[Parm]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

@parm:

Maybe you can elaborate why you feel Indian Army should buy Gurkhas because German Army uses G-Wagens?

Or maybe you can highlight what the Gurkha Shares with the G-Wagen?

i DONT feel indian army should have bought Gurkha, i asked how come they didnt buy it since it was hinted at them!

i dont have a LIGHT to highlight what the Gukha shares with G Wag!

i would like to humbly request you to do the honours.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by Parm

i DONT feel indian army should have bought Gurkha

That is all I wanted to hear. I rest my case then.

[hate tar]

hi all 4x4 gurus please let me know what is the mileage force gurkha delivers, i bought a gypsy 2 months ago and for some reasons its become my daily drive , its almost 80 km daily on petrol and that is burning a hole in my finances i am contemplating to buy a force gurkha , new is available up north here please let me know the mileage . Thanks.
g

[shivshanker]

hello hate tar,

are you sure that the gurkha is avble now through the dealers..??, what engine are they offering now and at what price.?

cheers!

[rhandle]

Originally Posted by hate tar

hi all 4x4 gurus please let me know what is the mileage force gurkha delivers, i bought a gypsy 2 months ago and for some reasons its become my daily drive , its almost 80 km daily on petrol and that is burning a hole in my finances i am contemplating to buy a force gurkha , new is available up north here please let me know the mileage . Thanks.
g

On Highways I get an average of 16 KMPL on diesel. City I get around 12-13 KMPL. These average are always with A/C on. While offroad I get an average of 7-8 KMPL.

Originally Posted by shivshanker

hello hate tar,

are you sure that the gurkha is avble now through the dealers..??, what engine are they offering now and at what price.?

cheers!

I am sure it would be one of the Gurkha left unsold. As far as I know production of Gurkha has stopped. If any dealer is talking about Gurkha with OM611 do stay away as most of time they do not know what vehicle they are talking.

[hate tar]

Hi Shivshanker and rhandle,
Thanks for the inputs, the Gurkha that is on offer is brand new recently driven from Pune and I will go for test drive on Monday. Its parked in Ludhiana about 100 km from Chandigarh. Its got a 2650 bs111 engine but the dealer has not got any clue about mileage,specs,hp,torque etc nor he has any info about AC/PS and is quoting 8.5l. The attitude of these dealers really puts one off the Gurkha but the lineage and 4x4 capabilities attract you, @rhandle I visited noida every weekend, can i contact you to see the vehicle and get a first hand report and advise.
@shivshanker and rhandle we share a common thing, the 500RE.

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[rhandle]

You are welcome anytime buddy.

Give me a call or send me a PM, we are going to off-road on 1st october, if you are here do let me know.

[roorkeewal]

Originally Posted by rhandle

You are welcome anytime buddy.

Give me a call or send me a PM, we are going to off-road on 1st october, if you are here do let me know.

Hi Rahul,
I need your help on Gurkha. I lost your phone. Please can you ping me at AIM or send me your contact detail at yahoo.com email?
Many thanks.

[hate tar]

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[roy_libran]

What a wonderful thread this is! Let's recount quickly:

1. Rahul takes a fantastic initiative to start this thread to narrate and share his experience with the Gurkha. He starts with his buying experience, his trysts with Force Motors for getting proper Maintenance and Spares, and moves on to the small things that the vehicle misses in terms of Design, the recurring issues and their solutions etc. etc.

2. Then he goes on to start exploring the world of Off Roading. He starts as a Newbie, develops his skills gradually, picks up a podium finish in one of the events, is now a regular at NIOC meets in NCR, helps other people pick up off-roading skills, and all the while criticizing and appreciating the Gurkha for it's failures and achievements respectively.

3. Then comes the Thar, MM, CJ and Gypsy bandwagon, and they start the inevitable comparison. A comparison that is IMHO completely pointless. However, it seems some of our esteemed members take almost a sadistic pleasure in putting down a marginalized player. Why is it pointless - "Well because, although all these vehicles are Off-Roaders, not one of them, IN STOCK FORM, would be practical enough as your Daily Drive or a Long Distance Tourer, in addition to the occassional Off-Roading". This, the Gurkha IS, and more! Now provisioning for this flexibility in the Gurkha's design, would obviously compromise some of it's Off-Road abilities, which are compensated though, to a very large extent due to it's GC, A/D/RB Angles and the venerated Diff. Locks. Okay, the Gurkha may not be able to do this or that, but it does have enough in it to NOT get stuck, and find an alternate route forward.

4. Then, when we start running out of the Technical Arguments, comes in the angle of Commercial Success. Indian Market, Indian Army... so on and so forth. Most of us have an inkling as to how Army procurements work, and how Army contracts are won!
So what if Force Motors made a mess out of the finest vehicle to ever roll out of their factories. They failed on the Production front, on the A.S.S front, on the Pricing front, on the Distribution front, and what not... but does that make Bad Engineering, or Bad Management?

All in all, Rahul's narration of what the Gurkha is and can be, has inspired a number of people in looking towards the Gurkha, me included! I recall speaking with Rahul in early 2010, and he actively dissuaded me from buying a Gurkha. However, I stayed glued to this thread, and eventually figured out that this was the vehicle I wanted, since I was happy to live with the overall package and it fit my wants to the 'T'.
For a while, I was disappointed that I was finding it practically impossible to buy a Gurkha (again blame Force Motors), and was contemplating a Thar with quite a lot of modifications. Thar was a choice (& compromise), I was almost about to make, but very luckily a not too abused Gurkha appeared on the horizon, and I promptly picked it up without further ado.

Since then, I have had the priviledge of driving alongside Rahul in a few OTR's, have seen his Gurkha in action, in precarious situations. I have myself been scared of trying a few of the things that he does, maybe because I am a newbie, or maybe because I run on Highway tyres, or maybe I just don't have enough Guts, YET.
However, at each outing, I have been amazed at what the Gurkha does, and my confidence in this CONTRAPTION increases day by day.
It's 1st Low - Double Diff. Lock - No ABC, will see you through almost anything! At times you will wonder, why in God's name doesn't this Stall!
At the end of each Off-Road day you realize that this IS THE MOST COMFORTABLE, and (quite) Capable set of wheels you can be in, when Off-Road. You only have to look at your fellow participant's mud-laced and sweaty Faces to come to that conclusion.
What's more, I am yet to break a single thing, in any of my Off-Road outings. So much so, for it's (Un)Reliability....

Also, since the last 4 months, I have used my Gurkha as my Daily Drive all over the crowded roads and markets of NCR. I have two other cars (Sedan and Hatch) sitting at home, that now wait for me endlessly, to get into them. I find driving the Gurkha in crowded roads a breeze. It has a light steering, an easy gearbox, very comfortable 2nd and 3rd Gear Ratios, excellent visibility, excellent AC and a very tight turning radius, that makes is so easy to drive around and park. Even after a 50 km drive across the heart of Delhi, in peak hours, leaves me fresher than I used to be after the same trip in my sedan, so what if I take 5 minutes extra. How many of the other Off-Roaders can boast of this? Well maybe a Thar with AC and HT will be able to, some day, but it still would not give me the Space, the Gurkha has, inside the vehicle.

On the flipside, I am myself engaged in the painful battles for finding and ordering spares from Force Motors and getting the right maintenance done. However, I expected this (due to this thread), and have lined up some alternative solutions to these problems (again with Rahul's help).

There is a whole list of things that are wrong with the Gurkha, and so it is also, with the Thar, Safari, Xenon, Scorpio and almost every other vehicle in the market. Who else is perfect?

So, why is it that only the Gurkha discussions tend to focus on what this Vehicle fails in, rather than what this vehicle succeeds in?

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by roy_libran

But, is it too much to ask of India's premier Automotive Forum, to be unbiased when we are discussing a vehicle?

Because we LOVE our cars, and when there's passion, sometimes reason can be lost. And that's life.

So has your kid had her 1st OTR yet?

[roy_libran]

^^^
OTR - ON ROAD EXPERIENCE - Yes. She sleeps like a Baby (she is one) in the Gurkha. The real OTR - Maybe in 3 years time. :-)

Hitanshu, when reason is lost once, twice, or maybe a few times it is understandable. It is bad, perhaps symptomatic of a disease, when it becomes a habit.

[innerkarma]

rhandler, hi. I know a lot of time has passed but i could have sworn that I sawa black Gurkha in Gangtok( I live in GTK)!! I couldnt confirm as I saw you (now I know, its a small world :-))only once. I was taken back by the height of the Gurkha, it had never dawned on me before but yes, it does ride high giving it a Lot of Road Presence!!

[rhandle]

Originally Posted by innerkarma

rhandler, hi. I know a lot of time has passed but i could have sworn that I sawa black Gurkha in Gangtok( I live in GTK)!! I couldnt confirm as I saw you (now I know, its a small world :-))only once. I was taken back by the height of the Gurkha, it had never dawned on me before but yes, it does ride high giving it a Lot of Road Presence!!

Yes sir I was there in Gangtok in my Gurkha. It's almost two years now. I am from Purnea and it is just 250 kms from Gangtok so I could not resist it. Gangtok is the most beautiful place and best of all hilly regions I have ever been too. People were also so friendly. As I lost my way and with no booking of hotels, one policeman came forward to my help and he took me to two hotels on his vespa. Might be driving a Gurkha helped... but I believe it was the general nature of the people all around. Will be visiting again this year!

Regards
Rahul

[innerkarma]

HI Rahul
wow, it is a small world isnt it? lol anyways please call me when you visit Gangtok next & I will be sure to show you around in typical Sikkimese fashion. Yes we are peace loving people and adventures. At least it goes for most of us. I have sent you my contact info in a PM. Do let me know when you plan to come.

Cheers