[RVD]

Its been real long since I update the thread so thought of writing a quick report. My Jeep has barely run in the last 3 months with the birth of my child followed by an overseas travel. I did manage to take it on a short holiday before that though.

A couple of us friends decided to take a short break and head to Mudhumalai forest ( Tamil Nadu) and the Jeep was the natural choice. It was a good chance to test its highway handling. Some observations during the trip:

Engine : Must say that it was an absolute hoot to drive on the open road. The engine is super smooth with so much power available on tap. One can cruise in triple digits all day long.It really begs for a 6th gear though.

Brakes :The only downer in the otherwise smooth ride were the horrible brakes which made sure that I stuck to speeds between 80 - 90kmph ( Not really a bad thing). The braking needs to be planned much ahead. There were a couple of occasions where I noticed the unmarked speed breakers a tad late and tried applying the brakes only to bounce right over the speed breaker.

Comfort : This part really surprised me as I did not feel any fatigue after the 300km drive. What helped greatly was the hard top and the AC. The AC was super chill and the Hard top ensured that the road noise and wind noise stayed at minimum. These coupled with my Juggad hand rest cum center console made the drive quite comfortable.

Ride Quality : The ride was quite planted in the front. The same cannot be said about the rear. The hard top and the Maxiss tyres may have helped a bit but I still felt that the ride was a little bouncy at the back. I had installed the Forward facing rear seat by then which was good except that there was absolutely no sideways support.Hence,every time that the Jeep turned, one really had to grab onto something so as to not slide to the top of the wheel well . A roll over bar will probably address this issue.

Hard Top : Did a fairly descent job in keeping the noise down and the cabin cool. It really came in handy during many occasions when we had to leave the jeep un attended with our valuables inside. In hindsight, I should have opted for the HHT with only the front opening panels. The rear panel is too bulky to be removed and positioned inside.

Overall Impression : It surpassed my expectations. I had my reservations aabout the comfort but it was actually quite good. Its actually quite a versatile vehicle and can do many things in moderation. If one is clear about the limitations of this vehicle, its actually a good vehicle to own and may just put a smile to your face.

Attaching some pictures from the trip

[RVD]

Even though, i have not had the time to drive around too much, there was still a lot of action happening in the last couple of months. I did manage to tick off quite a few things in the "to do" list.

List of things done so far :

1) Forward facing rear seats.

2) Wrangler tail lamp

3) Fabricated tail light guard

4) Prad front Bumper

5) Wrangler rear view mirrors

6) Bought a portable tyre inflator.

6) BRAKE UPGRADE ( Upgraded the booster with the one that comes on the updated thar)

List of items bought and yet to be fitted :

1) Wrangler type fuel lid cover

2) JCB work lamp

3) Inclinometer


List of items to be bought :

1) Jeep spare tyre cover

2) Wrangler hood catch

3) Roll over bar ( Need a mounting point for the rear seat belt)

Adding a couple of latest pictures of the jeep.

[ku69rd]

Congratulations on becoming a father.

The jeep is looking all the more better with the HHT. Did you consider other hard tops as well. You have mentioned off the forward facing seats which one did you put?

Please do post some more snaps of the interiors. She looks hot in black.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by RVD

6) [b]BRAKE UPGRADE ( Upgraded the booster with the one that comes on the updated thar).

Are you sure that the new Thar has better brakes?
I purchased one recently(the upgraded one with cross targa band).
The brakes are pretty weak in mine.
Any pictures of the booster that you can share?

[RVD]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Congratulations on becoming a father.

The jeep is looking all the more better with the HHT. Did you consider other hard tops as well. You have mentioned off the forward facing seats which one did you put?

Please do post some more snaps of the interiors. She looks hot in black.

Thanks for the wishes . I did consider other hard tops but went ahead with HHT as I found it to be the best looking of the lot. It is well rounder unlike the others that look a little boxy (Purely my Opinion). Also, Hyderabad is the closest to me in case of any service related issues ( I did get my HHT fitted in Bangalore. Payed extra to be brought here and fitted).

I got the seats from Rohan in ROGEOTECH. I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for FF rear seats. I looks factory fitted and is quite easy to install. Can neatly be folded away when not in use. Few pictures of the seats...

Originally Posted by akshay4587

Are you sure that the new Thar has better brakes?
I purchased one recently(the upgraded one with cross targa band).
The brakes are pretty weak in mine.
Any pictures of the booster that you can share?

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the booster.The upgraded Thar comes with tandem booster unlike the single diaphragm booster in the old Thar. There are no other changes in terms of vaccum tank, plumbing, LSPV setting etc ( experts please correct me). Do please look at the part number to see if you have the tandem booster in your vehicle. Even with the " upgrade", the braking is not phenomenal but it is a definite improvement. If you find your braking weak, wait till you drive the old Thar

Posting some pictures of the jeep after installing the Wrangler fuel lid..

[jassi_jeeper]

Originally Posted by RVD

Thankfully, my wife is too busy with our new born to notice all the changes on the Jeep. BTW, can you elaborate on the suspension mod ? Also, do please post the picture of the soft top. Should be interesting.

First of all congratulations for the new born!
Regarding the suspension mod, I am sure you know that the Thar DI has 5 leaves in each of the 4 leaf spring sets. Despite getting comfortable seats made, I wanted a better ride and decided on getting the carbon fibre leaf springs. However my mechanic suggested that I get removed 2 leaves from each of the leaf spring set. It has worked wonders!

Here are my jeep Pictures for the soft top

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by jassi_jeeper

First of all congratulations for the new born!
Regarding the suspension mod, I am sure you know that the Thar DI has 5 leaves in each of the 4 leaf spring sets. Despite getting comfortable seats made, I wanted a better ride and decided on getting the carbon fibre leaf springs. However my mechanic suggested that I get removed 2 leaves from each of the leaf spring set. It has worked wonders!

Here are my jeep Pictures for the soft top

If we remove 1 leaf or 2 leaves from springs at the rear of Thar Crde,the vehicle would lose its stance from the rear.I saw one on road and it was looking weird.And not to mention the loss of strength.

[jassi_jeeper]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

If we remove 1 leaf or 2 leaves from springs at the rear of Thar Crde,the vehicle would lose its stance from the rear.I saw one on road and it was looking weird.And not to mention the loss of strength.

Regarding the loss of stance, yes I also think you are correct. The case is however different for the Thar Di as the removal of same number of leaves from each pack lowers the jeep equally from front and rear.
As far as loss of strength is concerned, that is correct too, but the remaining three leaves should be good for a non-transport vehicle.

[kenneyjacob]

I am thinking of buying a 4X4 and the Thar is one vehicle Im considering seriously. I am also looking at second hand Thar. This analysis is based on published data available in OLX. The price shown on the graph is the average for any given year.

I have sanitised the data bit by removing some erroneous and stupid entries. The entire data is not for Thar, but also for the other jeeps out there. OLX has classified everything as Thar.



The price of the vehicle drops pretty fast in the initial years. After 5 to 7 years the price kind of remains steady until it achieves vintage status.

From this data Im assuming that if the vehicle is post 2010 and the price is less than 5 L its a good buy (provided the vehicle is in good condition)

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by kenneyjacob

The price of the vehicle drops pretty fast in the initial years. After 5 to 7 years the price kind of remains steady until it achieves vintage status.

From this data Im assuming that if the vehicle is post 2010 and the price is less than 5 L its a good buy (provided the vehicle is in good condition)

Very sketchy analysis going by what is presented here Even if this was for a reliable vehicle such as the Innova, I'd still question the data points be also plotted against mileage.

For a vehicle like Thar, mileage, maintenance, urban vs offroad usage, current condition of vehicle - too many open variables than just price vs age to come to a conclusion.

It's a starting point of course, but as they say; the devil is in the details

[GTO]

Originally Posted by kenneyjacob

The price of the vehicle drops pretty fast in the initial years. After 5 to 7 years the price kind of remains steady until it achieves vintage status.

That's actually more or less the trend for most used cars. Depreciation is steepest in the first couple of years. Post that, it keeps slowing down with age.