Buying a Force Gurkha!!

[Monster_BHP]

Hi guys to my surprise the dealer in my town has a Force Gurkha in his show room and i thought i would buy it. Today it came for a TD and i got a few snaps. The problem is they are quoting it at 8.70-lakhs!! Is this the right price or should i try bring it down? The Vehicle has already done 1300 km on the trip meter!! I would appericate if our senior members could guiding me on the price and details..

Here it is..

[nitrous]

1300 kms?
You want to buy yourself a demo vehicle for 8.7 lakhs?

[khan_sultan]

Depends on what you want it for? I saw one first hand during the Coorg OTR and here are my 2 cents

• Do not buy the Gurkha if comfort and interior space is what you want.
• Don't buy if you want it for serious off-roading. Buy a much much cheaper and more capable JEEP instead.

For other things, other members can comment

[Monster_BHP]

lol.. I asked him that and he said they had to drive it from the pune plant. They must have driven here too but do i have an option? Its a custom vehicle and i have to wait for it if i miss this one!! Now i am confused..

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Depends on what you want it for? I saw one first hand during the Coorg OTR and here are my 2 cents

• Do not buy the Gurkha if comfort and interior space is what you want.
• Don't buy if you want it for serious off-roading. Buy a much much cheaper and more capable JEEP instead.

For other things, other members can comment

I thought the Gurkha is best when it comes to off-roading!! I mean it has this slip differential and all that! Thats why i thought its a better buy!

Moreover a Bolero4WD will also cost nearly as much considering the 4Wd option is 1-lakhs more in the Bolero. So it should work up to 7.8 or 8..!

But the Gurkha has a better engine and better gear box, so why not go for this instead!

[simply_sunny001]

Please TD Bolero too before you make a decision.Its selling like hot cakes these days

So i believe there should be something in it too.

BTW,personally i would pick Gurkha anyday over Bolero,its looks Robust and has a better motor etc etc.

Gurkha is not the best Off-Roader BTW,but its one of the best we have available here in India.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Monster_BHP

lol.. I asked him that and he said they had to drive it from the pune plant.

That is true, they do drive it from factory, not truck it.

Originally Posted by Monster_BHP

I thought the Gurkha is best when it comes to off-roading!! I mean it has this slip differential and all that! Thats why i thought its a better buy!

Limited slip differential? Looks like you are not familiar with Gurkha at all. It has manual diff locks on front and rear axle, not LSD. Just like khan_sultan, I too came away disappointed with the performance of this 8.5L beast. While it may have some edge with that manual diff locks, the weight and ungainly size goes against it. See my recent Coorg offroad thread in 4x4 section.

If you want a new nimble pure off-roader, go for Mahindra Major. It is practically impossible in India to have a vehicle that is an extreme off-roader and decent family vehicle. Trust me, that's why I have two different rides for each purpose.

[Monster_BHP]

Originally Posted by Samurai

That is true, they do drive it from factory, not truck it.

Limited slip differential? Looks like you are not familiar with Gurkha at all. It has manual diff locks on front and rear axle, not LSD. Just like khan_sultan, I too came away disappointed with the performance of this 8.5L beast. While it may have some edge with that manual diff locks, the weight and ungainly size goes against it. See my recent Coorg offroad thread in 4x4 section.

I was actually planning to buy the Safari 4x4 but i happened to see this and changed my mind, rather i got confused! To me the Safari looks ugly and never liked its looks. The only reason i wanted to buy it was for the 4wd but now that i have seen this i was planning to go for this instead!

Could you let me know how this compares with the Safari in terms of off-roading capabilities? When you say its disappointing and the diff-lock is not as good could you be more elaborate as to what the problem is?

If you want a new nimble pure off-roader, go for Mahindra Major. It is practically impossible in India to have a vehicle that is an extreme off-roader and decent family vehicle. Trust me, that's why I have two different rides for each purpose.

I also spoke to the Mahindra dealer and they offered me a new custom called the Mahindra Souviner based on the Mahindra Major. Although it has the Mahindra DI Turbo Engine i did not like it because it had no doors, no power steering and more over i found the leg room in Major or Classic is always much to less for comfort. So i had to pass on that to.

In many ways this vehicle suits me but i was wondering if it is not as worth as the Safari in terms of off-roading?


P.S. Sorry for the Edits..

[simply_sunny001]

@Monster_BHP

Please dont compare it with Safari,as Safari is an epitome of Comfort + a moderate offroader.While in Gurkha i dont think we have any creature comforts.


Only and biggest problem is the weight and size of Safari which doesnt suit the Extreme offloading but for moderate OffRoading,Safari shouldnt be a problem.

If you want to have something some Reliable Offroading and decent comfort,then why dont you checkout the Zypsy,and i believe its around 5.5 L Ex-showroom Delhi

[Samurai]

Gurkha is miles and miles ahead of Safari when it comes to offroading, the purpose of each vehicle is very different. So let's not get confused here.

Safari : Primary on-road, bad-road, and occasional moderate off-road.
Gurkha: Primay off-road, bad-road, and decent on-road, but not too fast.

Gurkha is equally capable as MM540/CJ340/Classic/Gypsy, may be slightly more, but not at all VFM at the price. You are better off having one decent on-road vehicle and one cheap old M&M/Gypsy for off-roading.

[Monster_BHP]

Thanks Guys.

@Sumari.. I see one of our members has sold a brand new Gurkha for 7.78 lakhs. So do you think i can some how pester them to pull the price down?

Also I drove the Gurkha, it felt like a mini truck with all those rattlings and rough gear change, i sort of liked that, it feels macho to have some thing that feels it can take you to the Sahara Desert and back. So i have made up my mind to go for it since it has AC and power steering i can also use it as an everyday vehicle. Something tells me i am going to like this.

But I was wondering if this is really a good off-roader or not, how would you rate this compared to other 4WD in the market including the Jeep family? and what speed can i go on high roads, does it touch 120 atleast?

[khan_sultan]

If you have made up your mind to go for the Gurkha, then go for it. It is way better then the safari.

NO WAY, the Gurkha will perform better then the solid/rugged jeeps. I would like to be proved wrong on this, but seeing the Gurkha perform on the Coorg OTR, I doubt that.

However, it will be a good compromise and any day better then the safari.

[G-BoleroBoy]

@Khan_Sultan / Samurai: One question from me though off-topic. Apologies for that but I have to ask this. "Do you attribute Gurkha's unimpressive performance on coorg OTR event just to the vehicle or you think driver skills mattered?"


Monster: I would say Go for Gurkha if you have liked it. Just gut feel based opinion, as I have never driven one. Saw one in bangalore and was pretty impressive to look at.. Have read some write ups that said it is quite a capable offroader.

[khan_sultan]

@BoleroBoy,

Just posted my comments here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-of...tml#post907772 (First offroading event with my Jeep: Coorg Jeep Thrills OTR 2008 Report)

Nothing against the Gurkha. It's a capable machine/off-roader but in NO WAY better then the old school jeeps (for me the proof is in actual performance and not paper specs)

But way better then 4x4 safari/scorpios etc..

[condor]

@Monster, also check this thread :
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-of...good-gets.html

There's a pretty detailed discussion there about this vehicle.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

@BoleroBoy,

Just posted my comments here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-of...tml#post907772 (First offroading event with my Jeep: Coorg Jeep Thrills OTR 2008 Report)

Nothing against the Gurkha. It's a capable machine/off-roader but in NO WAY better then the old school jeeps (for me the proof is in actual performance and not paper specs)

But way better then 4x4 safari/scorpios etc..

How would you compare your Gypsy with the Jeeps ?
Going by the second trip to virajpet, since the jeeps were stuck, can you conclude that Jeeps are not good too ?

We might not have good exposure to Gukhas and their capabilities on this forum and that might be the actual problem here.