Tata Punch reaches Sandakphu in Eastern Himalayas, a place where only Land Rover 4X4s operate

Tata unveiled their all-new Punch micro SUV in the market recently and we also got a chance to experience this new micro SUV in city conditions. The review of the all-new Tata Punch is already live on our website. Tata Punch is different from other SUVs in the segment. It has the best approach and departure angle and also has a better break over angle. This makes Tata Punch more capable than any other SUV in the segment off-road. We have a video where Tata Punch is being driven on steep mountain roads to reach Sandakphu on India-Nepal border.

The video has been shared by Tata Motors on their official YouTube channel. In this video, a precision driver who is also a local is given the task to drive Tata Punch on steep mountain roads to reach Sandakphu. It is normally a terrain that can only driven if you have a 4×4 SUV. The driver Samantha Dong from Darjeeling is actually the first lady Land Rover driver to reach Sandakphu.

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The driver then sits in the Tata Punch and starts climbing the hill. The initial stage of the climb is quite easy as it has paved roads and the small dimension of the Punch helped. The roads remained like this for 19 kms. The hairpins are very short and steep which is quite challenging especially when you are driving a front wheel drive car.

In the video Samantha can be heard saying that the tyres have enough grip even on wet surfaces and the car is climbing effortlessly. Soon the terrain started to change and so did the weather. the paved roads suddenly disappeared and there were loose rocks and mud on the road. Samanth drove the Punch above those surfaces but, one of the hairpins, the car lost traction. After moving the car several times to front and rear, Samantha finally managed to clear that stretch.

The last three kms in the stretch are even more challenging as it has 23 back to back hairpins with extreme gradients. Samantha soon reached the final and most challenging part of the drive. Here the driver had to maintain a momentum otherwise, Punch would get stuck. Small dimensions along with better approach and departure angle meant driver can maintain a good speed even on rough roads.

The terrain was rough and tough but, Punch finally managed to reach the top and complete the task. Tata Punch is small micro SUV which is powered by a 1.2 litre three cylinder petrol engine generating 86 Ps and 113 Nm of peak torque. The engine is available with manual and a 5-speed AMT gearbox. The AMT version gets Traction Pro Mode which gets engaged if one of the front wheels in the Punch gets stuck. This feature actually cuts power being sent to the stuck wheel and reroutes it to the wheel that has traction. This helps bringing the car out on its own. Samantha was driving the manual version which does not get this feature. The terrain was definitely extreme and Tata Punch performed well for a front wheel drive micro SUV.

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