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First solo drive in Mahindra Thar: Getting to know more about the SUV

5th July 2023, 14:12 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I had my moments on this drive when I truly appreciated the car for all it offered, while completely forgetting all the pains and inconveniences.

BHPian Dr.AD recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My First Solo Drive with Dusty

The moment that represents the whole point of driving a Thar: (finding myself alone with my car on a hill, with beautiful views all around, dark clouds hovering in the sky, refreshing breeze flowing across, absolutely enjoying the perfect weather and the fresh air, and getting lost in that solitude and the peace made me forget all the pains of the bumpy ride, the "impracticality", and everything else):

I love solo drives. Actually, I love all kinds of drives, including group drives with my driving buddies, drives with my family, drives in a fast car and drives in a slow car, I love them all. But solo drives have a special place in my heart. Nothing beats the feeling of solitude, peace, freedom, and to some degree of adventure that I get on a solo drive. Every solo drive brings me back refreshed and rejuvenated.

Solo drive in a new car is even more special. A real emotional bond between a person and his/her car is established only after a long solo drive. You are alone with your car. You get all the opportunities to observe the minute details of the car's behavior, you get to trust the car and see it stand true to your trust, and you get to observe the pain points too. All without getting affected or influenced by others who may have different priorities and expectations from the car than you.

I did plenty of solo drives in my old Dusty (the most memorable of those was a monsoon solo covered in this travelogue). And I was really looking forward to starting my solo drives with the new Dusty too. Thankfully, I got a chance to do my first solo drive with the new Dusty and loved every moment of it.

By the way, just last weekend I drove my BMW 320d in a group drive with my driving buddies to enjoy the delicious food in Mangalore and in the western ghats along the way. That "foodie drive" is covered in this travelogue. While I enjoyed every bit of that foodie drive, in a fast sedan, chasing a pack of fast sedans, this solo drive with Dusty was totally the opposite. The two-weekend drives had a stark contrast! A fast BMW vs slow 4x4 SUV. A group drive vs a solo drive. A foodie drive vs a drive where I did not care for any food as such. This contrast made it even more fun. Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and I love to have variety in my road trips and driving patterns.

Anyways, coming back to this solo drive, the rough plan was to drive around in the hills of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, drive through some lovely forests, enjoy the slow and scenic routes (and avoid the highways as much as possible), explore some simple off-road locations where I could take my Dusty and enjoy the views, and come back rejuvenated and with a better understanding of the new car. That is all. While I was not sure how much of this I would achieve, I am glad that I ended up achieving almost all of the above in this weekend drive!

The "rough route" was this, just to give you an idea of the areas (in reality, I drove on and off this route, explored some local roads, and deviate from this route from time to time):

This was a two-day trip. Let me cover the first day in this post, and I will cover the second day in the subsequent post below.

Day 1: Driving Through the Hills and the Forests

My first stop on Day 1 was this MTR, where I had a nice breakfast of fresh hot idlis and vada:

In contrast to the previous weekend's "foodie drive", in this drive, I did not care much for food and focused more on driving and exploring roads than stopping for food. Apart from this breakfast at MTR, I did not care for any proper meal the rest of the day (all I had was one snack brake somewhere).

Lovely roads as I approached BR Hills area:

Dusty enjoying the lovely weather and the dark clouds (it was cloudy pretty much all weekend, but I did not encounter rain anywhere):

Although I was looking out for "Thar kind of roads", I ended up on these lovely tarmacs and corners that made me wish I was driving my BMW here:

However, not disheartened by that, I kept on looking for spots/trails where I could venture at least a little bit away from this amazing tarmac, and soon enough, I found something.

Finally on some appropriate tracks, at some random location:

Dusty was at home here, and felt like she never wanted to return to tarmac:

But we did return to tarmac soon, only to see such lovely corners all over again:

I decided not to worry too much about my choice of car for this weekend, and just enjoy such inviting roads and the magical weather:

A close up of Dusty somewhere on those roads:

As I drove further, enjoying the roads, the views and the weather, I entered reserved national forests. There, I saw signs saying stopping the vehicles and getting out was prohibited. Therefore, I did not stop or take photos from outside. Instead, managed to click a few photos through my windshield just to show the lovely forest roads I drove through.

Thick forests and lovely roads going through it, as I drove around the K.Gudi area:

The roads were very scenic but narrow, although with Dusty it was never a problem if I had to drop down on the grass to give way (but luckily for me, that entire weekend I faced very little traffic, and hardly any other vehicle passed by):

Little bit ahead, the roads became a bit bad, and I finally felt happy that I took Thar there:

Another patch of lovely forest roads lined with lush green trees:

After exiting the K. Gudi forest area, now back on the main roads, with still some nice trees for the company:

After driving through these mesmerizing forests in Karnataka, I entered Tamil Nadu and descended the famous Dhimbam Ghats. Those roads are absolutely fantastic too, and I enjoyed driving through those lovely Tamil Nadu roads. However, I just enjoyed driving through that entire section from Dhimbam to Sathy to Salem in one go, in a non-stop manner, and did not stop to take any photos.

At the end of the day, after that longish and circuitous drive, I ended up at Radisson Salem, our usual stop for an overnight break in our road trips.

Back to Radisson Salem for an overnight rest after an enjoyable and long day on road: