[Mukund]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

It has a 12 meter turning radius. With the 2.2 engine, it will be nothing less that 17 lakhs on the road. At that price, I would rather buy an used Fortuner 4WD Automatic.

I think you meant turning diameter. I, for one like the 3 door version for its shorter wheelbase, my requirements and better off road flexibility. The road presence that this thing has is unmatched IMO. However, I agree with you on all other points(used Fortuner or stretch for XUV). They either need to work on improving the interiors(at least give us a functional dashboard) and safety aspects, or undercut the Thar by a big margin or better both.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

True, I can never understand their peice meal approach. Now they got the chasis and powertrain sorted. But why hold back on a decent dashboard? Why not just offer a decent vehicle with safety features as an option so someone like me who will never buy a new Gurkha without ABS can pay extra and get one.

Originally Posted by Mukund

I think you meant turning diameter. I, for one like the 3 door version for its shorter wheelbase, my requirements and better off road flexibility. The road presence that this thing has is unmatched IMO. However, I agree with you on all other points(used Fortuner or stretch for XUV). They either need to work on improving the interiors(at least give us a functional dashboard) and safety aspects, or undercut the Thar by a big margin or better both.

I think Force is happy with the volumes that Gurkha does (or doesn't). I have a feeling they don't really want to make it a volume seller - maybe they aren't equipped enough to handle 1500 pieces per month. Whatever numbers they churn out must be to utilize the idle capacity left over after the production of TT (and its million+ variants) or Trax (and its million+ variants). Its almost like indulging in a hobby project on the side.

Bean counters must be happy being able to sell a few of these and recover the investment on the hobby - and that's what probably dictates the end price, they want to recover the investment as soon as possible with as few sales as possible.

[A M]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

I'm surprised that they have a showroom at Paonta Sahib. Could you give an address or location of the same as it's not listed anywhere.

Sorry for the delay in getting back. Didn't check T-BHP over the weekend. This is the Hyundai dealer. They recently started selling Force motors as well.

[jeepster]

Some pics from Facebook, Credits to Ashwat Pujari.

[Parm]

I have no words for this!


The product speaks volumes for the company!

[Touringlawyer]

Hi Friends,

I had started a thread on buying a New Force Gurkha Xtreme vs. Used Mitsubishi Pajero Sport here:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/suvs-...ml#post4515305 (New Force Gurkha Extreme vs Used Mitsubishi Pajero Sport)

Though the responses were mixed, albeit tilted towards a used Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and since I am in no rush to buy the vehicle, I took a test drive of the new Force Gurkha Xtreme today in Noida and thought I will share some initial impressions here. From whatever I had read about the Force Gurkha (earlier versions) on this forum and elsewhere, I had very poor expectations from the vehicle. However, I must admit, I did come back pretty satisfied on some fronts. Let me elaborate below:

1. With all the accessories and add-ons like the AT tyres, the roof-rack, the windshield guard, jerry can holder, the vehicle is a great looker in my view. I just love how this vehicle looks. If I really had INR 15 Lakh spare cash lying somewhere with nothing better to do with it, I will definitely buy this vehicle.

2. I am not sure of the earlier versions of the Gurkha, but when I drove the Gurkha Xtreme, I did not feel any lag in power and I thought the power availability in all gears was quite nice. We also drove it at speeds over 100 Kms per hour and even touched 120 Kms per hour, and I did not feel that the engine was being pushed beyond its capacity. Clearly, the new engine with 140 hp power has improved things a lot.

3. Though one really cannot call it off-roading, but we did try our hand on a little bit of "off the road driving" in fields next to the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, with some ditches and all, and the Xtreme crossed everything that we threw at it with ease. At one point, we took the vehicle inside a sort of a ditch in a field and we engaged the 4L and without any input from the accelerator, the vehicle simply crawled out of it with absolute ease.

4. Now I am not sure about the suspension in the previous generation Gurkhas, but from whatever little experience I have (I drive a Duster AWD 2016 model), I wouldn't say I was disappointed with the suspension even on the bad roads / fields.

5. As has been advised to me on the afore-mentioned thread, I did realise that this vehicle comes with almost non-existent creature comforts, so only a hardcore off-roader will buy it or someone who actually "needs" a vehicle of this kind. This certainly cannot be the daily drive of anyone who lives in a metro, city or even a normal village (Unless you are really so much in love with this vehicle for its off-road capabilities, that you are willing to overlook logic and all those features that you could use in your daily life like music, auto air-conditioning, power windows, central locking, security features like airbags and many more).

6. Though I could not really test the core competence of the vehicle, given the absence of those off-road conditions with swamps, rivers, gradients etc., I did come back with the impression that if tested perhaps this Gurkha in its new avatar will not disappoint any off-roader.

7. You get a commanding view of the road from the driver's seat and even the turn radius of the vehicle was Ok.

I was informed today that the roof-rack, the windshield guard, jerry can holder and the rear bumper guard come at an extra cost of Rs. 30000/- and are not part of the standard vehicle.

The Sales Representative who got the vehicle to me mentioned that Force Motors will be organising an off-road driving experience with the Gurkha Extreme in about a week or so in/near Gurgaon. They will make available the Gurkha Extreme at this place and all interested people can come and drive the vehicle and test its capability. He has promised to inform me about the event and just in case I am able to go for it, I will certainly share my experience with all of you.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in automobiles, but these are just my first impressions from test driving the Force Gurkha Xtreme.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Touringlawyer

4. Now I am not sure about the suspension in the previous generation Gurkhas, but from whatever little experience I have (I drive a Duster AWD 2016 model), I wouldn't say I was disappointed with the suspension even on the bad roads / fields.

The Gurkha, or for that matter, any Farce vehicle on that Trax platform, including the original SWB Tempo Trax and even the hideous extra wheelbase ‘creations’ like the Toofan or Cruiser, had a great ride. Suspension was never their weakness on this platform. It’s just put together shoddily, has next to no creature comforts, and rusts right out of the factory paint shop. It’s a bit like the old Ambassor which you drove out of the showroom to your local garage to fix and re-weld before you used it.

[prateekswarup]

@touringlawyer while the Gurkha is quite capable, but if you are looking to spend 15L, the Vcross will probably tick off most requirements.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by prateekswarup

@touringlawyer while the Gurkha is quite capable, but if you are looking to spend 15L, the Vcross will probably tick off most requirements.

Absolutely correct, The Gurkha Extreme is now about the same price as the V-Cross on the road. Unless you are an absolute mud-plugger who wants solid axles with coil springs etc, it makes sense to just get the V-Cross.

[lurker]

The V-Cross is the same price on road, sure and it may cruise on an highway at 120 with better manners and poise than the xtreme, but taking a hairpin bend on a hillside, I will feel better in a Gurkha Xtreme with it's short footprint than a pondering extra long vcross.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by lurker

but taking a hairpin bend on a hillside,

If taking a hairpin bend on the hillside is the key deciding factor in purchasing a vehicle, then Gurkha wins hands down .


BTW, I live in the Niligiris and have extensively driven the V-Cross and Gurkha in all kind of winding roads, and I an assure you that for a good driver, handling the VCross is not any much more harder than gurkha on regular roads.



The main disadvantage of the VCross is when you need to park in a tight spot.

[T2luvroads]

What is hub lock and how does it help saving fuel.?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Evo India review -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT4tdmjibR4

[navpreet318]

So I got a short drive in a customer's Gurkha in my city Dehradun. Got driven in for a short while and drove it a short while too by the very friendly owner Mr. Abhinav.

Now I have given a review of the Gurkha way back when the funny face Tow-Mator grill gurkha was launched. I was very vocal about the pathetic level this vehicle was at that time.

Now that has seriously changed and I am seriously considering one for myself.

Some short points from the drive:
1. Very tall vehicle. With standard wheels and tires it stands at least 6 to 8 inches above the my storme which has the same size wheels and tires. Would love to see it with large ones. This is something I absolutely loved! I love big huge trucks and this stands right up there! Walking around the vehicle gave me great joy. It was higher than the storme from all sides including the bonnet and being a large punjabi myself it was nice to see something this big. The wheel wells beg for big MT tires. Overall it's smashing to look at with the whole G-wagen thing going for it!

2. The build quality is actually excellent compared to the older version with the funny face and compared to the Thar. Yes. The plastics, metals, doors. All are a level above. Heck the rear tire mounting frame is engineered to not put load on the door which caused rattles in a lot of other vehicles. It even has it's own grease nipple!! Beat that.
So build quality is one good sturdy point for the gurkha. The vehicles does not rattle at all!

3. Interiors. Yes spartan is saying it politely but if the purpose is offroading and having fun doing it then it is suffice. Though I'd like to mention that the seats are not exactly comfortable compared to the storme's. If I get this the seats will need to be changed for sure. Also with the location of the 4wd lever and the hand brake, putting a armrest might be an issue. Since I don't intend this to be a long distance large family car I'll ignore the rear. Though the fact that the whole rear floor and wheel arches are covered with insulation it gives a nice feel to it. My dogs will be happy at the back as will be the society kids for whom my storme currently serves as a joyride vehicle.

4. The drive. The NVH is very nice. Nearly the same as my storme. The ride is soft and comfy. Almost all undulations are hammered down by the suspension. But this will have an adverse effect on the handling for sure. It's a large SUV with comfort suspension and great articulation. It will roll on turns!
The difference between traditional SUVs and this is the way we can use it. Where I generally slow my storme, you can just power away on any undulation. The suspension is built for abuse. Lesser front suspension components means lesser things to fail on repeated abuse.
The steering does has lesser feel to it even though it's a hydraulic one. And that is one parameter I didn't enjoy much. Though won't be a deal breaker.
Now the power. Yes it has power and contrary to what reviews say that it is not evident, it clearly is evident. I drive a 400nm storme. This is a 320. I must appreciate that it's a mighty good 320 at that. It pushes you back into the seat for sure and drives very well. Why force kept this engine away from the enthusiasts and lost on so much sale will forever be a puzzle! It is bound to sell well and perform well as well.

5. Will I buy it. I'm still on the fence. I'm in the market for a Sunday Funday vehicle. Something to go offroad and have fun. At 12.99 Ex showroom it is expensive and if I buy it a few things will have to change like wheels and tires and the seats as well. Will out it into the 17L territory. Now that is a large sum of money. But I'm still evaluating the pros and cons. Also with March 1st April near, the ABS version should be out. Or maybe going by Force's history they will stop vehicle production and take another year to launch a ABS version. God knows!

I forgot to mention the gearbox! What a delight!! Super short throws. I remember ranting about the gearbox in the older version with its truck like throws and engagement issues.

This one is a delight to use!! Very short throws. Does not vibrate. And engages very precisely. What a change.

If there is a #10yearchallenge to be mentioned then this force Gurkha Xtreme is it!

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

No sorry. This engine was used in the Force one. It's an excellent engine, with very low nvh, super linear acceleration and decent fuel economy. The engine in the Traveller is a Desi jugaad of this engine, that's why it's not so refined.

I hope it has some low-end grunt, experience leads me to keep expectations low.

Originally Posted by Ashley Nair

A machine suited to the puritans of offroading. No frills, embellishments or unnecessary fancy stuff. The Tsars at Mahindra should have a look of this vehicle.

I suppose that in serious mud-bogs and hill-climbs 140bhp can be helpful, but I suspect a look at the winning vehicles of previous Indian offroad events would indicate that idle/off-idle crawling more often gets you where you need to be. I suppose it depends on terrain / specific uses, but remember an Armada with the old NA DI winning one of them. I don't really do serious offroading myself, but when I've come nearest to it, the trouble / limitations have always had to do with lacking low-end grunt.

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

@AirbusCapt I think the detuning will be purely a engine map change/including turbo timing etc. It is probably not viable to make core mechanical changes. For a large vehicle like the traveller, they have probably re-mapped to bring peak torque to a lower rev-range by compromising on the top end bhp.

Relatively, perhaps. But the hospital here has an old Traveller OM616 ambulance and a newer CR-powered unit. They say the same thing as all the commercial taxi-Travellers here say: the new unit is a pain to drive in the hills compared to the old - good for the plains, really underpowered up here (meaning the low-end torque).

Granted the FE's much better, and most of the population lives in the plains, and my (first ever!) ride down the Yamuna Expressway a few days ago convinced me that indeed, times have changed (the route to Agra was just a little different in 1999!) - We are pretty much disconnected, fringe-inhabiting hillbillies up here. Nobody need take us too seriously...

Still, one review I saw of the 80+bhp Gurkha Expedition seemed to think it ran really well, that it didn't feel underpowered in normal day-to-day use, that it was quite smooth and linear. Not many Bhpians are in the hills, but how many live on high-speed expressways? We'll have to wait for further comments I suppose, but for now I'm a little skeptical of everything but that marketing-wise, people are going to feel a lot better about owning (and spending money - in this case at least a few lakhs extra) on a 140bhp vehicle vs an 80bhp one, never mind how they run.

As I've complained earlier, our minds tend to get wrapped around numbers... The people have spoken, Force has answered... now will the (same) people actually buy them? And actually like driving them? The Thar CRDe certainly made an impression, perhaps this finally will too.

-Eric