[simplyself]

Paint job on Rhino looks very good. Vehicle is a bit narrow. The sales man said it gives a mileage of about 18 kmpl in real world conditions without AC on and about 16 kmpl with AC on. With a 100 BHP engine and that sort of mileage, the company has only to ensure the service and spare parts are available to climb the sales charts. And a few of them have started appearing now.

ICML has taken a good step; let us see how it succeeds.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by sajands

Today's TOI shows a 36,000 price way off on the rhino.

There is another vehicle with similar sort of discounts being offered (even more, actually) - the Logan.

Imagine a garage with a Rhino & a Logan parked side by side. No personal insult meant to owners of either vehicle - its just that in my very personal opinion these are the ugliest automobiles produced in India today.

Wait - there's the Sumo Grande too

[rjstyles69]

Managed to get a drive back home last nite in one of the Rhino's which is a cab at my office.

Initial impression's from a noob's POV.

- Rattles like mad.
- Engine noise inside the cabin is too much.
- Start the damn thingy and can be heard miles away( I know am exaggerating)
- Steering wheel positing is a real let down.I think it could have been positioned better.
- Center seat comfort is ok types and the last row is a complete let down.
- Suspension !! I don't know if this thing was ever engineered coz the vehicle felt like a boat at about 80kmph.

[hrag]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Wait - there's the Sumo Grande too

OT but I can see Sumo Grande sales picking up slowly but surely as well. I think it is starting to sell outside the metros - keep seeing Grandes with non-metro registrations, especially on the NHs and SHs.

[manson]

Had spotted a white Rhino back in 2006 while i was in Amritsar for a brief stay.
On a visit to Punjab i noticed a showroom for the Rhino too, on G.T. Road, which seemed almost empty.
But lately, i have been seeing quite a few Rhinos around Navi Mumbai, aminly because i think they have appointed a dealer in Mumbai, Asset Auto.
They are probably making more marketing efforts nationwide, which is why tereare quite a few on road now.

manson.

[vaspro]

I spotted a Rhino in Racecourse road Bangalore. But couldnt take pictures. Since then i was curious about this vehicle.

On 16 Aug'08 i spotted a Sonalika Rhino parked in the APTDC resort in Horsley hills. Here the pictures. Sorry i didnt take the interior pictures:









Cheers!
Vaspro

[shankar.balan]

on my recent trip to ooty and back we saw many rhino's on the road. most of them registered in rural karnataka, tamil nadu and kerala. We counted atleast 20 odd vehicles in the three days of our holiday break. Almost all of these wore yellow number plates. They seem to have caught on and people seem happy with them as a pretty comfortable, budget, people mover type vehicle. It looks amazingly like the old Qualis and this is not surprising as I believe ICML has bought the old Qualis moulds and are using those to churn this vehicle out.
I think ICML have done a good job because this view seems endorsed by the common man who ultimately is the true test of the success of any vehicle of this type. However, time, I am sure, as usual, will tell...

[lohithrao]

Back resembles the scorpio a bit, my thoughts

[MuzzledMoose]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

on my recent trip to ooty and back we saw many rhino's on the road. most of them registered in rural karnataka, tamil nadu and kerala. We counted atleast 20 odd vehicles in the three days of our holiday break. Almost all of these wore yellow number plates. They seem to have caught on and people seem happy with them as a pretty comfortable, budget, people mover type vehicle. It looks amazingly like the old Qualis and this is not surprising as I believe ICML has bought the old Qualis moulds and are using those to churn this vehicle out.
I think ICML have done a good job because this view seems endorsed by the common man who ultimately is the true test of the success of any vehicle of this type. However, time, I am sure, as usual, will tell...

Toyota gave a shock to taxi market by stopping qualis and that was taken over by ICML cleverly. I think rhino, once marketed well will become taxi favorite. Taxis dont need drive comfort etc as a pre-requisite. what they need is low cost, both initial and spares, good FE and a diesel engine

[motorheadinc]

well they seem to have mated far too many MUVs to get this one but as I can
understand from reviews the final offspring seems to have picked up all the bad genes.
Seen a few here and there too.
but nothing great to write home about.

[shankar.balan]

correct monsieur muzzledmoose
FE, Diesel, Reliability, Low cost of operation & maintenance are the key mantras of success in the taxi market.
IMO the RHINO would pretty much fit the bill for them. As did the Qualis and as does the Sumo, Bolero, Innova and now the Scorp M2Di too.

But go to the hills and you'll see many many Mahindra jeeps being used as taxis especially around Masinagudi, Gudalur, Ooty, Kotagiri, Coonoor, Sulthan Bathery etc etc.

I am sure that many of these users will buy vehicles like the used Qualises and the Rhinos provided they feel like spending some money - part of the reason they buy these Mahindra jeeps is because these come cheap when bought second hand.

Originally Posted by MuzzledMoose

Toyota gave a shock to taxi market by stopping qualis and that was taken over by ICML cleverly. I think rhino, once marketed well will become taxi favorite. Taxis dont need drive comfort etc as a pre-requisite. what they need is low cost, both initial and spares, good FE and a diesel engine

[MuzzledMoose]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

There is another vehicle with similar sort of discounts being offered (even more, actually) - the Logan.

Imagine a garage with a Rhino & a Logan parked side by side. No personal insult meant to owners of either vehicle - its just that in my very personal opinion these are the ugliest automobiles produced in India today.

Wait - there's the Sumo Grande too

Well i own the ugly duckling logan gls. Well for me i thought i wont bother how it looked outside since i will be always inside.... so since it looks good inside better i went for it