Trax Gurkha - As good as it gets??

[DirtyDan]

Originally Posted by arun ravi.k

...buy a gurkha from force motors. you will relish the experience...

A lot of BHPers like them so you are not alone but, why do YOU like them?

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

... but I sincerely doubt the rest of the Gurkha will in anyway be capable at 160 Kmph. With the OEM tires, I'd wary to push the Gurkha beyone 120 Kmph.

Yeah, it was not made for 160 and 120 is more than enough for it capabilities. Is this "new" Gurkha going to entail a sheet metal (body) change, too, anybody know or have a picture?

[arun ravi.k]

At best one can safely do only 100 kph max on Indian roads- we dont have autobahns over here- and more so we indians do not have the least traffic sense and adding to the woes pedestrians , dogs , cattle crossing at will I bet 160 kph is a one way ticket to hell.

[Off Roadie]

this thread sure has been engaging
i am keen on a 4wd myself
although it will only happen in late 2009 or early 2010 as i wont be in india for 10 months starting september.
an improved gurkha, bolero, xenon, are on my radar right now.

[Parm]

4x4 bolero anytime for me.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by Parm

4x4 bolero anytime for me.

4x4 Bolero Advantages over Gurkha:
1. Better Sales and Service Support.
2. Four door/LWB.
3. Nicer interiors
4. You can take delivery in this lifetime.

4x4 Bolero Dis-Advantages over Gurkha:
1. Leaf-Springs Suspension up front => Harsher ride.
2. Four door/LWB will be a dis-advantage off-road.
3. Lower ground clearance.
4. Less power-ful engine compared to Gurkha.
5. No diff-locks.

You may want to check with your Mahindra dealer. When I checked a few months back in Kerala, I was told that they no longer have the 4x4 version of the bolero available.

[phamilyman]

not to mention its BSII (unless the CRDe bolero 4wd comes along) so metro guys cant buy the bolero 4wd anymore.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

<10-Jul-2008> Today, I saw a black Gurkha on display at the Chennai dealer, Trans Force. We all know it is supplied against customer orders only : I am wondering who the customer can be...anyone from here on Team BHP ???

.

Looks like it is raining Gurkhas* in Chennai nowadays .

I saw another new Black Gurkha at the Chennai dealership today. There was also a standard silver Gama at the showroom. How I wish they would supply the Gama with 4WD, sigh !


(* since getting to see a new Gurkha is such a rare phenomenon, even 2 new sightings in a month would qualify as "raining" )

.

[shankar.balan]

Ive checked with my pals at Vijai Auto about this. They do have the 4x4 bolero available with the old XD3PU engine which however, is a BS2 variant which you cannot buy/ register in a metro.

The Metro standard is now BS3 and they are moving towards BS4 by 2010. And there is no way that the old XD3PU can be modified to make it BS3 compliant.Forget BS4 from that engine!

One needs to order the vehicle, pay the downpayment (they prefer if possible that one pays a large sum, if not the whole sum), ask the Mahindra dealership to order the vehicle from the factory, go through the normal waiting period of 2-3 months and then get it into one's hands.

The vehicle is manufactured specially against order, but unfortunately, I do believe there is absolutely no scope for customization if one were to request it, even if one were to be willing to pay extra for such customization.

Once it arrives one can get it registered through the dealer in a non metro location - say in Bangalore if one were to buy it, it would need to be registered in Ramnagaram or Mysore or Coorg or somewhere classified as non-metro/ rural. Vijai auto used to offer this service for its customers but I ve not recently enquired whether this is still possible, though one can assume it is, because Vijai Auto does go out of its way to please customers in my experience.

If Mahindra wants seriously to serve the demand for Bolero 4WD in metro locations, it will need to upgrade its technology to provide a Bolero vehicle with 4WD powered possibly by a derivative of the Scorp Crde 2.6 engine, developing a lower BHP than the current Scorp and maybe adopting a newer technology for the front suspension as well.

Asking for Diff locks etc would be a bit much IMO because I dont think that the Mahindra's perceive such a huge demand from the urban cities or even rural markets for this kind of semi luxury 4WD vehicle, which is really the only criterion which would warrant the massive investment necessary, in terms of technology, production capabilities as well as product inventory.

However, as you no doubt have heard, it has been rumoured for some time that the Crde 2WD Bolero has been under testing for quite some time and is supposed to come into the market soon-ish with a 2.5- 2.6 Crde engine similar to that of the Scorp and which has been de-tuned to develop 100BHP (compared with the current XD3PU and DI Turbo engines which develop about 68BHP max). I understand that this new one is provided with better brakes etc to handle all that extra power.

However, as I ve mentioned in earlier posts, I also have been given to understand that they havent done any changes in the suspension set up in terms of modernizing it.

Though there is a clear requirement from the Urban Budget SUV buyer, there was no info available as to whether theyve done some more changes in the interiors, like providing a 60:40 foldable rear seat or anything of the sort.

While there is no information at present, one can hope that some of these improvements will take place and that there will one day be a 4WD variant as well, of the Bolero in this new avatar, for the more enthusiastic one's amongst us.

While I was told by the chaps at the dealership sometime in early July that the launch was expected in Mid August, there yet has been no sign of such a launch. Perhaps one can expect it to happen sometime in Sep maybe!

I, for one, am waiting... as I am sure are many others out there...

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

4x4 Bolero Advantages over Gurkha:
1. Better Sales and Service Support.
2. Four door/LWB.
3. Nicer interiors
4. You can take delivery in this lifetime.

4x4 Bolero Dis-Advantages over Gurkha:
1. Leaf-Springs Suspension up front => Harsher ride.
2. Four door/LWB will be a dis-advantage off-road.
3. Lower ground clearance.
4. Less power-ful engine compared to Gurkha.
5. No diff-locks.

You may want to check with your Mahindra dealer. When I checked a few months back in Kerala, I was told that they no longer have the 4x4 version of the bolero available.

[Monster_BHP]

Does any one think the dismal performance of the Gurkha in OTR is becoz of the below marked(in RED) indication the reason for it? In other words the Gurkhas tires seem to be quite thin compared to the jeeps in the picture, i suppose the kerb weight is also more for the gurkha, which adds to the ground pressure.

Does anyone think changing the tyres and going in for the thicker tyres with 15inch rim would help in improving performance?

[4x4addict]

I am not sure whose Gurkha this is, but Samurai's cousin's Gurkha has highway tires and not off-road tiers. Oldmodel's Gurkha came with the JK LT2000 off-road tires. Not sure which tires you have, but the tread pattern is more important than the width. If you want to downgrade from your 16 inch rims to 15 inch rims, go for the 31x10.5 tires which match very close in overall diameter to the stock 700x16 tires that come on the Gurkha but it is much wider. Since the overall diameter is close to the OEM tires, it will affect your top speed or milage only marginally. Wider tires that most closely match the diameter is 235/85/16. These the OEM tires that come on the Landrover defender and the landcruiser 70 series. Unfortunately this size is not sold in India so would have to be imported. I contacted the Yokohama distributor for South India and he said he could get it for me when the next container was imported. But since Oldmodel took the Gurkha, I didn't follow up with him after that.

[Samurai]

This Gurkha belongs to a Bangalore guy called Srinath. It did have off-road tyres.

A close look of the tyres.

[Monster_BHP]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

I am not sure whose Gurkha this is, but Samurai's cousin's Gurkha has highway tires and not off-road tiers. Oldmodel's Gurkha came with the JK LT2000 off-road tires. Not sure which tires you have, but the tread pattern is more important than the width. If you want to downgrade from your 16 inch rims to 15 inch rims, go for the 31x10.5 tires which match very close in overall diameter to the stock 700x16 tires that come on the Gurkha but it is much wider. Since the overall diameter is close to the OEM tires, it will affect your top speed or milage only marginally. Wider tires that most closely match the diameter is 235/85/16. These the OEM tires that come on the Landrover defender and the landcruiser 70 series. Unfortunately this size is not sold in India so would have to be imported. I contacted the Yokohama distributor for South India and he said he could get it for me when the next container was imported. But since Oldmodel took the Gurkha, I didn't follow up with him after that.

I have seen the same tyres on the Land Rover which some what look the same as this one.. even the Army version of the G-Wagen have the same tyres on them! but does haveing similar tread alone enough? considering the Rover and G-wagen have Bridgestone tyres and Gurkha has a J.K tyre which is a copy of it.. Why the dismal performance still?

Originally Posted by Samurai

This Gurkha belongs to a Bangalore guy called Srinath. It did have off-road tyres.

A close look of the tyres.
Attachment 41576

If Gurkha has everything including the tyres, diff locks and front independent suspions then what still makes it a bad off roader?

[nitrous]

The driver is a huge variable.
For eg:
An 300bhp EVO is no way a bad car. But, the difference between a regular driver vs an enthusiast vs Tommi Makkinen is like day and night in all.
It is going to take years of experience to understand and read dirt and terrain ,plus master techniques and seeing the correct lines in off-road.

[Monster_BHP]

Embarrassing as it may be to post this, here is my Gurkha stuck in the sands, usually i come out using the diff locks but this time i ran out of luck and gassed the peddle and dug in. Please Notice the angle of approach on the sand. I was trying to climb a steep area of the sand which was also wet and loosely packed, so it gave way soon. My question is would the Gypsy have fared better than mine in this situation?

And If you Notice in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th picture, you will see how deep the Gurkhas tracks seem to dig in sand while driving normally. Does any one think thicker tyres are the solutions for this?


Rest of the Pictures are taken by me, the drive on sand that day was nearly 50km and this is the first time it got stuck, as i was trying to push its envelop and see what will happen.

[4x4addict]

Wider tires are not always better in off-roading situations. Sometimes it can also be a hindrance, but if are going to do most of your off-road driving in the beach/sand wider tires help a tremendously. You should also remember to deflate your tires before you go on Sand.