Team-BHP - Mahindra Thar : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by cool_dube (Post 5027609)

Another option is to switch to "softer" luggage like duffle bags!

Or large suitcases which can lie over the frame.

Quote:

Originally Posted by navpreet318 (Post 5027668)

Well I hope you had other strong reasons to reject the Thar because I cannot see how this point can be held responsible for completely rejecting a vehicle!
.....
Just not a point of rejecting the vehicle on solely this point.

No definitely this was not the sole point. There were a number of factors revolving around our requirements as stated in my earlier post.

The reason I have quoted this as a big bummer is because this is such an obvious and apparent miss by Mahindra.

I am a big fan of upgrading and tinkering with vehicles but at the same time I believe in upgrading the vehicle to it's full potential and not in rectifying the oversights by manufactures which in this case is a clear oversight by Mahindra which cannot be justified by any logic.

And considering the fact that we are shelling out north of 17 Big ones if in first look we can identify a potential glaring error it sours the experience.

I will give an analogy - Just imagine a young family taking fresh delivery of their Thar, going to the customary worship place and the small kid in family accidentally pushes too hard on the rear seat back or if seat is lying flat accidentally puts his knees through it. It won't make a good experience for sure.

Tank like vehicle with hollow seat back does sound like an oxymoron. :)

Nothing against Thar, this just highlights oversight of Mahindra designers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ph03n!x (Post 5027774)

...I folded down my rear seats (after removing the head rests) and carried 6 boxes, 2.5 ft x 1.5 ft x 1 ft. and weighing about 30 KG each - I drove from Hyderabad to Coimbatore, about 950 KM.

The problem that I can see is usually on a long trip the heavier and bigger luggage will take the boot space and lower half of the seat back while smaller ones will go over top half. Now if smaller ones are lighter as well there won't be issue but if they are heavy or have wheels/ hard edges it can create problems.

Another option altogether will be to remove the rear seats :D

THAR looks fabulous on the roads.

Has massive road presence and looks very cool too. Congratulation to all the new owners.

I would like to mention one thing, may be you have already taken care of it.

For all the people whose car have come and are waiting to take delivery because of entertainment/ICE unit make sure that you take in written (and on company letterhead) from that dealer, that the warranty starting date is the date of your delivery.

Usually warranty starts from the factory invoice date and any extended warranty is also counted from the factory invoice date only.

Now in these peculiar cases the cars would have been already invoiced from the factory but are undelivered because of ICE delay issues due to factory.

If you are taking delivery, say after 3 months then you will be losing these crucial three months without any fault of yours.

Just a thought came so sharing it.

Happy Motoring.

-PK

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkLightning (Post 5028202)

Tank like vehicle with hollow seat back does sound like an oxymoron. :)

Nothing against Thar, this just highlights oversight of Mahindra designers.

What is the point of making the seat back hard when you don't have the space to attach accessories or legroom is less than ideal? It's useless and will make it difficult for rear passengers. The vehicle is just fine as is, if you can get one.

You need to evaluate your requirements, if Celerio is your primary vehicle , I don't think a Jeep will fill your needs for touring.Get a crossover and you will have all the features and space you need and then buy a Jeep.

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkLightning (Post 5028202)

...
...
I will give an analogy - Just imagine a young family taking fresh delivery of their Thar, going to the customary worship place and the small kid in family accidentally pushes too hard on the rear seat back or if seat is lying flat accidentally puts his knees through it. It won't make a good experience for sure.

Tank like vehicle with hollow seat back does sound like an oxymoron. :)
...
...
The problem that I can see is usually on a long trip the heavier and bigger luggage will take the boot space and lower half of the seat back while smaller ones will go over top half. Now if smaller ones are lighter as well there won't be issue but if they are heavy or have wheels/ hard edges it can create problems.

rl:rl:

Dude, you're making a mountain outta nothing! I am a family of 4 - wife and 2 kids (9 and 5). These are all the stuff we have done so far -

Folded the seats with my kids and a few of their friends (6 kids, all under 8 yrs. except mine) playing around in the back while I was driving on the farm grounds - the definitely were not being careful about the seat back, and while I was worried back then about the seat back (was fairly new to the ownership)
Have carried 2 cabin-size Samsonite trolleys, with hoards of knick-knacks like induction plate, crockery, kettle, etc. for a trip to my ancestral village - this is in addition to my half-foot bag of goodies (cleaning cloth, distilled water,
Ikea Squeegee, concentrated soap for the wiper, etc.)
The 6 heavy boxes that I described in the earlier post

Let me put it this way, while I pamper my cars, I haven't really pampered the jeep - it has enough battle scars from offroading, both on the sides and underbody. The back seats are no exception, and it's not struck me as delicate as you're making them to be in 4 months of ownership.

The one thing I probably haven't done, and will do now on - is take photos and detailed write-ups about my luggage carrying jaunts too in the my ownership review thread.

Btw, I'm not trying to change your opinion or decision about the Thar here, no way! But I want others to have a balanced view, of the seemingly flimsy backseat's back rest...

Quote:

Originally Posted by pk_del (Post 5028293)

...
...
For all the people whose car have come and are waiting to take delivery because of entertainment/ICE unit make sure that you take in written (and on company letterhead) from that dealer, that the warranty starting date is the date of your delivery. Usually warranty starts from the factory invoice date and any extended warranty is also counted from the factory invoice date only.
...

Good thought, and it's always to good to check these things when taking delivery.

From my delivery experience, the warranty starts from the date of delivery - my Thar was invoiced at the factory on 4th Nov '20, reached the dealer's yard to 12th Nov '20. I did my PDI on 16th Nov '20, and took delivery on 21st.

The warranty is valid for 5yrs. from then, ends on 20th Nov '25 - I had taken the extended warranty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by braveheart_77 (Post 5028273)

Hi Friends
FYI
As I posted earlier on page nr.88,my thar(Aquamarine Diesel CT AT) had arrived at the dealer at the end of feb.But still no
sign of delivery as they are awaiting for the infotainment system.

I booked it on 18-20 October,2020.

Did you get your ViN number? Reason I ask is that my Thar too is lying with the dealer stockyard since mid February. My VIN clearly shows it’s a Feb21 vehicle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pk_del (Post 5028293)

THAR looks fabulous

Usually warranty starts from the factory invoice date and any extended warranty is also counted from the factory invoice date only. .

Just a thought came so sharing it.

-PK

Thank you, very valid and good thought.

Quote:

Originally Posted by darwin (Post 5028006)

That's what they have been told to convey to the customer. However, the reality is far from it. There are over 100 Thar's in Mahindra's parking yard in Bangalore, waiting for the infotainment system to arrive.

True that. The one stockyard that my friend saw from his high rise confirms 100’s of Thar’s lying there.

My dealer has no confirmation on when the infotainment will come. He still maintains that the despatch hasn’t happened yet, though he knows that I know that my Thar is lying at the open stockyard - a Black one and with so much of wind and dust and heat at Bangalore, I feel I’ll already see swirls marks :Frustrati. The dealer was a bit cheeky to ask for the payments. I don’t think I’m inclined to pay till I get a formal confirmation of delivery date.

Ouch! I don’t think I’ll pay anything more till they confirm registration. If I had gone through a bank loan, the dealer will get the money only after getting a DO and other documentation before loan disbursal. Similarly, though I’m not going for a loan, I’ll pay only after I get the documents from them.

That said, I think the dealers may be in a but of a soup here. With so many Thar’s lying across dealers in the country, wouldn’t Mahindra already billed them and pick payments from dealers already?

And dealers now not being able to deliver to customers and therefore not having money, posing a huge Working capital issue through the chain? Not sure, but thinking aloud here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kosfactor (Post 5028303)

What is the point of making the seat back hard when you don't have the space to attach accessories or legroom is less than ideal? It's useless and will make it difficult for rear passengers.

Hi @Kosfactor,

I am not really sure if I understood what you meant by the relation between hardness of rear seat's seat back with legroom and difficulties for rear passengers.

Can you shed some light on it ? I am also not able to find any reference materials detailing the pro's and con's of hollow seat backs

Quote:

Originally Posted by ph03n!x (Post 5028305)

Dude, you're making a mountain outta nothing!

Surely not Sir! In fact that's why I called it a bummer and explained it when asked if this was the sole reason of rejection (which as I highlighted earlier it is not :) )

What I am doing instead is calling a Spade a Spade.

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts on Thar First Drive Review link Thar 2020 is an evolved/polished version of Thar CRDe and Gypsy and should be viewed as such, this is inline with Mahindra's vision also where they have decided to widen the market appeal of Thar from niche Jeepers (like me) to Lifestyle oriented folks especially young couples (like me and my wife).

No product is perfect, and coming from a design background I do have tendency of looking at the design approach of any product. Thar CRDe used to have that offset steering, even Storme had an issue with neck support for drivers as highlighted in Team-BHPian DrANTO's post link, French cars also usually have their own weird ergonomic flaws and so on.

A design flaw may or may not impact the user. In our designing terminology we use a term "masking" which basically means hiding the flaw from plain sight and rectifying it on earliest opportunity.

What I am trying to say here is that ( and this is oriented towards the designers of Thar and not towards the vehicle itself ) is that the hollowness of rear seat backs is an oversight ( and definitely not a Jeep feature per say :D) and this is coming from a person who belongs to the intended new audience of Thar.

As you said in your initial ownership days you were also wary of this and it shows that the concerns are not entirely out of place.

As a matter of fact I conveyed the same to sales advisor as well and he frankly admitted it that yes this is something which even they are wary of and servicing staff has been told to be extra cautious while doing any kind of work with rear seats folded. Will it be rectified by Mahindra in near future ? maybe yes maybe no. They have bigger issues to look into right now mainly related to supply chain and don't want to push any change in newer models which might make early owners feel short changed. By his own admission expect all Thars delivered in next 6-9 months to be same as what is on display in showrooms.

And as far as my decision is concerned I will stick to the final two points of my post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkLightning (Post 5027379)

9. Our final verdict was that as good and desirable Thar is it just won't cut it for us, at least not in this guise.

We walked away just imagining what could have been if only Mahindra had not made Thar a sub 4 meter vehicle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkLightning (Post 5028826)

If you add hard backs to front seats , especially where the legroom is not plentiful, rear passenger`s knees will knock into it and it is unpleasant. If there are no accessories like picnic table, usb ports, TV screens or the seat itself contains airbags or ventilation mechanism or seat massagers etc - then manufacturers will leave it as is - you will not see a plastic panel covering it. It will be a fabric or soft material.

Mahindra is well aware of it because XUV5OO has a hard seat back from 2011 onwards due to front seat containing side airbags. XUV has an expansive second row, so nobody`s knees are up against it at all.

I have punched a small hole through the front seat back cover while carrying Bamboo inside the Jeep, it was chopped to a nice pencil like sharpness. So worry not about kids and luggage it would be just fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj (Post 5028323)

Hello,
The sales executive from the dealer mentioned that they are getting only 15-20 units of instrument clusters per week. I am still awaiting for a response from dealers as they have claimed for the delivery by this month end.

Hi Satvik - which dealer in Bangalore?
I Hi as told the same thing - that they are receiving few Infotainments from Mahindra and I was coaxed to pay up atleast the ex-showroom price now so that the dealer can prioritise my delivery.

The question i asked was if the dealer now had control on who gets the car faster depending on who pays faster or will it still be basis the booking dates and allocations from Mahindra and I don’t think I heard a convincing answer other than some mumbles that I didn’t quite understand.

So.. to pay or not to pay is my current thinking.

Clearly, Mahindra has left the control of allocation and delivery to the dealers and this is yet another point to their transparency, or the lack of it I must say.