Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg

Dr.AD · 30th May 2023, 17:00

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg

First Drive with my New Thar:

Just about three months ago, I would have never imagined I would be writing a Thar travelogue, that too so soon. My road trips used to primarily be with my red BMW 320d, and there was no real plan to do something very different so soon.

But then, as always, life is all about unpredictability and experimentation. In somewhat of an unexpected (to myself) development, and purely as a fun experiment, I bought a brand new Mahindra Thar (Petrol AT 4x4 in Napoli Black) just a couple of weeks ago. From now on, this would be a new companion to my trusted BMW 320d. I plan to create my Thar ownership thread some day. But I thought it would not necessarily be inappropriate to start with a travelogue ahead of the ownership thread.

I always buy cars for long road trips and visiting beautiful locations as the primary purposes. And every time I bought a car, I took that car for a long drive pretty much immediately. Thar is no exception. I got the Thar just a couple of weeks ago. In those two weeks, all I had managed was about 200km of driving around (mostly due to busy work schedules and work travels). This first road trip added about 700km to that, and was a perfect introduction for me to the new Thar and its capabilities.

In nutshell, this trip was memorable to me because of this was my drive in the new Thar. Thar is so different than my BMW 320d, in all senses, and driving a Thar was indeed a very different experience. Getting used to the Thar and understanding its capabilities was a big part of motivation for this drive. Another thing that made this drive special to me was that unlike my road trips in the 320d, this time, there was plenty of off-roading too. The main purpose of Thar is to explore rough terrains, and we did that in this very first road trip.

My new Thar in the hills of Coorg:

The Thars, The Crew and the Homestay:

One of the many reasons I love TeamBHP is because of the friends I made thanks to this forum. My partners in this drive were our close friends Mr. and Mrs. @robimahanta, in their Aquamarine Blue Thar (Petrol 4x4 AT). But as a bonus, this time, we made new friends. It was a great pleasure to have Mr. and Mrs. @justwheels, in their Red Thar (Diesel 4x4 AT). We met them for the first time in this drive, and we had a great time together. And of course, my better half was with me in my Black Thar, and she enjoyed the Thar experience (including some off-roading) even more than I did. I am glad she likes the Thar so much and so quickly she is hooked on to the idea of exploring difficult terrain in a 4x4 vehicle!

The Three Thars together on the hills of Coorg:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2324.jpg

The Homestay:

We stayed at the same homestay where we had stayed back in August 2022 and loved it so much, as I described in my trip report from that time. The homestay is called Green Pastures, Coorg.

The homestay owners and hosts, Hemanth and Tripula, are wonderful hosts and good friends now. Just like my previous experience there, this time too we had a great time at the homestay and had a wonderful experience overall.

My Thar parked at the exact same location where I had my 320d parked the last time:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2320.jpg

The homestay has three rooms, and that was just perfect for the the three Thars and three couples traveling together.

The three Thars parked there:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2343.jpg

Another view of the Three Thars parked in that beautiful homestay:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2342.jpg

Green Pastures is not only a beautiful homestay, but one more specialty of the place is that the owner Hemanth is an off-road enthusiast and a very experienced off-roading expert. He himself owns an old Mahindra MM540 4WD, and also organizes some off-road events in Coorg. He knows the trails and hills of Coorg like the back of his hand. One of the main motivations for visiting his homestay in Thars was to do some off-roading explorations nearby guided by his knowledge of the area. He indeed gave us some great routes to explore, and even took out his MM540 and lead us on a beautiful hill trail the first evening we were there. It was a great experience to follow his MM540 and watch it handle the terrain with so much ease and poise.

Anyways, I will stop this prologue here and share the off-roading experiences and photos in the post below.

Dr.AD · 30th May 2023, 17:09

Exploring Roads and Off-Roads of Coorg

One of the main agendas for me in this trip was to try off-roading in my new Thar. I have done one major off-roading expedition in the past in the deserts of Rajasthan (described in this old travelogue), and then did a couple of small off-roading events here and there. But still, never did any off-roading in my own car. This trip was my first experience of off-roading in my own car in a small private group (without any official "organizer" of the event). Overall, I am still new to this game of off-roading, but thankfully, I had expert off-roaders @robimahanta and @justwheels with me, and their guidance and the tips they shared was also a great learning experience for me.

We did not do any hard-core off-roading in this trip (and that was not the plan anyways), but we did some mild off-roading, and then also drove around on some random hills and some mud paths we saw along the way. All of this gave me a good taste of off-roading in one's own car and I enjoyed it a lot.

The first evening we were there, Hemanth (the homestay owner and our host) took us to a nice trail in the hills nearby, leading us in his MM540 4WD, at the sunset hour. It was a short drive, but still was a wonderful drive.

The MM540 leading the convoy of three Thars on a nice hill trail at dusk:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2321.jpg

My Thar on the trail:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2322.jpg

My Thar there against the setting sun:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2323.jpg

It was a short but a nice trail. We saw some great views from the viewpoint we reached at the top of that small hill. For me, this was also the first time I used 4-wheel drive mode (4H) on my new Thar. It worked well on the first attempt, and everything was fun. I enjoyed this short off-road drive for sure.

The next morning Hemanth suggested a nice circuit that included some off-roading and some driving on lesser known hill roads that were so broken that it justified having a Thar there. I would have never driven on those broken hill roads in my BMW. But the Thar was totally in its elements on those roads, and we managed to cover both totally broken roads and the off-road hill climbs with ease. Both I and my wife enjoyed this new experience, and we enjoyed this new aspect of motoring.

To start the driving day, we first hit a hill called Kote Betta. We reached the peak and randomly explored some paths nearby.

Robi's Thar in action:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2302.jpg

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2304.jpg

Robi's Thar enjoying the valley view from a vantage position:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2305.jpg

The Red Thar of @justwheels in action:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2306.jpg

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2307.jpg

The two Thars enjoying valley view, while my Thar was parked a little away:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2341.jpg

My Thar at Kote Betta:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2325.jpg

I found time for a couple of random shots of my Thar in that location:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2309.jpg

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2308.jpg

From Kote Betta, we started driving on some lesser known hill roads and some very narrow country roads. At one point, we found a random mud path leading to some flat grassland, and just randomly drove on those mud tracks. I got another opportunity to use 4H in my Thar and I enjoyed it again.

Red Thar on some random mud tracks:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2314.jpg

My Thar on the grasslands:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2312.jpg

Two Thars posing there at that scenic location:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2327.jpg

We continued our drive on the rural hill roads, and at one point, found another hilltop where we could go off the road again.

My Thar posing at a random hilltop:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2340.jpg

Notice Robi's Thar on some other hill in the background:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2329.jpg

Here is Robi's Thar on that random hill:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2330.jpg

In the meanwhile, @justwheel had found another amazing location for his Red Thar:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2318.jpg

Then I drove my car on the rocky terrain too:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2332.jpg

Views like these in the windshield, something that is hard to get in a BMW:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2334.jpg

Not just the off-road locations, but even those narrow hill roads were quite scenic, as you can see here:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2319.jpg

After driving on these narrow hill roads, we hit a proper off-road trail to reach a hilltop known as Mandalpatti Peak. This is a hilltop with panoramic views all around. And it takes a proper 4x4 vehicle to reach this location as the path to this is a dirt track full of stones, and at a couple of points, requires tricky maneuvers over rocks and a few steep rocky sections.

At the beginning of this off-road trail, there is a check-post which allows only 4x4 vehicles to enter, after paying the appropriate fees.

The Red Thar leading our way to Mandalpatti:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2335.jpg

My Thar there at one rocky corner on the trail:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2337.jpg

Another photo of my car at that scenic corner:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2338.jpg

After some careful crawling on those rocky sections and the stone-filled road, we reached the hilltop.

The three Thars at the top of Mandalpatti hills:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2344.jpg

This trail was not too difficult for Thar, but yet was just right to give me a good idea of Thar's capabilities and a preview of what kind of drives I would do in future in my Thar. I used 4H and Hill Descent Control (while coming down the hill), and I was happy that both of these features worked very well. This being my first drive in the new Thar, I was still getting used to handling this vehicle on such hill trails. But here, @justwheels went ahead of me, and started giving me instructions on radio and I started following the lines suggested by him. Thanks a lot to him for his expert guidance that helped me quickly understand the nuances of handling Thar on such terrain. @robimahanta was behind me and was watching me carefully and giving tips as and when necessary. The three of us were using radios for communication and that was of immense help. Thanks to both these expert off-roaders for making my first off-roading experience in my own Thar both easy and fun.

A parting shot of my Thar on its first off-roading trail:

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-coorgmay2339.jpg

Epilogue

It was a short and sweet weekend drive that was made memorable by the beautiful Thars, the great company we had, the idyllic homestay and the wonderful hosts there. Thanks to all of these for making this trip so much fun. Everything went well except for the weather. We were expecting some rain (common in Coorg at the end of May), and looking forward to driving in the rain and mud on the hills. Unfortunately, we were unlucky with the weather. There were no rains at all when we were there, although it rained before we went there and the forecast showed a lot of rain in the following week. Just the weekend we were there was bone dry and quite hot, something totally different from what we expected.

I was happy that I got to use the Thar well and got accustomed to it quickly. I wanted to try out various mechanisms in Thar, and I got to use 4H and Hill Descent Control on multiple occasions. I also used Cruise Control on the Mysore-Bangalore highway and everything worked fine. The only thing I did not get to use was 4L (given the bone dry weather, there was no mud or slush anywhere and there was no chance to use 4L). Hopefully my future trips will give me plenty of opportunities to use 4L.

Personally for me, it was a new experience for sure. Thar is so different from my BMW 320d that driving it felt like playing a totally new game compared to what I am used to. And honestly, both I and my wife enjoyed this new Thar experience. True that both the ride and handling are quite bad in Thar. However, once you experience and appreciate what Thar is capable of beyond the tarmac and smooth roads, it is easy to look past these shortcomings and start liking the vehicle anyways. The simple joy of motoring with peace of mind on broken roads and wandering around on hill tops without worrying about your vehicle was something that we totally loved. And that exactly is the USP of Thar. Anyways, it is still early days for me with Thar and I will comment more on my Thar experiences after a few more drives.

Of course, I absolutely love driving my 320d too, and I plan to use both the 320d and Thar for different kind of road trips from now on. Hopefully I will have more Thar stories and travelogues to share in the future, but for now, this simple weekend drive was the first chapter in a new driving experience for me.

Well, that is all for now. Thank you for reading!

P.S. During my final reading of the travelogue after composing it, I realized that every single photo I included in this travelogue has a Thar in it. Not a single photo without a Thar! This was certainly not by design and certainly not done on purpose, but it just so happened and I myself noticed that only in the end. But this shows the photogenic appeal of the Thar. I just did not bother shooting any landscapes or sunset pictures this time, when I had three beautiful machines to shoot instead.

Rudra Sen · 31st May 2023, 09:56

Mod note: Thread moved to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing.

jkrishnakj · 31st May 2023, 10:19

Beautiful AD. Three lovely beauties make for a great view.

Your last log, you mentioned that you won’t be capturing car pictures or something like that. I was waiting to see how long that lasts!

Great log as always from you. Enjoyed.

HappyWheels · 31st May 2023, 15:39

Good one! Nice to see 3 vehicles in their natural environment! Wonderful photos!

A vehicle to cover best of both worlds, superb!

Not sure if it is the same vehicle, but recollect seeing a red Thar, with similar sticker's on the bonnet, while I was returning from Bekal on the 27th, going the opposite direction.

Dr.AD · 31st May 2023, 16:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Beautiful AD. Three lovely beauties make for a great view.

Thank you very much, KJ!

Quote:

Your last log, you mentioned that you won’t be capturing car pictures or something like that. I was waiting to see how long that lasts!

Hahaha. True, I did mention that. Maybe I was just bored of shooting the usual cars in our group, especially the red car. And maybe now the Black Thar has rekindled my interest in car photography.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Good one! Nice to see 3 vehicles in their natural environment! Wonderful photos!

A vehicle to cover best of both worlds, superb!

Thank you very much, HappyWheels!

justwheels · 31st May 2023, 17:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Exploring Roads and Off-Roads of Coorg

......

The Thars, The Crew and the Homestay:

One of the many reasons I love TeamBHP is because of the friends I made thanks to this forum. My partners in this drive were our close friends Mr. and Mrs. @robimahanta, in their Aquamarine Blue Thar (Petrol 4x4 AT). But as a bonus, this time, we made new friends. It was a great pleasure to have Mr. and Mrs. @justwheels, in their Red Thar (Diesel 4x4 AT). We met them for the first time in this drive, and we had a great time together......

So very rightly mentioned about the the essence of being a TBHP'ian. Friendship is the core of this group and we had a wonderful time too making new friends and sharing the common interest of cars, travel and food.
And, needless to say, what a lovely write up Dr.AD, as always. Your travelogues always have such a wonderful flow that the reader can live/relive those moments in real. Look forward to many more trips and travelogues.

The vast coffee estates of the Coorg valley and nearby areas are perfect for casual rough roading (and serious off-roading especially in monsoons when the events start). Seemingly non-technical obstacles enroute but enough pleasure to know your Thar is probably one of the few vehicles that can cover those without breaking a sweat. It's the ease and poise of this vehicle that makes the journey so special. Glad you loved every bit of the new Thar and wish you many more miles on the beast (as I love to call it). I am sure the Beemer will be ever so slightly envious with your new found love

If I may take the liberty, adding one pic of your Thar from my side from the trip.

Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg-drad_newthar_sunsetview.jpg

megazoid · 1st June 2023, 09:41

A pleasant way to start with the Thar AD. Congratulations on the purchase. The shade looks nice and friendly for photos and I can see a lot of them coming in the monsoon season. The place looks inviting and must be beautiful in the rains. Looking forward to more and more Thar stories

Have fun with the new garage mate.

TorqueyTechie · 1st June 2023, 09:45

Beautiful pics and a nice travelogue. Loved the pic of your Thar against the setting Sun. Thanks for sharing.

I meant to ask this question quite a few times but have missed out. What is the red colored hinge/handle(?) on the door of @robimahanta's Thar? I have seen that on quite a few thar's and always had this question. Is that a functional mod or an aesthetic one?

Dr.AD · 1st June 2023, 10:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by justwheels

And, needless to say, what a lovely write up Dr.AD, as always. Your travelogues always have such a wonderful flow that the reader can live/relive those moments in real. Look forward to many more trips and travelogues.

Thank you very much. Sure, I am also looking forward to more trips with Thar now and I am sure we will meet again in one of the Thar drives.

Quote:

If I may take the liberty, adding one pic of your Thar from my side from the trip.

Lovely picture, and thank you very much for sharing this.

You red Thar looked amazing in those settings. I am sure you have more pictures of your Thar that you took on those hills. Please feel free to add those here. Would be great to see those.

Quote:

Originally Posted by megazoid

A pleasant way to start with the Thar AD. Congratulations on the purchase. The shade looks nice and friendly for photos and I can see a lot of them coming in the monsoon season. The place looks inviting and must be beautiful in the rains. Looking forward to more and more Thar stories

Thank you very much megazoid. Your own travel stories are always an inspiration. Always looking forward to reading your travelogues too. Hopefully we can drive together soon again and maybe share a joint travelogue too. But yes, looking forward to more drives and more stories this monsoon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Beautiful pics and a nice travelogue. Loved the pic of your Thar against the setting Sun. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you very much!

Quote:

I meant to ask this question quite a few times but have missed out. What is the red colored hinge/handle(?) on the door of @robimahanta's Thar? I have seen that on quite a few thar's and always had this question. Is that a functional mod or an aesthetic one?

That is a stepper, sort of like a ladder step. That device folds open to create a step. That step can be used to step on it to reach the roof, either for cleaning the roof or putting luggage on the roof, or for other similar usages.

PearlJam · 1st June 2023, 13:10

Nice write up, AD!

Earlier, whenever your travelogues were with your 320d, I would think Oh, if the 320d can go to these remote locations, I too can do it some day.

Now that has changed - I can no longer assume that

nerd1200 · 1st June 2023, 13:12

Lovely travelogue, AD. I'm sure you had a lot of fun offroading with your new Thar and that this thread acts as a precursor to an ownership review. We should plan an offroad drive soon!

Also, looking forward to your monsoon Konkan adventures with the Thar.

Dr.AD · 1st June 2023, 15:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by PearlJam

Nice write up, AD!

Thank you very much, PearlJam!

Quote:

Earlier, whenever your travelogues were with your 320d, I would think Oh, if the 320d can go to these remote locations, I too can do it some day.

hahaha. True. If the 320d can go there, then most cars can easily go there.

Quote:

Now that has changed - I can no longer assume that

White I see your point, this is not strictly true. Even in Thar, only some extreme bad section or some intentional off-roading we do will be out of scope for a sedan. That maybe a 10% part in a trip. But the rest of the trip can be done in a sedan too. For example, you can not drive a sedan to Mandalpatti Peak for sure (the last 3km if strictly off-roading). But that does not mean one can not drive till the last checkpost in a sedan. And if you drive till there, it is still a good drive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nerd1200

Lovely travelogue, AD. I'm sure you had a lot of fun offroading with your new Thar and that this thread acts as a precursor to an ownership review. We should plan an offroad drive soon!

Thank you very much, Deb. Yes we should surely plan an offroad trip soon. Will be fun to drive together with your Scorpio N.

Quote:

Also, looking forward to your monsoon Konkan adventures with the Thar.

Thanks. I am hoping to be able to take Thar to Konkan this monsoon, provided I get enough time to make the Thar reach there in the first place. Thar is capable, but not fast.

shankar.balan · 1st June 2023, 16:16

AD. I really appreciate the joy you find in all these trips. And the way you love and cherishyour vehicles.
Coorg is a great place to enjoy and test your thar. And there are so many other places in South India itself which I am sure you will take your thar to, soon.
Enjoy and keep those write ups and photos coming!
Your scale model jeep now has a big bro to look up to by way of your thar.

Dr.AD · 1st June 2023, 17:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

AD. I really appreciate the joy you find in all these trips. And the way you love and cherish your vehicles.

Thank you very much for your kind words, Shankar! And thank you for your informative posts on Thar in the official review thread. Your posts and the information you shared helped me a lot in making my purchase decision.

Quote:

Coorg is a great place to enjoy and test your thar. And there are so many other places in South India itself which I am sure you will take your thar to, soon.

Totally agree with you. One of the reasons I love Bangalore is the access to so many beautiful places for a weekend drive. I hope to find more offbeat places for weekend trips with Thar now.

Quote:

Enjoy and keep those write ups and photos coming!
Your scale model jeep now has a big bro to look up to by way of your thar.

Thanks again! Yes the scale model finally came into reality. I also have scale models of some fancy supercars. It would be amazing if one of those came into reality too.

(I know that is not going to happen, but it costs nothing to keep dreaming.)

30th May 2023, 17:00	#1
Dr.AD Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Bangalore/Pune Posts: 1,829 Thanked: 19,198 Times	Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg First Drive with my New Thar: Just about three months ago, I would have never imagined I would be writing a Thar travelogue, that too so soon. My road trips used to primarily be with my red BMW 320d, and there was no real plan to do something very different so soon. But then, as always, life is all about unpredictability and experimentation. In somewhat of an unexpected (to myself) development, and purely as a fun experiment, I bought a brand new Mahindra Thar (Petrol AT 4x4 in Napoli Black) just a couple of weeks ago. From now on, this would be a new companion to my trusted BMW 320d. I plan to create my Thar ownership thread some day. But I thought it would not necessarily be inappropriate to start with a travelogue ahead of the ownership thread. I always buy cars for long road trips and visiting beautiful locations as the primary purposes. And every time I bought a car, I took that car for a long drive pretty much immediately. Thar is no exception. I got the Thar just a couple of weeks ago. In those two weeks, all I had managed was about 200km of driving around (mostly due to busy work schedules and work travels). This first road trip added about 700km to that, and was a perfect introduction for me to the new Thar and its capabilities. In nutshell, this trip was memorable to me because of this was my drive in the new Thar. Thar is so different than my BMW 320d, in all senses, and driving a Thar was indeed a very different experience. Getting used to the Thar and understanding its capabilities was a big part of motivation for this drive. Another thing that made this drive special to me was that unlike my road trips in the 320d, this time, there was plenty of off-roading too. The main purpose of Thar is to explore rough terrains, and we did that in this very first road trip. My new Thar in the hills of Coorg: The Thars, The Crew and the Homestay: One of the many reasons I love TeamBHP is because of the friends I made thanks to this forum. My partners in this drive were our close friends Mr. and Mrs. *@robimahanta, in their Aquamarine Blue Thar (Petrol 4x4 AT). But as a bonus, this time, we made new friends. It was a great pleasure to have Mr. and Mrs. @justwheels, in their Red Thar (Diesel 4x4 AT). We met them for the first time in this drive, and we had a great time together. And of course, my better half was with me in my Black Thar, and she enjoyed the Thar experience (including some off-roading) even more than I did. I am glad she likes the Thar so much and so quickly she is hooked on to the idea of exploring difficult terrain in a 4x4 vehicle! The Three Thars together on the hills of Coorg: The Homestay:* We stayed at the same homestay where we had stayed back in August 2022 and loved it so much, as I described in my trip report from that time. The homestay is called Green Pastures, Coorg. The homestay owners and hosts, Hemanth and Tripula, are wonderful hosts and good friends now. Just like my previous experience there, this time too we had a great time at the homestay and had a wonderful experience overall. My Thar parked at the exact same location where I had my 320d parked the last time: The homestay has three rooms, and that was just perfect for the the three Thars and three couples traveling together. The three Thars parked there: Another view of the Three Thars parked in that beautiful homestay: Green Pastures is not only a beautiful homestay, but one more specialty of the place is that the owner Hemanth is an off-road enthusiast and a very experienced off-roading expert. He himself owns an old Mahindra MM540 4WD, and also organizes some off-road events in Coorg. He knows the trails and hills of Coorg like the back of his hand. One of the main motivations for visiting his homestay in Thars was to do some off-roading explorations nearby guided by his knowledge of the area. He indeed gave us some great routes to explore, and even took out his MM540 and lead us on a beautiful hill trail the first evening we were there. It was a great experience to follow his MM540 and watch it handle the terrain with so much ease and poise. Anyways, I will stop this prologue here and share the off-roading experiences and photos in the post below. Last edited by Dr.AD : 31st May 2023 at 09:40.
	(37) Thanks

30th May 2023, 17:09	#2
Dr.AD Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Bangalore/Pune Posts: 1,829 Thanked: 19,198 Times	Re: Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg Exploring Roads and Off-Roads of Coorg One of the main agendas for me in this trip was to try off-roading in my new Thar. I have done one major off-roading expedition in the past in the deserts of Rajasthan (described in this old travelogue), and then did a couple of small off-roading events here and there. But still, never did any off-roading in my own car. This trip was my first experience of off-roading in my own car in a small private group (without any official "organizer" of the event). Overall, I am still new to this game of off-roading, but thankfully, I had expert off-roaders *@robimahanta* and *@justwheels* with me, and their guidance and the tips they shared was also a great learning experience for me. We did not do any hard-core off-roading in this trip (and that was not the plan anyways), but we did some mild off-roading, and then also drove around on some random hills and some mud paths we saw along the way. All of this gave me a good taste of off-roading in one's own car and I enjoyed it a lot. The first evening we were there, Hemanth (the homestay owner and our host) took us to a nice trail in the hills nearby, leading us in his MM540 4WD, at the sunset hour. It was a short drive, but still was a wonderful drive. The MM540 leading the convoy of three Thars on a nice hill trail at dusk: My Thar on the trail: My Thar there against the setting sun: It was a short but a nice trail. We saw some great views from the viewpoint we reached at the top of that small hill. For me, this was also the first time I used 4-wheel drive mode (4H) on my new Thar. It worked well on the first attempt, and everything was fun. I enjoyed this short off-road drive for sure. The next morning Hemanth suggested a nice circuit that included some off-roading and some driving on lesser known hill roads that were so broken that it justified having a Thar there. I would have never driven on those broken hill roads in my BMW. But the Thar was totally in its elements on those roads, and we managed to cover both totally broken roads and the off-road hill climbs with ease. Both I and my wife enjoyed this new experience, and we enjoyed this new aspect of motoring. To start the driving day, we first hit a hill called Kote Betta. We reached the peak and randomly explored some paths nearby. Robi's Thar in action: Robi's Thar enjoying the valley view from a vantage position: The Red Thar of @justwheels in action: The two Thars enjoying valley view, while my Thar was parked a little away: My Thar at Kote Betta: I found time for a couple of random shots of my Thar in that location: From Kote Betta, we started driving on some lesser known hill roads and some very narrow country roads. At one point, we found a random mud path leading to some flat grassland, and just randomly drove on those mud tracks. I got another opportunity to use 4H in my Thar and I enjoyed it again. Red Thar on some random mud tracks: My Thar on the grasslands: Two Thars posing there at that scenic location: We continued our drive on the rural hill roads, and at one point, found another hilltop where we could go off the road again. My Thar posing at a random hilltop: Notice Robi's Thar on some other hill in the background: Here is Robi's Thar on that random hill: In the meanwhile, @justwheel had found another amazing location for his Red Thar: Then I drove my car on the rocky terrain too: Views like these in the windshield, something that is hard to get in a BMW: Not just the off-road locations, but even those narrow hill roads were quite scenic, as you can see here: After driving on these narrow hill roads, we hit a proper off-road trail to reach a hilltop known as Mandalpatti Peak. This is a hilltop with panoramic views all around. And it takes a proper 4x4 vehicle to reach this location as the path to this is a dirt track full of stones, and at a couple of points, requires tricky maneuvers over rocks and a few steep rocky sections. At the beginning of this off-road trail, there is a check-post which allows only 4x4 vehicles to enter, after paying the appropriate fees. The Red Thar leading our way to Mandalpatti: My Thar there at one rocky corner on the trail: Another photo of my car at that scenic corner: After some careful crawling on those rocky sections and the stone-filled road, we reached the hilltop. The three Thars at the top of Mandalpatti hills: This trail was not too difficult for Thar, but yet was just right to give me a good idea of Thar's capabilities and a preview of what kind of drives I would do in future in my Thar. I used 4H and Hill Descent Control (while coming down the hill), and I was happy that both of these features worked very well. This being my first drive in the new Thar, I was still getting used to handling this vehicle on such hill trails. But here, *@justwheels* went ahead of me, and started giving me instructions on radio and I started following the lines suggested by him. Thanks a lot to him for his expert guidance that helped me quickly understand the nuances of handling Thar on such terrain. *@robimahanta* was behind me and was watching me carefully and giving tips as and when necessary. The three of us were using radios for communication and that was of immense help. Thanks to both these expert off-roaders for making my first off-roading experience in my own Thar both easy and fun. A parting shot of my Thar on its first off-roading trail: Epilogue It was a short and sweet weekend drive that was made memorable by the beautiful Thars, the great company we had, the idyllic homestay and the wonderful hosts there. Thanks to all of these for making this trip so much fun. Everything went well except for the weather. We were expecting some rain (common in Coorg at the end of May), and looking forward to driving in the rain and mud on the hills. Unfortunately, we were unlucky with the weather. There were no rains at all when we were there, although it rained before we went there and the forecast showed a lot of rain in the following week. Just the weekend we were there was bone dry and quite hot, something totally different from what we expected. I was happy that I got to use the Thar well and got accustomed to it quickly. I wanted to try out various mechanisms in Thar, and I got to use 4H and Hill Descent Control on multiple occasions. I also used Cruise Control on the Mysore-Bangalore highway and everything worked fine. The only thing I did not get to use was 4L (given the bone dry weather, there was no mud or slush anywhere and there was no chance to use 4L). Hopefully my future trips will give me plenty of opportunities to use 4L. Personally for me, it was a new experience for sure. Thar is so different from my BMW 320d that driving it felt like playing a totally new game compared to what I am used to. And honestly, both I and my wife enjoyed this new Thar experience. True that both the ride and handling are quite bad in Thar. However, once you experience and appreciate what Thar is capable of beyond the tarmac and smooth roads, it is easy to look past these shortcomings and start liking the vehicle anyways. The simple joy of motoring with peace of mind on broken roads and wandering around on hill tops without worrying about your vehicle was something that we totally loved. And that exactly is the USP of Thar. Anyways, it is still early days for me with Thar and I will comment more on my Thar experiences after a few more drives. Of course, I absolutely love driving my 320d too, and I plan to use both the 320d and Thar for different kind of road trips from now on. Hopefully I will have more Thar stories and travelogues to share in the future, but for now, this simple weekend drive was the first chapter in a new driving experience for me. Well, that is all for now. Thank you for reading! P.S. During my final reading of the travelogue after composing it, I realized that every single photo I included in this travelogue has a Thar in it. Not a single photo without a Thar! This was certainly not by design and certainly not done on purpose, but it just so happened and I myself noticed that only in the end. But this shows the photogenic appeal of the Thar. I just did not bother shooting any landscapes or sunset pictures this time, when I had three beautiful machines to shoot instead. Last edited by Dr.AD : 31st May 2023 at 09:47.
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31st May 2023, 09:56	#3
Rudra Sen Team-BHP Support Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 11,619 Thanked: 6,580 Times View My Garage	Re: Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg Mod note: Thread moved to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing.
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31st May 2023, 10:19	#4
jkrishnakj Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,679 Thanked: 4,363 Times	Re: Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg Beautiful AD. Three lovely beauties make for a great view. Your last log, you mentioned that you won’t be capturing car pictures or something like that. I was waiting to see how long that lasts! Great log as always from you. Enjoyed.
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31st May 2023, 15:39	#5
HappyWheels Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 4,132 Thanked: 559 Times	Re: Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg Good one! Nice to see 3 vehicles in their natural environment! Wonderful photos! A vehicle to cover best of both worlds, superb! Not sure if it is the same vehicle, but recollect seeing a red Thar, with similar sticker's on the bonnet, while I was returning from Bekal on the 27th, going the opposite direction.
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1st June 2023, 09:41	#8
megazoid BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 507 Thanked: 3,388 Times View My Garage	Re: Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg A pleasant way to start with the Thar AD. Congratulations on the purchase. The shade looks nice and friendly for photos and I can see a lot of them coming in the monsoon season. The place looks inviting and must be beautiful in the rains. Looking forward to more and more Thar stories Have fun with the new garage mate.
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1st June 2023, 09:45	#9
TorqueyTechie Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 1,106 Thanked: 2,327 Times	Re: Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg Beautiful pics and a nice travelogue. Loved the pic of your Thar against the setting Sun. Thanks for sharing. I meant to ask this question quite a few times but have missed out. What is the red colored hinge/handle(?) on the door of @robimahanta's Thar? I have seen that on quite a few thar's and always had this question. Is that a functional mod or an aesthetic one?
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1st June 2023, 13:10	#11
PearlJam BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 640 Thanked: 1,723 Times	Re: Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg Nice write up, AD! Earlier, whenever your travelogues were with your 320d, I would think Oh, if the 320d can go to these remote locations, I too can do it some day. Now that has changed - I can no longer assume that
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1st June 2023, 13:12	#12
nerd1200 BHPian Join Date: May 2014 Location: "Ex"Garden City Posts: 410 Thanked: 2,403 Times View My Garage	Re: Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg Lovely travelogue, AD. I'm sure you had a lot of fun offroading with your new Thar and that this thread acts as a precursor to an ownership review. We should plan an offroad drive soon! Also, looking forward to your monsoon Konkan adventures with the Thar. Last edited by nerd1200 : 1st June 2023 at 13:14.
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1st June 2023, 16:16	#14
shankar.balan Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 11,369 Thanked: 23,217 Times View My Garage	Re: Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg AD. I really appreciate the joy you find in all these trips. And the way you love and cherishyour vehicles. Coorg is a great place to enjoy and test your thar. And there are so many other places in South India itself which I am sure you will take your thar to, soon. Enjoy and keep those write ups and photos coming! Your scale model jeep now has a big bro to look up to by way of your thar.
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