[ph03n!x]

So this came up on 13th March, under 16 months from the day we started.

Now is as good a time as any to pen down some positives and negatives, no? Here are 25 pointers, split into + and -...

Positives -

1. Looks and presence. 'Nuf said. Even after 18 months, there is at least one stranger a week who'd pick up a conversation with you about your ride. Even after almost 500 days, I always look back and admire the jeep. This one is a keeper!
2. Can be your daily driver to work and back - in ishtyle. Have a sedan or "pseudo-SUV" for those family trips with >2 people.
3. ZERO DEF issues. Repeat after me slowly -

   D E F - - i s s u e s - - a r e - - o v e r h y p e d!!!

   Never seen a regen alert in 25k KM. DEF fluid low alert came up once, with a heads-up of 2,400 KM to top it up before getting stranded.
4. 14 service actions, excellent workmanship by my MASS. What more can you expect? Hats off, M&M and CAI Mahindra!
5. No serious, or even moderately bothersome, niggle in the last 23,000 KM, after the only one I had was fixed at ~2000 KM.
6. Voice command button on the steering does not get "activated" accidentally like in the XUV5OO
7. Cruise control is a boon, and I drive with one finger (toggling with two buttons (OFF and RES)) and one leg (ready to brake) even in state highways. Unlike XUV3OO or 5OO, resuming cruise does not cause mad acceleration (which is actually fun on open roads, but not ideal when you want to jus' cruise!) but gets you to your set speed gracefully - cruises there! But that mad acceleration is some what fun
8. The TPMS is a blessing - it has alerted me of punctures twice, and all I had to do was top up the air with my Windtek, and get the puncture fixed at my tyre shop. It does not learn a tyre rotation automatically, but can learn a single-wheel-to-spare-wheel swap on its own.
9. The AVO suspension is a pretty good investment - this is what makes #2 more comfortable. I have tuned them to be a little softer than the recommendation (12 and 14), and they are damn good!
10. The ARKA underbody plates ensure I do not have to worry about damages to the transmission or underbody anymore - and they cover the fuel tank, unlike a few other that need a separate protection for the tank. Am awaiting for their diff. guard...
11. The Osram nightbreakers have a much, much better low beam throw than the stock lights. But both the nightbreakers and the Philips Xtreme Vision bulbs have this blue coating to make the high beams whitish - which makes them irritatingly useless unless you are driving in the dark. A 4300K HID is on my wishlist, but I do not want to spoil the stock "jeep" look.
12. PPF on the body is a boon - I don't worry about thorny shrubs anymore, and have changed the PPF on the fenders for a pittance when they got themselves badly damaged. While you may argue that PPF is costlier than painting the whole vehicle, how many times will you paint the whole vehicle in its life time? Compared to that, I can keep replacing a damaged PPF piece for a fraction of the cost!
13. Pretty happy with the speaker mod - disconnecting the stock tweeter, having a pair of components with the highs positioned (double-side taped) at the bottom corners of the A pillars. While it is adequate, real lows are definitely missing - but I do not intend to do anything about it!
14. The Bimbra front and rear armrest are good. The front armrest does sway a little bit if you push/ pull it - nothing irritating though.
15. The 70mai dual channel IRVM mounted rear-view dashcam is now gonna be an essential part of my vehicles. One of those things that are not really a must-have, but once you have it, you cannot un-have it!
16. The wind-in-the-air open top is a hit with kids of all ages in the family (6 to 70!), and removing the CT completely makes the jeep S E X Y! Strategic "mods" that I have listed through this thread makes the roof's flapping covered non/ barely-existent, till at least 80 KMPH. And the noise doesn't bother me anymore - heck even helps mask the 80/ 120 KMPH beeps pretty well!

Negatives

1. The seats definitely need more under-thigh support, esp. for long tangdi kababs like me.
2. Driver side AC vent positioning - a peeve I have in many a vehicles. It is at a height where the air flow hits your fingers in the 2 o' clock position, making them go numb - unless you point it towards the window pane, or close it.
3. The windshield is a stone/ chipping magnet! This will be the first vehicle I've owned to have a windshield replaced so early in its life!! I have started driving further away from heavy vehicles, much slower on bad roads, etc. But I keep accumulating battle scars! I am looking at films like Clearplex to protect the new windshield whenever I replace this.
4. Android Auto/ Car Play frequent disconnects - tried a flippity gillion cables, and different phones. After about an hour's drive, it starts to disconnect and reconnects after 3 to 5 seconds. Can only presume that something in the USB port or the HU is heating up and "turning off"
5. Fogging of the windshield during humid conditions. Worked around it by having those non-slipping rubber mats on the vents. Not too keen in having the dashboard opened up to fix this...
6. The driver console - speedo, tacho, MID et all "restarts" while am driving - though very rarely. It is "blink and you miss" when both the meters go to zero, backlights switch off. And almost instantly they are back - the needles quickly climb to whatever speeds and rpm you were at, backlighting coming back on. Noticed this twice in 25k KM
7. When there is a warning or info shown in the MID, you cannot cancel it, and navigate it to something else. Eg. it is showing the degree of the front wheel's turn, and you want to reset the DTE after tanking up - you have to wait until the info or warning has made its point
8. The Bimbra dead pedal, IMHO, is at an uncomfortably steep angle. When combined with poor under-thigh support - I have played with height, fore-aft of the seat, etc. but yet get a seething pain in my left leg at times. I might try driving a bit without the dead pedal to see if my leg likes it better.
9. The bumpers are not 3-piece units like the prev. gen. Thar. Be prepared to pay for whole bumper if you nudge something that wouldn't budge!

Kitna deti hai?

The overall mileage is 11.93 KMPL/ 25103 KM - with 70% Highways (where I try to maintain ~90 KMPH on cruise, and have blasts to 120 KMPH as required/ road permits), 24% is city driving, and 6% is hills/ offroad.

The average variance with MID is +1.3 KMPL, MID being optimistic!


So what do I think, after a quarter lakh on the clock?

NO regrets! This is the perfect SUV for daily onroad use, as well as proper
offroads. I initially bought this as a secondary vehicle - but by the looks of it, this will be my primary - with a secondary family vehicle when we do our road-trippin'.


Coveting other vehicles?

The Force Gurkha - and reviews by our BHPians @Trojan, @Manuuj, @vigneshkumar31, @MohammedEza, and the official review thread that follow closely - is quite tempting. It is a pretty capable vehicle, and its all-metal shell makes it a very competent, go-anywhere overlander.

But I don't think it is for me - I would pick an Endy 3.2 for overlanding. Horses for courses - the Thar perfectly fits into the lifestyle vehicle I want - an open top jeep, right proportions (for me), and the go-anywhere ability.

This is what I need, won't have it another way...

[dr_TJ]

Few days ago, a Autorickshaw swiped past my bumper from the left, Left with few moderately deep scratches on the plastic.
Any way to fix it?



I plan to do some DIY PU Coating to the plastic trims to make it slightly more scratch resistant and Line-X like texture.

Btw, have you got your hood catchers replacement by Mahindra or its still the original ones?

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

- The driver console - speedo, tacho, MID et all "restarts" while am driving - though very rarely. It is "blink and you miss" when both the meters go to zero, backlights switch off. And almost instantly they are back - the needles quickly climb to whatever speeds and rpm you were at, backlighting coming back on. Noticed this twice in 25k KM

- When there is a warning or info shown in the MID, you cannot cancel it, and navigate it to something else. Eg. it is showing the degree of the front wheel's turn, and you want to reset the DTE after tanking up - you have to wait until the info or warning has made its point

- The Bimbra dead pedal, IMHO, is at an uncomfortably steep angle. When combined with poor under-thigh support - I have played with height, fore-aft of the seat, etc. but yet get a seething pain in my left leg at times. I might try driving a bit without the dead pedal to see if my leg likes it better.

- The bumpers are not 3-piece units like the prev. gen. Thar. Be prepared to pay for whole bumper if you nudge something that wouldn't budge![/list]

- I too have noticed this driver console restarts few times. Blink and you miss moment.

- This inactivity of the MID function because a warning is being shown gets very irritating

- I was wondering about those aftermarket dead pedals but was sceptical about its angle cause they looked abit too steep for me, so I have not opted for a dead pedal yet.

- Are those aftermarket FRP bumpers really airbag compatible? If those FRP bumpers are really Line-X coated, those will be urban and offroad scratch resistant. I like the look of those metal bumpers but air bag incompatibility keeps me away from getting them.

[batish]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

ordered Wurth Stone Chip and Underbody Protection, and a can of Lionnoil Silencer Coating.

How much did you pay for this? Did you consider getting the 3M Anti-Rust treatment. I'm asking since I too wish to get this done but confused between brands.

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by dr_TJ

...Left with few moderately deep scratches on the plastic.
Any way to fix it?

I have quite a bit of thorn scrartch marks on the fender cladding and the bumper corners, but they are barely visible at a fleeting glance.

I'd suggest that you scrub this with soap water and use something like this to sleeve off any protruding damages. For jeep, a little bit of dhaag is achha hai!

Originally Posted by dr_TJ

Btw, have you got your hood catchers replacement by Mahindra or its still the original ones?

Yes, it's replaced a year ago - here's my post summarizing all the service actions!

Originally Posted by dr_TJ

- Are those aftermarket FRP bumpers really airbag compatible? If those FRP bumpers are really Line-X coated, those will be urban and offroad scratch resistant. I like the look of those metal bumpers but air bag incompatibility keeps me away from getting them.

More than compatibility, I have encountered cops literally ripping off after market bumpers, bull bars and fog lamps off of vehicles in Nilgris and enroute Kerala. It may not be the case where you are, but I want to travel the width and breadth without the fear of harassment by the sarkari machinery - which is why am not even thinking about it!

Originally Posted by batish

How much did you pay for this? Did you consider getting the 3M Anti-Rust treatment. I'm asking since I too wish to get this done but confused between brands.

I already had the 3M antirust coat, but considering the battle scars I gathered from offroading early on (before these underbody protection plates existed), I had to get something more task-intensive. My friendly neighborhood body-shop swears by this Wurth Stone Chip Underbody Protection for my use-case - and he recommended to apply it directly after scrubbing off the surface rust. And that is what I did.

Each 1 liter can of the Wurth is 1,800 bucks - ideally one-and-half liter should do, but I made him do a double coat. So 3 liters is what I took - this plus the black silencer coating was about 6k in material itself.. plus labour.

The 3M coating is definitely good - if you have a pristine underbody (no scratches and battle scars from offroad, and have an underbody plate), then it is definitely adequate. Prob is, mine was battered, and had started to rust (had posted pics of the damage and the rusting earlier in the thread). So this is like surgery, hence the additional attention!

[dr_TJ]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Yes, it's replaced a year ago - here's my post summarizing all the service actions!

These are my Hood catchers, My Thar is August 2021 manufactured. Will these require replacement? Are these like your replaced hood catchers?
I noticed my left hood catcher in unlatched position after a drive over rough gravel road once. So just curious.

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by dr_TJ

...
Will these require replacement? Are these like your replaced hood catchers?
I noticed my left hood catcher in unlatched position after a drive over rough gravel road once. So just curious.

These are definitely new, the old ones look like this -



The middle rib/ latch on the new one (further in this photo) is taller.

Are you sure they were latched tight before the rough patch? See if you can reproduce it, I have noticed mine too coming off at times - random, and assumed that it was not latched tight, or the kids in the community fiddled with it.

Have never been able to reproduce it - have tried not slowing over rumblers, bad/ no/ offroads and terrain, but never happens when I wanted it to come off, no matter how hard I try/ drive.

[dr_TJ]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

These are definitely new, the old ones look like this -

Attachment 2286092

The middle rib/ latch on the new one (further in this photo) is taller.

Are you sure they were latched tight before the rough patch? See if you can reproduce it, I have noticed mine too coming off at times - random, and assumed that it was not latched tight, or the kids in the community fiddled with it.

Have never been able to reproduce it - have tried not slowing over rumblers, bad/ no/ offroads and terrain, but never happens when I wanted it to come off, no matter how hard I try/ drive.

Thanks for the quick response.
Not able to reproduce it, noticed it randomly.
I actually noticed it after I parked my car and was capturing this photo along side a Ford Ecosport

Upon close observation, I see the metal latch is still attached to the hook like protrusion of the plastic cover of the hood catcher.

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by dr_TJ

...
Upon close observation, I see the metal latch is still attached to the hook like protrusion of the plastic cover of the hood catcher.

I doubt it if that could happen if the latch was closed well and proper! I've noticed strangers playing with the latch on my Thar in parking lots - I've kinda made it a habit to do a visual check when I walk towards the vehicle nowadays!

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Each 1 liter can of the Wurth is 1,800 bucks - ideally one-and-half liter should do, but I made him do a double coat. So 3 liters is what I took - this plus the black silencer coating was about 6k in material itself.. plus labour.

The local 3M quoted around 6.5k for both the underbody as well as the exhaust coating.

[Transmission]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Each 1 liter can of the Wurth is 1,800 bucks - ideally one-and-half liter should do, but I made him do a double coat. So 3 liters is what I took - this plus the black silencer coating was about 6k in material itself.. plus labour.

Why can't the wurth be used for the silencer too - is it the heat?

[Possible.Car]

Hi ph03n!x

For point 6 in your negatives list, (The driver console - speedo, tacho, MID et all "restarts" while am driving - though very rarely. It is "blink and you miss" when both the meters go to zero)
I observed similar issue in my 2008 Mazda5 few days back. I was trying to park it in Micro Center and while in the main lane, looking for an empty spot, suddenly all the lights started flickering, car started disengaging for a min and stopped moving. No lights, dials stopped where they were before, no ignition. Gear locked in the D and I had to manually override it to N. Finally managed to push the car to nearby empty spot.
After I popped the hood and checked the battery, found one of the battery cables (I can’t remember was it +ve or -ve) was very loosely connected with the battery node. The screws were tightened but over the years the connector lost the grip to the cable and eventually drained the battery out.
After quickly jumping, the battery came back normal but back home, I did a jugaad by placing a small screw between the battery node and cable connector gap and retighten it. After that the issue never came back. I know this was not the perfect solution but did not want to cut the stock wires just for this.

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by Transmission

Why can't the wurth be used for the silencer too - is it the heat?

The Wurth/ rust protection is a rubber-ish coating, and I'm guessing they won't stand heat.

The silencer/ end-can coating stands high temperatures is what I've been told!

Originally Posted by Possible.Car

Hi ph03n!x
...
I know this was not the perfect solution but did not want to cut the stock wires just for this.

Hey mate! The symptom we have is kinda different - only the MID "restarts", everything else is fine. I'll be driving at highway speeds with Android Auto displaying maps and playing music, and the MID will do the reset - everything else continues without any change - no loss of power, audio continues playing, ICE screen is on and shows whatever it was showing before, etc.!

The Thar had some gremlins with the wiring, at least in the initial batches (incl. the one I had couple of weeks after delivery - details earlier in this thread!). And this looks like one of those, though people from 2021 batches too have reported noticing this.

Doesn't affect any functionality, but is a bother nevertheless!

[ph03n!x]

There is something about lakes, water beds, beaches - and jeeps. Be it the awesome Thar 700 or the brilliant Island Gurkha, whenever I see them photos, I go all

So this was an eventuality -

The beach, sea, hues of sunset, etc. are all just mesmerizing - photos don't do justice, you gotta be there with your jeep!

While in Goa, the Aguada Prison Museum is a must-visit at nights if you want silhouette shots like these - the lighting and aura is simply out of the world!

Alright, this post is not a picalogue about my Goa trip, it is more about my return lap to Coimbatore - any sane human will tell you do Hubli - Davangere - Tumkur - Chamrajnagar - Bannari - Coimbatore. It is 861 KM according to Maps, and shows as the fastest route -

No brainer, right? Wrong! When you are me, doing a solo drive, and have all the time in the world, this is the route you will choose -

Because I can. And because - in spite of several friends warning me to tone down my expectations - I will be driving parallel to the coast, in my mind this is a Convertible Top down, parallel-to-beach drive with wind in the hair.

I know, I know it is not, and I have been told, warned, yelled at. The mind craves for it, and you have to give in, right?!

So here I start off at 7 AM on a nice Sunday morning from Anjuna. The objective is to reach home by EOD, or worst case, halt somewhere enroute and reach the next morning.

The roads through Goa and Karnataka are pretty good, if not brilliant - except for some diversions due to expansion works.

You start off with Karwar, drive by the beach and are eventually led back to the beach - see the beach in the horizon, off Murudeshwar.

And Marawanthe -

And this continues - Udupi, Mangalore... And then you come to this place, made pretty famous by Manisha Koirala and Aravind Swamy -

the ~350 years old Bekal fort - Bombay's Tu Hi Re/ Uyire fame. It wasn't all green and algae covered like in that song, this is the summer months! While I was having a quick view around the fort, my Thar found company too -

So it was 4 PM when I started off from Bekal - that is 9 hours and 600 KM from Anjuna beach. And now starts the journey that actually makes this route a bad idea -

Highways in Kerala are timeless. When I used to be a little kid, Nagercoil to Trivandrum was NH47 (now NH66). And it took about 1 hour to do that stretch. As I grew up to be a teenager, this became 1.5 hours. And later on, 2 hours - there were some improvement, road works here and there - but people started preferring the passenger trains instead of taking the NH47. Things have not changed much.

The 200 KM from Bekal to home took me all of 8 hours, no kiddin'! There was a political meeting in Kannur, which made sure I was sitting around in Kannur for an hour before I eventually got moving. And then there were ore of timeless highways that were a throwback to my Nagercoil - Trivandrum days in Amby or Padmini!

So, long last, my mind has gotten what it wants - the romantic route, by the beach (not so much!). And I eventually reached back home at midnight.

The silver-lining in this drive, apart from the Goa to Mangalore stretch would be my Thar.

Trust me when I say this - I did not need much of a break for those 8 hours from Bekal to Coimbatore. And I was not tired, did not have cramps - nothing. Heck, I could have driven for a few hours more if needed. That is how seamless the Thar makes it seem!

[ph03n!x]

Wow, been 10,000 KM+ since I update this thread. Will get to it - meantime let me know if anyone wants to know anything specific or more details about any aspect of the ownership!

[techfreak]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Wow, been 10,000 KM+ since I update this thread. Will get to it - meantime let me know if anyone wants to know anything specific or more details about any aspect of the ownership!

Mate we would like a in depth review of the AVO suspension comparing it with the stock suspension.

Thanks in Advance 👍