To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross

raider9990 · 24th January 2021, 23:47

This is my first post on Team BHP and coincidentally it was my first long drive on my recently acquired Isuzu V-cross.

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-20200216_182344_original.jpg

The vehicle was delivered on 26th February 2020 , initially I had plans to do certain trips but due to covid 19 I had to set my plans aside.

During October the urge to take V-Cross on a trip was high but again I had to postpone my plans as I had some really important work.
Then came January 2021 and I was adamant that this time I am going to Sam Sand Dunes even If I had to go solo but luckily I was able to convince my brother and two friends to join me.The dates were finalised , it was decided that we will leave on 15th of January 2021 and we will be back on 18th of January.

I was at Bathinda (Punjab) my hometown so we all decided to leave for Jaisalmer from Bathinda. The route was finalised , it was decided to go from Bathinda to Dabwali (Haryana)and from Dabwali to Bikaner and from Bikaner to Jaisalmer and then Sam Sand Dunes.

I am a person who likes to be fully prepared for everything so prepped the vehicle for long journey.I decided to tint the fog lamps and auxiliary lights yellow in case I encounter dense fog. Loaded the vehicle with few things like trolley hydraulic jack, recovery rope , my tool kit , puncture kit and portable air compressor .

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-img_2566.jpg

On 15th January we left Bathinda at 6:30 am and weather was definitely not in our favour , there was very dense fog and visibility was absolutely zero but somehow managed to drive with help of fog lights and auxiliary lights.Around 10:00 am the weather changed and we decided to have breakfast at some small dhaba at Suratgarh, Rajasthan.

As we drove through Suratgarh the scenery started to change and it was the point that we started to feel we are in actual Rajasthan.

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-img_2567.jpg

Before Suratgarh the terrain is very similar to Punjab and Haryana.

The weather became nice , it was sunny outside and we reached Bikaner around 1:00 pm. As we were passing through Bikaner we were asked to stop by traffic police. We all were wearing masks and had our seat belts on so we were quite confused why they stopped us.The cops pointed out auxiliary lights on the front of the vehicle and I tried to explain I was using them in Fog and usually they are covered but he was adamant so on the spot challan was issued

.Also the roads in Rajasthan are nice and people are often tempted to drive fast which is not advisable as I witnessed lot of cattle coming from the sides of road and there were speed cameras on different sections of the highway.

After driving for few hours from Bikaner I saw a board of Pokhran few kilometers away and we decided to have lunch before entering Pokhran.After lunch we decided were again back on the road driving towards destination.

As we were approaching the Jaisalmer the sun was about to set and the road started to look like mesmerising .We spotted a water reservoir on the side of road , it was about 500m away from highway but I felt like it was calling me and we decided to explore the area and it was totally worth it .
[
ATTACH=IMG_2568.jpg]2112875[/ATTACH]

Around 6:30 pm we reached Jaisalmer and we went directly to our hotel- Helsinki House.The hotel was nice with really helpful and courteous staff . The rooftop restaurant had a nice view of Jaisalmer Fort.

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-img_2255-2.jpg

It was 16th January , we had our breakfast at hotel and went to see Fort. The fort is the second living fort of Asia but it was very crowded and we just saw some main areas of fort and decided to leave as we had limited time.

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-6b664c055ccb4a18a4bf3677b5526135.jpeg

We left fort and started our journey towards Sam Sand Dunes which was around 45km from Jaisalmer. The road towards Sam is very scenic and we decided to go off the pavement and absorb the beauty of the place.

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-img_2287.jpg

As we were reaching towards Sam we witnessed lot of activities happening around us like camel rides , parasailing etc. I decided to try my hands at parasailing and it was quite an experience.

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-img_b738bd6665531.jpeg

Around 3:30 pm we reached Sam and it was quite hot there as compared to Punjab. We checked in at our Camp called Desert Gateway Resort.The Camp had every facility available . I wanted to go for a proper camping but decided to skip this time .

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-img_6b26b31171271.jpeg

Finally I was in Sam to test the capabilities of V-Cross .

I decided to explore the desert first in resorts Mahindra Thar so I can know the area and terrain before taking my own vehicle.After exploring the desert in resorts Thar we decided as it was our first time in the desert and also none of us had any experience of offroading we decided the resorts Thar would go along with our vehicle for navigation and recovery, they charged some extra amount which was not part of our package at resort but it was a reasonable amount .

I decided to reduce the tyre pressure in all four tyres to 25 psi. I had changed the stock alloy and tyre at sometime in september , the stock tyre size was 255/60 r18 and they were bridgestone dueller ht and the new setup was 265/65/r17 Falken wildpeak at01. The shift from 18inch to 17 inch was because I wanted to increase the sidewall without disturbing driving dynamics much.

We reached the entrance to the dunes and the vehicle was shifted to 4h and first gear was engaged as per recommendation of Thar driver. The Thar went ahead and entered the dunes and I followed the Thar. The V-Cross was perfect in the sand . It climbed the dunes without any issue and the suspension was doing its job perfectly much better than the Thar.
I was really impressed by the performance of V-cross

.

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-img_2298.jpg

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-img_4260.jpg

We went back to resort and there were few activities arranged by resort like cultural dance etc and then we had our dinner . The manager there advised to go in the dunes at midnight to which we all agreed and it turned out to be a really great decision , the sky was full of stars with very less tourists in sight , the sand was cold and there they arranged a bonfire , to sum up the dunes are far better in night than day.

On 17th January we left Sam in the morning after breakfast and as per plan we went to see the Kuldhera Village. The village is said to be haunted and was abandoned by villagers some few hundered years ago but now it is just collapsed buildings with full of tourists. After Kuldhera we went back to Jaisalmer and checked into the same hotel-Helsinki House and decided to take some rest .

Around 5:00pm the temperature was becoming more pleasant so we decided to visit The Gadisar Lake . The lake was looking beautiful with all the monuments and sunset.

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-img_4411.jpg

After witnessing the magnificent sunset at lake we went back to hotel .

It was our last night in Jaisalmer so we decided to have dinner at the rooftop restaurant of the hotel while watching the marvellous fort.

On 18th January we started our journey back towards Bathinda and we reached Bathinda around 6:30 in the evening.
The whole journey was around 1470km and V-cross felt pretty comfortable .On MID the vehicle was showing 11.2 kmpl which was acceptable.The total reading on the odo is now at 8230km.

There are few things which can certainly improve the vehicle:

1.Snorkel- As the air intake is behind the fender lining of the front driver side wheel , incase the fender lining breaks during offroading there are high chances of sand going into the intake.
2.Remap- V-Cross is a heavy vehicle and the output of engine is adequate but not enough.
3.Under body protection- This is much needed if you are going to use the vehicle for offroading , which in case is my intention for this particular vehicle.

These are few things which I want to add to V-cross before my next trip .

tilt · 25th January 2021, 11:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by raider9990

*SNIP*

I was adamant that this time I am going to Sam Sand Dunes

*SNIP*

February 2018 when a few TBHPians and I did this at Sam in multiple Isuzu V-Crosses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0vlpJGDp4

Also, please go through Dr. AD's excellent thread about the same trip:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...u-v-cross.html (XTLO Expeditions: Rajasthan in a fleet of Isuzu V-Cross')

Enjoy

raider9990 · 25th January 2021, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by tilt

February 2018 when a few TBHPians and I did this at Sam in multiple Isuzu V-Crosses.

Enjoy

Did go through the thread , learned a lot from there. It is always more fun to travel in a group and vehicles are tastefully done , they look amazing as well as purposeful. This was my first off-roading trip and definitely more are coming in the future.

yashcosmos · 26th January 2021, 15:27

Wow, the similarity is striking between what I did a few days ago and what you've posted! I drove my Vcross from Mumbai to Jaisalmer (1150 km one way) in the first week of January for a holiday. Started at 5.20am in the morning and reached Jaisalmer at 9.15pm the same day. Roads are good except a 80-100km patch, which didn't bother me much since the Vcross eats bad roads for lunch.
I met 2 enthusiasts in my hotel having a Vcross and Endeavour. We made plans for dune bashing and the experience was too good to be true. I lowered my tyre pressure to 20psi as advised by the person leading us. I was about to get stuck at one point but luckily made it through otherwise we'd surely require help from a tractor or something because the terrain where I was about to get stuck was very soft. We had good 2-3 hours of fun until the daylight gave up on us. Unfortunately we didn't record a lot of footage since we were highly engrossed. Nevertheless your post inspired me to make a small 2 minute video of whatever content we recorded in the desert.
Please find the link to the youtube video below.

P.S: Don't judge my editing skills!

https://youtu.be/JMetTYLTGXo

blackwasp · 26th January 2021, 18:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by raider9990

This is my first post on Team BHP and coincidentally it was my first long drive on my recently acquired Isuzu V-cross.

Lovely pictures there. You had fun in the V-Cross for sure. How did the car fare on the dunes overall? And was the long overhang at the rear a cause for worry?

raider9990 · 26th January 2021, 18:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by yashcosmos

Wow, the similarity is striking between what I did a few days ago and what you've posted! I drove my Vcross from Mumbai to Jaisalmer (1150 km one way) in the first week of January for a holiday. Started at 5.20am in the morning and reached Jaisalmer at 9.15pm the same day. Roads are good except a 80-100km patch, which didn't bother me much since the Vcross eats bad roads for lunch.
I met 2 enthusiasts in my hotel having a Vcross and Endeavour. We made plans for dune bashing and the experience was too good to be true. I lowered my tyre pressure to 20psi as advised by the person leading us. I was about to get stuck at one point but luckily made it through otherwise we'd surely require help from a tractor or something because the terrain where I was about to get stuck was very soft. We had good 2-3 hours of fun until the daylight gave up on us. Unfortunately we didn't record a lot of footage since we were highly engrossed. Nevertheless your post inspired me to make a small 2 minute video of whatever content we recorded in the desert.
Please find the link to the Youtube video below.

P.S: Don't judge my editing skills!

https://Youtu.be/JMetTYLTGXo

I went to the same spot in the evening but it was very crowded so went again in the night and it was very serene.In the morning we tried the dunes that were near by main road, the elevation and drop was much better than the previous spot.

To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross-5d76a05dc83f45148aecd7dafb2f9800.jpeg

raider9990 · 26th January 2021, 18:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Lovely pictures there. You had fun in the V-Cross for sure. How did the car fare on the dunes overall? And was the long overhang at the rear a cause for worry?

Overall the car performed well , the long overhang did not cause any trouble but short wheel base That was lot more easy to navigate in the sand.

RoadMonkey · 26th January 2021, 19:00

It's always a sight seeing a PB03 vehicle on T-Bhp. I wasn't even aware of any BHPians from Bathinda. That aside, amazing pictures man! Great location and the perfect vehicle for it. Hope you guys had fun!

Dr.AD · 26th January 2021, 19:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by raider9990

This is my first post on Team BHP and coincidentally it was my first long drive on my recently acquired Isuzu V-cross.

Awesome travelogue, and awesome way to start your Team-bhp membership with such cool first post!

Nice write-up and nice pictures! Thanks for sharing. This certainly reminded me of our experience that tilt mentioned below:

Quote:

Originally Posted by tilt

February 2018 when a few TBHPians and I did this at Sam in multiple Isuzu V-Crosses.

Also, please go through Dr. AD's excellent thread about the same trip:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...u-v-cross.html (XTLO Expeditions: Rajasthan in a fleet of Isuzu V-Cross')

Yes, that was a very memorable experience for sure.

However, what is special in this trip by raider9990 is that he went in his own vehicle! Such experiences in your own vehicle are always more special!

@raider9990, looking forward to more travelogues from you and your V-Cross! That V-cross is an amazing machine for sure!

raider9990 · 26th January 2021, 20:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoadMonkey

It's always a sight seeing a PB03 vehicle on T-Bhp. I wasn't even aware of any BHPians from Bathinda. That aside, amazing pictures man! Great location and the perfect vehicle for it. Hope you guys had fun!

Thank you

. I know few enthusiasts here in Bathinda but don’t know whether they are T-bhp members or not. How I ended up buying V-Cross is a story in itself that I will cover in near future but I am really happy with my choice and looking forward to explore its full potential.

raider9990 · 26th January 2021, 20:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Awesome travelogue, and awesome way to start your Team-bhp membership with such cool first post!

Nice write-up and nice pictures! Thanks for sharing. This certainly reminded me of our experience that tilt mentioned below:

Yes, that was a very memorable experience for sure.

However, what is special in this trip by raider9990 is that he went in his own vehicle! Such experiences in your own vehicle are always more special!

@raider9990, looking forward to more travelogues from you and your V-Cross! That V-cross is an amazing machine for sure!

My writing skills still need little bit of polishing . It was a great experience for me , learned a lot from this experience . Before V-cross my travelling partner was Safari Storme vx 4x2 , though the Safari is great but having a 4wd vehicle sought of gives you more confidence to go off the pavement and explore more.

tilt · 27th January 2021, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by raider9990

My writing skills still need little bit of polishing . It was a great experience for me , learned a lot from this experience . Before V-cross my travelling partner was Safari Storme vx 4x2 , though the Safari is great but having a 4wd vehicle sought of gives you more confidence to go off the pavement and explore more.

Writing skills will become better the more you write, do not worry

All of us here still enjoyed reading your travelogue!

Like Dr.AD said, it is always more fun when you do all this in your own vehicle. You tend to learn a lot about the capabilities of your vehicle; and that is always a good thing.

I wish you many many more enjoyable kms.

Cheers

Tgo · 27th January 2021, 12:58

Its always nice to test how everything is working on the car every once in a while. It's that small-kid inquisitiveness that cannot be resisted.

I am heading to Jaisalmer in February. Will have to scout for places around to get the 4 wheels spinning on my Duster AWD. Accessibility to a recovery vehicle is a must though. Lets see how it pans out.

Your V-cross looks to be the updated one with the 1.9L Diesel. Is it a Manual or an Auto? Waiting eagerly for your ownership thread for these questions to be answered.

ottocycle · 27th January 2021, 15:04

Thanks for the trip report. I must have been hard holding up to one year to make this trip.

If possible, please rotate your second image (the one with toolkit and jack) by 90 degrees so it's easier to read.

raider9990 · 28th January 2021, 15:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tgo

Its always nice to test how everything is working on the car every once in a while. It's that small-kid inquisitiveness that cannot be resisted.

I am heading to Jaisalmer in February. Will have to scout for places around to get the 4 wheels spinning on my Duster AWD. Accessibility to a recovery vehicle is a must though. Lets see how it pans out.

Your V-cross looks to be the updated one with the 1.9L Diesel. Is it a Manual or an Auto? Waiting eagerly for your ownership thread for these questions to be answered.

Yes , it is the updated one but with 2.5L manual transmission. 1.9L is available with only automatic transmission.

24th January 2021, 23:47	#1
raider9990 BHPian Join Date: Jan 2021 Location: PB 03- PB 65 Posts: 62 Thanked: 463 Times View My Garage	To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross This is my first post on Team BHP and coincidentally it was my first long drive on my recently acquired Isuzu V-cross. The vehicle was delivered on 26th February 2020 , initially I had plans to do certain trips but due to covid 19 I had to set my plans aside. During October the urge to take V-Cross on a trip was high but again I had to postpone my plans as I had some really important work. Then came January 2021 and I was adamant that this time I am going to Sam Sand Dunes even If I had to go solo but luckily I was able to convince my brother and two friends to join me.The dates were finalised , it was decided that we will leave on 15th of January 2021 and we will be back on 18th of January. I was at Bathinda (Punjab) my hometown so we all decided to leave for Jaisalmer from Bathinda. The route was finalised , it was decided to go from Bathinda to Dabwali (Haryana)and from Dabwali to Bikaner and from Bikaner to Jaisalmer and then Sam Sand Dunes. I am a person who likes to be fully prepared for everything so prepped the vehicle for long journey.I decided to tint the fog lamps and auxiliary lights yellow in case I encounter dense fog. Loaded the vehicle with few things like trolley hydraulic jack, recovery rope , my tool kit , puncture kit and portable air compressor . On 15th January we left Bathinda at 6:30 am and weather was definitely not in our favour , there was very dense fog and visibility was absolutely zero but somehow managed to drive with help of fog lights and auxiliary lights.Around 10:00 am the weather changed and we decided to have breakfast at some small dhaba at Suratgarh, Rajasthan. As we drove through Suratgarh the scenery started to change and it was the point that we started to feel we are in actual Rajasthan. Before Suratgarh the terrain is very similar to Punjab and Haryana. The weather became nice , it was sunny outside and we reached Bikaner around 1:00 pm. As we were passing through Bikaner we were asked to stop by traffic police. We all were wearing masks and had our seat belts on so we were quite confused why they stopped us.The cops pointed out auxiliary lights on the front of the vehicle and I tried to explain I was using them in Fog and usually they are covered but he was adamant so on the spot challan was issued.Also the roads in Rajasthan are nice and people are often tempted to drive fast which is not advisable as I witnessed lot of cattle coming from the sides of road and there were speed cameras on different sections of the highway. After driving for few hours from Bikaner I saw a board of Pokhran few kilometers away and we decided to have lunch before entering Pokhran.After lunch we decided were again back on the road driving towards destination. As we were approaching the Jaisalmer the sun was about to set and the road started to look like mesmerising .We spotted a water reservoir on the side of road , it was about 500m away from highway but I felt like it was calling me and we decided to explore the area and it was totally worth it . [ ATTACH=IMG_2568.jpg]2112875[/ATTACH] Around 6:30 pm we reached Jaisalmer and we went directly to our hotel- Helsinki House.The hotel was nice with really helpful and courteous staff . The rooftop restaurant had a nice view of Jaisalmer Fort. It was 16th January , we had our breakfast at hotel and went to see Fort. The fort is the second living fort of Asia but it was very crowded and we just saw some main areas of fort and decided to leave as we had limited time. We left fort and started our journey towards Sam Sand Dunes which was around 45km from Jaisalmer. The road towards Sam is very scenic and we decided to go off the pavement and absorb the beauty of the place. As we were reaching towards Sam we witnessed lot of activities happening around us like camel rides , parasailing etc. I decided to try my hands at parasailing and it was quite an experience. Around 3:30 pm we reached Sam and it was quite hot there as compared to Punjab. We checked in at our Camp called Desert Gateway Resort.The Camp had every facility available . I wanted to go for a proper camping but decided to skip this time . Finally I was in Sam to test the capabilities of V-Cross . I decided to explore the desert first in resorts Mahindra Thar so I can know the area and terrain before taking my own vehicle.After exploring the desert in resorts Thar we decided as it was our first time in the desert and also none of us had any experience of offroading we decided the resorts Thar would go along with our vehicle for navigation and recovery, they charged some extra amount which was not part of our package at resort but it was a reasonable amount . I decided to reduce the tyre pressure in all four tyres to 25 psi. I had changed the stock alloy and tyre at sometime in september , the stock tyre size was 255/60 r18 and they were bridgestone dueller ht and the new setup was 265/65/r17 Falken wildpeak at01. The shift from 18inch to 17 inch was because I wanted to increase the sidewall without disturbing driving dynamics much. We reached the entrance to the dunes and the vehicle was shifted to 4h and first gear was engaged as per recommendation of Thar driver. The Thar went ahead and entered the dunes and I followed the Thar. The V-Cross was perfect in the sand . It climbed the dunes without any issue and the suspension was doing its job perfectly much better than the Thar. I was really impressed by the performance of V-cross. We went back to resort and there were few activities arranged by resort like cultural dance etc and then we had our dinner . The manager there advised to go in the dunes at midnight to which we all agreed and it turned out to be a really great decision , the sky was full of stars with very less tourists in sight , the sand was cold and there they arranged a bonfire , to sum up the dunes are far better in night than day. On 17th January we left Sam in the morning after breakfast and as per plan we went to see the Kuldhera Village. The village is said to be haunted and was abandoned by villagers some few hundered years ago but now it is just collapsed buildings with full of tourists. After Kuldhera we went back to Jaisalmer and checked into the same hotel-Helsinki House and decided to take some rest . Around 5:00pm the temperature was becoming more pleasant so we decided to visit The Gadisar Lake . The lake was looking beautiful with all the monuments and sunset. After witnessing the magnificent sunset at lake we went back to hotel . It was our last night in Jaisalmer so we decided to have dinner at the rooftop restaurant of the hotel while watching the marvellous fort. On 18th January we started our journey back towards Bathinda and we reached Bathinda around 6:30 in the evening. The whole journey was around 1470km and V-cross felt pretty comfortable .On MID the vehicle was showing 11.2 kmpl which was acceptable.The total reading on the odo is now at 8230km. There are few things which can certainly improve the vehicle: 1.Snorkel- As the air intake is behind the fender lining of the front driver side wheel , incase the fender lining breaks during offroading there are high chances of sand going into the intake. 2.Remap- V-Cross is a heavy vehicle and the output of engine is adequate but not enough. 3.Under body protection- This is much needed if you are going to use the vehicle for offroading , which in case is my intention for this particular vehicle. These are few things which I want to add to V-cross before my next trip . Attached Thumbnails
	(32) Thanks

26th January 2021, 19:00	#8
RoadMonkey BHPian Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Here and there Posts: 380 Thanked: 1,422 Times	Re: To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross It's always a sight seeing a PB03 vehicle on T-Bhp. I wasn't even aware of any BHPians from Bathinda. That aside, amazing pictures man! Great location and the perfect vehicle for it. Hope you guys had fun!
	(1) Thanks

27th January 2021, 12:58	#13
Tgo Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Calgary\|Jaipur Posts: 1,289 Thanked: 3,789 Times View My Garage	Re: To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross Its always nice to test how everything is working on the car every once in a while. It's that small-kid inquisitiveness that cannot be resisted. I am heading to Jaisalmer in February. Will have to scout for places around to get the 4 wheels spinning on my Duster AWD. Accessibility to a recovery vehicle is a must though. Lets see how it pans out. Your V-cross looks to be the updated one with the 1.9L Diesel. Is it a Manual or an Auto? Waiting eagerly for your ownership thread for these questions to be answered.
	() Thanks

27th January 2021, 15:04	#14
ottocycle BANNED Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 491 Thanked: 589 Times Infractions: 0/1 (5)	Re: To Sam Sand Dunes Jaisalmer in my Isuzu V-Cross Thanks for the trip report. I must have been hard holding up to one year to make this trip. If possible, please rotate your second image (the one with toolkit and jack) by 90 degrees so it's easier to read. Last edited by ottocycle : 27th January 2021 at 15:07.
	() Thanks