| Re: Mahindra Thar Roxx Review
Hello ppl! I have booked a Black Roxx Ax7L 4x4 Automatic with Mocha Interior, and below are my experiences with test drives and thoughts about the car.
This is going to be a bit detailed, so bear with me!
Background:
=========
I currently drive a Ciaz, and have been more of a bike person than a car person. In general I find driving most cars unexciting, except for some cars in the past I have driven like the first gen diesel Swift and the 1.5 petrol Lancer. I did not have much interest to switch my car, but no longer I was enjoying driving a manual as well. But I did not find any other automatics to be exciting either. When the Roxx was launched, I got inquisitive after watching a video on how Mahindra have tried to engineer a BOF for family use. And thus I went to take my first test drive.
First test drive:
===========
The showroom had a Nebula blue Ax5L for display, which was absolutely stunning inside the showroom lights. The test ride vehicle was an Everest white Ax7L 4x4 automatic. Out on the day light I was a bit shocked to see how big the car looked. It was like how I was surprised on seeing the Defender on road for the first time. In pictures we can’t get a sense of the size and still I wish the Roxx was scaled down to something like 98%. At least the roof height!
The moment I sat on the car I was completely blown away by the seating position and visibility. I thought I would love sedans more, but the drive changed my mind. I found the car was indeed a baby to drive - it was so easy to drive! The engine was quite powerful reminded me of the 1st gen swift diesel, and the car in fact felt quite plush on our city roads. (The main roads are quite decent in my place). I loved the steering which felt so precise, the suspension was plush and braking was sharp and did not nose dive like I expected, and drive over expansion joints was as smooth if not better than my Ciaz. The auto transmission also appeared to be quite smooth. Please note I am getting into my 40s soon and hence the way I drive is quite sedate. My instant feedback was everything looked positive from the test ride. Couple of things I was unsure were if ingress / egress would suit my family, and if the white interior would be maintainable.
First booking:
==============
I thought I will wait for a while and see more reviews before buying. However, on Oct 4, FOMO took over and in the night I booked a Nebula blue Ax7L 4x4 Mocha interior. Since I thought I can edit the color until next day, was planning to see a black roxx in person and change the color. But to my surprise Mahindra closed variant editing by 4pm and I couldn’t change the color. I thought I will take some more time and then if I do not like the Nebula blue much, then I will switch to another color. Also, cancel option did not show until October 9, so I just kept the booking until then.
Second test drive:
==============
After my first booking, I got more serious and started reading every review. Since my test drive was hardly 2km, and only on good roads, I wanted to take another test drive with family and also check the ride on bad roads. This time the initial excitement had subdued, and I was checking if my family is able to mange ingress and egress. My wife and kid were ok with the ingress/egress and approved of the comfort after being inside the car. They also like the Nebula blue in display. Again I took the car for test drive and asked my wife to check the rear seat comfort. The ride on good roads felt just like the first time and I was ok with that. Then I took it on a short bad road stretch that was dug up for laying manholes. The car appeared to move a bit more compared to my Ciaz, but it wasn’t like uncomfortable. In my car, I know the sweet spot speed for the suspension and probably that’s one reason. I was going too slow with the roxx on the potholes and bumps. I also took a 90 degree curve and body roll was almost non existent on normal speed. While returning back, I switched to the rear seats and found the rear seat comfort again as good as my Ciaz in terms of width. The best part is the visibility and feeling of airiness. Definitely the view would be amazing for scenic rides. Headroom was more than enough, and knee room was enough but not in surplus. Thigh support felt better to the other cars I have driven in the past. My height is 5’7” for reference. Even the front seat thigh support felt enough for me, but more would have been welcome. This time I also checked the interiors in the Ax7L and really liked the soft touch materials. So overall, the second test drive was also positive, just that I felt at slow speeds and very bad roads the car moves a bit more. But still manageable.
Color choices:
===========
By now, I have seen the Black, Blue, Grey, Green, Brown and White color vehicles from different showrooms. Red is the only one I haven’t seen in person, but in general I liked Mahindra’s Rage Red compared to the Tango red. However considering the size of the vehicle, body coloured front grill, and the design quirk with the rear C pillar, I felt darker colours look better. My choice is in this order: Black > Green > Blue > White / Red > Grey > Brown. The grey felt more bluish rather than like the nado grey in other cars. Brown looked a bit weird as the color had mixed tones under different lighting conditions.
Second booking:
=============
Now it was Oct 9, and I have made my color choice as Black, and definitely Mocha interiors. Every car I saw the white interior was dirty and the test drive cars were the dirtiest! Somehow even I feel the white leatherette is also different from XUV 700. Speaking about 700, I feel they could have given the thighs support from XUV 700. One problem could have been the rear door egress may be slightly compromised. I would not have minded if they had pushed the rear seat by 1 inch with a small reduction in luggage space. So I cancelled the online booking for Nebula blue and made a new booking for the Stealth black. Cancellation was smooth and I received the entire amount back in the next 7 days.
Doubts about ride quality:
===================
Buy now I was reading more in Team BHP and also other reviews, and there were mixed reviews on the ride quality. Every one unanimously said BOF cannot be compared with Monocoques like Creta. I agree, but what was not sure was how much of compromise is it if I get the Roxx instead of Creta / Elevate / Celtos. In fact I was never going to get another car if not the Roxx… I don’t wan’t to own a Hyundai, and Elevate was missing something like front parking sensors and camera which I really wanted. Also IMO, sun roof should be panoramic, or else just omit it all together, not a fan of cars with small sun roofs.
In order to clear my doubts, I decided to take test rides of 3 benchmark cars for ride quality and handling - Slavia, Creta N Line and the Jeep compass.
Slavia test drive experience:
===================
I liked the Slavia Monte Carlo externally, but the interiors were so dark and not to my taste. Also, all the plastics were hard and all over. I found the engine powerful, but in terms of ride quality I did not find it to be say “a lot better” than Roxx. To me it was comfortable for sure. But not too different under normal driving. I realised that once we sit on Roxx, the visibility and the airiness - that experience was exactly opposite in the Slavia. Felt like being in a cocoon. Visibility was not great in comparison.
Creta N Line test drive experience:
==========================
Next up was Creta N line with huge expectations. The all black interior was a complete turn off for me. I did not even want to try the regular greta as I thought the steering looked silly and front grill to not be to my taste. I found the engine and transmission to be just as powerful as the Roxx. The infotainment unit and camera quality was better than Roxx (which is a little laggy even if crisp). In terms of the ride and steering, again I did not find anything too special. In fact I liked the Roxx steering more. And suspension did not feel too different, maybe a tad better. So again felt that Roxx’s ride quality / handling is not a deal breaker for me.
Jeep compass test drive experience:
============================
I had immense expectations from the Jeep compass and was hoping that I would understand how vastly better it can be compared to Roxx. But surprisingly I came back a bit disappointed. First is the steering, it felt rubbery at centre. To me the engine and transmission was as good as Roxx (please note I am just a sedate driver). Another disappointment was the rear seat, the middle seat width is not there, but does seat 4 ppl much better than the Roxx. For 5 people Roxx can be better. Also the pricing was very high if I wanted a model with 360 deg camera.
Ride quality conclusions:
===================
My test drives have not been very long, and only about 2-3 kms in decent roads and at normal speeds. But based on these experiences, Roxx did not feel too bad compared to the benchmark monocoques, and in fact the visibility and driving position in Roxx appeared to be its USP. Also despite not being sporty, the Roxx felt like a car that one can enjoy driving.
Seat comfort comparisons:
=====================
Another negative feedback from others has been the lack of thigh support. I am the tallest person in our family at 5’7” and decided to check the seat comfort again. Luckily there was an auto expo last weekend, and I tried multiple cars back to back in terms of front and rear seat space. These are the cars I checked - Roxx, Scorpio N, XUV 700, Harrier, Curvv, Celtos, Hyryder, Elevate and also some other expensive cars that I won’t compare (Defender, Lexus ES 90H, Wrangler Rubicon).
Here are my observations. XUV 700 has the best front seat, after sitting on it, you will feel that the Roxx is lacking under thigh support. But compared to my Ciaz or in isolation Roxx is fine for my height. The car with best rear seats are Harrier and XUV 700. Celtos was next best. Scorpio N vs Roxx - I found them quite similar, Scorpio N might be better by a very small margin. Roxx, Elevate, Hyryder felt similar in thigh support. Roxx seat was the widest for 3 person in the rear. The disadvantage I saw with Roxx was that there was very less space below the left front seat. So the rear passenger on the left side cannot tuck their feet under the seat if they are wearing big shoes (I was wearing crocs). Elevate felt best as there was a slope below the front seats. Another point to note is again ingress/egress all other cars (except Wrangler Rubicon) were better than Roxx. Wrangler did not even have a side step. With Roxx it’s always a climb in and climb out. And you should check if your family is ok with that. But once inside, no problems.
Dealer experience:
==============
My dealer experience was pretty good, I got 2 test drives, and they were ok with me booking online. Surprisingly I got a call saying an Ax7L 4x4 Black is allocated to me but white interior. In fact my second booking was done only on October 9. Yet, I declined as I was in no hurry and prefer to get the car from a later batch and brown interior. They accepted and so far their support is looking good. They have not forced anything or upsold stuff for faster delivery.
Conclusion:
=========
Based on my personal experiences the Roxx does seem to suit the family (as long as climb in / climb out is ok). The car appears to be suitable for both city and highway. The diesel engine is a gem and definitely I would say this as a drivers car. I wish they soon offer mocha interiors in 4x2 as well - that theme looks good on scorpio so should just be fine and easy to maintain. Below is a small summary of likes and dislikes:
Likes:
=====
- The seating position and visibility
- The diesel engine and torque converter.
- The steering, looks, feels and controls amazingly.
- Soft touch on door pads and dashboard. The ergonomics for placing the arms also looked better than many cars (especially Tatas).
- The butch looks - this is an iconic design and can be timeless unlike say XUV 700. Scorpio is another timeless design but both Roxx and Scorpio can be refined better. They look bulky and somewhat disproportionate from the rear 3 quarter.
- Features like front sensors, 360 camera, sub woofer, head rest for rear seat mid passenger, no transmission tunnel, useable boot space.
- Tyres that are not spec’d for mileage. Despite the diesel giving reasonable mileage for its power.
- Rear seat with great recline options, it’s just too comfortable.
Dislikes:
======
- I wish the car was a size smaller. A little lower for better ingress / egress. And not as tall, I won’t mind 2 inches of headroom going away.
- The design from the rear 3 quarter - gives an illusion of roof sticking out in a weird angle. I don’t like the wedge on the Creta and this one is worse. That’s why I have booked a black to keep the quirks camouflaged as much.
- A little bit more thigh support - probably like XUV 700.
- More foot room below the passenger front seat. (Driver’s seat we can adjust)
Having said this, I have not driven this over say 300kms, and I hope for that distance it doesn’t nauseate the passengers! I am continuing to keep an eye on other's experiences and hopefully I don't end up cancelling the booking! | 
21st October 2024, 16:02
(2)
Thanks
