[GTO]

If you've fallen in love with the Thar, Mahindra sure has made things difficult for you by providing two very competent engines. If you read up the earlier Thar threads, you'll see many BHPians who are confused between the petrol & diesel, while some even switched their booking from one engine to the other. Making matters trickier is the fact that there isn't a substantial price difference between the two.

If you were to buy the Thar, which engine would you pick & why?


The 2.0L petrol is smooth & has 150 horses on tap. Power delivery is very linear in nature & the mid-range is good; those who prefer clatter-free motors will be drawn to it. Of course, Mahindra expects a lot of demand for the petrol variant from the Delhi-NCR region too. On the flip side, the petrol isn't a high-revving motor at all (max revs of 5,500 rpm only) and is a gas guzzler, especially when mated with the 6-speed AT. You can read the full review here:


It's easy to make a case for the Thar 2.2L diesel. In India, Mahindra Jeeps = Diesel, enough said. The Thar's new diesel engine is impressively refined! The turbo-diesel is also very smooth & peppy. In fact, after spending time with it, I was hard-pressed to think why anyone would buy the petrol over this. Not like the Thar Petrol is substantially cheaper to buy either. The diesel will give you noticeably higher FE than the petrol, a longer tank range (important for highways & offroading) and durability (going by Mahindra's long expertise with diesels). The diesel is my engine of choice for the Thar.

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line!

[turbo]

Voted Diesel.
The Thar Petrol will give a single digit FE, and that's un-affordable and unacceptable.

Plus if I have to get a Petrol 4x4, I'll wait for the Jimny.

[humyum]

Voted Diesel.

Torque Converter + Petrol = Disaster when it comes to mileage

I would not want to worry about my pocket when I am having fun.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Voted Diesel.

The Mahindra 2.2 MHawk 130 is refined, punchy and will prove to be way more efficient than the 2.0 TGDi over the long run. Funnily, post the test drive of the diesel - wife asked if we could TD the diesel next - that is how much the Thar diesel has improved over the earlier generation.

[justwheels]

Voted and booked diesel.

The only reason you want to buy a petrol is when the cost difference can justify the benefit against running kilometers. In this case, with pricing so close that benefit has become lesser significant. Also, when plonking 17 Lacs on the top variant and taking a loan, difference in emi is not that much. Better to take the punch once than get beaten up daily.

Surely the 150bhp power number is attractive, but not big enough to trump the diesel. Also, the mHawk is well refined and nvh levels well maintained, so no more "tractor wali feeling". So Diesel it is for me.

[airbus]

Voted diesel. Fuel efficiency of the petrol engine is expected to be poor. Considering the pricing of petrol and diesel variants, looks like diesel is better option.

[Aafaq]

Voted for Diesel,
There is no huge price difference between these engines, and I believe Mahindra is known for its superb mHawk Diesel engines in terms of reliability and refinement and will be economical too compared to its petrol engine. so for me it will be a Diesel AT

[jkrishnakj]

Diesel for me too !
a) Tried and tested from M&M. It’ll be reliable
b) In the test drive that I did of the Diesel , it was super smooth and refined. And it still had that typical diesel grunt when needed

Personally , I had turned to be a Diesel Engine fan since 2007.

[Tachyonites]

Definitely Diesel!

1) Trusted engine and the sheer pulling power of a diesel mill that is absent in the petrol engine.
2) Fuel economy, torque converter paired with a petrol engine is a
total nightmare when it comes to fuel economy.

Though the petrol offers more power, my pick would still be the fantastic diesel.
Thanks.

[GTO]

Just thought of another important consideration. If history is anything to go by:

- A diesel body-on-frame UV will fetch anywhere between 20 - 40% more than its petrol counterpart at the time of resale. That's a couple of lakhs on the Thar.

- A diesel SUV will sell much faster in the used market. I owned a Civic and know what a pain it is to sell a slow-selling car nobody wants.

[DrvSafe]

Voted for Petrol.
Reason being I'm an NRI and usage of Thar will be very minimal annually.

[YD14]

I knew even before voting and reading posts that I'm gonna be the odd one out here.
Voted petrol!

I would choose the petrol simply because our family car's running (too young to have my own car) does not require a diesel engine (efficiency and low end torque). Our K12 motor endowed Dzire happily serves us and despite living in hills with steep inclines everywhere, the engine has not gone above 3.5k rpm on the move, except for a few occasions that can be counted on fingers. Our running is low so fuel expenses don't matter. With low end punch and efficiency out of the equation, its the petrol's refinement and linear power delivery that draws me towards it.
Another reason is that I have done my schooling travelling in Maxx and Boleros and they haven't left me with a good impression of M&M's diesel engines in general.

But in reality, we would never buy a Thar and I were to buy it in future as an adventure car, it would be a diesel hand down.

[deetjohn]

I am in a fix with this one! I have always loved petrol engines more than diesel. That's how its been ever since I started driving. It's all about the feel from the engine and that hasn't changed though we have some stellar diesel engines to pick from nowadays.

This might not sit well with the fact that I picked up two diesel cars back to back in our garage. But, that has got to do with the very poor selection of petrol engines in the mainstream segments of this market. And what more to say about the extremely stupid small car rule?? That just killed good petrol engines for the enthusiasts here in the volume segments.

So every time I vouch not to buy a diesel - no matter how good it revs or the BIG torque it makes, I have been kind of forced to. Our 2015 Fiesta didn't even come with a petrol motor. But, not again I say! Also finally, we are getting some yummy turbo petrol engines here!

I haven't driven the new Thar, just waiting for all the hoopla to reside a bit - but it looks like the Diesel AT is a better fit for the new Thar though. I have driven the old Thar CRDi extensively and it was good - so, this being an improvement should make it a no-brainer. So, you guys get my predicament now?

And that's one reason why I hope we get the 3 door Jimny 1.5 AT over here - it suits my requirements better I think. Anyways, it doesn't look like that is going to happen!

[Mik]

Voted: Diesel.

Started off my driving innings with a petrol car and then have had two diesel cars in succession. The turbo kick, torque surge and most importantly, the fuel economy puts a smile to the face (i understand turbo petrols would be fun too).
Even the Compass Diesel is giving 20+ on sedate highway driving and 15 in Bangalore traffic! Take that - small petrol hatchbacks
Coming to the All-New-Thar (thats what the Mahindra marketing wants to drill in to your head) - I will be waiting for next few months for Mahindra to iron out issues and hopefully convince the home ministry that navigating the Thar Automatic would be the same as the Tata Nano