Trip to the mountains: 4,000 km in 16 days on Mahindra Thar CRDe

The SUV returned a fuel efficiency of 14-14.5 km/l on the highways. The mileage figure dropped to 7-8 km/l on the hills.

BHPian abhikb recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Himalayan Trip update

We hit the final frontier with the 3507 last summer as we did a 4000 Kms road trip to the mountains, the drive started from Ahmedabad and went straight upto Adi Kailash (Chota Kailash Mansarovar).

The ODO is currently a little short of 68k Kms, few key pointers with respect to the trip are as follows:

Statistics

• Total Distance covered: 4018 Kms
• No. of days driving: 16
• FE on the highways: 14-14.5 Kmpl
• FE on the hills: 7-8 Kmpl

Max driving on plains in a single day:

• Ahmedabad-Gurgaon : 950 Kms/14 hours with food and loo breaks
• Start time/end time: 2am/4:15pm
• Almora to Ahmedabad: 1420 Kms/25 hours with food and loo breaks
• Start time/end time: 1pm/2:30pm

Other observations

• Prior to remap, I had to continuously juggle between 2nd and 3rd on the hills, whereas now it is able to do the same speed at 3rd/4th gear, best to slot into 3rd and drive all the way.
• Engine braking on downhill as usual remains the top point of the CRDe motor.
• Apart from the last 10 kms at Adi Kailash, at none of the places had to engage 4x4 even though the terrain was such.
• Adi Kailash's climb was also managed in 4H at most places barring a couple of places which were slushy and black ice where 4L had to be engaged.
• Had stuffed in 6 bags and a full-sized trolley at the back for myself, wife and little one.
• The bags were stuffed into the leg space at the back, and used a foam bed over it to convert it into a comfortable rear bed, the little one slept like a bunny most of the time there.
• Took the NE4 from Dausa to Sonna, cruised at 110-120 kmph, and missed having a cruise control feature for the first time in my life, FE dropped to 10.5 kmpl here.

This drive was undertaken by 16 4X4s under our TCOG Adventure and Expedition’s Himalayan Quest event, (a detailed trip report will be uploaded separately).

The drive didn’t feel tiring at all, we were comfortably cruising all along and the Thar was working tirelessly keeping up with the modern cars.

The temperature at night time would drop to -7/-8 deg c, yet it would start in half a crank every day.

With my new work profile, the 3507’s daily run has gone up, it’s an average 70-80 Kms drive a day these days, with the ODO already 2k short of 70k Kms, by next year it will cross 1 Lakh km.

Rest, it still runs like a charm and loving every bit of it.

Sharing photos of the drive:

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.