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Originally Posted by LegalEagle I can confirm it for sure. And would be happy to support any such testing. |
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Originally Posted by sathyasuri Appears so, the last time I spoke to my SA in Chennai a month back, he said in the similar lines. He mentioned that there were no wheel spin issues reported in the vehicles manufactured since early 2018. |
Barely had we thus spoken here when a good samaritan invited me to join an offroading event in Chennai yesterday. Off I went and I was the only one bringing a 2WD over there. There were maybe 5-8 Thars, a few Marshalls, some gnarly old Mahindra jeep with oversized remanufactured tyres, a re-built and modified Gypsy, an Isuzu pick-up truck and a Ford Endeavour 4x4.
Anyway, I went where the 4WD cars went - to many of the obstacles at least. Obviously, quite a few were undoable by a 2WD car so I watched with fascination. But at quite a few challenging obstacles, my TUV chugged through.
I was doing crawling speeds in the above pic, by the way.
I did get stuck at a bump so high once though (no pics available of that yet) and my tank got beached like a whale with its belly resting on the bump (you can spot the tow hook still attached in the above pic, for a jeep had to pull me out with it)
Here's how my journey of discovery has proceeded so far:
1) Mine is a Jan 2018 manufactured TUV 300. During my 2nd free service at 10,000 Km (and I'm at 12,000 Km right now by the way), I was informed by a Mahindra mechanic that TUV 300s made Jan 2018 onwards had a major supplier and parts overhaul, because of which:
* the coolant leakage issue has been fixed (they changed a supplier)
* the vacuum modulator power loss issue is fixed
* the wheelspin issue is fixed since they've used "some new parts" (he didn't elaborate which ones exactly..)
* Few other parts have undergone a change as well, such as the storage in the rear hatch's inner side; I'd posted about this a while ago -
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post4495559 (Mahindra TUV300 : Official Review)
2) Anyway, based on what the mechanic had told me, I thought that either Mahindra have been fitting MLDs on all TUV 300s, or they've changed suspensions so that there's better rear wheel articulation. I'd been itching to find out.
3) Back in October, I had stupidly taken the Tank down into a dried lake-bed, which was a good 3 foot downstairs from the road. I did break a sweat thinking about how to get it out.
I did my best by choosing the least steep part of the embankment on the left side in the pic but the Tank surprised me by climbing out in one shot! Ever since this happened, I started thinking that perhaps my Tank did have an MLD attached after all...
4) But when my tank got beached at the off-roading event yesterday, the good samaritan who invited me over quietly informed me that there is no MLD, judging by the way in which one of the wheels had spun.
5)
On the whole, I know now that my Tank and others that have been manufactured from Jan 2018 onwards have way better rear wheel articulation, thanks to a newer suspension. It pulled, climbed and pushed through quite a few patches where older TUVs would have lost it.
Here comes the dismay
Why wouldn't Mahindra officially do some kind of PR over this, since they've improved the rear wheel articulation so much? Social media (including the Mahindra TUV 300 FB page) is full of half-baked and stilted comments by lay persons in broken English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu that "TUV has the waarst wheelspin issooe, even Altos are better". Aren't Mahindra bothered to at least drop a FYI for people to know that this problem has been resolved to a huge extent?
Here comes the gratitude
I am so thankful that I didn't buy a July 2017 manufactured TUV that was offered at a Rs.80K discount to me, when I was buying back in Feb 2018. I am thankful for following my gut instincts and going in for a Jan 2018 manufactured one.
And lastly, that good samaritan was none other than our very own Captain Rex
I remain grateful to him for having invited me over. Now I and you all know the newer TUV 300s a little better than we did before! And yes, the TUV 300 can now hold its own in battered roads and non-existent roads, at the hands of a skilled driver...