[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by Dieselite

The car itself is a bit soft sprung and so its all short waves. It is similar to the initial generations of the Scorpio.

The first gen Scorpios bounced like bobble head spring dolls. I drove them with utmost caution whenever I was behind it's wheel, as I always felt nervous around corners. I'm sincerely hoping it's not as much the case with Thar. GTO' s first drive impressions did suggest it isn't a handler(expectedly) by any stretch of the imagination.

Originally Posted by fulcrum29

150 hp seems a little less for a 2 l turbo petrol. This seems more in line with what a 2 l NA petrol would produce. The torque figures are at par though. I wonder whether a simple ecu flash would get it up to the 190 hp figure they're planning for the xuv500. Could this gearbox handle this much power?

Buddy, you may well be advised to have a look at the below opinion by GTO.

Originally Posted by GTO

The 150 horses on tap are more than enough for a Jeep like the Thar. Yes, it is sufficiently quick. Anything over this power rating would be outright irresponsible & dangerous for the Thar’s dynamics (or lack of). More on the handling below. At the Auto Expo, Mahindra had said this motor is good for 190 BHP. No way can the Thar handle 190 horses.

[Sanjivvohra]

Wow! Mahindra nailed it on the pricing front!
Read a few reviews that indicate that a diesel version is better than a petrol. Will have to do a live TD to see for myself.
Was leaning towards a petrol now not so sure.....

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

The first gen Scorpios bounced like bobble head spring doll.

Test drove current generation Scorpio and I'll still put ride as horrendous. Of course I was coming from first gen Duster so it was a harsh comparison. Still, I truly hope Thar to be better than Scorpio by some margin.

[Dieselite]

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

The first gen Scorpios bounced like bobble head spring dolls. I drove them with utmost caution whenever I was behind it's wheel, as I always felt nervous around corners. I'm sincerely hoping it's not as much the case with Thar.

Yes. Hence I said similar and not identical. This SUV has tolerable misbehaviour over undulations unlike the Scorpio of the 2000s. I did not feel nervous with this vehicle at any point even when I took a few fast turns.

If some aftermarket suspension enhancements or even just upsized tyres could make this better it would make this a really potent SUV even for road usage.

[landcruiser123]

Decent pricing, nothing to VFM.
I got to say Mahindra missed a trick or two by not pricing the lowest end petrol at INR 8.99 lakh and lowest end diesel at INR 9.99 lakh.

[Sumanyu17]

Mahindra did a similar move to kia by not putting the automatics pricing in your face. Nevertheless the price seems justified for a 2.0 tgdi engine.
Saw the car in flesh today at Harbir mahindra in Chandigarh but they were not offering test drive contrary to what was mentioned in the launch event.
At first glance the car looks very imposing from the front, the 18-inch wheels look sick. Interior quality is also decent.
The cons that I noticed were-
1. The wheel wells not only eat into the rear seat space but also into the rear foot wells, your outer foot will be always brushing against it.
2. The boot is good for nothing and the folding seats don't help much either, so loading luggage will always be a task.
3. The gasket quality on the boot seemed shady. It was popping out from near the junction of tailgate and the rear glass.

[VRJ]

I went for a short test drive in the evening. The showroom had one black and one red hardtop diesel MT’s. I asked for an AT test drive and he said AT is made to order and test drive won’t be available, which is probably a lame excuse. The sales advisor said he’d call me in a week, when things settle down, so that I can have a longer test drive.





Short drive review:

Pros:

1. Addressing one of the two elephants in the room, the suspension. It’s good. I had no problem with it. Not smooth by any means, but you can definitely live with one. What am I comparing the Thar’s suspension with? Obviously with my 2018 Fortuner. The Fortuner’s suspension is stiffer than the Thar for sure. At low speeds, the Fortuner’s suspension hits you back, but the Thar absorbed the bumps. Totally fine in my book. Can’t comment on highway stability as I couldn’t cross 60kmph.

2. The Thar is such a lovely looking car outside, especially in the black shade. Very good road presence, very proportionate, fabulous looks overall. You just can’t compare it with a Sonet, XUV300, Nixon or even the Creta/Seltos. It turned heads at every turning I took .

3. Light clutch. Easy to operate. Good horn. Sitting posture was good for me, good under thigh support. I wish the seats were a bit wider though. Bigger personalities might find it uncomfortable.

4. The diesel is shockingly calm. I initially thought this was a petrol car, but was surprised to learn this was a diesel. Hyundai levels of refinement. I wasn’t expecting the NVH levels to be low and well contained. Good job by M&M. Even when driving, I could barely hear the engine. No rattles and squeaking noises. Built very well. The diesel motor has good pull, zero complaints regarding the engine and NVH.

5. The alloys look nice as well, especially the spare one attached to the rear door. Gives it more presence. On a different note, is it ok to leave the spare tire exposed to the sun? Or should it be covered like the Ecosport?

Cons:

1. The second elephant in the room and possibly the biggest con in this car, the brakes. I never drove a car with such spongy brakes. Felt so weird. I had zero confidence when applying them past 60kmph. I was actually scared to drive over 60kmph. The brakes just simply lack bite. The car stops for sure, but there’s no bite at all. My friend came along with me and shared the same feeling.

2. The gear stick. It’s like when you place a stick in jelly, it just wobbles around. There is no definitive slotting of gears. You don’t get that satisfaction of shifting gears. On top of this, there is ZERO place to rest your left foot in MT. Literally zero. Quite shocking. You have to either place your foot above the clutch (not recommended) or before the clutch pedal.

3. The steering is straight up dead. Maybe because the tyres were all muddy. Not sure. The car barely turned even when I turned the steering 90 degrees. Not very confident inspiring. Probably going to be bad in high speed runs.

4. I personally didn’t like the front bumper, felt plasticky and cheap.

Couple of observations:

1. This should settle the legroom debate. I’m 6’2, sitting behind my driving position (I sit upright and don’t lean back like few of my friends), my knees just about touch the front seat. This shouldn’t be a problem for me as most of my friends are around 5’8. If you’re wondering why there’s only one leg and not two in the below picture, I’ll explain why in the next point.



2. The floor area is poorly planned, maybe they didn’t have an option, but you can’t stretch both your feet comfortably. If you look at the image, the floor bump takes up almost half of the footwell. So, my right foot is in the middle, leaving me barely any space to put my left foot.



3. The mesh behind the grille.



4. There are no exposed wires as spotted in the initial test drive cars. The rear defogger wire is packaged in the following way in both sides of the glass.



5. The red one was available for the test drive. The showroom is close to an industrial area that has horrible roads and with rain pouring in the morning, the Thar has gotten all dirty. Thar is one car that looks better with mud and dirt all over it.







Overall, the Thar looks fabulous, drives well in city speeds, has comfortable seats, low NVH levels, lovely diesel engine, but bad brakes and steering. Will go for a long test drive on the highway next week.

Cheers!

[db DrivE]

Went and checked it out today.

The sales team was really good and explained about the vehicle.
I was told test drives would be available in a few days.

I am 6 feet tall and found the under thigh support insufficient.
And while sitting in the rear seat, I felt the wheel arch was obstructing quite a bit.

The looks however were so good that my entire family fell in love with it at first sight.

Will I buy or not, would take a call only after the test drive.

[hellraizer]

Booked my LX Hard Top Diesel AT in Rocky Beige. Couldn’t resist the temptation. Only a bad test ride will warrant a cancellation. Otherwise, I am ready to take the delivery as soon as it can become available.
I was invited to the launch in Mysore road showroom and there was some reasonable crowd and obviously, I couldn’t spend much time looking at the car. From the outset, 2 things were striking
- Incredible Road presence
- Massive 18”ers. So much bigger in reality

The interiors look well put together. I have nothing much to complain here. The rear leg room is ok but the placement of the outer foot is not so comfortable, but I don’t get to sit there, so I don’t really have to worry all that much.

Test drives should be available in the next week. I am just hoping that the highway drive won’t be very disappointing.

Finally, excited to be a “Jeeper”

[shinuak]

Post the online launch and price announcement video, I went to the nearby showroom to check out the new Thar. The showroom at Yelahanka had the diesel manual, Hardtop version for display. There was considerable crowd around and I din't spend more than 5-6 minutes, due to the crowd especially with some of them not wearing masks properly etc. Just went about seeing it from outside and clicked a few pictures on my phone. The general mood at the showroom, from what I could hear from potential buyers there, seems to be that majority are happy with the pricing. My perspective is that I don't have plans to buy one immediately, but would like to own one as a second car for adventure trips. Will prefer the automatic for its convenience.

Some people were heard saying they expected it a lakh cheaper, especially considering the bangalore on road price for the top end is in 17.4x range. After seeing multiple pricing sheets from various dealers as shared by friends, I could see 3-4k price difference between dealers. I wonder what would have contributed to this despite they being in the same city.



From the rear it looks massive



The side profile picture is a wide angle one and looks a tad smaller in the picture than its actual size

[Saurav_Nair]

Let the modifications commence


This picture was taken at a Mahindra Service Centre in Kerala.
The aftermarket grill seems to be made by the store mentioned on the watermark.
Here is a link to a YouTube video of the grill installation :
(This video is only a part-1 of the process with no footage of the Thar after the grill is installed. Part-2 is awaited for the same.)

https://youtu.be/wHmQAYcTtzw

[vigneshkumar31]

The entry to second row is the immediate inconvenience most of the people would notice due to the 2 door. Especially folks not used to 2 door jeeps and the like.

The Sales advisor took a couple of attempts to unlatch, bend and slide at the correct angle and sequence to create maximum gap. Once that was sorted, there is quite some space for fit and healthy to squeeze through. I'll make it clear, it's no way straight forward, but all things considered with the available space, this looks acceptable.

Note : If you're even remotely considering the side facing bench in hopes of a 6 seater I strongly discourage it considering how tight it is already.

Best use case for the weekend warrior, if he can afford to, is to throw out the rear bench and enjoy the perfect 2 seater that the Thar is.



Special Note: The tail gate is SOLID and confidence inspiringly heavy. Only till it reveals the small boot and kills the pangs of practicality left in you.

[ghatotkatch]

Does anyone know if the side-facing seats can be fit in the LX variant? Is it a shared rear bed for mounting both types of seats (with say holes-drilled/fittings-installed for either front or side facing seats), or entirely different for both types?

Also, any idea about the length of the side facing seats?

[H Karter]

Originally Posted by navial

Am confused between the convertible and the hard top. The latter is more Practical and the former more jeep like. Any suggestions.

Go for the Hard top; just for the sake of value it is offered at compared to the convertible.
It's definitely removable by some unscrewing and removing the black glue.

Use the Hardtop for two harsh seasons in a year with some beading on edges and get an aftermarket Soft-top (that will surely be available) for fun trips in the mountains in the remaining season.

[darkLightning]

Originally Posted by GTO

Pricing is as expected;

Completely agreed with you. My assumptions were also of ~18L OTR in Bhopal when I go on to buy this after at least a year for niggles to get sorted. Currently for Diesel LX Auto it is roughly 16.75L OTR price.

I would say Thar's pricing is neither so mouth watering that I pre-pone my purchase nor too exorbitant that I drop the plan.

Haven't visited the showroom yet and will probably not be visiting for some time as I am in no hurry. However I will list out below the rumblings I have based on everything seen so far (Maybe it can help some one who is in a similar frame of mind as me).

1. My use case - I already have a Celerio AMT which serves as the primary means of transportation within city and some inter city runs too. Great Fuel Efficiency and comfortable for 4-5 people with decent boot. Now there is very high dependency on Celerio for every day tasks including school duties for kids as well (once normalcy resumes), So any thought of driving Celerio out of home for more than a couple of days is as tight as the boot space of new Thar. I am on the lookout for a vehicle which I can take to places all over India (I would hate to face such situation where I have a destination in front of me but my car cannot take it). Primary travelers for such trips will be me and my wife at least for next few years.

2. Why Thar ? To put it simply if there is some place that I cannot go to in Thar then I don't think any other vehicle can make it as well. Previously Thar was too overpriced for what it offered. Now with so much in offer from OEM Thar LX definitely fits the bill for my primary requirement. And to top it all entire family is in love with it and "Jeeps" in general (Not Compass).

3. Workaround for Thar limitations - Boot space is not really a big hindrance for me as my longer trips will have two occupants only almost always so rear seats folded will offer plenty of luggage space and Reverse parking camera will solve visibility problems. However my big concern is that my parents are both on either side of 70 with back pain issues so expecting them to even think about those rear seats is a crime. My wife is sporting enough that she has given option of sitting in the rear seat if she can make it so my parents can one at a time at least enjoy the front seats of Thar, since anyways asking them to go on multi day trips by road is not our preference. The presence of Celerio really helps in solving lot of corner scenarios.

4. Why not Thar ? There are two deal breakers for me. One as I pointed above will be my wife's ability to go on rear seats. Second will be the handling, Now I am not expecting even Celerio level of handling from Thar but it has to be a lot better than the notorious Scorpio levels.I can't put my family in a car whose dynamics I cannot trust.

Alternatives for Thar - Duster AWD is gone, Isuzu V-Cross with it's scarce network is out of question. The only competent product I can eye is Ford Ecosport current gen (Can't really predict what will come of Mahidra-Ford co-developed Ecosport next gen). It has a proven record and I can say it can take me to about 80% of motor-able places that Thar can go and it can be that one single car I can turn up to for all my needs(being about 5L cheaper OTR at the same time). All other varieties of SUVs fail in front of these two for my purpose. What will you choose ?

Which variant of Thar ? LX Hardtop it is for me because of all the features on offer. Petrol or Diesel I am not yet fixed on but I may choose Diesel. AT vs MT again it will be a choice done after Test Drive and reviews but I am inclined towards AT for now.

My opinion on M&M announcing Automatic prices separately I am really happy with this approach of sharing Automatic prices. In essence we can say that Automatics are not different variants of Thar but rather accessories over the other variants of Thar. When I was purchasing my Celerio the biggest irk I had was Maruti shuffling the accessories to reduce sticker price of AMT but costing few features which were present in MT (Height adjustable driver seat for instance). Hence this approach by M&M has put a smile on my face. Now I am sure I am not going to miss anything feature wise if I am opting for AT