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I forgot to mention in my review yesterday regarding a query we all had in the previous few posts.

Cold Starting Kit is NOT available for the 2021 Gurkha. It cannot even be retrofitted.

The vehicle comes with Glow Plugs which will aid in cold starting down to temperatures of -10C°.

For temperatures lower than that the owner must take adequate precautions like good quality fuel and antifreeze like with all other vehicles.

There was a new Gurkha ready for delivery at the showroom also. It had been fitted with a rear camera by the dealership prior to delivery.

Uploading these since one can never have enough pics of our Indian G. :)

I am guessing but the wheels and tyres jutting out could be due to the concave design and the offset of the alloys, a different alloy wheel design might accommodate it within the (extended) wheel arches

I saw a red Gurkha with temporary plates being driven towards Belgaum on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway today. The number was MP something TR something. There were 3-4 people inside and the car (or is it a truck?) was being driven sedately (60-80kmph or so). I’m guessing it was being driven from the factory in Indore to somewhere in south India.

Couldn’t click pictures as I was driving (Mumbai-Goa). But it looks really good, has excellent presence on the road, and I loved the red colour too. It would’ve been a serious option for many more people if it could be a great highway vehicle alongside being an off-roading beast. I’m not the target audience for these vehicles but I liked the looks for sure.

Regret, I didn't able to make out time for the TD. Rather it's great to get your hands on TD review. I shall be planning post Diwali, I'm holding back the booking till I get the TD.

The wheels are 6.5 inches wide and have an offset of negative 12. Which essentially means the hub on the wheel is placed 12 mm towards the outer edge from wheel center. It isn't much, about half an inch, but it causes the wheel and tyres to jut out just a bit.

The wheels I have got are "zero offset" meaning the wheel hub will be placed dead center of the wheel. This will mean my wheels and tyres will not jut out. But since my wheels are 8 inches wide and not 6.5 inches they should fill up the wheel well nicely with the 245/75/16 profile Rugged Terrain tyres and will not look sunken inside the wheel arch which is never a good look.

The OE steel rims the vehicles are driven down in are zero offset and probably about 6 inches wide which causes the tyres to remain inside the body line making them look a bit anorexic compared to the Alloy wheels which fit out the wheel arch better as one may compare in these pics.




The negative 12 offset wheels may also be contributing to vehicle stability on a tall vehicle like the Gurkha which is why the company insists that one buys the Alloys too.

The Alloys wheels seem to be listed as an accessory so that their cost is not included in the "Basic Cost" of the vehicle on which GST and all other taxes are levied.

A)
Please check that there is enough clearance for the suspension to compress in full lock condition.

B)
This is a bit confusing as, iirc, somewhere earlier in this topic, it was mentioned that FM did the homologation with those alloys and they are not ready to deliver with steel wheels. So what type of wheels are there as OE supply and included in the basic cost?

Regards,

This will only be clear once I have the wheels and tyres installed on my Gurkha which will be a while yet. But i feel that these Alloys and Tyres will not cause any fouling with the suspension or fenders as people usually go for more aggressive modifications like bigger wheels or oversized 265 tyres and everything still seems to work for them.
The steel wheels its driven down from the Plant to the dealership in are zero offset as well.

As far as the tyres go they are 245/75/16 size inplace of OE 245/70/16 size which results in only a marginal increase in diameter by 25 mm thereby marginally improving ground clearance.

Yes that is correct. The homologation was done with these Alloy wheels is what i have been told.

The vehicle is delivered with these Alloy wheels from the showroom.


It is driven from the plant to dealer on steel wheels as shown in the pic in my earlier post, which are swapped out for the Alloys at the dealership. Maybe this is done to prevent any damage to the alloys during transit and keep them looking brand new at vehicle delivery.

The cost of these is added as an accessory.

If it were to be added to the Basic Cost then GST and other applicable taxes to calculate the Ex Showroom and subsequently the On Road Cost would be calculated on that higher Basic Cost and the customer would suffer.

Here is a brief preview of our trip so far. So far we have driven on Expressway, Highway, State and District roads. Honestly, I didn't find Shrek lacking anywhere. We did a short drive off-road, which was also easy peasy.

On Expressway, I was able to effortlessly maintain 80-90 speeds, the best part is that I didn't need to slow down for the rough patches. In the whole 14 hr journey, I must have been overtaken by 2-3 other cars.

What I did find annoying is the power steering, it could be a little lighter. You start feeling it after 7 hrs a day of driving around. Also ergonomically speaking the position of the gear shifter is bad. You have to extend your arms and back too far forward to change. That said the clutch is effortless.


https://youtu.be/l3l-g2q5YN4
Here is a short clip of Shrek driving through beat-up roads. I don't think any normal car could do that at this speed without passengers complaining.

I had one scare en route though while overtaking I miss judged oncoming traffic, slammed the brakes to get back in the lane. The rear lost traction and fishtailed a bit. I had to pull over to calm my nerves after.

Before I set off for goa, I had some of my family and friends check out the car. Not one of them commented that the interior looks cheap or simple. What put them off the Gurkha is its size. It is just too intimidating for most people to drive.

Rumour: 2021 Force Gurkha to get 6-seat & 8-seat options

The new generation Force Gurkha was launched earlier this year. Now, there are rumours that the SUV could be offered in 6-seat and 8-seat configurations as well.



At present, the Gurkha is only available in a 3-door body style and 4-seats, which include captain seats for the second row. If you recall, the previous generation Gurkha came in Xtreme and Xplorer and Xpedition version in 3-door and 5-door body styles.

The 5-door Gurkha is likely to get the same engine and running gear as the 3-door version. These include a 2.6-litre diesel engine producing 90 BHP and 250 Nm, 5-speed manual transmission with low range and an all-wheel drive system with differential locks on all four wheels.

The 5-door version of the Gurkha could compete with the 5-door Mahindra Thar, which is already in the works.

Source: Zigwheels

That's the best part About Gurkha. It's a king on bad roads. Last 3 days, I have driven mine in worst roads in the western ghats for more than 1000 kms and it was a breeze to maintain speeds in excess of 70kmph even on bad roads. Have fun!

Are you sure the offset is -12 ? Neo website just says 12, when I inspected the wheel offset looks positive, wheel does not have any markings inside. Build of the wheel looks flimsy for something weighing 2.5T. With stock alloy there is about 30mm gap between inside rim and front control arm ball joint. I think if you are planning to use 8 inch wide wheel, minimum protrusion at best will just match stock wheel else you will end up fouling control arm.

Offset -12



Offset 12


See https://www.willtheyfit.com/index.ph...th=8&offset2=0

You have made some good pointers but I did have certain questions as have not gotten the time yet to reach out to a dealership. The nearest one for me is in Chandigarh.

I am almost on the verge of finalizing a car and would prefer a RWD or a 4WD as our farming land is in a remote area, recently we had a road cut-out for it but you need a 4WD to come back or atleast a RWD.

Question 1 - While pushing above 90, did you feel the engine was getting tired or noisy. And how many passengers or load was in the vehicle while you were on the Expressway.
Question 2 - I have driven the likes of Scorpio and Bolero, but never a Gurkha. Compared to them, how much light or heavy is the steering and is it well connected with the Wheels or feels vague or has a Deadzone.
Question 3 - How much effective were the brakes when you slammed them, do they have the bite or take time to come to sense. Pun intended.
Question 4 - Is this vehicle good enough for long journeys, like from Comfort perspective, you did a 14 Hours journey.

The first 6-year-oldA1 No, I didn't think so, but that can be subjective. At 90 in fifth, the engine is running at about 2k RPM

A2 I have not driven either of those cars recently, however, compared to their 5 -6-year-old avatars Gurkha is better.

A3 I would say they were effective, given that I lived to tell the tale. But don't expect the brakes to stop you on a dime

A4 Comfort is nice, the downside is no room for 5 the passenger

It was one of the days when people who make decisions in uniform service decided that we had enough of Mahindra and needed a new 'Force'. I was buried in paperwork when my SM walked up and said (I remember his exact words), "Sahab naya gurkha aaya hain." Bewildered why anyone from a mountain regiment would come to a desert location, I asked the SM to march him in. The SM replied "Gurkha andar nahin ghusega janaab." "What the hell", I wondered for this Gurkha's arrogance. I marched out and demanded an audience. Lo and behold, what stood affront was a jeep named "Gurkha" rl: Just one of those funny days. The vehicle, per se, was simply atrocious and none were ever happy with it then the planners who saw sense in the same.

Autocar has done a comparison of the Gurkha Vs the Thar. Mixed feeling about the review.

He harped on about the cheap plastic in the Gurkha.

I was wondering what he expects from a car worth 8.8 lacs (before GST)..and besides i was entirely satisfied with the plastic quality. Infact it was a pleasant surprise thanks to my expectations set so low after these learned reviews.

What they made sure not to do was park them both shoulder to shoulder.

Probably a condition set by Mahindra.. rl:

Well, we all do know how well a photograph can tell a story don't we?


Anyway the review did bring up some positives and negatives of both vehicles.

Enjoy the video.
https://youtu.be/0dwkgoqV9PQ

P.S. I paid my deposit for Hulk today. :)