Taking delivery of my Orange Force Gurkha

The SUV offers an excellent seating position for a fatigue-free drive.

BHPian Shekhar Rao recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Took delivery of Nemo yesterday. It was an enjoyable experience with two fully decked up Gurkhas, one orange and one red in the showroom. Truly, there is an excitement and a special feeling created by the vehicle.

The area sales head and the service head as well as the GM was welcomed and spent a good amount of time explaining different things. The sales executive also has been very helpful and equal in sharing my enthusiasm. I have told them that I would very much like a factory tour and also a chance to drive to the place where Trojan filmed the video. I have told them that I will look forward to their support for pan India drives and they are very encouraging and have assured support and backup. This promises to be an enthusiast's car!

I drove about 80 km on smooth and rough roads. Although the tyres were overinflated at delivery, the ride quality was really good. At one point, where there is a sharp right and an immediate speed breaker, it always caused the severe side to side oscillation in my Fortuner. So I was braced for what the super tall Gurkha would do and to my absolute surprise, I was delighted to find very negligible rolling and just a blip over the breaker. I enjoyed the slight snarl from the snorkel when the window is opened and the light and quite precise gear shifts. I have no problem with the speed as I drive to enjoy the scenery and the Gurkha aces this department. But the very relaxed acceleration and the need to rev to above 1500 and shift gears is noticeable and one needs to be patient. The lights are good and the fog lamps aid the closer spread Couldn't really understand the cornering function and whether it is actually there. This is a good feature while on curvy roads and I had liked it when I had test-driven the Yeti and the newer Scorpio.

The AC works well. The fan started making an extra whine after some time and I will ask about this next time. Small squeaks are there from the rear, maybe seats or the door.

Haven't checked out the infotainment yet, but was told that navigation happens through phone mirroring via USB cable The Gurkha picture that comes on first is nice to see.

The lit-up interiors look quite nice at night and with the black finishing polish on the dash, it seems to be something that actually grows on you. But I wish the AC vents were less plasticky and had a better control mechanism.

The driving posture is great and fatigue-free. I quite like placing my left foot flat on the floorboard and don't miss the dead pedal. I like the feel and size of the steering too. However, I still need to find the perfect position for reaching out to the gear shifter and steering wheel position combined.

The TPMS kept alarming and blinking. It was reading very high. The tyres were overinflated and as I had to drive a bit and get everything working initially. I ignored it and kept muting the alarm. The service chief assured me that the system works well I also got a speed alarm in the cluster when I exceeded 80 km. I didn't know what it was in the beginning and then realised it when it went off after dropping speed below 80. Is this a governor during the running-in period, I wonder.

Here's what BHPian Trojan had to say on the matter:

Woohooo! Congratulations!!

The Orange is smoking hot and is going to turn heads wherever you go! You would absolutely love the place where we reviewed the vehicle, the vistas are surreal.

Yes, I hope that the 80 km/h alarm is only set for the run-in period, needs to be switched off asap!

The suspension swallows every hump, bump, crater-lock stock and barrel as with the luggage.

All one feels inside is a slight indication of having crossed something - nothing beyond that.

I think you were trying to get in touch with me last month, my apologies, I was totally caught up and not active here and I missed your post. I will drop you a PM with my number.

Wish you many adventures with your Nemo!

Here's what BHPian karthikd21 had to say on the matter:

Hearty Congratulations! Being a fellow owner of a Gurkha, I can feel the excitement. Although I never test drove the latest version, I can imagine it to be only better than my BS3.

In my ownership of 4 months(mine is a 2016 model), I have felt that the sensors in this vehicle are not set up in a robust manner. They turn on and off for silly reasons at times.

For example, the front diff locker sensor lights up when I go fast over a crater on the road accidently. It goes off in some time automatically. When I showed it to the SA, they mentioned its loose connection. Yes, be cautious if the "EDC" light comes up. But, for other components which are mostly mechanical like 4wd equipment, don't get alarmed.

Wishing you lakhs' of kilometres of unlimited fun! keep us posted.

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