Off-roading has slowly started to gain popularity among SUV owners in India. There are many groups that organise such road trips and off-roading sessions for SUV owners so that they can explore the capabilities of their vehicles. These groups are often led by experienced professionals. We have seen several videos of SUVs performing in off-road conditions. Here we have a video where SUVs like Mahindra Scorpio N, old and new generation Thar, Toyota Fortuner and Isuzu V-Cross go off-roading in snow.
The video has been uploaded by Small Town Rider on their YouTube channel. Mountain regions in North India are still getting snowfall. Driving through snow is extremely tricky as the chances of loosing control over the vehicle are pretty high. Vlogger and his friends who own 4x4s start their snow drive expeditions in their vehicles. The roads are completely covered with snow and the lead car which is a well-equipped Mahindra Thar is clearing the path. Soon they reached a point, where the snow started to get deep.
The person in the lead car, who has experience in driving through such conditions asked them to install snow chains to the rear wheels. Snow chains are extremely important in such conditions are wheels tend to spin free without any traction. Afte driving for some more distance, they reached the spot. Soon everyone started driving into the snow. Toyota Fortuner was the first to go into deep snow. The driver was having fun and the SUV was moving through the snow without any issues. Soon more SUVs started going in and one after the other, they started getting stuck.
Most of them were not very familiar with the terrain so, they did not know how to drive here. Mahindra Thar was the first to get stuck. It was so badly stuck that the rear wheels had sunken into the ground under the snow. The SUV was pulled out using a winch. Another SUV that got stuck was the Mahindra Scorpio N 4×4. The SUV was giving way to some other vehicle which was passing by the road when it slipped away from the road. The SUV was not able to find grip and come out of the pit on its own. Even after keeping sand track or recovery track in front of the wheels, it could not climb out on its own.
The group also had SUVs like Isuzu MU-X, V-Cross and even a Mahindra XUV700 AWD. The main issue with the Scorpio N was that it was running on HT tyres. At least AT tyres are required in such surfaces. Almost all vehicles in the group got stuck while driving through snow. The group was prepared and they had proper recovery equipment which helped them in recovering the stuck vehicles. Some of them were stuck so badly that even the tow strap snapped. Mahindra Thar which was the lead car rescued many vehicles and finally after recovering all the SUVs, the group headed back. This is the advantage of exploring such terrains in a group. Even if a vehicle gets stuck, there are others who can help recover it.