Rented a Thar petrol AT: Driving around Goa's narrow roads & highways

I found the ride quite good and the body roll was reasonably well-contained.

BHPian Hayek recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Rented a self-drive Petrol Automatic Thar when I was in Goa recently. Had always thought of the Thar as the most drool-worthy car in India and must say I am very very impressed with how it is put together and drives.

Was just my son and I - which made it easier since we didn’t have to squeeze anyone into the rear seats (which are as bad as the third row on my Tiguan Allspace). Was very impressed with the smoothness of Mahindra’s Petrol engine. A number of people had commented that the Thar rolls a bit and is somewhat scary at high speeds, but I found it absolutely acceptable - much better than a previous generation Fortuner I drove in Goa in the past.

Had a good mix of highway and typical narrow Goan road drives, including both the very crowded sections in North Goa between Aguada and Calangute, and less crowded sections on my way to Loutolim. Took it well over 80 km/h, but not all the way to 120 on highways, and I found the ride quite good, and the body roll reasonably well contained. On the narrower roads too, the car handled well, and it was not too cumbersome to drive in the narrow and crowded seats. Got used to the Indian style indicator controls fairly quickly, though there were 7-8 occasions over 2 days when I used the wipers when I wanted to signal a turn.

The only misses were the absence of a centre armrest, the non-intuitive location of the power window switches in the centre console, the lack of a rear parking camera (though the sensors worked well) and the lack of keyless entry and a start-stop button. Overall a fantastic car, no wonder so many of you love it.

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