[Venkatesh]

PowerDrift take on new Thar as daily driver - part one

https://youtu.be/iWqza3qABXg

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Venkatesh

PowerDrift take on new Thar as daily driver - part one

https://Youtu.be/iWqza3qABXg

Thanks for the link. Good video, I like PD guys. Review conforms to what tbhp concluded, let's wait what their part 2 says.

Unpopular opinion :I just have to disagree with their comment on Thar V1 being a pain in the traffic. Yes, the V2 is better in every way but from what I have experienced in a few drives in insane Pune traffic during rush hour the old Thar is actually quite good to drive.
It's still a little agricultural but it's as good as a city crawler as any other car. Heck, the clutch was lighter than our pre face-lift Duster.

[Taruns_Hah]

I called the Service Manager of NBS Showroom Andheri yesterday and requested him to get a test drive for a convertible arranged, since my booking is for a convertible. To my pleasant surprise he arranged for it today and the SA is coming to my house for the TD in a few hours.

The main things i will be checking are the noise levels in the cabin at various speeds and also how driving a convertible feels on Mumbai roads.

I know that getting to TD a convertible has not been easy for most of our community members. Hence, if anyone on TBHP has any other things that they would like me to check or verify, I would be glad to do that.

[ph03n!x]

I missed touching on the ICE in my short spin (Mahindra Thar : Official Review). The components up top completely lack bass, even mid range is meh - I am not sure if M&M thought it best to not cause headaches with nice, tight bassy mids right above your head. The ones under the dashboard are the ones that are delivering bass - was a bit too boomy for my liking.

The audio quality is okay for a stock - don't compare it with the Bose or Harmans that you'd get in Hyundais or Tatas. It does show that the headunit is not bad - comes with balance & fader, low-mid-high controls AND a graphic equalizer. You can build on it with an amp and some good components and coaxials - but then, for a wash-down ready car, where are you gonna place the amp, without washing it down too?!!

Originally Posted by hareshjethwani

Are the power window switches backlit?

Yes, they are.

Originally Posted by SportsMedicine

I fail to understand the difference in shape and finish of gear lever of transfer case as advertised in official TVC versus in actual final product.

Good catch - the review cars were mostly Aug manufactured (from their VIN). while the TD cars are Sep manufactured.

Now for the differences between the gear and transfer case levers - in the manual Thar, both of them have the chrome ring even in the TD Thars. In the auto variant, the gear selector anyway doesn't have a chrome finish - I think someone in M&M would have thought it made sense to be consistent and removed the chrome from the transfer case lever too.

I am fine with this (my booking is for an automatic), and actually would prefer it that way.

Originally Posted by Taruns_Hah

I know that getting to TD a convertible has not been easy for most of our community members. Hence, if anyone on TBHP has any other things that they would like me to check or verify, I would be glad to do that.

Thanks mate - mine is a booking for the convertible too! Can you check -

• How much of a scratch-magnet are the transparent parts - the ones in the rear sides windows and the back?
• I know you are driving it in city, but if possible, can you check how bad is the flappy-ness of the convertible top in speeds - Bearable or headache inducing?
• And how is the material itself - compared to the previous gen soft-tops Thar, does it seem better/ inferior?

[johy]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Unpopular opinion :I just have to disagree with their comment on Thar V1 being a pain in the traffic. Yes, the V2 is better in every way but from what I have experienced in a few drives in insane Pune traffic during rush hour the old Thar is actually quite good to drive.
It's still a little agricultural but it's as good as a city crawler as any other car. Heck, the clutch was lighter than our pre face-lift Duster.

I agree with you. I have the old 2015 variant, and I find driving it very comfortable in city traffic. A lot has to do with the compact size. Also, on the highway, if you are not doing above 80 kmph, you are good with wind noise on the soft top.

In fact, the new Thar is only about 35 mm less wider than a Fortuner, and it will be a pain to drive in congested small town city traffic!! Even if it is a short vehicle, with the long bonnet, the driver is essentially dealing with a "big" car. I have seen people driving Fortuners in small towns, having a tough time with the width of the car - this one won't be much better!

Increasingly, I have been some of these "reviews" on YouTube sound more like extended commercials for the new Thar than honest reviews. Either, they are trying to justify the luggage space being adequate, ride quality being good, et cetera.

Lastly, I have been twice to the local showroom and they have not given me a test drive yet. Only promise. Sir tomorrow. Sir day, after. I think they are not interested or not capable in providing it. Does not auger well - if this is how Mahindra treats its existing customers!

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by johy

Increasingly, I have been some of these "reviews" on YouTube sound more like extended commercials for the new Thar than honest reviews. Either, they are trying to justify the luggage space being adequate, ride quality being good, et cetera.

I feel that's a trend everywhere and not just for Thar. Reviews now are more for showing off camera skills and b-roll shots and slow motions and drone footage that look like professional ads. It's a norm, you just have to find a review that also has real content among all the fat. I follow Savage Geese and Fortnine regularly and increasingly, their videos are becoming nothing short of short/feature films. Excellent art but I don't much care about crazy camera work and orange teal colors. Thankfully they both have meaningful "real" stuff too.

Originally Posted by johy

Lastly, I have been twice to the local showroom and they have not given me a test drive yet. Only promise. Sir tomorrow. Sir day, after. I think they are not interested or not capable in providing it. Does not auger well - if this is how Mahindra treats its existing customers!

Have the same experience but location could be a reason. When I first went there battling rain downpour in early October they said they don't have TD yet and will call me next week. They didn't, yet. I'm in a small city where salespersons know customers won't go anywhere. So they don't care much.
In fact the associate boasted how 34 people booked the car without TD and suggested I should do same! I don't blame them though. These are the guys selling Boleros and Scorpios. V2 Thar and it's customer base is something unusual for small place like mine. In his own words, they never had much interest from customers in the old model. A niche, slow seller. The new one is simply generating wild response.

He was also pretty sure the dealer would be able to get deliveries sooner than expected because he (dealer) has quite the clout with powers that be. That tempted me for a while but I have finally decided to wait and see.

I believe bigger city dealers will be different.

[Taruns_Hah]

I finally got to test drive the convertible petrol automatic in red colour.

The car looks very nice in real life, even more than the hard top version. In fact, in pictures I felt that the soft top lines were taking away from the look of the car, but in real life, they actually add to the character. The red is not a bright red but looks very pleasant and the metallic finish is top quality.

The petrol engine was even more refined than the diesel auto which i had driven earlier. The added power was also noticeable and helped during swift acceleration. However, given the cost benefit analysis, I feel that perhaps it wasn't enough to warrant the change from the diesel auto which I have booked.

I first drove it with the top down. The mechanism is easy and with practice, I am sure anyone can operate it swiftly and without any hiccups. There were already some pigeon shit marks on the top and also its impossible to tidy up the creases after it flops down. So its going to look a bit untidy. The salesman said that there was a mechanism to completely remove the top mechanism and store it away. He said it was just a question of removing a few clips.

Driving with the top down at 1.00 p.m on a hot October afternoon was surprisingly not as inconvenient as I had expected. The airflow kept it 'not uncomfortable' and the music could also be heard almost normally.

Putting the top up was when things went downhill. The cabin was normally nice, and with the AC it felt cool and pleasant. But after a few minutes we realized that many of the outside sounds were getting amplified inside the car. For example we had a Tempo Rickshaw next to us for a while and the sound from its engine was getting really amplified in our car. So too with normal auto rickshaw and bus engine sounds.

The real bummer however was when I got a chance to accelerate above 40 - 50 km speed. There was a very significant increase in wind noise and flapping sounds. By 60 km speed it was really loud. Many reviewers have written that the sound comes after 80 kmph, but I know what I heard! In fact i felt that perhaps we had not zipped up and closed the rear side windows properly so maybe the sound was coming in from there. So we stopped and rechecked if everything was fitted properly, but alas, the sound was still there .

So all in all, in spite of instantly falling in love with the convertible as soon as I saw it (Same with my wife and daughter), we will regretfully have to changeover to the hardtop version.

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Thanks mate - mine is a booking for the convertible too! Can you check -

• How much of a scratch-magnet are the transparent parts - the ones in the rear sides windows and the back?
• I know you are driving it in city, but if possible, can you check how bad is the flappy-ness of the convertible top in speeds - Bearable or headache inducing?
• And how is the material itself - compared to the previous gen soft-tops Thar, does it seem better/ inferior?

• The transperant parts didn't appear to have any scratches. However, this car had come straight from the factory, so I don't know how much it had been used.
• More than headache inducing as I graphically described earlier.
• I m a new entrant to the Thar life, so dont know the quality of the soft top of the old Thar, but there wasn't anything obviously wrong with this one. It looked fine. If I were to nitpick, maybe could have been a bit thicker.

[iamjoelj]

Originally Posted by SportsMedicine

I fail to understand the difference in shape and finish of gear lever of transfer case as advertised in official TVC versus in actual final product.

Please update if anyone is aware of this change in final production version in automatic Thar. Attaching the picture below for reference.

Don't think it's a cost cutting move, rather it was done to achieve uniformity. Automatic gear lever did look out of place with respect to the chrome finished transfer case lever and in my opinion looks more clean when they match now.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by Venkatesh

PowerDrift take on new Thar as daily driver - part one

Nice ad on behalf of Mahindra for the new Thar. Music is good, execution is good, but too much effort to prove that the new Thar is absolutely different from the previous gen. "Agricultural nonsense like leaf spring" - really? I don't mind leaf spring on a utility vehicle if I have bought it for its ruggedness, indestructibility and low maintenance. I know it can take a lot of load without breaking a sweat or my pocket. Then they mentioned that the previous Thar was the slowest on the road! Come on, I have driven my Thar almost 60 thousand Kilometers and there was not a single occasion that I felt I was not able to keep up with traffic, be it the Yamuna Expressway or the Hyderabad bypass. So I could not watch the commercial for more than a few minutes. It is good to talk about the strengths of the new Thar but not at the cost of belittling the previous one. The previous gen Thar is one heck of a good vehicle for people who know how to utilise it.

[udy]

Saw this on YouTube today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzEE06C3Nms

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by udy

Saw this on YouTube today.

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=nzEE06C3Nms

If deliveries are starting only from Nov, why does this Thar have a ribbon?

This is an AX (not STD, and hence has MLD) - why did they had ti tow it out - a parking gone wrong (into a slushy shallow ditch) is hardly an issue when two of the wheels are on solid ground. Did something break/ get damaged?

Folks from Delhi (DL7C) - any ideas as to what went down here?

[indian21r]

On the Auspicious Occasion of Vijaya Dasami yesterday, I booked the THAR Diesel LX Automatic HardTop variant in Red Rage. Color will be frozen only after seeing everything in person. That is wife's choice.

Though I am yet to test drive the Car. My wife said she will not drive this behemoth. But I have a feeling once she is behind the wheel, she will want to use it more frequently.

I started the cars Diesel MT /AT. Idle sound is not bad. Waiting for the test drive now. Getting longish test drives seem to be a challenge as the dealer is giving only 5km rides. Anyway I wanted to own a proper 4 wheel drive SUV and Thar gets the first share. Everyone in my family is excited that a Jeep is coming.

[Hawkeye269]

I've noticed that there are quite a few non-functional bits on the Thar 2.0, and am left wondering if they are meant to be eventually used either on the export model or the Thar 2.1 facelift... or both?

These are just my stray, idle thought but would love for all you fellow Team BHPians out there to pitch in with your views as well:

1. Turn indicators incorporated in ORVMs

Originally Posted by Aditya

Black ORVMs have "THAR" embossed on them, as do innumerable other parts. They are electrically adjustable, but have to be folded in manually. The Thar is w-i-d-e-r than you'd expect & you will realise this in narrow lanes:

That rectangular panel with "Thar" embossed on it is just begging to be replaced by a turn indicator... or so I hope! Reference image follows (don't much care for the arrows, though):


Source: Amazon.com


2. Turn indicators incorporated in tail lamps

Originally Posted by Aditya

Tail-lamps aren't wraparound units like you see in modern cars, but sport an oldschool design with a black plastic casing:

You're probably saying 'there he goes again with his darn turn indicators', but surely that rectangular cut-out is for a turn indicator as well?? Reference image follows:


Source: Quadratec.com


3. Outside temperature display / digital clock / ???

Originally Posted by Aditya

Smart center fascia. There is a glossy black border surrounding the gear console and carbon fibre finish between the air-con vents:

If you look closely, there is a what appears to be a rectangular cutout between the two round a/c vents in the centre. In Wrangler JKs and JLs, this is where the power window controls are placed, but it is unlikely that that would be the intended use in the export Thar 2.0 / domestic Thar 2.1. Aux switches would also look out of place. What then? A digital display to show either the outside temperature or the time? Something else? Your guess is as good as (nay, better) than mine!


Looking forward to hearing from you guys and gals...

[Vinod_nair]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye269

I've noticed that there are quite a few non-functional bits on the Thar 2.0, and am left wondering if they are meant to be eventually used either on the export model or the Thar 2.1 facelift... or both?

If you look closely, there is a what appears to be a rectangular cutout between the two round a/c vents in the centre. In Wrangler JKs and JLs, this is where the power window controls are placed, but it is unlikely that that would be the intended use in the export Thar 2.0 / domestic Thar 2.1. Aux switches would also look out of place. What then? A digital display to show either the outside temperature or the time? Something else? Your guess is as good as (nay, better) than mine!


Looking forward to hearing from you guys and gals...

Nice finds.

The last picture, the blank between the AC vents is the hazard switch for the lower variants, for the LX it's below the AC dials.

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by Vinod_nair

Nice finds.

The last picture, the blank between the AC vents is the hazard switch for the lower variants, for the LX it's below the AC dials.

What a classic add-on it'd be if there's a way to add an analog clock there. Utilization of space + that extra luxury feeling