Mahindra XUV700 on the Rann of Kutch – our 700 particular!

Three succesful vehicles, open desert, countless horizons- appears like enjoyable, does not it? It’s also nice timing if such a promising street journey comes across the trip time. In fact, from the place you might be watching, our life in OVERDRIVE might look like one countless trip. However a whole lot of exhausting work, sleepless nights, blood and sweat goes into this life we lead. You may get an opportunity to know this higher as soon as we resume our Dwell Life in OVERDRIVE escapades after the pandemic leaves us for good, however till you’ll simply must take our phrase for it. I imply, after persevering with to publish the OD journal for over 23 years and airing the TV present for 13, we all know a factor or two about how a lot effort goes into all of it. These 13 years of the OVERDRIVE present on the CNBC-TV18 tv channel led us to our 700th episode, which properly coincided with the final week of December, and subsequently the celebratory street journey plan with three SUVs.

A few of us OD hacks selecting our vehicles and assembly at a typical level to start out the journey is a sample that you understand of already. Certain, some planning goes into selecting these vehicles too, however this time round Bert was to make all of the plans and ship the vehicles over with out telling us what decisions he had made for the steeds or the vacation spot. On the day of the drive, the senior producer of our present, Sohini Dutt picked up Simran from the pet hostel (the place he was making preparations for his new canine), whereas I used to be fetched by our ace lensman Anis Shaikh who has gotten over his knee damage from our anniversary challenge shoot within the desert, however most likely nonetheless fears the unfastened sand. Nonetheless being cautious of his knee, he arrived in a shiny new Mahindra XUV700 automated. Only a day earlier than, Mahindra had sheepishly advised me that the media vehicles weren’t but out there and I might now see why. Mahindra hardly has any competitors on this section, actually not sufficient to have three competing vehicles on this street journey. Intrigued to search out out I known as Simran, solely to search out out that he too was in an XUV700. Earlier than we might ask extra, Ms Dutt butt in and mentioned, “Bert is driving the identical automotive too. Do not you get it – 700th episode, XUV700? It simply suits!”

In the meantime, Bert was procuring tools for the drive – tow hooks, tie-downs, tyre inflators et al, and would be a part of us on the freeway in direction of Gujarat. May we be going in direction of Balasinor once more? We actually would not thoughts the royal meals unfold. However Bert’s tools checklist meant that we may very well be heading again to the mountains within the thick of snow. Solely Bert knew. Anis lower quick our guess working and advised us that within the spirit of the theme, Bert was planning a vacation spot that was round 700kms from Mumbai. So whereas Simran and Sohini have been playing around with Alexa’s music looking out capabilities, prodding our automotive’s Alexa assistant revealed that the inviting Sam sand dunes of Jaisalmer have been about 700kms from the place we have been. In all probability that was the vacation spot then – however I had the 200PS XUV700 petrol, which does not get all-wheel-drive just like the diesel automatics that Bert and Simran have been driving.

A few hours later, Bert caught up with our vehicles, which have been virtually crawling by way of Gujarat’s vacationer site visitors. Previous Surat, we encountered site visitors jams at each toll and bridge and the sight of three shiny XUV700s standing tall caught a whole lot of consideration too. Feeling like celebrities by way of all the group, we quickly hit the Vadodara-Ahmedabad expressway the place the petrol XUV700 left the opposite two behind within the blink of a watch – solely to be reunited with its oiler siblings at dinner. As we left Ahmedabad, we quickly turned to the emptier B-roads and whereas that actually felt like paradise after driving by way of the crowds, we quickly reached our vacation spot for the night time – Rann Riders at Dasada. The title of the place shortly gave away what Bert had in thoughts for the 700th episode – etching a signature on the undisturbed flatlands of the Rann of Kutch.

It was an early begin the following morning because the goal was to succeed in the Chhota (small) Rann on the first light. There are a lot of wildlife sanctuaries across the Rann of Kutch and solely sure areas are open for public and transportation use to keep away from disturbance to the habitat. Subsequently, permissions from the forest division are a should and are exhausting to acquire. With all of the paperwork sorted, we hit the Rann quickly sufficient and drove deep till we have been surrounded by empty horizons on all sides.

The Overdrive present was conceived round 13 years in the past, however the Rann of Kutch…eons in the past…an enormous shallow of the Arabian Sea that was lower off from the saline water physique because of the geological uplift. Since then it has been a salty marshland, which through the dry months of the 12 months turns into an countless mudflat that for the Chhota Rann alone, spans throughout 30,000 sq. kilometres. So it is just pure that we went berserk after hitting the crusty landmass – kicking up dust trails, sliding round and letting the XUV700 get into its ingredient. Certain, it was “crossover” written in its title, however let it unfastened on unfastened terrain like this and also you realise that it was the identical spirit of journey as some other Mahindra SUV.

The lowered centre of gravity additionally makes it simpler to regulate as it’s sliding round, and by no means provides you the sensation that the car might topple on its facet. The exact steering management provides additional to the boldness. The brand new FSD suspension exhibits its superiority on the Rann too. With diminished rebound and predictable dive, it is simpler to vary instructions on the XUV700 even whereas drifting round on the sand. Evidently, the diesel AWD does all of this much better than the petrol, which is FWD solely.

After just a few hours of hooning round on the Rann, Bert gave his automotive a relaxation and mentioned some severe duties with us – the primary of which was a high velocity run! Discovering a stretch lengthy sufficient to try this run is not as simple because it appears even with such a big patch of vacancy at your disposal. Ruts creates by different automobiles, the ditches and trenches created by the salt extraction operations, unseen damp patches and even stays of animals consumed by this saline desert, pose a risk to such excessive velocity runs – particularly when these can catch you unaware. Add to it the floor which appears to be like grippy, however is essentially unfastened and might be unstable.

Whereas figuring out the fitting patch to do the highest velocity run, we additionally examined the highest finish capabilities of the diesel and petrol XUV700s, and the latter managed higher speeds. The selection was clear then – the 200PS XUV would make the try, whereas Bert’s XUV700 would park just a few kilometres away with its highly effective LED lamps on excessive beams to provide me a basic course that I needed to head in. It is easy to get misplaced in such an enormous vacancy! The primary couple of runs ended with the automotive reaching a velocity of round 150kmph and struggling to transcend that. It is not simple for vehicles to place the ability down on this floor. Whereas the higher floor appears to be like toasty, it shortly vanishes into the powdery sand that sits solely a few millimetres beneath. Because the sand will get softer or the wind provides resistance, the speeds drop after which the automotive struggles to construct velocity once more. We used these components to our benefit. We over-inflated the tyres to cut back the contact patch and grip, and utilizing our bespoke flag (oh yeah!) we gauged the course of the wind and selected the course. Each labored! The tyres had noticeable lesser resistance from the sand and the automotive had the help of the tailwind. 150kmph got here up sooner. We drove previous 160kmph and the steering was telling us how the tyres have been reducing by way of the sand. 170kmph got here up inside just a few breaths, and we have been climbing briskly to 175kmph – and dang, we hit an enormous rut created by the salt extraction pipelines. Watch our in-cabin video you will note the magnitude of it – however the suspension soaked it and the automotive continued with none drama. However the progress had stopped and the velocity had dropped. It would not pull previous 160kmph after that. If we needed to do these speeds, it might have solely occurred on this explicit course that the wind had insisted. However the countless ruts on the course meant our begin line could not be pushed again for an extended run-up, nor would now we have sufficient distance on the farther finish to go any quicker with out hitting that rut.

So 175kmph it’s. One for the document books, until we return to rewrite it. I’d have liked to etch 175 on the Rann too, however we thought it will be a nicer thought to etch the quantity ‘700’ as a substitute – and so we did – and what a sight it was for the harrier that was flying over us (or was it attacking our drone?)

With that sense of feat nonetheless sturdy, Bert led us to the Medak Guess – one of many few stony elevations in the course of this landmass. The petrol XUV700 continued to impress right here too, because it steadily adopted the AWDs to the highest of the thorny hillock. It was an ideal spot to open our picnic baskets and likewise gaze on the numbers we had etched in sand.

Quickly after, we descended again to flatlands for the following job. This one wanted me to have an excellent cleaner launch than the highest velocity run – as a result of this time it was a quarter-mile run on the Rann. We marked a place to begin, measured a distance of 400 meters and marked the end line with our beloved, bespoke flag.

With my belief within the petrol automotive, I hit the course with a lot enthusiasm. The wheelspin was troublesome to comprise with 200 enthusiastic horses dashing to the entrance wheels. Extra so with the traction management switched off. As a security system, the traction management switches again on mechanically between the 40-50kmph mark, and the transition do not rob the automotive off a few of that point. Nevertheless it’s enjoyable (and addictive) in its personal candy approach and I will need to have accomplished at the least 8-9 runs. A 23.5s quarter mile run on this terrain is a feat in itself for a three-row SUV of this order. Make that 22.5s with guide shifts!

However the second I advised Bert that point, he had a small grin on his face and all of us new it was all concerning the all-wheel-drive. He determined to pull. Wanting a chunk of the pie, Sohini determined to be the one flagging off the drag. It took Bert one try (one!) to take limelight away from my 200PS crossover. The diesel places out 185PS, a transparent 15PS deficit over the petrol XUV, however with that energy taking place to all 4 wheels, he had an enormous benefit on this floor. By the point he crossed the end line, he had gained over two seconds on me. That felt so embarrassing to the petrolhead in me that I merely needed to drive off into the sundown and by no means return!

Whereas the digital camera crew photographed the successful automotive, Bert celebrated his win with Simran’s automotive – whereas the remainder of us watched, ate dust and put our telephones to make use of. We might have merely watched shy wild asses and dancing flamingos as a substitute. Whereas we could not actually cherish the wildlife, our undeterred spirit of journey made us camp for the night time have a bonfire, reminiscing concerning the 13 years which have handed. What a beautiful journey it has been, and this is to many extra that can come.

Photographs by Anis Shaikh

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