[Tanveer_2558]

Its been long since i wanted to test the AWD on the XUV 500, Like test it properly somewhere, Found a place with a lot of grass, Mud and water, Result = SLUSH! Planned out a nice day to execute a plan, First a little photo shoot and then we head down in the slush, To my surprise the slush had become even more.. Well lets go with slushy, With the rains pouring in every now and then, I decided to go in first and boy i revved and had fun, 3-4 Big rounds, Did all i could and had fun, But yes i too had realised the FWD XUV's won't be able to make it, The surface was just very watery along with grass and mud.

What was our intention while taking the XUV's there on such a surface?
We had planned everything, We had 2 FWD and 2 AWD also had taken a tow rope along just incase (Glad we did) So we knew if anyone gets stuck we should be able to get things moving soon... I had told SDP, Vinitbhavi and Madhu before hand that i would be going in hard and try everything possible! So yes it had to be me the first one to get stuck. Glad a couple more bhpians from Navi Mumbai had joined us to ride shotgun with us, Who also came to the rescue when the cars were stuck.

A Small AWD review,
I had never needed to actually switch off the ESP and lock the AWD even on places where there was no roads at all, The car would overcome that just fine, But the game totally changes when the surface has grass, Mud and water.. Lots of it!! It was really very slippery, SDP being the veteran understood it within seconds probably and did not opt to join ( I was hoping he wouldn't follow) Vinitbhavi on the other hand with his AWD joined me and had some fun too, Even with such a surface the car was moving pretty well, It was after a while when i switched off the AWD lock button and still felt the rear wheels in power instantly as i revved, The AWD system indeed kicks in as soon as it detects any traction loss, Madhu too with his FWD did not opt to join us. Over all i am pretty impressed on how the AWD system works, Power was sent within seconds and could be felt totally.

How did i get stuck?
Well i wouldn't have, If i wouldn't have got carried away while having fun! Ill list down the mistakes i made i feel.
1. Kept going through the same route, Which made the surface from where the tyres were passing very deep.
2. Did not stop to clean the tyres with Mud, Picture can be seen below, The tyres were totally hidden with mud actually.
3. Once i felt i was stuck, I may have just tried a little more power than required which made the surface deeper.

If i in the AWD can get stuck what about the FWD? Madhu got stuck as well, That too on a very okayish surface it wasn't at all like how we were driving our AWD on , But he too did get stuck, A video of it is posted as well.

Now the billion dollar question i get from many many people, Why did i get the AWD and pay almost 1 lakh extra ? Ill list down the advantages of having the AWD version over the FWD.
1. Better traction on road, Specially while cornering.
2. No torque Steer like the FWD version.
3. Much Much better Off-Road capability, Like a lot better.
4. Advantage of going through places you cant with a FWD, Even if not by intention but a situation you might get in naturally.
5. Slightly better acceleration compared to the FWD, Since there isn't any torque steer.

Anyone who likes to get adventurous, Who wants to try soft-roading, Who wants to be equipped with the best the car can offer, AWD is a great deal, But Anyone who would probably just drive the car in the city, Hit highways with good roads, It really doesn't make sense, By now you guys must have known which category do i fall in.

Lets some pictures and videos do the talking, Please excuse the quality of the videos, it was raining and stuff, Also please note : No Dogs were harmed, They were having fun watching us getting dirty and drenched.

[Tanveer_2558]

The rope that saved the day, Along with the dogs who also photo bombed our picture.



Bhpian Vinibhavi got his car washed right after the drive, Me on the other hand wanted to keep my car in the same way for a little longer...




Time for some videos now!

https://youtu.be/BrvnFd218d4

https://youtu.be/z-1AK5EVxKI

https://youtu.be/9bNJpvJKMJ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCT0B6eM144

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnFEStwvC90

Suggestions while going for such adventures,
1. Never go Alone, Try to go with atleast 2 car's and more than 3 people.
2. Make sure you check the place your going to drive your car through, Such adventures can prove to be costly if no proper precaution is taken.
3. Always carry some tools, Towing rope, Few metal objects, And lots of spare water.
4. Make sure you don't put stress on the clutch.
5. Make sure the surroundings is safe and no one is nearby as much as possible.

A Big thanks to SDP for his amazing photography skill, Also the way he was handling his XUV, It almost seemed to be an AWD too! Experience !! Madhu, Vinitbhavi, Rohan, Neil the Bhpians from Navi Mumbai who joined us, Wouldn't have been the same with you guys, It was an amazing Saturday morning spent, Learned a lot, Had great moments of laughter, All you guys made it worth it!

I will check for more pictures and videos, By the time do enjoy these.

[vdm295]

I have been a silent follower of your thread till now & would like to congratulate for such a comprehensive, detailed & unbiased ownership review.
You guys have put your your XUV awd through the real test. The video's just shows the amount of fun you guys had. In one of the video the towing wire gets cut while trying to pull your car out. How did you manage to pull your car out after the towing wire gave way?

[rohan_cherian]

Originally Posted by Tanveer_2558

A Big thanks to SDP for his amazing photography skill, Also the way he was handling his XUV, It almost seemed to be an AWD too! Experience !! Madhu, Vinitbhavi, Rohan, Neil the Bhpians from Navi Mumbai who joined us, Wouldn't have been the same with you guys, It was an amazing Saturday morning spent, Learned a lot, Had great moments of laughter, All you guys made it worth it!

I will check for more pictures and videos, By the time do enjoy these.

Was great hanging out with you lot. Like I said, the car's more fun running about than stuck.

Originally Posted by vdm295

In one of the video the towing wire gets cut while trying to pull your car out. How did you manage to pull your car out after the towing wire gave way?

Hey vdm295, the towing cable is bent and the bend is held together by a clamp, what you saw in the video is the clamp coming undone.

What we proceeded to do, out of sheer exasperation, is a classic example of Indian ingenuity (read jugaad).
Instead of refastening the clamp, we tied the rope in a loop around the tow hook on Vinit's XUV(silver) and let the knot tighten itself when Vinit pulled it out. With great success, I must say.

[Tanveer_2558]

Originally Posted by vdm295

I have been a silent follower of your thread till now & would like to congratulate for such a comprehensive, detailed & unbiased ownership review.
You guys have put your your XUV awd through the real test. The video's just shows the amount of fun you guys had. In one of the video the towing wire gets cut while trying to pull your car out. How did you manage to pull your car out after the towing wire gave way?

Thank you very much! I am glad you enjoyed it, We took it out by exactly how rohan said, Planning to do some more in the coming weeks with a better rope this time.

Originally Posted by rohan_cherian

Was great hanging out with you lot. Like I said, the car's more fun running about than stuck.

Same here man, Really fun and all you guys helped a lot as well,
Shall do the same again soon...

[karan561]

Hey Tanveer,

Its good to see you, SDP & friends enjoying your XUV's, Thanks for sharing the pics & the fun videos

Originally Posted by Tanveer_2558

Suggestions while going for such adventures,
1. Never go Alone, Try to go with atleast 2 car's and more than 3 people.
2. Make sure you check the place your going to drive your car through, Such adventures can prove to be costly if no proper precaution is taken.
3. Always carry some tools, Towing rope, Few metal objects, And lots of spare water.
4. Make sure you don't put stress on the clutch.
5. Make sure the surroundings is safe and no one is nearby as much as possible.

Our T-FOG (Toyota Fortuner Owners Group) guys would agree to that too.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing Tanveer! Moving your AWD fun posts into a new thread .

[vinitbhavi]

Perfectly compiled by Tanveer. As usual his knack for writing truly explains the experience perfectly. It was probably the best way to spend the weekend and it couldn't be with a better bunch of people. I totally agree with the offroading pointers.
I also want to tell you guys that my xuv is barely a month and half old and at 1000 kms but i never hesitated to take her in the mud. Whats the use of buying as AWD otherwise. I urge other members with even more capable cars who have not ventured out to do the same, use the car for what its meant for. Not just smooth tarmac and highways.
keep revving!

[Ace F355]

Good stuff Tanveer!

Another observation by my side: You are running on stock Bridgestone Dueller tyres. Pathetic tyres for these sort of situations. Next time your car goes for a tyre change, put on a set of good AT tyres and you will have even more fun in your car.

This is a known issue with XUV (and Scorpio) that the tyre size is weird and there aren't many option to choose from.

However, one good option is, Pirelli Scorpion ATRs! They are available in XUV's stock size and behave extremely good in all sort of driving conditions. They will transform the behavior of your car in off-road conditions.

[Tanveer_2558]

Originally Posted by karan561

Hey Tanveer,

Its good to see you, SDP & friends enjoying your XUV's, Thanks for sharing the pics & the fun videos





Our T-FOG (Toyota Fortuner Owners Group) guys would agree to that too.

Thanks karan! I am glad you liked it.

Originally Posted by GTO

Thanks for sharing Tanveer! Moving your AWD fun posts into a new thread .

Thanks GTO!

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Good stuff Tanveer!

Another observation by my side: You are running on stock Bridgestone Dueller tyres. Pathetic tyres for these sort of situations. Next time your car goes for a tyre change, put on a set of good AT tyres and you will have even more fun in your car.

This is a known issue with XUV (and Scorpio) that the tyre size is weird and there aren't many option to choose from.

However, one good option is, Pirelli Scorpion ATRs! They are available in XUV's stock size and behave extremely good in all sort of driving conditions. They will transform the behavior of your car in off-road conditions.

Thanks man, Yes i am running on stock Tyre's, Infact all of us were on stock tyres still we were able to have good amount of fun, A friend has a Pirelli scorpion and he is pretty happy with them even while driving them on highways, Totally agreed a tyre upgrade would result in more fun and confidence, Will probably do that once my current ones wear out.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Tanveer_2558

... Infact all of us were on stock tyres ...

Ummm...you seem to have missed this:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post3668584

[Tanveer_2558]

Originally Posted by SDP

Ummm...you seem to have missed this:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post3668584

oh.. Yes i had definitely missed that! Lets try those on a weekend while off-roading now! We all can go bonkers together since we will be going well prepared this time, I also a have a rocky mud route which we can explore

[Tanveer_2558]

Couple of more videos,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEi2w4rPPRg

Thats how i got stuck, Thanks to Madhu's idea of taking a turn early

And here is the video of our very own SDP driving through the slippery patch without any issues, Proves its not only the car, Even the driver matters!

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

[.anshuman]

Wow, nice to see the XUV's heading out. Nice way to enjoy the weekends.

My own car too has been through a lot of offroading action in last month. Luckily despite being too adventerous and trying keep up with Ironman Fortuner and a Gypsy, the car has not seen damage till now. Thanks of Years of experience with her, i know the underbody and clearance well.

A few points of advice:

• Get a proper tow rope, and learn proper recovery techniques, do not use that metal tow cable and please use the proper tow hooks and not the bull bar.
• Know your car's underbody and clearance well, it will go a long way in keeping the vehicle damage free.
• Try experimenting with ESP on and off, some situations its a boon, at other places it plays spoil sport.
• Learn using Hill descent, with the lack of low range, this is your only help at steep descents.
• At the time of tire change, opt in for A/T tires, i have upgraded to Pirelli Scorpion ATR, even on the road these are way superior to the OE Bridgestone Duelers, the downside is they dont squeal(OE Bridgestones) so corners are not that fun anymore.
• Lack of low range is not much of an problem, master the art of using the clutch properly without damaging, 5 minutes is what it takes to damage the clutch.
• Although the stall control is nicely tuned and even the low end torque is good but again with the lack of low range, at places you will find the engine bogging down, especially the steep climbs and sand, I have added a few more horses with the RaceDynamics tuning box now the car charges up like a cheetah makes 400nm+ of torque, its a big help.
• Try to take along experienced offroaders, you will learn a lot, especially with safe recovery techniques.

Some Videos of my XUV AWD:

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TKc-0hL6A8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_qHPI2aU5w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga96tLmQENM

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by Tanveer_2558

Couple of more videos

My take on -

Video 1: I think you got stuck because you seem to have lost your momentum a bit (around 0.23 seconds into the video), causing the heavy vehicle to bog down. OEM tyre treads must have been filled with mud, causing the tyres to lose traction, leaving the vehicle stuck.

Video 2: Very gentle approach to the slippery patch by SDP. Good throttle control resulted in no issues whatsoever.

I agree with all points .anshuman made in the post above. Invest in a snatch strap, it isn't very expensive either. We are having a 5 tons capacity/4 meters length, made by Ferreterro with supportive D Shackles. It is a good basic strap. Costed us INR 1800 inclusive of D Shackles.

Also, another thing to keep in mind is Momentum. It is the most important key in off-roading. The trick is to be fast enough to cross the obstacle, while being slow enough not to damage the vehicle some way or the other. Its a delicate balance which I am still learning. Plenty of 4 wheeling advice on our Forum, do read upon these threads which are essentially hidden treasures! Also, nothing can beat the presence of a couple of experienced off-roaders on site whose guidance will be the best thing available to you guys during your adventures. Looking forward to more stuff in this thread!