The primary night time of the journey comprised of simply attending to know the Mahindra Journey crew that we might be travelling with, getting briefed on our itinerary for the subsequent couple of days in addition to assembly all the opposite contributors within the convoy.

Coming to the automotive I drove over the week, it was a hard-top Mahindra Thar with 132hp, 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine and 6-speed torque converter automated gearbox. The trim was the top-of-the-line LX model. Although it’s price declaring that as a result of scarcity in provide, all of the Thars we used for this journey had been from the final batch of pre-production fashions. This meant that whereas on paper they matched all of the specification of the manufacturing fashions, every of those had been hand-built and had some quirks that the client vehicles wouldn’t have. 

Day 1 – Udaipur to Jodhpur

We began our week-long drive from Udaipur, with our first cease at Shikarbadi personal airport which is sometimes utilized by the Royal household in Udaipur. On the airport we met with Prince Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar of Udaipur, who’s an avid vehicle fanatic and has a sizeable assortment of Mahindra off-roaders. He had introduced just a few of his off-roader for us to have a look at together with a Thar Wanderlust, a limited-edition Thar 700 and even his brand-new kitted out Thar.

After a short interplay, he invited the convoy to go to the royal household’s classic automotive assortment for a particular viewing – although not a part of our unique itinerary – it was a possibility we may hardly refuse. So, we carved out a brief 30-minute go to and hoped to make up time on the street.

Nevertheless, Udaipur had different plans and we had been caught in site visitors, fortunately my Thar was an automated so it was simple going however time we did lose. Nonetheless, we made it out of Udaipur with the convoy intact and joined the Nationwide Freeway from the place it was clean cruising till we obtained to Jawai. Right here the Mahindra Journey crew had scouted a hill-top from the place we might get a great view of the Jawai metropolis and the dam.

We had been informed to drive up the hill which was steep and didn’t have any set path for the previous few hundred metres, simple proper? Really, it was (type of)! The Thar and the wonderful crew guiding us performed a large function in making certain all the convoy made it up, particularly contemplating many people had minimal off-road expertise. I used four-wheel low and adopted instructions from the spotters and fairly quickly I used to be on the summit.

After that it was right down to the Jawai river financial institution to absorb a serene sundown after which on to our night time halt at Jodhpur.

Day 2 – Jodhpur to Jaisalmer

The subsequent morning, I had a leisurely begin from the picturesque Resort Pratap Niwas whose structure was impressed by the previous palaces. After lining up all of the vehicles for a fast photoshoot we hit the street, with the agenda for the day consisting of a comparatively relaxed journey in direction of Jaisalmer protecting 290km through the freeway.

Contemplating that just about all our driving on at the present time, barring the preliminary departure from the town and crossing just a few villages, can be on broad and properly laid highways, this gave me a wonderful alternative to see simply how usable the brand new Thar was on common tarmac. It was snug cruising at triple digit speeds, not like a mid-size SUV for positive, however given this automotive’s onerous core off-road bias its freeway manners had been shocking and the cabin was pretty quiet for essentially the most half (although my particular automotive appeared to have a difficulty with the roof sealant which led to numerous wind noise filtering into the cabin over 110kph).

Lunch was on the very aptly named Thar Oasis resort, which had lush, inexperienced fields and a vegetable patch and after a hearty meal and a few night tea, we obtained again on the street and headed to Jaisalmer.

To maintain the freeway journey partaking, an area information, radioed in each now-and-then giving us details about varied factors of pursuits and the overall historical past of the world. He even briefed us on the lore behind the now well-known native legend of the ‘Enfield Baba’, after we handed his shrine. This data was accompanied by detailed historical past and insights on the assorted older Mahindra’s we noticed alongside the best way, the place among the data was new to even automotive guys like us! We ended up reaching our resort in Jaisalmer by round 8pm.

Day 3 – Jaisalmer to sand dunes and again

Our itinerary for day 3 integrated a late begin from Jaisalmer as we headed out in direction of the Sam dune for our lunch cease. A couple of different journalists and I wished to utilize the few free hours within the morning to discover Jaisalmer, and the Mahindra journey crew had very kindly agreed to allow us to take our Thars and head in to the town.

We determined to discover Jaisalmer fort which is among the few residing forts in India, the place residents reside inside its footprint.  As a result of our early begin, we obtained to the fort early sufficient to witness its calm and tranquil aspect. Wandering by the slim streets of the fort was an expertise in itself together with the various view factors of the fort that supplied a breath-taking view of the ‘Golden Metropolis’.

We determined to take just a few photographs of the Thar with the fort within the backdrop, and it was right here I realised how a lot consideration the brand new Thar garnered. From the locals taking photos of the off-roader and coming as much as ask questions on it, to vacationers getting into the fort staring and taking photos, there was one thing in regards to the automotive that appealed to so many individuals (I’m positive the stickers additionally performed a task within the quantity of consideration it obtained).

We reached the resort with simply sufficient time to seize a fast chew earlier than heading off to the Sam Dunes. The journey to the dunes was pretty straight ahead, primarily counting on highways, although we did make a detour to go to the Khaba Fort and drove by our first part of sand tracks, giving us the mildest of style of what was to return.

Our lunch cease for the day was on the Desert Glamping facility close to the Sam dunes. We acquired a number of common native dishes for lunch. After that we had been briefed in regards to the fundamentals of sand driving and the protocols to observe whereas out within the dune. Tyre pressures had been lowered to 20psi from the usual 32psi (helps distribute weight over comfortable sand), which meant we needed to prohibit our pace on the street.

The primary few kilometres on the dust observe appeared fairly simple and our vehicles had been nonetheless in two-wheel drive. I lastly reached the a part of my journey that I used to be each excited and uncertain about. This was in any case, my first time correctly off-roading on sand. The perfectionist in me wished to clear all of the obstacles with none errors or hiccups, however the realist in me wished to organize for the potential for getting caught and never making a foul state of affairs worse.  As I lined up and noticed the lead automotive – a 15-year-old Mahindra Legend – clear the crest, adopted by the primary new Thar from the convoy, my nerves began to settle.

With me being behind the pack had particular execs and cons. The most important benefit, was that I may see everybody’s method traces, the tracks they adopted, and be taught from any errors that others made. On the flip aspect, being the final automotive within the pack, meant the tracks I handled had been lower than pristine from everybody who went earlier than me and obtained caught. So, taking every thing under consideration, I approached the primary dune and put all the recommendation I had acquired to make use of. A lot to my satisfaction, me and my Thar made it within the first try!

However the dunes and tracks obtained progressively tougher, and earlier than lengthy I discovered myself caught, simply earlier than a climb to the third dune. I used to be positive my automotive must be winched out. Nevertheless, the off-roading knowledgeable from the Mahindra Journey crew calmly defined my error and the state of affairs to me, after which he guided me out of the rut that I used to be caught in. To my shock, there was no want for a restoration car to winch me out, all it took was some steering (and the Thars wheel angle indicator helped lots).

From right here on, I made a decision to not stress a lot once I made errors and learn to manoeuvre my method out of the state of affairs. As soon as I began doing that, the expertise turned an entire lot extra gratifying. Driving on unfastened sand, is sort of an exhilarating sensation as it’s all about maintaining momentum and discovering the appropriate traces. What’s additionally enjoyable is that as a result of low traction ranges, your automotive does have a tendency to slip round a good bit and it’s totally satisfying, having the ability to management these slides.

We caught some of the spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen from the highest of one of many dunes. As soon as the solar dipped under the horizon, we headed to our dinner cease on the fringe of the Sam dunes, the place the crew had organised refreshments and meals. We obtained to spend the night time beneath the clear skies within the chilly desert, with a big bonfire maintaining us heat. It was a really perfect finish to the day.

Day 4– Jaisalmer to Jodhpur

The fourth day in essence was our final day driving the Thar, and as we had the identical path to cowl as we did on day 2, there was no specific hurry to get going. After a lazy begin we hit the roads by midday. For the ultimate day the convoy was reversed and having spent the final three days on the tail-end of the pack, I used to be now positioned proper behind the lead automotive within the convoy. This got here as a pleasant change in tempo and surroundings. It additionally felt extra relaxed up within the entrance.

The Mahindra journey guys additionally determined to take us on some B and C roads to see how properly the Thar carried out on the totally different street circumstances and in addition to maintain the journey attention-grabbing. As a result of our barely much less standard route, by the point we reached our lunch cease in Osiyan, it was already fairly late within the night.

After a fast lunch cease, we restarted our journey taking the highways because it obtained darker. Maintaining us engaged was all of the attention-grabbing Mahindra trivia we had been receiving from the crew. The journey for essentially the most half went easily, with solely the hustle and bustle of Jodhpur metropolis inflicting some further work for the convoy to stay collectively.

We lastly reached our resort at round 9pm and had a dinner all collectively as a crew recounting the various nice experiences we had. The subsequent morning, earlier than leaving, we cleared out our vehicles and I’ve to say handing the keys of my Thar again to the organisers was the toughest factor I needed to do on this journey. I believe that in itself speaks volumes in regards to the new Thar! I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of this automotive and set out for one more journey. 

Additionally see:

2020 Mahindra Thar evaluate, check drive

DNA Take a look at: New Mahindra Thar vs previous Thar