[funkykar]

Originally Posted by Samurai

The lifestylers want lockable hard top.
The lifestylers want AC.
The lifestylers want front facing rear seats.

Some more..

The lifestylers want power windows. (the current winding handle in THAR is very very filmsy!)
The lifestylers want 2WD. (To reduce cost)
The lifestylers want better lock system for tailgate. (India Garage THAR's tailgate doesn't open!)
The lifestylers want better seats!

[DKG]

Arka the Thar MDI 4x4 is there with solid axles, what's the problem with that car?

[Sudarshan]

Can DB sir, Vinodjee & spikejee post a pic of the rolling chassis of the THAR like this ? just for academic/learning purpose ?

( this is but as an example for purpose of understanding what I requested )
a pic like yhis



or like this



Sudarshan

Dear BHP Support please delete this post if found irrelevent .

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by DKG

Drive the Thar and use it for the offroad events. You will like it. Its not as bad as people are making it out to be. It IS your Indian Rubicon !! Recognise it !!

@DKG. I am still debating whether to get the MDI & do a coil over set up and upgrade the powertrain or buy the Thar. Let's not get carried away and call the Thar the Rubicon. I consider that insulting the Rubicon brand .

Originally Posted by DKG

You guys wanted the 540 you have it ! But you are still not happy !!

Now you say you want a 540 but with Thar like refinement and finish but don't want the CRDe engine !

Behram started a thread asking what we need from the from the MM540/MM550. Almost everyone wanted a hard top and maybe AC. Not many people asked for IFS. Basically the farmer/estate owner has got the MDI. The lifestyle segment has got the CRDe. The core jeep offroad fanbase has got shafted.

Originally Posted by DKG

Pretty soon the mfg's will stop listening as they will think you are impossible to please Ultimately your segment is too tiny and inconsequential Sharath.

The jeep and off-road fans are the ones that have created the leisure 4x4 market. Don't write them off completely.

I don't think we are impossible to please. Like i said, how difficult is it to relaunch the Legend with the M2DI or XYLO D2 engine? All the parts are in the bin. You seem to suggest we are asking for the moon so let me clarify what we want:

We just want the Legend or MDI 540 with a better engine and not the wheezy Bolero unit. We'll take care of the rest of the upgrades?

Originally Posted by DKG

Arka the Thar MDI 4x4 is there with solid axles, what's the problem with that car?

I currently have the same engine gearbox combo in my vehicle. The engine is too agrarian and crude. Other than this, I don't have any complaints against the MDI 4x4. If M&M can put a better engine in the MDI and offer a PS version, I think the off-road crowd can take it and move on...

@DKG: I am not saying that the Thar is a bad vehicle.It is a great lifestyle vehicle and meets the needs of people who are not serious off-roaders. I am just saying that it doesn't meet the needs of the off-road community in it's current form. As the tag line goes:

If you want to go like stink at 140 kmph, the THAR is your CAR..

[Hondaism]

Well, I'd been contemplating in getting a 4x4 vehicle as my second one for Fridays-Sundays and am in love with the Gypsy 1.3 MPFI for its off roading capabilities, having driven it first hand in Leh/Thois & Rajasthan. Then comes along the Thar and makes me double minded with its engine. Have lined up a test drive next week, so will be able to comment first hand after the walloping . But the vehicle looks amazing and has a good engine

For the price point there are a few things i would've liked to be in the THAR for it to be my only vehicle:

• Aircon - Std fitment
• Choice of hard tops - Full/Cabin and the extended ones ( Optional)
• Better seats - Std Fitment
• Winch - Std Fitment
• A slot for the GPS Navigation device - 4.3 inches would do - Std
• Front facing bucket seats (with safety belt) for the folks sitting in the back and getting hammerred - Std Fitment

[Xinger]

There seem to be a lot of people here who wish the Thar was more like the Jeep Wrangler. Well, looks like the Wrangler ain't worth its weight in gold after all. Here a couple of reviews from TOPGEAR (home of TBHP's favorite car guy Jeremy Clarkson):



From 2004:

Four years ago I drove a Jeep Wrangler and swore it was the worst car I'd ever driven. Thankfully, Jeep have pulled out all the stops on this new incarnation dubbed the 'Extreme', resulting in the second worst car on my list. Chrysler's maritime division must have had a huge input into the building of this version as it satisfies all the sensations of being at sea. On a pot-holed country lane near my house it tossed and swayed around so much that I felt like Captain Hook walking the plank. The Wrangler's problems are it's short wheelbase, elevated ride-height and Neanderthal chassis, resulting in a gravitationally challenged sardine tin. Come to a complete stop from just 50km/h and the 'Extreme' bounces up and down like a stoned seahorse. The cabin is also naff, lacking electric windows, central locking, limited adjustable seats, and bugger all room in the aft even with the seats down.


There are one or two bright spots. The straight-six four-litre sounds great, has good low-down torque, and shows an impressive 2,000rpm at 115km/h in fifth. It also had a decent user-friendly stereo. Take off the rather fiddly canvas covers and you can pretend to be a Californian posing on Sunset Boulevard. Just remember to bring along plenty of barf bags.
Pete Trafford

And from 2010:

(Warning: all those who feel the Jeep is the ultimate 'macho' icon, read no further! Close this page NOW, shut your computer, crank/jumpstart/kick your old MM540/550/CJ/Classic to life and go away to some remote OTR venue and never come back!!)

For some reason we can’t shake off the thought of the Jeep Wrangler’s starring role in the TV series ‘Queer As Folk’. Fifty years of history wiped out in the collective consciousness thanks to one telly show about the Mancunian gay scene and a black Wrangler.

• Comfort
  
  The Wrangler might have been improved beyond all recognition from the old car, but that's like saying that this version is going to snap your spine more gently than the last. It bounces, it shimmies, it can go off-road. And stay there.
  
• Performance
  
  The 196bhp that the 3.8 petrol provides is enough to get the Wrangler from 0-62mph in 9.6 seconds and on to a 122mph top end. The more realistic 174bhp 2.8-litre diesel manages the sprint in 11.2 seconds (11.7 for the four-door) and on to a similar 122mph.
  
• Cool
  
  If you live in Manchester and happen to be gay, then yes.
  
• Quality
  
  The Wrangler is basic but tough. Probably more designed to be hosed down than swamp you in luxury, but you get the idea; chunky but cheap.
  
• Handling
  
  The Wrangler is still pretty spectacular off-road. That, unfortunately, makes it pretty rough on it. The new car is better than it ever was, but don't expect to make effortless trans-continental trips in this car, whether you're in the two or four-door version. You'll die of boredom.
  
• Practicality
  
  The new Wrangler is longer and wider than it predecessors (and the four-door option opens up a whole new market for it), so there's a decent amount of space. The soft top probably isn't worth it, though you can now buy a clip-on roof system that disposes of the need for all those pop-studs of yore. You still need a big garage to put the roof in though; there's nowhere to store it in-car.
  
• Running costs
  
  High C02 and relatively poor economy (even the diesel does only 28mpg, the petrol under 25), means that the Wrangler, despite not being very fast, isn't that cheap to run.

• Overall Verdict 09/20

[4x4addict]

@xinger:

On the road the Wrangler is worse than average. Where it excels is off the road and that is what it was made for. When suits test the wrangler, they are likely to expect a car and get dissapointed. Frankly it is not a practical vehicle at all. You would only buy a wranger if you are into the off-road scene. I have driven the rubicon and on tarmac, it handles pretty bad. Even the hallowed Landrover Defender has the same issues on road as the wrangler. These vehicle are never meant for the masses like the Corrolla.

To put things in perspective if you used the same yardstick as you have see for the wrangler above, the Corrolla and Honda Civic will probably get 18 on 20 on average. This doesn't mean a potential wrangler buyer can replace his wrangler with a Civi or Corrolla.

[beejay]

Tini Sir, you are the kind of person who builds a Jeep from scratch and someone here on the forum who has vast knowledge on technicalities. The THAR will never impress you. This car has evoked a lot of interest. Well heeled buyers are giving it a thought too. They don't even know what the second lever is for. But still amazing. Hope to see a lot of Thars and eventually I might get a second hand one.

For the record- A dentist here in Coonoor is mightly impressed, yes a dentist. He is waiting for the TD at Coimbatore.

DKG is spot on, this is the Indian Rubicon, lets be satisfied, at least for now.

[Xinger]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

@xinger:

On the road the Wrangler is worse than average. Where it excels is off the road and that is what it was made for.

The Wrangler (Rubicon, which is the dedicated offroad version) costs US $29,525 today (as per Jeep's own website) which would translate to Rs 13,30,582 in Indian money. This is without any of that duty-shmuty and octroi-poctroi crap, just plain currency conversion.

I'm sure if you add an extra 6 lakhs worth of interior, exterior and under-the-hood mods to the Thar you can make it as good or probably even better than the Rubicon for both for the lifestylers and the offroaders.

P.S. Even the base Wrangler 4x4 package costs 9,87,627 rupees, which is almost 3 lakhs more than the Thar (taking the latter's on road price as 7 lakhs).

[rrsteer]

I wanted to ask a question from members who have driven the Thar.

One of the highlights of the Thar seems to be its handling and on road behaviour, especially at high speeds. I just wanted to put this in context. So, is the Thar much better than the M&M jeeps in this context. Or is it even better than the Scorpio in this respect?

Thanks

[Sudarshan]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

I wanted to ask a question from members who have driven the Thar.

One of the highlights of the Thar seems to be its handling and on road behaviour, especially at high speeds. I just wanted to put this in context. So, is the Thar much better than the M&M jeeps in this context. Or is it even better than the Scorpio in this respect?

Thanks

Surely ,much better , I felt it just glued to the road & whenever I expected any big jolt it was a surprise ,nothing happened .

Sudarshan
P S It behaved as a circus trained Tiger ,well disciplined but wild animal . May be because the master was there with me

[discoverwild]

One thing still baffles me! In all the decades that the MM540 series have been on in various iterations and for all the hype created, why can't Mahindra get a simple thing straight?

Central position of steering wheel with respect to seating position.

[rrsteer]

Originally Posted by Sudarshan

Surely ,much better , I felt it just glued to the road & whenever I expected any big jolt it was a surprise ,nothing happened .

Sudarshan
P S It behaved as a circus trained Tiger ,well disciplined but wild animal . May be because the master was there with me

Sorry! But I got confused. So its much better than the MM Jeeps or much better than even the Scorpio? Thanks.

[Parm]

i dont think M&M will mass produce MDI 4x4, as it will KILL the Thar CRDe 4x4 in terms of sales!

CRDe will be favorite for dudes who want to take it college/mall/cineam and impress chicks!

MDI 4x4 and CRDe 4x4 will never be sold side by side!

[Xinger]

Originally Posted by discoverwild

In all the decades that the MM540 series have been on in various iterations and for all the hype created, why can't Mahindra get a simple thing straight?

Central position of steering wheel with respect to seating position.

Because in all these decades, this has been the market 95% of India's civilian jeeps are intended for:

The driver, as you can see, has to sit sit just a little to the side to accommodate more passengers!