Which 5-door 4x4 SUV would you buy? Thar Roxx vs Gurkha vs Jimny

When it comes to 4x4 / AWD SUVs under 30 lakhs, it's a Mahindra-owned battleground.

BHPian Ripcord09 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Mahindra Thar Roxx

What you'll like:
• Handsome styling, brute character & tough build. Has an air of desirability around it
• Far more user-friendly and upmarket than the 3-door Thar, due to its superior interiors, amenities & the 2 rear doors
• Superbly equipped. Loaded with almost every possible feature we could think of (9-speaker Harman Kardon system, panoramic sunroof, 360-degree cam, ventilated front seats…)!
• Very competent, refined and quick diesel engine
• Butter-smooth 6-speed AT available
• Ride, handling and steering are much improved over the 3-door. Feels more Scorpio-N-like to drive than a Thar. Gets a light EPS (not heavy hydraulic steering like the 3-door Thar)
• 4x4 hardware, off-road capability & high GC. Get ready for slush, muck, deserts, jungles & the mountains!
• Practical cabin with seating for 5 and a fair amount of storage
• 447 litres of boot space is sufficient for holiday luggage
• Top-notch safety kit includes 6 airbags, Level 2 ADAS, ESP, hill descent control and more
• We feel the Thar Roxx is well-priced for the package on offer

What you won't:

• While the ride quality is significantly better than the 3-door Thar, it is not as plush as say, the XUV700 & other monocoque crossovers. The 19” wheels are a contributor too. Ride quality is liveable though and we’ll give it a 7/10 rating
• Some styling elements are either too polarising or too “busy”
• Light-coloured interiors with white seats (!!!) will get dirty easily. Keep the cleaning apparatus ready
• Ingress / egress to the rear is difficult, particularly for the elderly
• No 3rd row of seats, which the Scorpio-N & XUV700 offer
• Petrol AT is thirsty due to its hefty weight, 174 BHP & torque-converter AT
• Inexplicably, 4x4 option just on the diesel. Petrol is available with RWD only. Mahindra needs to correct this ASAP
• No option of a convertible soft-top (like Thar) or removeable hard-top (like Wrangler) for those who love open-top motoring
• Some missing features such as reach-adjustable steering, keyless entry, rear window shades…
• Niggles are a given with a fresh new Mahindra model. Just ask owners of the 3-door Thar

Review Link

Force Gurkha 5-Door

What you'll like:

• Macho styling & incredible street presence. Robust build too
• Far more user-friendly than the old Gurkha due to superior interiors & better amenities
• Shift-on-the-fly 4x4 with low range, diff locks, satisfactory all-round visibility & 233 mm GC. Excellent gradability, approach, departure & break-over angles make it a potent off-roader
• Choice of 3-door and 5-door (7-seater) versions gives it an edge over competing off-roaders
• Rides noticeably better than other purpose-built offroaders in the market (especially the Thar)
• 5.5 m turning radius (3-door) is not as wide as its competitors
• Homologated accessories mean no cop trouble for owners (windscreen protection bar, roof carrier, ladder, headlamp & fender lamp grilles etc.). Snorkel is factory-fitted!
• 500L boot space (3-door) is enough for a family's vacation luggage
• Features such as the hard top, LED headlamps with DRLs, rear wash & wipe, 9-inch touchscreen HU, power & eco drive modes, TPMS, dead pedal, rear A/C vents...

What you won't:

• High floor makes ingress & egress very difficult for the elderly in particular
• Braking capability is below average. Pedal travel is long too
• No soft-top or convertible options like the Thar. No Petrol engine or Automatic transmission either
• Tall stature equates to lots of body roll and poor handling
• Despite the increased power & torque, the Gurkha's outright performance is mediocre
• Overall fit & finish, quality of interior plastics, ICE audio, camera display…
• Notchy 5-speed MT has long throws and is cumbersome to use
• Missing features such as 6 airbags, ESP, hill-hold / descent control, sunroof, auto headlamps, auto wipers, driver's seat height & lumbar adjustment, auto-dimming IRVM, electrically folding ORVMs etc.
• 5-door variant's 3rd-row captain seats cannot be folded or flipped. You'll need to place your luggage on & around them (or get a carrier)

Review Link

Maruti Suzuki Jimny

What you'll like:

• Extremely stylish retro-modern SUV with loads of character. A total head-turner that’s available in very interesting colours
• Build quality is more solid than you’d expect of a Maruti. Even the interiors feel hard-wearing (note: plastic quality is nothing to write home about)
• An agile mountain goat! 4x4 with low range, satisfactory all-round visibility, 210 mm GC, good wheel articulation and excellent approach, departure & break-over angles make it a potent offroader
• Compact size & lighter kerb weight (than the Thar & Gurkha) bring advantages off-the-road and on it (in urban confines)
• Stylish interiors with good space utilization for 4 adults
• 4 doors make it more practical & family-friendly than the competing 2-door offroaders
• Smooth torque-converter automatic transmission available
• You can expect lots of modification & customization options, as is the case internationally. Go out & personalize your Jimny!
• Features such as the hard top, tinted green glasses, near-flat reclining front seats, LED auto headlamps with washers, rear wash & wipe, cruise control, 9-inch touchscreen HU...
• Safety kit includes 6 airbags, 3-point seatbelts for all, ESP, brake-based limited slip differential, traction control, hill hold / descent control and ISOFIX mounts
• Maruti’s excellent after-sales service, wide dealer network & fuss-free ownership experiences

What you won't:

• Small size doesn’t give it the presence of a Thar or Gurkha
• Unexciting 1.5L petrol engine with merely 103 BHP and 134 Nm. Don’t expect Maruti-esque fuel economy either (we saw high single-digit FE in our test-drive of the MT variant)
• Notchy 5-speed MT with a heavy clutch pedal. MT owners will find the footwell to be cramped
• Firm steering requires effort to operate. Vague on-road behaviour, weak return-to-centre action and wide 5.7 m turning radius
• Just a 4-seater (even legally). Not being able to carry 5 limits family-wise practicality
• Imperfect ride quality. Don’t expect road manners like a monocoque crossover, yet it is superior to the Thar’s bumpy ride
• 4-speed AT feels very old and outdated (has an “OD” button like in the ‘90s!). That being said, the gearbox has smooth shifts & proven reliability
• Missing features such as a sunroof, DRLs, rear A/C vents, auto wipers, TPMS, driver's seat height & lumbar adjustment, steering reach adjustment, auto-dimming IRVM, dead pedal…
• Boot space is just 208-liters; however, it is useable and more accommodating than the Thar’s. Disappointingly, the Jimny’s cabin has very few storage options & cubicles
• No soft-top convertible or 2-door options available. Forget about the joy of open-top cruising
• No diesel engine for those with high-running. The market still loves diesels in body-on-frame SUVs

Review Link

Mahindra Scorpio-N

Review Link

Mahindra XUV700

What you'll like:

• Handsome styling matched to solid build quality. Has street presence, feels robust
• Very spacious interiors with comfy seats and sorted ergonomics. 6-footer passengers welcome!
• 182 BHP turbo-diesel is potent
• Smooth 6-speed torque converter Automatic available
• Sorted suspension with good road manners & high speed stability
• AWD available for the adventurous, unlike most FWD crossovers in the segment
• Loaded with features like radar-based driver assistance system, pop-out door handles, panoramic sunroof, driver memory seat, 360-degree camera, 10.25" infotainment & instrument cluster etc.
• 12-speaker Sony audio system is fantastic! You'll enjoy its sound quality
• Safety features include 7 airbags, ESP, all-wheel disc brakes, hill hold, hill descent control, driver drowsiness detection, TPMS, ISOFIX...

What you won't:

• Negligible boot space with the 3rd-row seat up. Either 5 onboard, or 7 with a roof-top carrier
• Cramped 3rd-row seat is best suited to children only. A sliding middle row is sorely missed
• Some cabin plastics & a few rough areas don't feel premium in an otherwise loaded SUV
• Missing features such as an auto-dimming IRVM, paddle shifters, full-size spare wheel, ambient lighting, rear sunblinds...
• Concerns over niggles & bugs in a complex Mahindra.
• Mahindra's after-sales service is a hit or miss. Remains a gamble
• AWD is available just with the Diesel AT, and not the MT or petrol motor

Review Link

Here's what BHPian GTO replied:

The Jimny & Gurkha are the side actors in this poll, and their sales numbers reflect that. When it comes to 4x4 / AWD SUVs under 30-lakhs, it's a Mahindra-owned battleground.

Voted for the Thar Roxx 4x4. Recently took the Thar Roxx for a 4-day road-trip and loved it. That being said, the choice between the Mahindras is not simple. For one, the Thar Roxx is the freshest while the XUV700 is overdue for a facelift / upgrades ASAP. In many ways, the Scorpio-N is also superior to the Thar Roxx, but its facelift is a while away.

The XUV700 is far more user-friendly on-road. Among other things, it has superior ride & handling to the Thar Roxx. The Thar Roxx has a busy ride on anything other than perfect tarmac. At low speeds, it's jiggly. The XUV700 is also the most car-like to drive, has easier ingress / egress etc. As a family car, the XUV700 is superior to the Thar Roxx. The XUV700 & Scorpio-N come with a 3rd-row seat too, which is useful even if occupied by kids in the family. Can be the difference between the family fitting in 1 car for a restaurant outing, or needing a 2nd.

Mahindra should make corrections and offer its BoF Petrol SUVs with 4x4, especially the Thar Roxx. I love my 3-door Thar Petrol 4x4 AT!

Here's what BHPian shankar.balan replied:

Voted Jimny because I own one.
Our cities are more and more crowded, congested and parking is a royal pain in most places. Add to that, my reasonably frequent trips to nearby hill stations where the roads are inherently narrow.
Hence the apparent virtues of a small, light-weight, go anywhere vehicle are increasingly appealing. Moreover I have always loved the Japanese Kei Cars and their sheer practicality, reliability, quality of engineering and interior space design and management.
I also find a certain joy in the smaller 1.5 litre naturally aspirated engine and the fun of taking the vehicle up the rev band in each gear; like riding a four wheeled motorbike.
I think of my Jimny as my small, light, narrow proportioned, maneuverable armoured-car, with which I can go-a-jousting (like a Knight of Olden Times), but in relative safety, amidst the vicious cut-and-thrust of modern day Bangalore traffic and roads with the constant barrage of potholes, broken roads, unskilled drivers and riders, rule-breaking auto rickshaws and motorbikes etc.
The Jimny is a friendly little non-threatening vehicle. And hence it does not elicit the fear and envy triggered rage that a larger vehicle does when it draws up alongside other road users.
It is to me, the perfect thing for our conditions. Having owned and loved no less than 5 Gypsys in the last 28 years, it was also a natural inclination to go towards the direct descendant, to cope with modern requirements.
These are some of the reasons why I chose to sell my 3 door Thar Petrol AT HT and literally do a straight switch to a lightly used Jimny Manual Alpha instead. The availability and timing, for me, were perfect. The stars did indeed align.

Here's what BHPian DivyanshuDiv replied:

My vote goes for a Jeep compass 4x4.
In last few days, I have driven most of these cars but the sheer pleasure and premiumness of a Jeep is unmatched.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.