[Samba]

Got a chance to drive the Thar diesel MT

We had an OTR with Kolkata Off-Roaders. So Shree Automobiles Kolkata, brought the car to show us earlier today. Managed to take a short 8-10 km test drive on the highway. It was not taken for the OTR as they had other test drives scheduled today.

My impression from a small test drive-

It's a looker! Man talk about road presence! Will love to drive around in a Thar just for the sake of public attention!

The ride height is quite high. It can literally go over anything! Am sure, it will fare great in off-roading.

The engine is well refined, and there is ample of power till 3,500 Rpm. After that its a drag.

Speed masking capability is good. One can cruise at 100-110 easily. Above that the wind noise is quite prominent. The overall NVH is acceptable.

The car never felt under-powered, power is more than enough. Turbo lag is more or less sorted. Below 1,500 there is a minor lag.

The clutch is light. The gear throw is a bit on the longer side & on our TD vehicle the 3rd gear felt slightly notchy.

On straight line its rock stable. Take a corner or a zigzag maneuver, body-roll is evident. It's normal on a jeep. Nothing to complaint on it though.

The brakes are good.

The turning radius is quite big. Needs proper planning for taking 'U' turns.

It's bumpy on undulations.

Its a 2 seater. A long journey for an adult on its rear seat will be a torture. Plus getting in & out of the rear is also not very easy. A lack of an operable window in the rear is another let down. The rear foot-well space is very limited. Both the front and rear seats lack under thigh support. Still the front seats are comfortable & has lumbar support.

Head room in both front & rear is adequate.

The boot space is too less. Need to fold the rear seats to carry the extra luggage.

Few missing features like- Drivers arm rest, a rear camera, a dead pedal. The glove-box is super small.

There are few exposed wire inside the cabin. (Near the boot lid).

The plastic quality is hard but durable.

The AC is decent.

Music system sound is okay for a layman.

At the end it's a lifestyle vehicle and making it the primary vehicle may have it's own challenges. Am sure those who will buy this car going by the hype, will sell it quite early! Do expect few Thar's in the 2nd hand market by a year or so!

If one is not often to hills or driving off the road, there are better alternatives for a daily drive on the tarmac. Buy this car, only when you are sure on what you are buying.

This Thar is definitely much more livable than the previous gen Thar. No need to modify it after buying anymore. Now it's a complete package from the showroom itself.

Will I consider buying one? Heart says Yes! Brain says No!

Drool



Rear footwell.



Rear headroom. Am 5 feet 9 inch.





Boot space after folding the rear seats.



Boot space with the seats upright. That's a 2L bottle for reference.







Ace off-roader, Mr.Adhiraj Sing looks to be a happy person.

[hareshjethwani]

What a looker ! Would love to own one but don't want get trapped into the initial excitement and regret later. I am no way into offroading nor plan to do any, it's just long time wish to own one.
What would you guys suggest just based on a lifestyle choice - New Creta or Thar ?

[Dieselite]

Isn't it mandatory to declare ARAI numbers of fuel consumption before commencing sales? Haven't seen any official numbers for the Thar.

[topse]

I have seen good numbers in Idukki and Wayanad district of kerala, Dakshin kannada, Uduppi and Uttara Kannada districts of Karnataka. (These districts adjoin the western ghats)

These vehicles could handle off roading (it's the way of life in those parts). They were used to haul all kinds of cargo (farm produce, livestock, firewood) and also as a people mover.

Just a few days ago on 12th September I had visited Wayanad, got to see many of these Mahindra's running on road and were in almost pristine condition.

The below one I saw inside a construction site in Mananthavady (within Wayanad district). I was just awestruck seeing that even after decades of use and recent abuse in the construction site, this grandfather aged 4x4 Mahindra was still serving without any issue.

I became so amazed and thoughtful that I started comparing the reliability of this machine with the all new Thar and decided if I ever get to own a Mahindra I will have to keep that as a souvenir of reliability.

[indian21r]

So I have been banging my head since yesterday on which top to choose from. With small kids in the family, I felt it is better to get the Hard top.

Now to get the air in the hair feeling, I thought why not explore sunroof options. Since the HT roof is fiber, I am not sure if it will take the load of the glass sunroof. So one option is the Hollandia 400 here. Again will this weight be manageable?


https://www.webasto-comfort.com/int/...luxe-electric/

Now the second option is slice the roof in the middle into 2 or 3 segments (based on the ease of lifting). Then get clips added so that unlocking them releases the roof. Add a flex material for the trips when weather is pleasant. Panels will back in place for normal use.

By the way I realized that convertible top is also inspired from wrangler. Wish they would have given the Hardtop removable panels as well. The below video pretty much covers everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bURX6nTLNU

I guess this will affect the aerodynamics. Well that is something I should be able to live with in the wrangler.

[deetee]

One can wait till 2021, when there will be a few 2020 Thars in used market available at considerable discount off the showroom price. In any case, waiting can do no harm, especially with an M&M.

[balenoed_]

How did M&M managed to not get the boot space right.

With everything being so huge, the boot ending up like that is very disappointing. Yeah, I get that this is a Jeep thing and all, but still this is one sole reason I am still not signing up yet.

Whereas, look how much Wrangler has got:



Is the massive bonnet to blame here that ate up quite a lot of space.

[AKSen2015]

Thank you Samba da for this informative guide . This Car and also it's previous gen has always been a dream car. But yes you are right about the fact that buying just for the sake of owning one and buying with the intent to cherish it for quite a long time is something that needs to be given a proper thought.

Originally Posted by Samba

Got a chance to drive the Thar diesel MT

[ph03n!x]

Happened to stumble upon thIs two-part video in YouTube, thought I'd share it here as well as summarise a few points that learnt from them -

1. The Convertible Top can be completely removed from the Thar, and it comes with the necessary tools for that
2. There are no plans to give the Thar a 1.2 Liter petrol or 1.5 Liter D1iesel to take advantage of the sub-4-meter farce, or a 2WD version
3. About 200,000 visits to the Thar website on Oct 2nd, and 5 million views of launch
4. M&M will do a press release on the official booking count shortly
5. 5 Door expected end of 2021
6. Mileage figures are yet to be released
7. Deliveries will be from Nov 1st (I knew this, just reiterating)
8. M&M had assured a 4-star NCAP rating for all new cars, and Thar is also expected to meet this (observation from Car & Bike)
9. Will be exported to all the markets that the previous Thar was sold in, as well as expand to a few more (This will be interesting, let's see how FCA reacts!)
10. M&M R&D is looking at improving the brakes based on feedback
11. Hard top cannot take the weight of a glass sunroof (observation from Car & Bike)

https://youtu.be/YJngz03z2-g

[GTO]

Hard-tops with removeable panels are coming . Being designed by the after-market guys as I type this. Expect them to hit the market in early 2021. One chap was at a Mahindra dealer for 4 hours yesterday to take all the measurements, mounting points etc.

I hope Mahindra offers something like this as an official accessory (or better yet, a standard variant). Would any day prefer OEM vs after-market.

[sjcherian]

Originally Posted by GTO

Hard-tops with removeable panels are coming . Being designed by the after-market guys as I type this. Expect them to hit the market in early 2021. One chap was at a Mahindra dealer for 4 hours yesterday to take all the measurements, mounting points etc.

I hope Mahindra offers something like this as an official accessory (or better yet, a standard variant). Would any day prefer OEM vs after-market.

Interesting but always the aftermarket moves faster than the OEM in accessories/fittings like this.

I was hoping the hard top from Mahindra would be a sectional removable one but am ok waiting for it from outside also.

Got a message from a local dealership inviting to the showroom for test drive. Will wait a bit to do the test drive. LX petrol convertible was my initial thought. My head says keep my current Thar for atleast two more years (till 2022 to complete 10 years) and then replace. However the heart is going crazy over the photos of the new Thar.

[amol4184]

With rear seats reclined, this gap seen below is all the luggage space. It increases exponentially when you fold down the seats. So you can either haul 3-4 people and no luggage or 2 people and their weekend luggage.
Rear lid is confusing. With spare mounted, you can't open or close glass window without fully opening the door. This mechanism will confuse people not familiar with the car.


Underbelly grille looks better than the one on the front.


With seats fold decent luggage for weekend. I feel LX should be given a 6 seater option for those who want it. Luggage space will be much better in that one without having to load stuff on the folded seats. Of course you can just go with AX and let go of luxury features.


Rear interior, what passengers will see on their side. The screws are protruding but not the point of being dangerous. The felt material will get dirty easily and cleaning would be PITA. I wouldn't fold seats and load sacks of fertilizers and soil and tools in the back of LX.


Edit: rear seats aren't bad at all. In fact I like the fact that MM didn't even try to make it 5 seater. I have seen a lot of 5 seater cars are actually 4 seater and the 5th seat in the middle is a torture device for your enemies. 2 adults can sit in it with reasonable comfort provided they manage to get in there in the first place. If you are hauling kids or dogs (which I'm sure a lot of people will be doing) the space is enough. Dogs would despise lack of a side windows but would love rear hatch.

P. S. If anyone is interested in selling their current Thar in Pune region, drop me a line. Would love to do business with tbhpian.

[navpreet318]

Originally Posted by GTO

.......

I hope Mahindra offers something like this as an official accessory (or better yet, a standard variant). Would any day prefer OEM vs after-market.

I hope the OEM offering is made such that it can be fitted to any of the Thars. Because I'm now in no mood to wait it out. As soon as the deliveries start I'll just finalize the colour and take away preffered one.

I also hope that whatever slight changes they make in the future with respect to suspension, brakes etc. are able to be retrofitted in those whobare purchasing now. Current customers shouldn't be punished for being the first purchasers!

[soumobakshi]

Originally Posted by GTO

[ATTACH=DSC02302

Buy the Diesel AT if you are going to cruise a lot. While I have yet to drive the Diesel AT, I have a gut feeling it’s the one I’ll bring home. IMHO, the diesel is more in line with the character of the Thar, its city FE will be 75 – 100% higher, while the longer tank range is a boon on the highway and when offroading.

I am more inclined to the Diesel HT AT combo, did you get a chance to drive it? I am very keen to find out how drivable it is and what's the mileage figures expected from the AT box with the oil burner.
Any insight on this would be very helpful in the absence of any AT test drive vehicles in Bangalore.

[ph03n!x]

Was sharing this with a fellow BHPian and Thar 2020 buyer, thought others may benefit too -

On Mahindra's, and Thar's, Auto Transmission -

Mahindra XUV5OO uses an Auto box from Aisin Seiki called AWTF-80 SC - this is the traverse torque converter is/ was also used in cars like BMW X1/ X2 and a few others, Alfa Romeos, Ford Mondeo, Cadillac, Chevy Cruze, Suzukis, Volvos, etc.

Aisin Seiki was a JV between Aisin and BorgWarner, and is currently owned by Toyota (owns 51% of Aisin Seiki).

The Thar also has a Aisin Seiki auto transmission, but since Thar has longitudinal engine layout I'm guessing it to be different model, but no less. Aisin Seiki has a bunch of 6 speed longitudinal transmissions, used by the likes of Dodge, Nissan, Hyundai, Toyota - Fortuner & Innova, Porche, Audi, etc. So whichever transmission Mahindra picked, it is definitely a proven and solid transmission.

Now, can it fail? Yes of course - it's a mechanical box. And it'll be definitely more expense than a manual - the gear box alone will be 2+ lakhs. But will it fail? Same answer as "will an Innova or Fortuner's gear box fails." Extended warranty and timely scheduled service should take care - I haven't come across any serious XUV5OO auto or Fortuner/ Innova auto failure stories

While I don't have it handy, the references are from Wiki articles on Aisin Seiki and their transmissions that I read up a while ago...