[84.monsoon]

M&M have comprehensively updated the Thar brochure, removing the AX standard variant, as well as adding a lot of additional details.

[Karan_n8]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

M&M have comprehensively updated the Thar brochure, removing the AX standard variant, as well as adding a lot of additional details.

Isn't it mis-leading that in all the images in the brochure the vehicle features pure white-ish (6000k) head lamps ? If I recall correctly, I saw halogens on the LX during my TD.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by Karan_n8

Isn't it mis-leading that in all the images in the brochure the vehicle features pure white-ish (6000k) head lamps ? If I recall correctly, I saw halogens on the LX during my TD.

Brochures always come with a disclaimer.
Not every thing in the photos is standard equipment.

[Karan_n8]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

Brochures always come with a disclaimer.
Not every thing in the photos is standard equipment.

I understand that bit, but they don't offer the LED headlamps as an accessory. All the other accessories are offered by them officially so it makes sense.

[Capt.Arun]

There have been sightings of a white Thar near Chennai where the Mahindra Research Valley is present.
Possible additional colour options?

[Slipstream11]

Originally Posted by Capt.Arun

Possible additional colour options?

Yep, white and silver.

Source: https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto...786145286.html

[CEF_Beasts]

Originally Posted by Capt.Arun

Possible additional colour options?

A silver one was also spotted recently.

[jkrishnakj]

So, these were what were doing the rounds in the camaflouges that someone had captured and posted here a few days back. The new colours, after all.

I’m sure the Thar in White will be a looker.

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by Capt.Arun

There have been sightings of a white Thar near Chennai where the Mahindra Research Valley is present.
Possible additional colour options?

Attachment 2096989

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

A silver one was also spotted recently.

Attachment 2097030

The alloys are blacked out in the white Thar, and the silver one seems to be an AX soft top variant going by the spare wheel - AX only had black and red earlier, and AX soft top has been discontinued (only Opt with Hard or convertible top available now?). Also the rear wheel of the silver seems different then the spare and front...

But then why test just new colours and blacked out alloys under camouflage?

[SportsMedicine]

A friend from Jaipur just confirmed that his petrol manual hard top Thar has just reached the stockyard and will be delivered on next Monday or Tuesday. So finally the long lost manual petrol deliveries have started. The first i have heard of.

[Jaggu]

Christmas day and finally Santa delivered a Thar to me! well compared to Mahindra & Mahindra Santa was faster too, and arrived on the X mas day itself lol. Though I had placed a request as soon as the online portal was opened, apart from 3 calls I never got to 10 feet of a Thar, even on the public road till date. TeamBHP review vehicle was available only in Mumbai, so that was also a miss for me.

Now don't get excited, NO I did not make yet another impulsive buy, but a dear friend got delivery of his vehicle yesterday and threw the key at fellow mod Khan and me for the day.

Background
Mind you I have had a Thar for 2 years as my daily drive plus one and only vehicle. I have used the vehicle to go to my native which is about 700 Kms from BLR, multiple long drives otherwise, office drives, city drives, offroading et all. Spent a decent amount of money to make it more livable. Did about 15-20k kms in the 2 years I had it with me. Thanks to ever-increasing BLR traffic and ever-decreasing casual offroad driving opportunities, I decided to part with the old Thar and look for a 2.4 Liter Grand Vitara Automatic. Which I managed to pick about 3 years back and still continue to use. Meanwhile as recent as last month was using friends old gen Thar on and off. So was in touch with the bare bone 4x4 and not totally taken over by the luxury comfort and mad power of the GV.

Disclaimer: most of us had remapped gen 1 Thar's, so from a power delivery perspective all of them were wild. Though I had it stock for the initial 2-3k kms when I had mine. And these are my observations.

Fit and finish exterior 4.8/5

Pretty awesome, the paint quality, panel shape and consistency. Overall fit, the way things are put together, everything is top-notch. One has to really try hard to find some flaws but that would be taking it at OCD levels. So here I give the folks at M&M full marks. Even the engine bay is nice to look at and things are pretty well laid out. Yes, there is a bit more of electronics and sensors all around and even noticed a small auxiliary ECU unit (my guess transmission) inside the hood. Maybe this is the reason why M&M has cautioned about pressure washing the bay.

Fit and finish interior 3/5

The reviews were raving about it and yes justified when folks compare to the gen 1, that dashboard, switchgear, plastic bits, consoles et all are leaps ahead. But there are loads of loose ends that need tidying up. Considering one is paying a pretty premium price and it is not a typical 10 lakh jeep M&M built as ver 1. Mind you at 16.38 on the road BLR for the new Thar, it is about 70-80% increase Vs ver 1 Thar that came with factory fitted AC. Progressively they have managed to increase the price further saying better dash, special edition and all. But this is also ver 1 of new Thar, so the comparison has to be real. So coming back to the flaws, am surprised at the way things are put together. The brand new vehicle had two clips already fitted incorrect for the side clad near seat belt that the clips have got crushed. And those clips are the cheapest quality one can get, like thin wafers. Boot floor panel had one clip missing already. I would be seriously pissed to find these after spending so much. The maruti ignis which we bought was some 8 lakhs and has much better bits holding it together. Though it is the wafer-thin metal car the interior feels more premium and better put together. It is again manufactured in India, so I fail to understand why Mahindra cant have at least that level of finish. Those ugly fabric damping mats near the hand rest area at the rear is totally a no-no. How expensive will the vehicle become if you add two proper plastic cladding there? 3-4K? I would happily pay for that.

The overall feeling is, someone decided enough of delays at the launch plan, "ok chuck the interior bit and let us go ahead with the launch". And someone at procurement really skimmed the margin of the parts vendor that they decided to skim on quality at places where it is not seen. This additional effort put can really improve the feel as well as the longevity of the vehicle. One can defend it is a ladder SUV, but a lot of folks aspiring for it deserves at least so much from M&M.

Ambience & Space 3/5

I love black interiors so overall I love it. But something that one would not miss noticing is how cramped interiors esp the front is. The vehicle is wider than the old Thar but when you sit in driver seat it feels tight. As if you are sitting inside a kayak lol. One main reason is the raised waste line, dash plus doors and side panels I felt are taller and dash esp is more full. Good for safety I guess but bad for overall space. That central tunnel and footwell are HORRIBLE. To add to the misery, I was wearing my Orazo riding boots that has a slightly wide foot area at front. I had zero space to even slide my foot down and keep it down beside the clutch pedal. Automatic hopefully with minus one pedal should be better. Now the front seat, it is the narrowest one I have sat in a long time! I feel even my old Thar had a wider seat, my thighs and bums were on top of the side bolstering. Long drives definitely are not going to be nice. Coincidentally had used V Cross previous weekend for a 500 kms drive and that seat felt supremely accommodating compared to Thar's. Compared to the front I found rear rather spacious. Again the darn riding boots did not have space to go underneath the front seat. But with just two of us and that short bench one gets a feeling of a lot of space to move about. Funny to say I felt comfier relaxing at the rear than at front

Rear seat ingress etc.. is PRETTY GOOD! Even with the slightly well-built body, all of us were pretty happy jumping in and out of the rear seat.

Boot space - lesser said is better, this is one place the 4 member family is really gonna ditch the vehicle. Even folks who do monthly grocery supplies and with 4 folks in the vehicle will complain. Unless you fold the seats down, it is one vertical space of about 1.5 Feet width usable there. Let us say a Santro or Ignis has better boots.

ps: Look on Khan's face when he saw the precious piece of rear window defogger wire at the rear glass was rather amusing.

Ride & handling 3.5/5
It wallows like a ship, but at slow to medium speeds, especially when one has to travel through broken construction patch etc, it just glides through. I drove throughout with 4 people so the vehicle was loaded decently. Tire pressure was around 31-32 PSI hot as per MID. Things change once you hit faster roads like highways. Lot has been told about the steering (light, slow to react from centre), but someone who is used to 4x4 and old school SUV's that is least of the botheration. More concerning is the nose dive when the vehicle takes aggressive corrections at speeds (emergency manoeuvres). The front end surely needs a set of upgraded shock absorbers to give more confidence and to stop that stupid wallowing. It is a simple tune-up and aftermarket shock absorbers are recommended. Especially since I personally have seen the benefits of the same in at least 3 ver 1 Thar's, with just that change. Did not get time to take a detailed look at the set up in front, but if there is a way to dial up the stiffness, it would be a great boon in overall handling. Maybe the ride would become slightly choppy at the front but that should not be a problem at all, at least by the way in which the current set up is (supple). Surprisingly the rear end seemed more sorted in comparison, In fact one of the reasons I felt comfier at the rear than in front. Fellow mod Khan agreed to the same, so did another friend. At highway speeds when one can feel the wallowing at the front, the rear is pretty nice.. we even commented how nice it would be to give it to a good driver and relax behind with some chilled beverage in hand.

Engine (Diesel) 2.5/5
It is smooth, barely any vibes and pretty decent as a modern CRDE engine. But BS6 has ruined most of the engines (at least that is what I feel) when it comes to drivability and power spread and sad to say the 2.2 of Thar is not spared either. Compared to previous-gen Thar where most of the owners would straight away remap or get a chip for that low-end grunt, this one is absolutely a blessing. The way the engine pulls from as low as idle till about 2800 RPM is amazing, in any gear. Yes in 1, 2, 3 gears one can feel the curve till about 3000 RPM when you are pushing and maybe even 3200 if you are flooring it. But honestly, 2800 is the shift limit sweet spot for this engine. Pushing beyond that is pretty pointless. Especially when you are driving in 5 and 6 gear (overdrive ratio I believe), it is pointless to try to accelerate aggressively. Overall with even a 6-speed gearbox the sweet spot for cruising was at 80-100 Kmph, maybe 120 if you get a long empty stretch and engage that cruise control.

Cruise control works nice and as it should. And that speed chime! one chime at 80 kmph and then continuous ones at 120 kmph onwards. On the open highway, I managed to take the vehicle 20 above the chime limit but that is not something I would do if I plan to cruise long on this vehicle. At the end of the day, it is a ladder on chassis SUV and it has it's limitations. In short, engine though super refined was a super let down for me. Not only me, the other two who drove on the highway bit agreed. Gen 1 remapped Thar despite pretty bad refinement used to have a much better overall power delivery. Hoping the aftermarket folks will soon come out with options to de-neuter the BS6 tune! For me the biggest let down of the vehicle.

Brakes 3.8/5
For the intended use it is adequate. Compared to old Thar (brakes what is that?) this is very good. High speeds the feedback could have been better but for a decent driver nothing to complain. I would disagree with some of the earlier complaining on this aspect.

Overall / Summary 3.5/5
If your comparison is with gen 1 Thar, will rate it at 4.5 or If you say what is the other option for a proper ladder on chassis SUV at this price range 4.5 would be the rating. But if you are considering this as a replacement for the so-called breza, cretas of the world, I would caution you abundantly. Think 10 times, take long test drives (if you can manage since M&M might not).

If you are looking for a carefree city drive vehicle and for 2 people and don't really worry about money again this is a great buy. But if you plan to make it a family car where you want to use it for longer highway runs with luggage and all. I would strongly recommend you to look elsewhere. Mind you the previous-gen Fortuner makes better sense even to do a Leh trip from BLR.

I am yet to try the petrol one, but diesel Thar is pretty mediocre in real life with regards to usability. It is supremely refined and abundantly good for spurts inside city, but in this current tune, enthusiast would be terribly disappointed on the highways. It can do all day at 100 Kmph across the breadth of the country, but on a proper four lane highway hyundai eons do zip by that speed.. though it is dangerous lol.

Biggest block for me is the price 16.38 Lakhs INR to throw away, I would rather pick a Ford Ecosport which will offer oodles of fun or go higher and get an XUV. They can't do offroad like a Thar but honestly, how many of us really do that kind of terrain that requires a 4x4 underpinning. A duster 4x4 will be able to take you through most of those terrains. Park those lakhs take a long thought before your book. The long wait period already has opened peoples thought process, I personally know of 2 cancellations thanks to the dealer promise of 'first lot of vehicle to be delivered in the city' and all. The vehicle which I drove today was promised to be delivered in November, the delay peeved the owner so much that he did not even bother following up nor went to take delivery in person. Good news there are many more and timelines should improve sooner than you think.

Last but not the least a word to Mahindra, price hike (if planned) is totally not justified. Instead fix those finer details, especially interiors before you ask more money for this product. You have had better stuff delivered under you stable like XUV, so don't tell me it is not doable. Don't abandon the improvements just coz you seem to have gotten some bookings on paper that was unexpected.

[84.monsoon]

Jaggu’s post has left me in a bit of a conundrum. My Thar is supposed to arrive at the dealer in a week or so. I have very short city commutes and my 2013 Ecosport serves me fine there. The idea is to take the Thar to some hill stations and enjoy some driving off the beaten path in those places. However, these places are hundreds of Kilometers from Chennai. If I can’t get there fast and in reasonable comfort, that would be a bummer. Who wants to arrive at a remote base tired and stressed out due to a slow and risky drive on the highway getting there?

Would appreciate some real life impressions from owners who have taken delivery and tried some highway travels.

[Axe77]

I get the feeling that the Thar will contribute to the new XUV sales too. All the varied footfall with interest in the Thar might get some folks to actually tip over and consider the more practical XUV instead. Those who may not have otherwise considered the XUV per se.

[AirbusCapt]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

Jaggu’s post has left me in a bit of a conundrum. My Thar is supposed to arrive at the dealer in a week or so. I have very short city commutes and my 2013 Ecosport serves me fine there. The idea is to take the Thar to some hill stations and enjoy some driving off the beaten path in those places. However, these places are hundreds of Kilometers from Chennai. If I can’t get there fast and in reasonable comfort, that would be a bummer. Who wants to arrive at a remote base tired and stressed out due to a slow and risky drive on the highway getting there?

Would appreciate some real life impressions from owners who have taken delivery and tried some highway travels.

I don't think the Thar would be slow. If you maintain about 95/100 kmph on the highways and get an average speed of 80kmph, you are on par with traffic. That apart, the constant jiggly motion of the Thar may cause early fatigue which means smaller daily drive distances. Make no mistake, a Thar is less comfortable when compared to even an average hatchback. If you are OK with this, it's a good car

[Capt.Arun]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

I am yet to try the petrol one, but diesel Thar is pretty mediocre in real life with regards to usability. It is supremely refined and abundantly good for spurts inside city, but in this current tune, enthusiast would be terribly disappointed on the highways. It can do all day at 100 Kmph across the breadth of the country, but on a proper four lane highway hyundai eons do zip by that speed.. though it is dangerous lol.

Would really like to know your take on the petrol thar. Would it fare better on the highways in comparison to the diesel one ?