First impressions:
I've been in a Thar, and I've driven one around a little, earlier. I knew what I was getting into.
Coming from a Swift ZXi (2006) and a Scorpio VLX (2009), the
ergonomic disaster that a Thar is, becomes apparent to me in the first few seconds. Not that discussions on this forum have overlooked any of that over the years, but my first irritant turned out to be the wiper stalk - jammed up against the dashboard, with no swipe functionality, and a rotary switch that is almost impossible to operate unless one has dainty fingers. Oh well, it won't rain all round the year in my part of the country...
The gear lever isn't too badly located for my reach, but the handbrake is. It needs a chimpanzee's arm length to reach and pull. But it works, and that's all that matters! Maybe my left arm will grow longer with regular use of the handbrake lever.
Storage space. Uhh... where do I keep my phone? My bottle of water? Any pointers to availability of aftermarket storage consoles between the seats would be welcome!
Those
seats at the back are a safety hazard that terrifies me. Anyone sitting there would rocket through the windscreen on hard braking, breaking the front seat occupants' necks while flying by. So my first modification is already decided - forward facing second row seats, with inertia reel seatbelts.
You want seatbelts in the back seat? Why? Because my neck is precious! Found someone who has promised to install those legendary third row seats from the Innova, along with
motor-wala(!) seatbelts this weekend.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SS-Traveller - You already have a 4-wheel-drive. You don't need another one! (This one)
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It was suggested that it might be interesting to compare the Scorpio VLX 4wd with the Thar CRDe 4wd.
Both vehicles have many similarities, but on the road, they are as alike as chalk and cheese.
The similarities:
- Both cars from the Mahindra stable, a brand I have faith and trust in
- High and commanding seating position
- A turbocharged common rail diesel engine that is torquey and reasonably powerful
- On-demand 4wd system
- 235/70R-16 tyres
- Independent front suspension
- Body on frame construction
- Aerodynamics of a brick
- Reasonably easy & inexpensive to maintain
But then come the dissimilarities:
- The ride feel is entirely different. Straight away, one notices the Thar's body roll on turns and pitching on braking is far less than the Scorpio's. Despite the rolling and pitching (now better controlled in the Scorpio's third avatar), the ride comfort in the Scorpio is superior to that in the Thar - so says the wife. Maybe I am driving the Thar a little harder than I do the Scorpio... My score - 6/10 for the Scorpio, 7/10 for the Thar. Wife's score - 3/10 for both! She rates the Swift as 8/10.
- Driveability is fairly different between the Thar and Scorpio. Where the Scorpio's mHawk 2.2L likes to have the revs maintained above 2000 rpm for most situations (there's a faint feeling of the engine being lugged below 1800 rpm), the Thar's 2.5L engine is happy at a tad under 1500 rpm. So in the city, I can trundle along in the Thar in a higher gear than the Scorpio, which is probably a good thing, because the gearshift on the Thar is notchier than the Scorpio's. Not yet taken the Thar on a long highway drive, but I suspect the Scorpio will easily outrun the Thar on a straight, while the Thar would be a better handler on mountain roads, with its engine delivering more torque at lower rpm, the turning circle being better, and the car cornering flatter. In the city, Scorpio would get a 6/10, the Thar with less gear-shifting, at 7/10. But the notchier and tougher gearshift of the Thar takes away one point, so they are both back to 6/10. Clutch is equally weighted in both, while the Thar's brake needs heavier pedal pressure for similar braking performance (not that it feels like the brakes are inadequate). Not comparing and rating them on the highways and mountains yet. FE for the Scorpio is ~11.5/13.5 kmpl (city/highway), and I am yet to get an idea of how thirsty the Thar is.
- Ergonomics: The Scorpio scores a 9/10 for me, while the Thar scores a dismal 2/10. Handbrake, gear lever, wiper stalk, seat belt, glove compartment, storage space, where the ICE unit is located... nothing seems to be within reach. The Scorpio has those little push-button switches located low down on the centre console (fuel flap release, rear screen demister, auto wiper, auto headlamps, Microhybrid on-off) and they are confusing - else, it would have been 10/10).
- Visibility from the driver's seat: The Thar scores 4/10 here, while the Scorpio gets 8/10. The Thar's vertical window glasses tend to reflect light from adjacent cars at night, and the translucent plastic of the canopy is a major drawback in looking over one's shoulder. The vertical ORVMs do not have an adequate field of view, leaving huge blind spots, and I am wondering what to do - stick on convex blind spot mirrors, or replace them totally with something else - but what? The IRVM is going to be replaced with something which has day-and-night mode, and I think the Bolero SLX's mirror would be a direct fit. The Scorpio's large convex ORVMs do an excellent job of removing blind spots - there are not many cars I've driven, that have such a wide angle of rear view. The Scorpio's IRVM could have been a little bigger, so also the rear windscreen - but M&M in all their wisdom has made the rear windscreen even smaller in the newer generation Scorpio.
- Noise: The Thar should have come with noise cancelling headphones as standard fitment. So many things creak, rattle and flap, that it is difficult to hold a normal conversation between the front seat occupants, never mind listening to music. Add to that, road noise that comes in at full volume and horns that seem to be blown right next to one's ear, and it is certainly physically stressful to drive on a crowded street. If not for the security of the car's contents, I would get me a hardtop just to keep the road noise out. Thar - 3/10 (in its present state), Scorpio - 7/10. The Swift gets a 8/10, despite the fact that it is a rattly car.
- Street cred and anti-bullying properties: A truck is king of the road, with a 10/10 rating according to me (I am not considering battle tanks here). The Swift on the other hand, probably rates 3/10 (bicycles fare worse). The Scorpio rates around 6/10; that front bumper looks butch, but is a lot less tough than it looks - and scratched paintwork is highly avoidable. The Thar OTOH, with its mean black steel bumpers, keeps most unruly drivers (especially cabbies, e-rickshaws and 3-wheeler autos) away. Drive in your own lane, and those cabbies trying to cut in need one beep of the horn to suddenly swerve away! The Scorpio doesn't have that kind of deterrent effect. 8/10 here for the Thar!
- Safety is a word that should not be used with automobiles in this country. But since the nut holding the steering wheel of my cars is the biggest safety factor, I tend not to worry excessively. The Swift (ZXi) has 2 airbags, 4-channel ABS with EBD and gets 7/10; the Scorpio didn't come with airbags at the time I bought it, and has 3-channel ABS, so gets 6/10; the Thar gets 3/10, mainly because, apart from the lack of airbags and ABS, those side-facing rear seats without any way to belt up are a serious safety hazard and no government agency had any business allowing such seats to be installed in any vehicle.
A few words of explanation about the rating system I have used:
10/10 is what I expect
from a particular category of vehicle at a given price point. So, a 9/10 is not a rating for one of my vehicles in comparison to, say, a Prado; it is related to what I expect, for all the vehicles of a similar type that I can buy within a given price band.