Why I'm hesitant to sell my Ford Endeavour: Off-roading in the desert

The SUV has completed 100k km, but I'm not able to find an immediate replacement for it.

BHPian Ace F355 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Another short update.

The car is officially beyond 100k kms now. Clicked the below pic post hitting 100k on the odo a couple of days back.

Since my last post where I had put the advert in TBHP Classifieds (link) and OLX, I had received many queries for it. Not serious ones though. and truth be told, since the time I made up my mind to sell it and started discussing it comprehensively in my close circle, I also realized that I may not have an immediate replacement for Endeavour in form of a Jeep.

A couple of reasons:

1. There is a serious lack of practical BOF 4WD SUVs in India, and Endeavour seems to be the pinnacle of it. Once I let it go, I don't see any 7-seater SUV filling its shoes.
2. The next best thing, a Fortuner, is a) gone too expensive and b) feels like a downgrade from Endeavour. Hilux and V Cross are good pickups but not suitable for my usage. The same goes for Thar, which is brilliant but not a replacement for the Ford.
3. Jeep Rubicon, while one of the best 4WD vehicles to hit our country, is a true-blue 4x4 and I still need a 7-seater at home since the family is grown now. Hence if I get the Jeep, I will still be out in the market for a 7-seater (SUV or MPV). Not to mention, the stories from known people owning a Rubicon, haven't been confidence-inspiring.
4. My car is 6+ years now and still has 4 years left in NCR. On top of it, it's registered outside NCR and hence the DL registration plate pressure isn't on me.

Truth be told, I temporarily developed cold feet about the sale. Anyway, the vehicle is in top shape and I am not foreseeing any major expenses anytime soon. So now I have decided that while the adverts will remain online - I will continue to use my vehicle in the meanwhile. Until a serious buyer turns up, will take the final decision then.

In that theme, last weekend, we were in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan and joined an event organized by another offroad group called DRC for a friendly OTR and timed runs in the Thar Desert. Awesome fun times, meeting 100s of like-minded people from DRC, Garrari Off-roaders and us of course, night camping in the desert, good food and awesome 4wheeling. The event was amazingly organized and about 12 people participated in the event from our side.

Not too many photos since we were either driving or navigating...

Camping under starry night, awesome times indeed.

Early sunrise at our campsite in the desert.

Below is the final time sheet from the event. Quick commentary below:

The fastest time on the top is of a Polaris, followed by DBHPian .anshuman in his Thar D AT.

Typically, such events have specific vehicle categories (such as Polaris, Thar as a dedicated category, SUVs under 3000cc or above 3000cc, Modified vehicles vis-a-vis stock vehicles so on and so forth). Hence, in such segregation, specific vehicle category times are ranked. Since this was a friendly event, the entire time sheet is put together in one place.

I am on #12, Competition # 07. Special Stage 1, 2, 3 - the time put up was competitive. I was fastest in the SUV category in SS1, and 2nd fastest in SS2 and SS3, a couple of seconds behind a Type 2 Fortuner transplanted with a V8 engine. SS4 had multiple super tight turns for a large SUV like Endeavour (with penalties for overshooting from the main track) and I finished as the fastest SUV in this stage as well. The V8 Fortuner didn't finish this stage and Thar(s) performed much better here. SS5 had one specific long sandy climb that I couldn't complete within a given number of 3 attempts (slightly longer gearing would have helped here) and hence I was DNF (the orange bars in the sheet indicate that). SS6, I simply couldn't participate since I was also playing the role of navigator for the rest of the participants from our group.

.anshuman led the Thar category with absolute smashing timings on the stopwatch. Auroshish from our group wasn't too far behind either in his old-gen Thar.

All in all, fun event and it was good to see Lal Ghoda performing at its peak as expected. There might be more pics from the event - Will share them once I receive them from the organizers. Hope this makes a good read for now.

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