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-   -   Trax Gurkha Test Drive on Horrible roads and Off-road too (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-vehicles/31617-trax-gurkha-test-drive-horrible-roads-off-road-too-10.html)

so that is a snorkel in front? This jeep must be phenomenal while fording/ crossing water bodies then. Literally a "go anywhere" vehicle.
my dad and uncle used to tell me, when they were planting tea in Assam in the 1960's, that in an old fiat 1100D (which was brand new then), theyve crossed small water bodies and river beds and a whole lot of other things.
They had welded on a longish vertical pipe to the exhaust pipe, to avoid water getting into the exhaust. However the "Delco" or distributor, being quite low, used to sometimes cause difficulty.

Yes it is, that's the air intake. Now it comes with BSIII TCIC engine, it is not as water resistant as the older merc OM616 engine.

In the Gurkha the exhaust is at normal height, nothing fancy about that.

OM616 was the original engine used in the G Wagen?
Or a derivative?
I assume those were more water resistant owing to application in Germany / Europe where Waterlogged roads in Winter are quite a common occurrence.
This TCIC business - at any time in the last few years, has this type of engine done duty in the Bolero/Scorp? Would you please tell me what TCIC is the abbreviation of?

TurboCharged-InterCooled?

Are those flowers in the front of this awesome vehicle? Some how very odd, like a tiger wearing a garland :)

Killing me softly......

or is it An Iron Fist In A Velvet Glove? :)

As Anup mentioned, it is turbo charged inter cooled. The engine spec is TD2650 FTI BS III DI TURBO CHARGED INTERCOOLED WITH EGR & OXYCAT, 56 KW @ 3200 RPM, and 195 NM @ 1800-2000 RPM.

Checkout the pics in the first post too, it is a mandatory accessory on Gurkha to remind people that it is a tamed beast. We don't want pandemonium on the streets, do we?:D

thanks

sorry I remember now this tcic was on the spec sheet of the safari i thnk, not bolero

Is the Safari fitted with an inter-cooler?

TATA Motors - Safari DICOR

There 4 DL TCIC model.

OK, that's the old 'obsolete' engine now.
The Dicors don't seem to have an Intercooler.

Thanks Samurai for the compliments. It indeed a pleasure to shoot this awesome vehicle.

I really wouldn't know as this was the first time I saw one. I somehow like it though. Rough, crude, raw, focused, something about it appeals to me. :)

I think its the mechanicals that impress me. Love those levers you need to yank to lock the diffs

Finally managed to test drive a Gurkha.

First impressions.

Ground clearance is impressive, and with its SWB you can be more adventurous without having to worry about skid plates.

The BS III engine is pretty silent and smooth for a diesel and quite peppy too. Ofcourse it won't take off like a V10 Toureg:) But it feels right for the job.

Engaging the 2WD back from 4WD is a bit confusing, I had to figure it out for the dealership guys. You need to slot it into 4H and then shift left and down into 2WD. From neutral if you shift down it goes into 4L. Its pretty easy once you figure it out.

Gear box ratios seemed adequate with no apparent slump in acceleration. Shift is crude but ok for a raw machine like this

Tyres are definately too mean and I would dump them for softer radials. That way you also improve steering, road feel and handling. Ride would be smoother too. The big lugs tend to make a rough drone at a certain speed

General appearance is well very purposeful. Its not a pretender for sure. Its definately a bare basic offroader with mechanicals to die for. Loved the simple diff lock levers. There were three, assuming one for the central diff too.

The leather upholstery is a joke. I think design staff at Force have some pretty distorted view of luxury. When the rest of the car is finished like a railway coach you don't throw in leather to fool people into thinking its a luxury SUV. They should have used hardwearing weather proof material, more useful.

Paint finish and chrome is at best described as "its there". I would scrape the entire car and finish it in matt green or sand. The bull bar looks like its designed to not only mow down some cows but an elephant or two too.

There were no apparent rattles so that's a plus. Felt reasonably well built, atleast the mechanicals did. I guess its the Merc family spinoff.

Overall I liked it. Its raw, definitely has phenomenal devices to enable you go places where even the fanciest of SUV's will struggle, no pretence, more a tool than a car. I think I like that about it. Its a device. Yes the Gurkha is an offroading device. Calling it an SUV or anything else is to lose the plot.

The bottomline, would I buy one? Definately yes and a soft top for sure. Do I like the price? Definately no. Its a joke and you have to be slightly irrational to make this purchase at this price point. Force should seriously strip this car bare and lower it by 2 lacs offering it at 6. That makes sense.

At 6 the Gurkha is the ultimate no nonsense offroader. At 8 plus we need to lose some sense to buy one.

I have to now seriously think of all the absurd reasons why I should buy it. Which is the fun part. Nutcases like me who know the value of what this device can do will struggle, but eventually crib and pay the price. The general market simply will reject the car.

Excellent, crisp review, DKG...hope you had taken some pics as well !