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-   -   Mahindra Thar Roxx Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/283993-mahindra-thar-roxx-review-14.html)

I don't follow - I never said that the Roxx is suited for office commutes. I've implied the very opposite!

I've already stated that big engined cars will disappoint in the city.

We don't know that yet. And we all have different definitions of "great". More to come, as folks actually buy the Roxx and tell us how it hit their wallet upon highway runs.

True. But I know of some who would want to buy this car for the highway, in the 2WD guise, i.e. God knows there are state highways and rural roads in India where other cars would get beached like a whale upon un-scientifically devised culverts, speedbreakers and would get stuck in slush or break their engine mountings when going over potholes.

We need to know how heavy exactly. Starting from the Scorpio-N, Mahindra have ditched their earlier generation heavy ladder frame and have begun using lighter ones which are still strong. I think the official review also states that the same is case with the Thar Roxx.

I have already moved away from Monocoques, all thanks to the award winning roads of Maharashtra. Currently I have a BOF which i plan to replace again with a BOF in the next two years or so. Just waiting to TD the new ROXX and do a comparison with the Scorpio N, and take a call later. If it wasn't for Toyota's utter stupidity of removing the AT from the Crysta, i would have bought one this year without blinking an eye.
I have been doing some Monsoon drives, some towards the Konkan and i have begun to appreciate the robust nature of the BOFs.

Let me spell out the rivals as well - Creta, Seltos. When a monocoque is pitted as a "SUV", Thar can very well be pitted against them as a "urban" SUV. It has all it takes to qualify for that + the entire Aura around a lifestyle vehicle as your regular commuter.

And so does every Turbo Petrol Manual / Automatic in city traffic. And with Thar, people are choosing to compromise FE for that aura again.[/quote]

Anyone spending close to 2.5 Million INR will not bother much about a couple of FE drop in the highways. They will happily take the crazy acceleration over that.

Spot on, we get a 2.2 liter Turbo engine for the same cost of a 1.5 liter :Cheering:

I know am sounding like a fanboy, but am not. Am just stating the brilliant package that Thar is. I will also state the cons of it : they've in fact made it too "City SUV" at the risk of offending true blue off roaders. Knowing Mahindra, they will definitely, very soon, launch the 1.5 liter as well. Just to fully milk the brand that "Thar" has created.

Yesterday, I could see Roxx up close. An auto scribe friend and a fellow bhpian(vivekji05) was kind enough to take me for a short spin in it. I couldn't drive it though. It was an AT Diesel.

Since the time 5 door Thar was announced, I always used to think that it's going be a lift of Scorpio N interiors and equipments and deliver it in the Thar form factor - A Jeep that will have all the bells and whistles. But it turns out to be much more than that.

I had a small drive in Roxx for 7-8 kms or so. The first noticeable thing is the ride quality. I own a Thar(D AT, HT) since 1.5 years and 37K kms and have driven it in all sorts of terrains our land has to offer, including a cross country expedition. So my judgement on ride quality is purely in comparison to Thar 3D.

There's massive difference in the ride quality with Roxx. It doesn't "rock" you at all. It's super comfortable and the potholes, humps and all other undulations are dealt with aplomb in a quiet and smooth fashion, like a hot knife through butter. My friend did crash through a series of potholes at speed and Roxx didn't flinch one bit and dismissed it all with such elan. At one point I felt I'm sitting in a monocoque crossover than a ladder frame jeep. The stiff yet lighter chassis(just 179 kg) is clearly showing it's prowess here with lighter springs and softer damping playing a massive role. It's that good. The suspension, chassis and steering are clearly the icing on the cake for a driving enthusiast, apart from the plethora of equipments that's on offer.

My friend did take it for a spin in the twisties and was talking highly about the handling it offers. He was talking about how the steering rack placement adds to the handling and nice feel and feedback and better precision to it, it's now mounted closer to the wheel centre. It appears like Mahindra has managed to take the game one level up from Scorpio N.

Next noticeable thing is the NVH levels. I felt it's slightly better than Scorpio N. There's hardly any engine noise that filters into the cabin. Life was so very serene inside the cabin during the short ride. Yes, I did read about people writing on wind noise at highway speeds of 100 kmph. That's an issue with even the Thar hard top. Now this issue persisting in a metal top is a little surprising.
Still one can do 1300 kms a day in Roxx, without breaking a sweat and in supreme comfort.

I'm a big fan of the 2 .2 m-Hawk and it continues to impress since it's super refined compared to the 130 bhp tune on the Thar. One can easily gauge that there's enough and more power on tap. It would make life so easy for folks who do multi week cross country trips.

When I bought Thar, it was purely for off roading adventures and touring for two since my Gypsy couldn't deliver the long distance touring. While I still enjoy my Gypsy for all adventures in the 150-200 km vicinity, I'm super happy with the Thar buying decision and have so far done justice to it fully, with God's grace. In that context, Roxx may not suit my use case I reckon, for the following reasons.

Having a longer wheel base and hence a lesser ramp over angle may be a handicap in tough off road obstacles which I indulge in, every now and then.

The electronic gizmos that the Roxx is loaded with would turn out to be a headache, more so if one intends to take it off road frequently. An innocuous river crossing won't be as peaceful with Roxx. The speakers are right on the door, not to mention the white interiors. Thar neatly delivers in such scenarios. You'll only have that many lesser sensors to worry about. Of course, I would never want to take a Jeep with sunroof to a narrow jungle trail or a coffee estate trail with tree branches hanging all over. That'll kill the fun of off road driving.

Roxx is a superb choice for someone who travel long distances and wants to venture into the unbeaten path and explore the hinterlands. All of this in great style, comfort and with family on board.

Kudos to Mahindra for upping the ante with Roxx and the juggernaut is set to rock the sales charts this time too and would put a lot of smiles and great memories for many who would lap this up. Trust me, the fun and adventure that comes with buying a car like Thar, Roxx or Jimny is worth every penny you shell out. Looking forward to driving it soon. Happy Roxxin' !

Sharing few random pics I managed to click in a hurry yesterday.

Cheers,
bibendum.

Which window would you prefer :)



The new Pratap Boses in town :D



No, it's not the pop out umbrella like in Rolls Royce.

Mahindra's marketing has worked quite well this time as usual clap:

The car looks smashing in white and some other light colors. But, those white interiors doesn't go well with the character of the vehicle also its tough to maintain.

Sirish Chandran's insta post below shows few 'not so good things' about Roxx.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-6sad3Nv8y/

The wipers are not doing the job properly because, they have used inferior wiper blades. ScorpioN/XUV700 come with Flat windscreen wipers which do their job perfectly.

peace

Great insights there, @bibendum. Thanks for sharing :thumbs up

Spot on! Some folks here might disagree but I strongly feel that the use case (and hence customer base) for the 3D Thar and the Roxx are mutually exclusive to a large extent. Having owned a Thar petrol AT CT for close to 3 years now, I can completely relate to what you are saying here. The 3D Thar is a super-fun vehicle that can add zing to your life like no other car can, being the perfect "me" car for those solo drives or a couple taking off to weekend destinations, one's weekend toy as well as a trail blazer for all the hardcore off-road enthusiasts out there. While people (including you) have done cross-country runs in the 3D Thar, we all know and would agree that it is not the best vehicle for this use case. This is where the Roxx would shine - with a higher safety quotient, superb steering, better suspension, superior handling, upmarket interiors (waiting for an all-black interior from Mahindra), and most importantly, extra passenger and luggage space, it lends itself as that almost perfect family-friendly touring vehicle that not only makes a statement but is also very capable and instills that go-anywhere confidence. This is supposedly Scorpio-N territory but I am sure that the Roxx is going to eat into it quite a bit!

Net-net, another blockbuster from Mahindra. Waiting for the test drives to commence.

Can be many reasons including finalising config and price and sticking to Aug 15 launch date.

With the way interest is growing, better to grab the booking slots and expect delivery in couple of months.

I am currently using one 4x2 AT since last Friday and done about 1000+ kms, first drive within Kerala with heavy traffic and last bit towards Madurai. Tankfull to tankful gave 10.4 Kmpl for 4x2 Diesel and I was not being kind.

Second fill with 80-100 kpmh MID shows 13.5 Kmpl, discount .5kmpl to tankful method. 100-120 it will drop another .5 to 1 kmpl and drive as a maniac will show 11 kmpl on South Indian highway. Highways up north will definitely show better FE. Overall Madurai to Bangalore and heavy (read 1 hour city crawl) showed around 11.5 -12 kmpl. Morning rushour to office done and I will do another tankful today.

So safe to say 10 is a reasonable real life FE for now from 4x2 in bad conditions.

I have not tried Scorp petrol so I cannot comment, but I have recently procured a 3 Door petrol AT and done about 250 kms with it. Compared to that new tune of top end 4x2 diesel is pretty much close. Clatter is there and so does the vibration at idle etc compared to gasoline. But fun factor is almost at par.

First to hear here 1830 Kg for 4x2 and 1970 Kg 4x4 :D



Little more details please.

The spring load can be better, especially on left side.

Do note these are NOT FULLY / FINAL PRODUCTION READY cars we (media) are driving around. I can confidently say there are many bits that are getting finalised at vendor level. So final version would have much better fit and feel to it.

Will be putting a more detailed living with Roxxu post soon....

Any thoughts on how the Petrol compares with the Diesel on:

1. the fun factor?
2. mileage?

Thank you for the amazing comparo and write up. I am even in more love with the Roxx after seeing the pictures you have posted. Looks like Roxx will look absolutely fantastic in-person inside out compared to the digital images.

Moreover, I totally agree with the sentiment that the search of a proper SUV that might sometimes need to go offroad ends with Roxx. I was talking to my parents yesterday and this is the car that we plan to replace our Ertiga with next year because we have had more than a few times where our Ertiga being a 2 wheel drive greatly hampered our journey.

I don't mean to offend anyone but the Roxx competition is other Mahindra SUV's only. The pseudo SUV's are not even close.

I guess this was pretty much expected - used car market will be flooded with 3D - i guess this is the right time to press hard and buy a used Thar. I am actually in the market for the same.

2700 km long drive review of Thar Roxx by the Youtube channel - DDS. The review covers a lot of practical aspects. Some points like rear seat comfort were not even tested by the teambhp review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R19x3gk6ZKs

Towards the end of this first video you can see Crawl control in action, with demo. Also in the video is Slalom test and high speed drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZR4YKlNivY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUSK7SdOOcc

By the way anyone can sign up for a visit to experience the MSPT test track as well as the Offroad track. As petrol heads you owe that visit to yourself, its worth it.

Motor Vikatan and Motorwagon videos get the best of the technical explanations from Mahindra team, I like the time and effort they put in for this.

Also note that if you can understand what they are speaking, you will know more about this product than 99% of the Auto journalists in Youtube.

The review by Autocar highlights the ride quality aspect compared to ScorpioN. If ROXX has really gotten better over ScorpioN, then the next update to ScorpioN might even be better.

Autocar India - Thar ROXX by Hormazd

Here is the offroad info on Jimny and Thar. I think Thar Roxx has very good numbers and should do very well. Only the Rampover angle is bad due to longer wheelbase of 2850mm. Still it is comparable to Jimny 5D. Also note that Thar Roxx radiator is placed higher compared to Thar 3D. So another less concern on Roxx over Thar 3D.

Quiet honestly the amount of PR and hype they are creating is making me doubt. Also, the extend of direct indirect PR being done.

The product should speak about itself. Test Drive at dealers guess everyone knows since XUV700 onwards how the respective dealers provide the TD on a set course. Tatas are better in providing Test Drive rest if they change things this time around will see.

Roof , Rear Door, White interiors , no cubby holes across the car, weird rear c pillar.

Yet still it will sell in good numbers