Took my Thar to Mahindra's SUV Proving Track: Pics & Experience

BHPian Bibendum90949 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I took delivery of my D AT HT Thar on 16 Feb'23. It's clocked ~ 4000 kms so far. I've gone easy with it for the first 1k kms trying to do a "run-in" of sorts. And I've made a conscious decision not to take it too tough off-roading till I get acquainted with the car. That call has been a tough one after having waited for the car for a long. Still, I've given it some mild exercise by doing very easy and moderate stuff like climbing a few inclines and a few trails and slush driving etc but nothing remotely challenging to test its capability.

I have a Gypsy too which over the last few years has taken it to multiple off-roading events and other recreational off-roading. I'm quite confident with Gypsy now, it's shortcomings, strengths and very well adept at the angles etc. But with Thar, I've never test-driven it in off-road conditions. All the test drives on my friends' Thars and dealers' cars etc were primarily on tarmacs, li'l slush and bad roads and nothing at all to call it off the roads. Hence I wanted to take it slow and understand the behaviour, weight, dynamics etc of the car in off-road obstacles before I really conduct its off-road baptism.

In this context, I learned about M&M conducting off-road Adventure Experiences in their Mahindra SUV Proving Track (MSPT) facility near Chennai. I immediately signed up for that including the MSPT experience package besides the 4x4 course.

More details about the event were shared in detail by BHPian livetodrive on this thread.

The package included a tour of their testing facilities, driving on the high-speed track (ours were the second batch to be allowed to drive on that), and driving on a 4x4 track that had different obstacles to test the Thar's capability. This was exactly what I was looking for. This batch was conducted as a day-night event, which started off at 2:30 pm and went on till 10 pm and dinner afterwards.

So I drove to Chennai and reached on the day before the event. From the thread, I had a clear idea of what to expect, thanks to livetodrive. Since it's been elaborated very well by him, I would not go into such details. Instead, I would share my experience.

The first striking thing is it's truly a world-class facility. It was mind-boggling to watch the series of vehicle testing that was going on in their curated tracks. The effort they put into the product testing is unbelievable.

ESP testing, wet and dry braking, high-speed braking, slalom runs, traction test, humps, highways, fly-over joints, axle twisters, ice surface simulation (on paved smooth tiles), water fording, splash test, dust tunnel, city roads, rocks and boulders and even forest trails. The list goes on and on.

This must be a standard practice in the industry. But after seeing it all up close and the efforts put in by their development and testing team made my confidence in Mahindra products grow by leaps and bounds. Thar is my first Mahindra buy. They've come a long way in the last few years and it's showing in the products too. Be it Thar, XUV 700 or the Scorpio N. They're superbly built cars and excellent offerings. All the aforementioned cars were born in this SUV-proving track facility. It's indeed great to see an Indian manufacturer upping the ante and aspiring to be a world-class SUV maker. Many of you must have read about them benchmarking these cars with the best in the segment (Kodiaq, Endeavour and Fortuner) during their product planning and development.

We also had the opportunity to interact with Dr Veluswamy - Chief of global product development at M&M. He surely doesn't need any introduction at least on this forum. He spent a good 40 mins with us. We were shown a few concepts and prototypes that are in the pipeline. One was an off-roader EV. He also listened to our thought processes while choosing a Mahindra. Some of them own other cars like Kushaq, Fortuner etc and are in line to buy a Mahindra. There was one participant who brought his spouse to the events to convince her on buying Thar. That's surely something the Mahindra team wouldn't have envisaged while designing this programme.

During the interactive session, I asked questions on E20 compatibility on their m Stallion engines. The word from the horse's mouth is that they're already testing them with E20 fuel and I also learned from other members of the team that they're using the E15 in the present m Stallions without any issues. There were concerns aired by participants on issues at service centres and the need for more stringent training for their personnel. India Garage of Whitefield, Bangalore came in for scathing criticism from a few of them.

During the tour of the track, we spotted many other OEM s vehicles being tested by Mahindra. BYD, Ioniq5, a VW EV, and Tata Intra were a few of them.

Driving on high-speed tracks and on the banking

We were allowed to drive two laps on the high-speed track that includes the banking section also. The cars available were XUV 700, Alturas and Scorpio N. Each car had one of their trained driver instructors who sat beside each participant drove. Two participants sat at the rear of each car waiting for their turn while others drove. I wasn't too comfortable with this for the simple reason it was a high-speed drive besides it includes banking which many were experiencing for it first time. I had no idea about their driving skills or their experience. Hence I chose to get down from the car and wait for my turn.

I chose to ride a shotgun with one person whom I trust with his brilliant driving skills. He's our D Bhpian dhanushs. As many of you may know, he's a pro-off-roader and a seasoned guy at the wheel and now incidentally a lead engineer in M&M in their 4*4 special projects team. He hails from Wayanad and I call the place my third home. Also, he's the ex-owner of my off-road spec Gypsy. We've always been in touch since then and I had gathered details about this event earlier and wanted to do it after taking delivery of my car. He was there throughout the programme and was leading us for the track experience and the 4*4 legs too.

I sat with him while he drove the Alturas. What I realised during those few laps was that it wasn't as easy as one thinks to drive on those banking at speeds of 170-180, especially for first-timers. It appeared business as usual for him. As shared with him, the steering response and feel would be different. In the third track on banking, one doesn't need to steer the car while at 140-145 km/h. I also watched his super extreme focus while on the max banking which is the right-most lane at 44.5°. He hit 180-190 comfortably and was a smooth entry and exit. It was a thrilling experience.

When my turn came, I chose the safest of the lot - the XUV 700 and the Monocoque. Took it easy at 120-130 on the first lap on the banking. With li'l more confidence, on the second lap and on the third track of banking, I upped the pace and did 150 or so. It wasn't easy at all for me as the car starts to approach the banking at speed and when the corner starts, one's instinct of easing off the throttle comes into play. I was also a little disoriented with the helmets on as I've never driven a car by wearing one. A few valuable tips by Dhanush helped. While it's appreciable that Mahindra allowed non-pros like us to drive on those tracks, I see a risk in the exercise.

1. They have absolutely no clue about people's driving experience or skills.
2. It would be better if they judge a person's driving skills and then allot tracks with appropriate speed. This may be impractical owing to time constraints.
3. Only one participant(the one driving) and the instructor are to be allowed in one car. The others shouldn't be travelling in the car on the high-speed runs.
4. I wish the tyres in some of those cars were in better shape. Not to say it was alarming but there's definitely scope to improve on that aspect.

The 4x4 track and driving

It had all the typical 4*4 obstacles that one would find in such a course. None of them was really a challenge for the Thar. It did not even test 50% of its abilities. But then, it's for an experience the event was designed. We did water wading of around 2 feet. That was quite reassuring though I would prefer a snorkel always.

I could get first-hand experience of Thar's behaviour under various obstacles. It was the sole reason for me in choosing this event. The vulnerable angles, the ground clearance, and the level of suspension travel when in tricky spots were all experienced. I could also get a sense of the wheel articulation it's capable of while doing the chicken holes. The crawling speed on rocks and steep inclines was amazing. You don't need A, B, or C pedals at all. Just steer the car and enjoy the show while the electronics take care of your worries.

In Gypsy, it's exactly the opposite and you're on your own, with no electronic or mechanical aid whatsoever. It's the single biggest difference I guess between Thar and Gypsy.

Overall, a very fruitful and enriching experience. The high-speed drive on the banking was a surreal experience. The icing on the cake was able to interact up close with the Chief. Man himself has seen test driving a 5-door Thar. An unassuming and affable person at the helm surely helps the organisation.

I would strongly recommend this programme to our petrolhead friends here, even if you're the sedan guy your whole life. I've been driving for 25 years and been a sedan person all through till five years ago. I accidentally explored this side of motoring fun(off-road) when my friend dropped his Gypsy at my farm in Wayanad for a few days, back in 2018. I've not looked back since then and making up for the lost time. Today I've two Gypsies at my disposal and now the Thar. Needless to say, how much I've been bitten by this off-roading bug. I repent of not discovering this fun when I was at a younger age. So I urge all of you high-speed corner carvers and speed junkies to try your hand at off-roading. It opens a new world to you - in motoring and in life, just what I've found out in the last few years.

And I take this opportunity to thank M&M for providing this great experience. They had a bunch of teams that wholeheartedly organised this impeccably. Kudos to each of them especially Dhanush, Saravanan, Suhail and Srinivas. May your shadow never grow less and wishing M&M all the very best in your upcoming projects. You've truly won in me a Mahindra loyalist for life.

Few pictures from the event. Photography was strictly prohibited on high-speed tracks. One of its pics here was taken from the web.

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