Mountain vs desert. Bike vs car. Two-wheels vs four. Black vs white — There’s a lot going on with this story. I have always preferred the unadulterated experience of a motorcycle over the comfortable cocoon that spoils with all sorts of luxury. And even though I knew I’ll end up drenched, stinky and itchy after this shoot, I chose the Royal Enfield Himalayan over the Mahindra Thar Roxx. My bias towards motorcycles isn’t because of some ‘Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul’ philosophy, but rather because of a lack of experience with four-wheelers. And seems like the Thar Roxx took it upon itself to change that for me.
And it began with the simplest thing — getting ready for the trail. With the Himalayan, the prep started much earlier, with me squeezing myself into the skin-fit off-road armour. Then came the knee guards, followed by the top layer followed by boots, helmet, goggles and gloves.
By this time I was already sweating and eager to start riding just to cool myself down. With the Thar, my watchman had no clue what I was heading out to do. Could have been a grocery run or a cross-country drive. I was in my cargo pants and t-shirt. And before the 150 steps to the car made me sweat, I was in with the air-conditioning turned to the max and sipping on a cold brew. So, the Thar was already off to a good start.
The next thing was attention that these vehicles garnered and well, the Thar won again. Well, it’s not that the Himalayan wasn’t a head turner, but I felt that had more to do with my riding gear than the bike itself. With the Thar, it was evident that who sat inside didn’t matter (to an extent) and not just other drivers and pedestrians were awestruck, but even cops on patrol couldn’t help ogling at the Thar. Possibly, this could be because the Roxx is new and perhaps many people saw it for the first time, but nonetheless, it commanded respect and more road presence, or the white was just too hard to miss… and too pretty to make it dirty.
I wasn’t bothered about getting the Himalayan dirty, at all. In fact, the dirtier an ADDV, the better it looks. Even this ADV knew that, and even at the slightest chance, it would spray water over its headlight and tail. The Thar was no better. It didn’t take long for the Thar to have streaks of brown over its suave white colour. But every time I got out of the vehicle, I had to be extra careful that I don’t get mud or grime on me. As much as I would like to believe Mahindra’s claim that the white interiors are easy to clean, I didn’t want to test it. What I was eager to test was its off-road capability.
With the Himalayan, all I had to do was switch off the ABS at the rear and I was off to tackle anything and everything that the trail had to throw at me. The Thar didn’t want me to take things lightly. First, I had to ensure that the ADAS was off, then switch to the 4-low and when things weren’t as tricky, move to 4-high. For me, figuring this out and testing it was a new and fun exercise.
What I hadn’t realised until then was that the Himalayan was actually demanding a little more from me than the Thar. Gear shifts, throttle control, body position and balance — all while being fully attentive to the surroundings. This is pretty normal for all motorcyclists, isn’t it? It was natural for me, too, until I realised that the top-spec AX7L Diesel 4×4 AT variant didn’t want me to bother with shifting; the 6-speed torque converter worked just fine. There was no question of balancing, either.
For the first time, I was enjoying the view while off-roading. Water splashed on the windshield and even the panoramic sunroof, but I was dry and enjoying the ventilated seat. Through some narrow sections, the thorny bushes hit the car, and for the first time, I didn’t have to be careful about the thorns cutting me.
But my curiosity and creature comforts aside, both were equally capable of doing the task at hand. The 452cc Sherpa engine had enough low-end grunt to get me out of sticky situations with enough in reserve in the mid to top of the rev range. Even the suspension made most of it easier. But the Achilles heel of the Himalayan are its tyres that just loved taking the motorcycle sideways. For the front, I dropped the tyre pressure to 18 PSI to widen the contact patch which helped through the ride.
The Thar’s mHawk engine’s 172.4 bhp and 37.72 kgm should have translated to some ballistic performance, right? Well, that wasn’t the case. Thanks to its weight, the acceleration seemed a tad milder than what the Roxx’s appearance suggested. But while off-roading, nothing was able to slow down the Thar, thanks to its healthy spread of torque. The steering wheel provided good and direct feedback, and the throttle response was pretty accurate, too, which made driving through the technical sections a lot easier. But the surprise package was the suspension; going over bumps or even rocky surfaces didn’t unsettle the car.
with a car
The Thar Roxx completely changed my perspective about off-roading with a car. Never had I thought taking a heavy car through mud and trails could actually be this fun and comfortable. Driving through slush pits while having your favourite background score playing… who wouldn’t want that, right? Coming home clean after an entire day of tomfoolery? My family seemed to be more happy about this. Does that mean off-roading with motorcycles is going to take a back seat? Not at all!
Even though the Himalayan is not particularly a light motorcycle, I can still lift it if the situation calls for it. But getting a car out of a deep rut or slush without help? I don’t want to be in that position. And the whole point of off-road riding is to get away from the concrete jungle and enjoy nature, isn’t it? Doing that with the comfort of air-conditioning and music? Might as well chill at home, right? But, I am glad that something like the Thar Roxx exists, because whenever I want to experience the bliss of nature with more than one person, I’ll have a solid car for the job. I guess this experience was never about mountain vs desert or bike vs car or two-wheels vs four or even black vs white. It was just about the heart vs the brain.
