Cross-country road trip with 33 Thar SUVs: Pics & Experience

I always wanted to drive down to Spiti and when “Thar Bengaluru” planned a trip to Spiti in December 2022, I signed up immediately.

BHPian robimahanta recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

14 months/19XXX Km update: Thar

I bought the Thar to do some unique trips once in a while apart from the off-road trails near Bangalore and I am happy to be a part of an enthusiastic bunch of Thar owners in Bangalore who keep planning drives almost every other day. I always wanted to drive down to Spiti and when “Thar Bengaluru” planned a trip to Spiti in December 2022, I signed up immediately. After a lot of planning, a group of 33 Thar set out from Bangalore on an amazing cross-country trip.

A good friend and Tbhpian Turbonath have already covered the trip in detail with some amazing drone images.

I would just like to share some images along with my experience. The drive was so much fun and action-packed that taking photos took a back seat. All the images are taken with the phone or my drone.

Day 1: Nagpur

We drove down to Nagpur and it was mostly an uneventful drive. There was some political event going on in Nagpur and the traffic was a nightmare. After a scrumptious dinner and the usual banter, we retired for the night.* I have driven to Nagpur before but the Thar can be driven in such a carefree manner that the drive is never tiring. After years of driving low-slung sedans with low-profile tyres, the Thar with the AVO dampers is a welcome change. By habit, I slow down a lot for bad surfaces and take speed humps at an angle (even at times with the Thar) but the terrible feeling of tyre and alloy damage on hitting a pothole is non-existent with the Thar.

Flag off from Bangalore’s iconic Vidhan Soudha

Day 2: Gwalior

From Nagpur, it was a lovely drive through Pench, Sagar, and Jhansi to culminate in Gwalior early afternoon. We went to see the Gwalior Fort and it was well worth it. Negotiating narrow lanes and traffic in Gwalior took some effort especially when Google Maps threw us off track. But with the help of some friendly locals, we finally managed to reach the fort just before it closed for the day. The views were breathtaking and the history behind the fort was quite interesting as well.

The Gwalior fort

Views from the fort

Day 3: Chandigarh

It was a fast drive on the Yamuna Expressway and the Eastern peripheral expressway by-passing Delhi. Traffic picked up a lot near Karnal and it was quite surprising to see a zillion dhabas on the highway for a change. Checked into a Chandigarh hotel in the afternoon and headed straight to Mahindra Service Centre, where a check-up of all the Thars was arranged. The stock coolant in the Thar is rated only up to negative 12 degrees Celsius. So, Mahindra arranged Glysantin 30 coolant for all 33 Thars in Chandigarh. It was a smooth and quick service which involved replacing the coolant/distilled water in a 50:50 ratio after flushing out the stock coolant. Evening we went out for an amazing dinner in Chandigarh. The lemon chicken in Deluxe Dhaba and the butter chicken in Pal Dhaba are to die for.

Day 4: Chandigarh (buffer day)

This day was kept as a buffer to sort out issues with the cars if needed. Mahindra even arranged for two service technicians with a laptop who joined us in Chandigarh for the trip. They even gave nice Thar-branded jackets to all the participants. The technicians proved to be a boon for the diesel Thars which had def/dpf issues in the extreme winter of Spiti.

Since I had a free day, decided to visit the rock garden in Chandigarh and some eateries to experience local cuisine.

Day 5: Theog

Started early again and drove via Shimla and could cross Shimla without the notorious traffic thereby reaching Theog for an early lunch. This was the first day in the mountains and single digit temperature. It was great to see 33 Thars parked in the hotel parking lot overnight.

Thars parked in the Theog hotel

Day 5: Kalpa

We drove to Kalpa and stopped at multiple places for photographs. The road was amazing and the views were surreal. The view of the Kinnaur mountain range from the Kalpa Hotel was spectacular.

Kinaur range

Day 6: Kaza

We drove down to Kaza via Nako and the road up to Malling Nala was smooth. Tremendous effort by the BRO to make such a road in such conditions. Construction is going on near the Malling Nala and I guess in a few months, the road will be done all the way to Kaza. We reached Kaza late afternoon and it was biting cold

Fantastic roads near Nako.