“No way!” I think to myself. The alarm bells in my head have gone from a light tinkle to full blast jangle on our reconnaissance drive around 19 Degree North’s many acres of forest.
I have driven here before and know the terrain, but today, it seems very daunting and it isn’t because of what I am driving either. In this lightly customised Mahindra Thar, or The Ram, as I think of it, we can just barge through the wilderness without a care. The Thar heaves over boulders and thuds through ditches nonchalantly, albeit with the grace of a fully loaded truck. Physical discomfort aside, the Thar offers a lot of peace of mind here. After all, even if we don’t manage to avoid all the obstacles, this 1675kg creature could surely handle a few hard hits. But my teeth clench a bit as I think about the rest of the flock that’s waiting in the parking lot.
Like a lamb to…
Whatever will they do? I can imagine some of this lot crunching to a halt just a few hundred metres down this path. Honda’s CR-V, or the City Slicker as I thought of it, is the first car that comes to mind. The Honda isn’t pretending to be a tough guy; quite the opposite, it’s unabashedly urbane. Forcing it to get its feet dirty is incredibly mean. The Skoda Yeti, the Sophisticate, is the next one to pop up in my head. It’s amazing how something so small and quirky can wrap itself in an air of upper-crust cool. And it also has a demeanour that suggests it could use its paws for more than just shaking hands. Know what I mean?
Then there’s Posh Spice, or the Range Rover Evoque. Like the former pop phenomenon, the Evoque is mostly seen in the posh areas of town, but it’s a Range Rover and it’s meant to go anywhere, isn’t it? But it just looks so dainty, and it certainly isn’t cheap, so we’d better be careful with that one. Next up is the Renault Duster, or the Sheep. When seen in the wilderness, the Duster looks a bit lost, like a kid that’s been shorn of the security of its flock. Hopefully, we don’t have to shepherd it too much. In contrast, the Mahindra XUV500, looks properly confident.
No, I am not thinking of it as the Cheetah – it’s more like the Wolf.
Interestingly, although these cars are built around a monocoque chassis and all of them use all-wheel-drive systems of varying sophistication, they aren’t designed for hardcore mud plugging. Unlike the Thar, these five don’t have optional off-road tyres, low ratios or a locking rear differential either. So how far will they go?
Soon, we reach the spot picked out for a group photograph. It is perfect, but is there any other way, an easier way to get here, I ask our guide. There is, he assures us, and we head off to scope out the alternative route. Relieved, I follow his Gypsy in the Thar. But my relief is short-lived. The climb up is littered with big rocks, the route is rutted unevenly and there are large steps every now and then too. The only way it seems to be better is that there is some room to manoeuvre here. The sky is overcast too. If the rain stays away, we may be able to pull this off. But if it pours, some of the softies might have to spend the night here.
Pretty but tough
This is it. A couple of drives up and down the first test patch in the Thar has done little to ease the lump in my throat. I quickly take stock of the combatants and formulate a plan. Objectively, the Evoque seems quite ready for the challenge ahead. Still, it is the one I am most worried about damaging, so I jump into the deep end of the pool and head off in the Evoque. Within the first few minutes, my worries start to melt away. While the suspension seems a touch fidgety on tarmac, here, it feels completely at home. Unlike the Thar, you aren’t rocking violently side-to-side, crawling over the ruts and rocks.
At the point where the road dives downhill, I pause and peer down. It still looks pretty daunting. The descent will test each contender’s off-roading basics, such as approach, departure and ramp break-over angles. On the way up, it will be the drivetrain that will have to prove its worth. In the Thar, we could take the chance of clambering down without a second thought, but we have to tread a bit more cautiously with the Evoque. So, I push the driver’s seat up to get a better view of what’s ahead. Rahul, an experienced off-roader, is playing spotter and guides me around and over obstacles that aren’t visible to me from inside the cabin.
In the Mud and Ruts program of Terrain Response, the Evoque has transformed dramatically. The all-wheel-drive system seems to be locked and the 2.2-litre diesel engine is making all the torque easily accessible. Even though the Evoque doesn’t have a low range box, it crawls in a measured manner because it packs the new 9-speed gearbox with a shorter first gear. Combined with the grunt of the engine, the Evoque marches forward with confidence. There’s hardly any wheel slip, and it’s only our over-cautiousness that’s slowing it down. Down, up and once again, the Evoque makes it look like a cakewalk and comes through unscathed. Whew!
Out of the closet
Next, I pick the CR-V to tackle the slope. The Honda is the car with the least ground clearance, only 170mm, and its wheelbase is the second- longest here. It’s such a city slicker that Honda doesn’t publish its approach, departure and ramp-over angles anywhere around the world. It also doesn’t have any off-road mode or locking switch to prime it for the route up ahead. Also, this Honda runs on petrol power and loves revs. So, if you throw the CR-V’s spec sheet into this battle, it would be laughed off. What followed was a complete surprise.
The CR-V breezes through it. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. But the CR-V is incredibly calm. We take it down slowly. Carefully stepping off rocks and hopping down the ledges, else the soft suspension could cause the chin to ground down. Despite our best attempts, the CR-V does kiss the ground once, but only just. It then makes it all the way down without any struggle. The climb up is made tougher still as it starts to rain. And here’s where the engine and the all-wheel-drive system surprises us. The i-VTEC motor seems to have ample torque on the ready for every prod of the throttle and the all-wheel-drive system uses it all effortlessly. Consequently, as we crawl uphill, the CR-V doesn’t scrabble for grip, it just steps calmly forward. We are so surprised that we take it down the loop just to make sure we aren’t imagining it. Turns out, we aren’t.
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