[FiestaST]

Originally Posted by highwaypatrol

Its like buying an iPhone without an apple iOS in it.

Imho, the analogy is incorrect here. If someone buys an iPhone, they use iOS every time they use the phone.

Whereas, if someone buys a Thar, one cannot say the same about usage of 4WD system.

I think, for city dwellers, 2WD makes a lot of sense. Simpler mechanicals, more KMPL, less $$ and same rugged looks and utility.

Cheers!

[vikramvicky1984]

A lot of comments on this threads are disheartening and discriminatory.
People seem to dislike that lesser humans who have lower budget, lesser to spend on fuel & insurance, are okay with less gizmos, travel rough road out of need rather than want, don’t/can’t spend time and money doing 4x4 adventure, can’t /won’t spend a lakh and 2 kmpl for AT, will bother about insurance premium (1.5 versus 2.0), 18 inch tyres costs, aren’t urban will have a safe simple car. Also lot of government departments will buy this too over the unsafe bolero.
Jeeps were always available 4x2, simple and cheap.
India is a very large and diverse country beyond metros and gated societies. Please don’t bruise you egos if someone less fortunate drives a similar car as your weekend toy out of his limitations and needs.

If nothing else, at least welcome the move as being a safe car replacing other cheap BOF RWDs, it’ll saving many lives in the process.

[Engine_Roars]

Don't mean to offend anyone but this thread is turning out to be a cribbing thread for those who thought they have bought a lifestyle vehicle which not everyone can buy and now when Mahindra has made it possible for the common man to buy Mahindra Thar, people are worried that they wont stand out from the crowd. I find this entire "Thar should be only 4*4" argument pretentious, who made this rule? If you want it in 4*4, go buy it and let those buy 4*2 who can't afford to buy 4*4 or don't actually need a 4*4. I for one Love the way Thar looks, have always wanted to own and mind you I can afford a Thar 4*4 (with loan) but i don't need a 4*4 and I am too practical to let my heart lead the decision making but for 4*2, I think I might give it a shot. Way to go Mahindra!!

[saleem_k]

Mahindra Thar 2WD is a great strategy from Mahindra to target those folks who buy the Creta, Seltos, Urban Cruiser, Kushaq, etc. and who don't really care about not having 4WD but are happy with a slightly higher GC than normal cars. Thar 2WD is going to address these needs and a little more with the butch looks and of course it can achieve a lot more with 2WD that others can't. The only issues I see are the lack of creature comforts and the boot space that could be a buzz kill for many looking at this one as their primary car.

[Wageabond]

Absolutely brilliant move by Mahindra. Hopefully, the 4*2 Thar will give stiff competition to the faux SUVs.

[Asish_VK]

Thar 2WD is the ultimate urban SUV, period. Wonderful move by Mahindra.

It can tackle all the Himalayan speed humps, deep pot holes, non existant tarmac etc in the city. Since it looks exactly like the 4WD, can bully everything on the road from 2 wheelers, auto rickshaws to the water tankers. You are no more worried about the others coming and cutting you off.

It can really be THE lifestyle vehicle (style only) for an urban use. Got enough comfort for 2 at front too.

[Mik]

I always thought the lack of a 2WD Thar as a missed opportunity. Mahindra clearly knows what its doing and maybe now that the $X$ (just check what it translates into your keyboard when not pressing Shift ) is a smash hit, they will be able to price the @WD (yeah the joke continues - sorry phone warriors) at a premium and definitely get more buyers.
Like most Fortuners, most Thars won't really go mud slinging. This is perfect!
If anything - bikers to Ladakh - please brace for more Tharwallahs living it up and chasing you off the roads

As far as cribbing goes, i have noticed off-late that some here are coming across as casual elitists without realizing and maybe not even meaning to. The same vibe was there in the whether '2 Wheelers should be allowed on expressways' thread.

[AG86]

Originally Posted by raman.aries

I went through the brochure. Rear brakes as listed as 282mm drums. Are they going for drum brakes for all variants?

It came with drum brakes even in the older 4x4 versions if I'm not wrong.

[Geo_Ipe]

The 4*4 Thar has been consistently doing 3-4k units per month.

We have an off roading community in Vellore, where there are 12-15 Thar owners in the WhatsApp group, out of which barely 3-4 take it off the road where 4*4 has to be used. That translates to roughly 25%. Going by those rough numbers, 3 out of 4 Thar users don't take their machines off the road.

So what the Thar 4*2 might do is cannibalise the Thar 4*4, which I don't think Mahindra will mind too much. The only people who are allowed to crib this move are the 75% of current Thar 4*4 users who could have got the 4*2 variant if it was available then! Otherwise, it is a brilliant marketing move by Mahindra!!

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by saleem_k

The only issues I see are the lack of creature comforts and the boot space that could be a buzz kill for many looking at this one as their primary car.

There are a few things that the Mahindra folks should address right out of the box now that they have plenty of real-world info, opinion, research and real-life examples of high quality execution. And these things can be common to both 4x4 and 2WD variants.

(I’ve done most of these things for my Thar and have put some pictures at various places on the Thar Official review thread.)

1. A good quality integrated Centre arm rest in front and individual arm rests at rear.
2. An optional dead pedal for the AT variant. Why I say optional is because this is not useful for tall people, in fact it eats up space in the footwell.
3. Strong white light in the boot and in the front footwells.
4. Tumble foldable rear seats which free up a good amount of luggage space.
5. The seats are already split foldable. If they could be made split tumble-able as well, it would be superb.
6. Better seats in the sense, better under thigh support on all seats.
7. Steering adjustable for both reach and rake.
8. Rear wiper and washer.
9. Removable and re-fixable Centre section in the hardtop in the front.
10. Nice heavy rubber non slip floor mats.
11. Plastic grab handles in front above the windows and additional Soft grab handles mounted on those.
12. Reversing camera and front park distance sensors as standard. A Front camera will be superb.

[schwartz]

It is surprising to read all the criticism around the proposed launch.

I know quite a few Thar owners who have never taken the beast off road and don’t intend to. Ever!

Thar is so successful because form factor is unique, looks are stunning and is relatively affordable. Full stop. Thar represents exactly the space Enfield occupied a decade back. The only difference is that the Thar has a much wider appeal thanks to the automatic transmission. In fact, almost 50% of the Thars sold are automatic. Just anecdotally, Thar is quite popular among women folk as well.

It makes perfect sense to delete features that will never be used by certain users. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Thar reaches five-digit volume numbers in few years. It is up to team Mahindra how they cultivate the brand.

[CA Dhruv]

Mahindra 2WD is a great opportunity for those who just want to use it as an urban commuting. It would be perfect for single's out there probably in their 20's.

As mentioned above by other BHPians that 2WD Thar would probably do what Enfield did in the past decade. These vehicles speak for themselves and also are status symbols (at way cheaper prices than Merc/Audi/BMW).
If the pricing is right, it would also be an attraction point for Tier 2 & Tier 3 car buyers who have shed their 2 wheelers and use cars for commuting in their cities.

Its a boon for those who have waited for niggles/issues to be sorted. They would get an affordable sorted out car.

I guess the prices for 4WD in used car market would cool down a bit as now buyers would have an option to buy a sorted vehicle providing higher mileage. Moreover if there are significant improvements in mileage & there's a huge price gap there would be some 4WD urban owners would sell their vehicle off and get the new 2WD as these would be new, would have lower EMI's as well as would be economical to maintain.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

We can all sit and talk here and grumble about Thar 2WD and so on. The plain truth is that 90% of Thar users or indeed users of any 4WD machine, simply do not ever take their vehicles onto any off road situation. The worst terrain most 4x4 vehicles will ever see is the school run or the mall parking lot for the grocery run. And the large majority of these big 4X4’s are chauffeur driven to boot!

The Thar 2WD will seriously widen the market. It will be much lighter and easier to live with on a day to day basis and the whole maintenance thingy will be less too because of the simpler drive train and transmission. It will certainly be more fuel efficient compared to its 4x4 brother.

Originally Posted by vikramvicky1984

Jeeps were always available 4x2, simple and cheap.
India is a very large and diverse country beyond metros and gated societies. Please don’t bruise you egos if someone less fortunate drives a similar car as your weekend toy out of his limitations and needs.

If nothing else, at least welcome the move as being a safe car replacing other cheap BOF RWDs, it’ll saving many lives in the process.

The Thar's coolest feature is being a cheaper JEEP Wrangler.

Now some 4WD Thar owners are miffed at the cheaper 2WD Thar.

Imagine the plight of the original JEEP Wrangler Owners.

If sales is what Mahindra is after then, surely they are spot on. This will widen their market reach and the cheaper Thar could very well be the new Bolero.

However, from a long term branding perspective I'm not sure how this will pan out.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by kiku007

The Thar's coolest feature is being a cheaper JEEP Wrangler.
.

So true! Ha ha! In my Thar Ive got 75-80% of the
Jeep Wrangler Willys Sport at 20-25% of the price.

Now the new Thar 2WD owners will also be pleased like I am. The market is widening and Jeepy things are becoming more inclusive. Mahindra will see nice fat sales! So almost everyone is happy.

The cribbers will always crib and those who want to form ‘exclusive Thar 4x4 clubs’ and thumb their noses at others will be miffed. But the Thar 2WD owners will be happy that they also have something which they can use to thumb their noses at others.

In everything, as always, admit it or not, it is a game of one-upmanship.

Purists’ opinions don’t matter, for they are too thin on the ground. From the manufacturer’s perspective money and the sales registers matter, not opinions.

[govindasrani]

This is a great move by Mahindra! It will give more customers an entry point to their Thar range and widen the appeal. Let's face it, most folks anyway use it as a commuter and for weekend drives. Going by the recent trends on their pricing, I think Mahindra will duck under the 10L mark. Couple more things point towards this - the XUV300 W4 (D) has an ex showroom price of 9.6L and that Thar which is more utilitarian in build should not be more expensive to manufacture than the XUV300. The Z2 ScorpioN (D) has a price tag of 12.5L and being a full sized SUV it's hit by the full GST rate of ~50% compared to the Thar which will get the ubiquitous 'small car' GST rate of ~30%. If Mahindra can manufacture the Thar for 80k less than the ScorpioN and pass on the GST benefits, it will be priced below 10L. 80K is <10% of the factory price of a ScorpioN and that reduction should be achievable in a car that is much smaller.