[shankar.balan]

Last Saturday evening my wife and I were headed for some golf practice at our local driving range.

Entering the mud track/ road leading to the range in our Scorpio, we were surprised to see a Silver X Trail stuck with its left front wheel fully inside and part of its left rear wheel lodged in a deep grass covered ditch on the left.

Stopping to check we asked the driver/ owner what happened and he said that since the road is very narrow (a little more than a track actually) with grass covered ditches on both sides, he had got stuck because he tried going off the road to make way for another car which was coming in the opposite direction and who wanted to pass him. Poor chap, he seemed a bit over wrought!

At first I thought I could tow him out with my ever present tow rope and tow hook assembly but on looking closely, I realised I would have to tow him out backwards, if at all. We checked the rear bumper area of his car and the front one too, but nowhere was there any sign of a tow hook arrangement around which I could have fastened my rope! Even he had no idea!

Can someone on TBHP shed light on where the Towhook on the X Trail is located? It would help for future reference!

Then, seeing another car approaching us, I flagged him down and requested his help. The driver and passenger got down, and four of us got into the ditch and gripping the wheel well of the X Trail, told the driver to get into the vehicle and engage 4WD and reverse the car out.

This vehicle much to my amazement is almost fully made of FRP/ or some sort of plastic material, atleast the entire wheel arch/fender/ flange etc. If you try gripping the X Trail wheel arch, you'll feel it bend like a sheet of PVC plastic!

Holding onto the inside of the wheel well (metal bits) and the bottom of the bumper and heaving mightily, accompanied by the sound of a revving engine as well as enveloped in a smallish cloud of burning rubber smell, we pulled him out of the ditch physically!

Of course the rear tyre had caught onto the grass verge, spun quite a bit and then attained enough traction to bring the vehicle lurching out onto the track! He then straightened out.

The X Trail driver thanked us all and moved off, as did the other gentlemen in the other car which helped us!

Unfortunately I wasnt carrying either a camera or my mobile and therefore couldnt shoot pictures of this incident.

I wonder if any of the gentlemen involved were fellow TBHP members.

If they are, and are reading this, it would be nice to know!

Cheers

[khan_sultan]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

L
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Can someone on TBHP shed light on where the Towhook on the X Trail is located? It would help for future reference! .........

A guess: Must be an add-on tow hook adapter that we also see in Palio/Indica. One has to remove a circular patch from the bumpers to add on the towhook.

on second thoughts, will an add-on towhook feature suffice for a 4x4 to pull it out? don't know..

[krazydriver84]

I don't believe this, such an Expensive SUV and there is no Tow Hook Arrangement. This really puts doubt on the Xtrail's 4X4 capabilities.

Did you say the plastic was malleable?? Cost Cutting I guess is affecting everywhere.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

This vehicle much to my amazement is almost fully made of FRP/ or some sort of plastic material, atleast the entire wheel arch/fender/ flange etc. If you try gripping the X Trail wheel arch, you'll feel it bend like a sheet of PVC plastic!

Same case with GV, it is very difficult push or pull using just man power. However, GV does have 3 tow hooks , two in front and one at rear.

[hrag]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

A guess: Must be an add-on tow hook adapter that we also see in Palio/Indica. One has to remove a circular patch from the bumpers to add on the towhook.

OT: While that may be the case with the Palio, the tow hooks on the Indica are very much present and very visible.

[shankar.balan]

checked all over the bumpers for a concealed hook. didnt find one. even the owner didnt know.
but Ive used my bolero with its pintle/towhook in the past to pull people out of trouble - normally hooking onto the small tow ring on their cars.
im sure I could easily have managed with the pintle hook Ive got on the scorp but only if that vehicle had a place to fasten the rope!

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

A guess: Must be an add-on tow hook adapter that we also see in Palio/Indica. One has to remove a circular patch from the bumpers to add on the towhook.

on second thoughts, will an add-on towhook feature suffice for a 4x4 to pull it out? don't know..

[shankar.balan]

I guess its the use and throw culture of foreign parts!
however, in case of (god forbid) any mishaps, I assume they will simply chuck away all damaged panels and replace them with new ones.
But I cannot get over the fact that these vehicles which are expensive SUV's and capable of some amount of Off Road etc, are actually made of plastic! I suppose I belong to the old school of thought which believes the only solid material that a Jeep/ SUV type vehicle should be made of is metal!

Originally Posted by Samurai

Same case with GV, it is very difficult push or pull using just man power. However, GV does have 3 tow hooks , two in front and one at rear.

[dadu]

Its an Accessory in X Trail, you have to get it installed, not OE.

[shankar.balan]

see the pic of my scorp below
the nissan x trail addon pintle tow hook looks the same type as the standard mahindra pintle hook which you only get as OEM in the 4WD version.
On the 2WD if you like, you can fit it on, but it will cost about 1000 Rs for the hook itself and another 8000 for the rear bumper, because the 4WD scorp rear bumper has to be used for this.
This attachment was certainly not there on the X Trail that we pulled out last week end.
Therefore I think it was lucky for him that just brute manpower was able to accomplish the job for him coupled of course with his reversing out in 4WD mode.
cheers

[quote=dadu;921281]Its an Accessory in X Trail, you have to get it installed, not OE.