-half all the way from Chennai with a beefy SUV is on a different league altogether! Kudos to you.

I plan to do it some day and it has been on my bucket list for quite some time now.

It was fun reading the travelogue. Some great snaps there as well.

[Sathya_sc]

Originally Posted by Columbus_500

Thanks for your inputs Satya. Was mainly worried about the front strut assemblies, since I recently had some trouble with it. Have written more about in my ownership report But anws good to hear the spectacular performance and that the XUV came through unscathed from this adventure. Fingers crossed, my Columbus will get up there next September!

Read about your front strut assemblies. Very sorry about that. After reading your thread, I thought, I must also check the alignment soon. Somehow I missed that last week. I will do that coming saturday and see if there are any alarming alignment issues. Fingers crossed.

Originally Posted by saadat1992

Also, good to know how your HAWK survived the terrains and the underbelly scrapes!
Thanks a lot for bringing the Leh experience to my desktop!
Truly enjoyed it!
Cheers

Yep. Somehow survived. But, Mahindra service is just awesome. As I had narrated, I met with a minor accident with a lorry in Manali and in no time, I was able to gather all details about the nearest SC, fix up an appointment and when I got there, got a red carpet welcome and things were fixed in a jiffy. Also, they did a general checkup of underbody and all fluids in no time. Hats off to Mahindra.. If there is a capable 4 by 4 (with low and DL) from Mahindra with the dynamics of XUV 500 I will surely buy it as my next SUV for the North East.

[Visran]

Wonderful TL and great pictures thanks for sharing and just like you, me and my friends have been lusting to get leh'd on two wheels all the way from bangalore but somehow things are not falling into place for us to fulfill our dreams,but TL's like these serve as inspiration to restless souls like me.just felt like i had been to LEH through your eyes.

Thanks again for the TL.