2021 Force Gurkha: First impressions after a showroom visit

The Gurkha looks more imposing in the flesh than in the photos.

BHPian Manuuj recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Finally saw the Gurkha in the flesh and it's a beast!

After a 12 to 1 pm meeting in Noida today I drove for 1.5 hours to the Force Motors showroom located on the GT Karnal road to finally see the Gurkha in the flesh.

The first impression was WOW! It's much bigger than it looks in the pics. Most photos I've seen have the Gurkha standing on its own which lacks the perspective one gets when it's standing with something to compare it with.

I will quickly give my initial observations pointwise and then post the pics I took today.

• It's a big imposing vehicle with a huge street presence. Thar's really should avoid being parked next to one.
• Ingress is quite high. Higher than it looks. It is not possible to get in without the sidestep even for tall people. I am 5 ft 11 inches and could not just walk in.
• For a vehicle this high, the ground clearance is really low. There is an additional protective plate for the gearbox and transfer case which sits really quite low and bang in the front middle portion.
• Headlights are amazing as are the pilot lights/indicators. The LED looked very effective even during the day.
• Music system looks fiddly. Sounded fine.
• Tyres were Ceat and not Apollo and looked undersized.
• Rims said Neo instead of F for Force.
• Seats were firm but quite supportive and comfortable.
• Plastic quality of the dashboard was much much better than I expected. I looked idiotic giving it a real "feel up" and smiling. The salesperson looked a bit perplexed by my actions but I found the dashboard plastic quality very very acceptable. Especially when compared to the outgoing model.
• The exhaust ran about till midway of the chassis. Would have been nice to have it sticking out from the side but that would have impacted the ramp break-over angle I expect.
• Rear lights were very nice and the Gurkha lools quite tall from the back.
• It looks good from almost every angle.
• Key fob is decent and the Ignition slot is illuminated (imagine in a Gurkha! It used to have the tacho in the centre of the dash remember..)
• The instrument cluster looks really good and lights up like a Christmas tree.
• I could not figure out how the cornering light function works.

Overall I am very impressed with the Gurkha. Cannot wait for a test drive.

The one thing that irked me though was that the salesperson said that I have to take the Alloy wheels from the company (Force Motors) by paying Rs. 38,000 extra. They will refuse delivery with steel rims. It is a new company directive.

I will contact the person in charge of Sales in North and find out if that is true. Sounds quite unfair. Why not give people a choice to order the car with Alloy wheels or Steel wheels?

Alloys are not part of the ex-showroom cost and are listed as an accessory by the way.

Let's hope better sense prevails.

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