Independence Quattro Drive 2019: The chariots of choice

Team OD Updated: December 17, 2019, 05:25 PM IST

On the run-up to India's 73rd Independence Day, we look back on what makes our annual OVERDRIVE tradition, the Independence Quattro Drive, a drive to remember. It's an experience we here at OVERDRIVE look forward to with as much, if not more, enthusiasm than the participants who signed up to 'Live life in OVERDRIVE' themselves.

Leh, and its surrounding areas, offers up a stunning breadth of sights and for the first-time visitor, it's a game of waiting with bated breath to round the next corner and be met with a vista which beats the last. For the traveller who's visited prior, it's a chance to soak in the details of the mighty Himalayas that ever so often makes you question your place in the world. It's also a chance to celebrate our great country's day of independence with like-minded enthusiasts and pay the dutiful and brave soldiers, keeping our borders safe, our respects.

The journey to Leh, and onwards, via road often makes the bucket list of the adventurer, intrepid or not, for the challenges which must be overcome in earning those moments of awe at the landscapes before you. And for every broken road, boulder-strewn path, steep hairpin bend and water crossing, there's a vehicle that makes short work of it. And the IQD is a once in a lifetime chance for people to experience that in luxury, ensconced within the cabin of an Audi Q SUV.

With its legendary Quattro all-wheel drive set-up and suspension tuned to ironing out the vagaries of Indian roads, even the worst road conditions stand no chance. We've travelled these roads (even carrying on when there were no roads!) for the last six years in everything from Audi's baby SUV, the Q3, to the mid-size Q5, and the ultimate Audi SUV, the Q7. Each year, we leave for home after the IQD with even more respect for its capabilities and all-encompassing comfort - a set of traits usually hard to marry together. There have been times when these luxury SUVs have made it through water-crossings that made even hardcore 4x4s think twice - for the Audis, it was just in a day's work!