With the market slowly shifting towards the SUVs and popularity of cars with high ground clearance increasing, most believe that such vehicles are much more capable. However, the capability of a vehicle is mostly dependent on the driving skills and experience of the person who controls the steering wheel more than anything else. Here is a video that shows the mighty Mahindra Scorpio and a humble Tata Tiago going on a trail where the Scorpio fails to tackle an obstacle whereas, the Tiago drives over it successfully. Here is what exactly happened here.
The video put up by One Living Life on YouTube. The video has been shot somewhere in Arunachal Pradesh, where such roads are quite common due to the excessive rainfall. The person was on his way to Walong Town from Parashuram which is officially the Eastern-most town of India. The roads are in extremely bad shape and there are lose gravels all around. The video shows the Tata Tiago hatchback being followed by a Mahindra Scorpio.
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The person recording the video walks ahead just to check around while the vehicles crossed through a traffic jam. At the start, the video shows a few trucks and heavy vehicles crossing the patch without any problem. There is even a humble Alto that crossed the patch without any problem.
After some time, the Tata Tiago finally arrives and crosses the broken uphill patch without breaking a sweat. However, the Mahindra Scorpio, which was following closely behind the Tiago started slipping on the patch and the rear tyre can be seen spinning in the air. The Scorpio driver takes the vehicle in reverse and comes at a higher speed to increase the momentum and cross the patch too.
Why did the Scorpio fail in the first attempt?
Well, there are many factors to it and the most highlighted one is the drivetrain. The Scorpio 4X2 is an RWD vehicle and there is no differential in the rear axle of the 4X2 model. It means if one of the wheels in the air, all the power generated by the engine will go to that wheel and it will keep on spinning in the air. Also, while going uphill, cars with FWD are easier to drive compared to RWD. It is mainly because of two reasons – first is the weight of the engine is directly above the front axle that ensures more traction on the FWD cars while going uphill. Also, the front wheel pulls the weight of the vehicle compared to the RWD cars pushing the weight of the car, again making the FWD more successful in uphill patches. This is the reason why you see small hatchbacks like Maruti Suzuki Alto and 800 on the hills. They are extremely common due to the ease of driving.
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