[aadi.xiii]

Hello members!

Just wanted to share an old incident involving the giant in our garage, the Fortuner. So ours in a Gen-3 pre-facelift model equipped with a manual transmission and 4x4 in black (which happens to be a pretty rare combination) and while going to Pune from Aurangabad, I managed to put the rear left side wheel in a marshy ditch (if that makes sense). Usually, I'm a good driver, but this resulted while reversing on the side of a busy highway (not on the tarmac) wherein the ditch appeared like a normal patch of dust - the top layer had been covered in dust hiding the marshy ditch. What happened next was that the rear wheel got submerged and to describe the actual experience of what I felt in that moment, it was like this moment, I'm looking at the tarmac, and a second later, I'm able to see the sky directly above my bonnet.

All the locals rushed to see what had happened and they tried pushing the car immediately. Mind you, I was also dealing with a traumatised family simultaneously and that’s when I asked everyone to get out of the car, gave myself a moment to analyse the situation and then engaged 4X4. The car tried its best but couldn’t come out. The next thing I did was engage the low ratio after which, the car came out instantly - as smooth as butter.

Now, I’m no professional off-road enthusiast, but the knowledge of the capabilities of my car saved me. I bet, if our car was a 4X2 variant , another vehicle to pull it out would’ve been our only option. Also, in my opinion, or at least these are my preferences, I prefer keeping the 4WD engaged if my car is packed or if I'm driving around hills, especially during monsoon. This one particular feature inspires a lot of confidence. In my opinion, if you’re either way spending so much money to buy this car, might as well go for the 4WD variant. It doesn’t make sense until it does!

Thank you.

I’m uploading a picture of the wheel for your reference. It gives you an idea how deep the ditch actually was.

[DirtyDan]

It may be a bit of a stretch to call my 2018 Thar a Suv. But I lie a lot, generally, so at least nobody is surprised when I exaggerate. And, you see the reason they call me "DirtyDan". Just 2km north of my house the front range soars to the heavens. I "bad road" all over the place up there. So, of course, I negotiate the mud, swollen streams, snow, washouts and slides on a regular basis.

The purchase of a 4X4 has wildly altered my life. I used to be a nerdy computer systems programmer. Women looked at me and threw up on my shoes. Paraplegics pushed me out of line at airport counters. Waiters ignored me at restaurants.

I bought a Thar. Now I regularly get asked out by Deepika and Priyanka. Modi and Biden ring me up for advice. The Dalai Lama drops in for my view of the meaning of life. Women swoon at my approach.

[vimalvittaladas]

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

It may be a bit of a stretch to call my 2018 Thar a Suv. But I lie a lot, generally, so at least nobody is surprised when I exaggerate. And, you see the reason they call me "DirtyDan". Just 2km north of my house the front range soars to the heavens. I "bad road" all over the place up there. So, of course, I negotiate the mud, swollen streams, snow, washouts and slides on a regular basis.

The purchase of a 4X4 has wildly altered my life. I used to be a nerdy computer systems programmer. Women looked at me and threw up on my shoes. Paraplegics pushed me out of line at airport counters. Waiters ignored me at restaurants.

I bought a Thar. Now I regularly get asked out by Deepika and Priyanka. Modi and Biden ring me up for advice. The Dalai Lama drops in for my view of the meaning of life. Women swoon at my approach.

Love this machine. Agree that it has its own limitations as all of us know. But believe me the confidence I got by driving it for 70000 kms in a year is unmatchable. You take it anywhere, mountains pave the way for it, Luxury cars on highway gave their way once they find it in rears. All are fans of it, infants, adults,elders, irrespective of gender.

If you really mean it, keep it dirty

Out of the total 400000 kms I drove in my life, these 70000 were priceless

[vredesbyrd]

Never really been in such a tough spot but there have been two times that having 4x4 let me keep my peace of mind and push on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI8K57XXic4&t=10s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9LYqE3vlA0

[Sangwan]

Back in India, I think it was the summer of 2019 and one of my college friend was getting married. It was me on the wheels and another friend sitting with me in our 2015 Thar. We were in some village in Pilani, Rajasthan and had to go to another small village for the wedding. There were no roads and suddenly Thar was stuck. It was at that time for the first time I engaged the 4WD, I shifted to Low and it effortlessly moved out from the sand. I don’t have any pic unfortunately.

Here in Canada, last year in Dec 2022, it snowed a lot during the Christmas holidays, and we had to go buy groceries, here my Santa Fe has AWD and so I turned off the TC, locked the diffs to start moving and it was a smooth sailing after that.

[zadoom]

I have a 2014 Safari Storme 4*4 and while I have engaged the 4L and 4H at times to drive in slush / hilly terrain the 2 times that the 4L option really helped me come out of an unplanned situation was on a beach both the times. I guess the 1st time was at Kashid beach and the 2nd time was at Varsoli beach in Alibaug. Both the times I went a bit too ahead for comfort and got stuck in the sand and both the times the 4L and a bit of going reverse helped come out of the situations.

Infact the last couple of times I went to Varsoli beach at least 1 non 4WD / AWD car would get stuck in the sand. I have seen an Innova, an EECO and can't remember which sedan getting stuck there and ultimately brute manpower (lifting the vehicle up from the sand) helped them come out of the situation. At the same time an Maruti 800 of the locals was happily doing circles at the same place.

Cheers,
M

[Somil07]

I have a Renault Duster AWD and 2-3 times it has happened that I've comfortably got out of situations without any hiccups where usual FWD cars either struggled or got stuck completely. Gives a lot of confidence when I suddenly encounter a swampy patch on a beaten road during monsoon.
Off-topic but I strongly believe that our market doesn't reward AWD cars enough which is unfortunate. Not just off-road, even the on-road behavior is very well balanced in an AWD car during spirited driving, there's almost no torque steer that usually happens in FWD cars.
This sweet combination of torquey diesel and AWD is the sole reason why I'm not changing my car despite yearning for an automatic for last 3 years.

[trailsndirt]

People don't appreciate the capability of an AWD or a 4WD till they don't have it.
I drove an AWD Yeti into some interesting spots on the outskirts of Bengaluru and it was a surprise how capable the Haldex system was in maintaining traction and getting through spots a 2WD would be done for. Kailashgiri Hills near Chintamani is a nice place for an ADV drive/ride.
On a drive back, I had to find ways to tie ropes on my lower suspension arm to help pull a Creta where I was able to drive without any issues. Using the higher tow hook point would have pulled and ripped his front bumper. The owner of that vehicle was a bit miffed about the amount spent on the top variant and it's not being able to go through a muddy patch.

[Dr_MNC_SK]

Living in the foothills of the himalayas the 4*4 scene has always been a part and parcel of life.

When I decided to come back home and join work here itself I had a humble Wagon R which did the job of ferrying me to and fro work a mere 6 kms one way. With our monsoons and roads one fine day I was stuck on my way home when a jhora (a rivulet) decided to overflow and run over the road making it impossible to cross it. A duster awd struggled past and an old Mahindra Marshal 4*4 just passed it like a cakewalk. I had to detour an hour and 20 kms to reach home. This incident made me revisit my past childhood when dad in his Mahindra Jeep erstwhile with 4*4 would take us through such patches saying that only a 4wd will give you peace of mind travelling in monsoons in our state. I decided to buy the Thar Crde and 2015 was the first buyer of the Crde facelift here. 8 years and 80K+ kms I travelled Sikkim West Bengal Jharkhand Bihar Orissa UP Delhi Punjab Haryana HP Ladakh Rajasthan Assam Meghalaya Arunachal Nagaland Manipur and 2 countries Nepal Bhutan through various roadtrips and the 4*4 does give us a peace of mind and I have used umpteenth time but there are two similiar instances where I can relate it to having saved my day.

Kolkata-Puri Mid Covid time roadtrip from Sikkim. Theres a bandh and a jam in the border of Orissa and I somehow convince the bandh organisers that I am a doctor and need to reach Puri and they allow me. Problem is I am on the ongoing lane between trucks and cars and they advice me to take a detour via city which I wanted to avoid. If I could cross the divider and go to incoming lane (which was empty due to bandh) and reach the toll plaza a mere 150 m away I avoid the whole detour. So i got down did a recee and behold the thar climbed up a 1 foot divider and over to the other side and the bandh supporters were more engrossed in this act and started filming and applauding and I made it easily through. With even another high clearance vehicle but if with no 4*4 this feat was not possible.

A icy track early morning on way to Bumla absolutely necessitated a 4wd so did my multiple trips to Sandakpu those days. (I think one can do it in a good GC Vehicle now). Also the fun in taking the army shortcuts on the way to Leh from Manali and many more.

A kid now and the thar with no rear seats no abs no airbags was a scary proposition and my first criteria in a new vehicle was an awd if not a 4*4. Then the automatic transmission bug got me and I was left with few choices (read jimny tuscon and compass) (Fortuner & Gloster= too big) Ended up with a 4*4 Model S Compass. Similiar situation in Assam Bengal Border last month enroute to Arunachal. Stuck in the wrong lane jam. The truckers telling me that try to squeeze out and go over to the otherside or you will be stuck there till evening. Again attacking the divider at an angle the compass managed to cross it. Threw a bit of electronic traction tantrums but did the job smoothly. The comparatively less approach angle can be tackled if used appropriately and i managed to climb up a foot tall divider attacking at an angle with a front tyre and got down comfortably. The departture angle is noteworthy. But I missed the thars approach angle here. The Jeep is fairly new 4K on the odo and will probably see more usage of the awd system and the difficult to understand automated jeep active drive but gets the job done without a fuss.
I find it difficult to even park my other vehicles without awd in our parking lot cause its a steep entry into a narrow entrance at an angle from a road where thar use to engage its MLD everytime and the JC does something up its tricks to go through.