[yuvmudapa]

Prologue

Our Honda Brio was going to turn 12 years old and since it was our city car, it had barely run 25k kilometers. But there was one major issue, that gave us the itch to upgrade. It's size. It was simply too small.
With three out of four members in my family being 6 foot or more, we could simply not travel comfortably together in the Brio. We used to end up taking the XUV 700 everywhere as it was larger but parking for such a big car was a pain especially here in Bangalore. Gradually the need for a new vehicle grew bigger and thus began the search for a replacement.

Requirements:
1. Petrol due to low running.
2. Reliable.
3. Automatic since it's primary use case will be in the city.
4. Under 16 lakhs ex-showroom.
5. Small length for easy city use.


Cars considered:

1. 2022 Maruti Suzuki Swift.

Likes:
Peppy engine.
Reliable and easy to maintain.
Good fuel economy.

Dislikes:
4 speed auto.
Not really larger as compared to the Brio.

2. 2022 Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R.

Likes:
Pretty much the same as the swift mechanically.
Very good headroom and legroom.

Dislikes:
Looks.
AMT gearbox.

3. 2022 Maruti Suzuki Baleno.

Likes:
Peppy engine
Loaded with features (HUD, 360 Degree camera etc)
Good looks (Personal preference here)

Dislikes:
Due to sloping roofline, headroom was not great. My head was touching the roof.
AMT gearbox.

Although the Wagon-R was a perfect match size wise, my family was not convinced with the AMT gearbox and the looks.
After an unsuccessful search in the below 10 lakh category, we decided to step into the next segment.

4. 2022 Kia Sonet:

Likes:
Loaded with features.
Looks
Service center and dealer experience
Smooth, refined engine.

Dislikes:
Did not have enough legroom.
Reliability of DCT was a concern.

5. 2023 Kia Seltos:

Likes:
Looks
Features (ADAS and dual 10.25 inch screens in particular)
Multitude of variants with automatic gearbox options

Dislikes:
Was surprisingly small and we were not able to sit one behind the other.
Variant that we preferred (HTX) was out of budget.

6. Honda Elevate:

Likes:
Looks
Engine was smooth and powerful
Pricing for the variant we considered (V CVT) was good for what it offered.
Good legroom and headroom.

Dislikes:
Reliability of the CVT gearbox.
Future of Honda in India.

[yuvmudapa]

Wild Card Entry

The Mahindra Thar.

The Thar had been something we always dreamt of owning but the previous gen was extremely impractical and it's Diesel manual configuration and heavy steering was not something that you would want for the city.

Then came the Thar- W504 in 2020. It changed the market completely and with it's increased practicality and Petrol + Auto configuration, it got us interested. However, we would have no use for the 4x4 and we were not sure about selling the Brio yet.

Then in 2023, Mahindra launched the Thar RWD, almost 3 lakhs cheaper than it's 4WD equivalent, and it was like a match made in heaven.
So after all the other cars we looked at and were unhappy about, we decided to give the Thar a try.

Called our SA from the time we bought the XUV 700 and asked him if he could bring the Thar for a home test drive.

Test Drive experience

The SA showed up to our house a little late due to some traffic, but we were too eager to drive the Thar so it did not bother us much.

Here are some photos from the test drive:







The car was clean but there was some rattles which I am assuming to be the tools like in the boot, but I am not too sure.


Observations:
Petrol AT is a good combo and felt powerful.
Slightly heavy steering compared to the Brio.
Ingress and Egress from the rear is difficult but the legroom and headroom are good.

[yuvmudapa]

Contemplation

After the test drive, we were extremely confused on whether we should go ahead with the Thar or give the Elevate a chance.
We initially decided that we would buy the Elevate and take the maximum extended warranty available. But since this car would be kept for long we also looked at our future plans and found that the Thar would be much more usable in the future, when we move to our hometown Coorg full time.
The Thar could be used in our coffee plantations and with it's hardened interiors that are meant for these conditions, it would fair much better than the Elevate.

Thus, the plan was decided- a THAR!

Booking, Pricing and PDI

The variant and transmission we chose was the LX P AT RWD, being the only variant with Petrol+AT in the RWD guise.
We decided on the Deep Forest colour, as the Black colour was too common on the Thar and Red was just too flashy for us. We have also wanted a Army green since ages and missed the chance in 2014 when Mahindra discontinued it with the XUV 500.

Finally, the booking was done on July 22nd, 2024 with an expected delivery date of a month.

Price break up shared at the time of booking:



After a month, I was informed that production had slowed down due to priority being given the Thar Roxx, and we would get it by month end. By this time however I had already sold the Brio and could not really wait for longer.
The SA informed us that black and red are readily available, and we could get it in within 2 days. We finally agreed for the black colour as we needed the car quickly.

We sold the Brio to Mahindra first choice as they matched the price offered by Spinny and it would be easier to deal with them since the value of the Brio would be subtracted from the total price that we had to pay for the Thar.

Some parting pics of the Brio:





Final ODO reading:



We did a PDI of a black Thar allotted to us, attaching some pics below:



















Made the full payment, and we were ready to take delivery in 3 days. However, the very next day the SA told us that discounts were incoming and we should hold on.

Since we were anyways waiting, we decided to switch back to our original booking of Deep Forest.

The SA confirmed that vehicle will be allotted within 10 days and sure enough, on Sept 10th we got the call that we had been waiting for!

The pricing shared by the SA:



To the left is the original price before the discount and the right is the revised price. Negotiated the insurance cost by comparing ACKO's cost and SA agreed to match the same.
Total discount provided: 1.5 lakhs.
The discount is provided on brand new cars as well and not just cars lying in the stockyard. My Thar is August manufactured as indicated by the VIN.

Transit would take up to 8 days and another 2 days for registration, according to the SA.

On Sept 17th, the vehicle arrived at the stockyard and on 18th, the PDI was done.






Excuse the poor pictures as I was not able to go for the PDI myself.

Delivery date, was decided as 21st Sept, evening.

[yuvmudapa]

Delivery Day!

We had insisted that the car comes fitted with the number plates as we did not want to visit the showroom again just to fit them as this had happened with the XUV, so the SA informed us there might be a slight delay and he would confirm with us shortly.
Luckily, there was no delay and the car was ready even earlier than we had initially discussed.

Took a cab to the showroom so we could all come home in the new car or should I say new Thar

Quickly inspected the car before signing any documents and ensured all accessories were fitted.

The first glimpse:




Signed all the documents which surprisingly took only about 30 minutes and headed to the delivery bay!

The SA handed us some chocolates and complimentary gift kit and we took a picture with the big key

The complimentary gift kit:



A coffee mug, microfiber cloth and a nice leather keychain!


Finally the Thar was ours!




As always, really good experience at Sireesh Auto, Silkboard.

Went to our usual petrol station to fill up it's first full tank.



After that, we headed off to do the customary pooja:




Do note that the car has it's numberplate on in all the photos, but I used Google photos' magic eraser tool to remove it.

[yuvmudapa]

Initial Observations

Likes:

1. Looks.
2. Commanding road presence and good view from the driver's seat.
3. Powerful T-GDI engine is very well refined.
4. Torque convertor auto is well tuned for this engine combination.
5. Good space for adults in the rear too.
6. Feels rugged and built to last.
7. Small length, makes it easy to park.

Dislikes:

1. Ingress and Egress to the rear.
2. Average fuel economy is not that great.
3. Wind noise at higher speeds.
4. Poor visibility from the rearview mirror.
5. Lack of storage spaces inside and glovebox is really tiny.
6. Misses out certain important features which should be there for the price. (Rear camera, LED lights)
7. Poor bootspace, but this does not affect me as much as it is primarily a city car.

Accessories

Below are the accessories fitted at the showroom before delivery itself.

1. Wrangler style grill:

I personally did not like the stock grill's looks and wanted to change it from the very beginning.
The accessories guy had informed us that the grill was not available in Deep Forest and would need to be painted if we wanted. We wanted a uniform look and hence we agreed for it to be painted at an additional cost of 2500.
The cost of the grill itself was 16,000.

2. Front and Rear armrests.

The rear armrests were a must as the wheel well protruded into the cabin and it felt very odd to rest your arm on it.
We also wanted the front armrest since it was an automatic, we would be resting our left hand most of the time anyways.












The rear armrests make it much more comfortable and have some slightly usable storage space in them. They also have USB charging points to charge your phone or other devices.

The front armrest is however not satisfactory at all. The internal storage space is not even flat, it's sloped! Moreover it interferes with your hand when you try to pull the handbrake and you have to keep your hand in a very odd position in order to pull it up.

The front and rear armrests were together 16,000 again.

3. Scuff plates.

These are present on the door sill and hopefully prevent scratches from when we enter in and out of the back seats. These were 850 rupees.



4. Anti theft lug nuts.

This was again another necessity since the spare wheel is out in the open and could be easily be removed. It was a set of 5 and it has been put on all five wheels.

These were 5,500 rupees.




5. Head lights.

I did not like the halogen set up that was provided with the Thar from factory and hence decided to upgrade the lights. The SA provided us with two options:

1. Change only the bulbs which was about 16,000 rupees.
2. Change the headlight unit completely. The headlights had two options, the minus style ones which I have read that they have poor throw and the other being from a brand called Futurz4x4.

We chose the Futurz4x4 Bold LED unit, which was about 28,000.

6. Rear Camera.

This was again something that was a must and we had to put it on. It costed 3800 rupees. However, on the delivery day we were informed that there was a new software that was supposed to arrive and they could not load on our car yet. I will get this updated during the first service.

7. GFX 3D floor mats.

We had fitted 3D mats on our XUV 700 and liked the quality, hence we fitted it for the Thar as well.
The showroom had polished the floor as well initially so the mat was slipping around but after cleaning it up, and sticking the Velcro provided with the mat, it seems to be holding up well now.
This costed 7,500 rupees.

8. Key chain and key cover.





The quality seems good, and the keychain has a hook. It is not made for the Thar, hence the boot release button but all the Mahindra keys are the same now anyways so it fits just fine.
This was about 700 rupees, got it from Amazon.


Do note that most of these accessories might be available for cheaper outside but we preferred to get it done at the showroom as it would have 1 year of warranty and I felt that they would do a better job.

[yuvmudapa]

Other points to note:

1. My car is equipped with MRF Wanderers, but the Black Thar which we did of initially has CEAT tyres.
Personally, would have preferred the CEAT ones.



2. The ORVMs are nice and big but do not have the electronic folding function which makes it difficult if you have to close them on narrow roads.

3. Fuel lid cannot be opened from the inside.

4. The sideways opening tailgate, is not really meant for my parking space as I literally have to move the car out just to open it.

5. I get about 8-9 kmpl in the city and 10-11 on the highway. Both these values are based on MID readings, I am yet to do a tank to tank test.

Some general pictures:


In it's parking spot at home:




The cockpit!




Lovely detail. "Made in India with pride" really does make you feel proud:




The view from the backseat:




Riding high!




With it's garage mates:





Well, that's it for now. Planning to get a 70mai Rearview Dashcam fitted to help with the visibility.

If I am not mistaken this might be the first Deep Forest Thar on Team-BHP!

Thank you! Will update after the first service.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today

[swami69]

Congratulations on your Thar. This colour look very good and resembling the Rocky Biege it used to come earlier, I think. Have a great journey with this "jeep"

Swami

[Dippy]

Congratulations on your new Thar and welcome to the clan of Thar owners. The Forest Green shade looks awesome. Thats quite a build up to your ownership journey.

Had this Forest Green been on offer when I bought my Thar last year, it would be a tough choice between this and the Everest White that I bought.

Enjoy your journey with your Thar. It gives a certain driving pleasure that is unmatched by most of the others. You eventually forget the shortcomings that are part of the package.

Wish you many happy kms.

P.S Are you planning any mods on it?

[BrakeDancer]

Congratulations on your Thar! Hope you have a pleasant experience all the way!

This was the exact configuration and color I'm looking for, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Did the SA at any point say that the 1.5 lacs discount is actually 1.25 lacs plus 25k worth of free accessories? I'm asking because my enquiries in New Bombay and Bombay in general led me to this information. Curious to know what Mahindra folks are telling people.

[NayanArora07]

Congratulations on your new Thar! The Deep Forest colour is absolutely stunning and so unique! I have a White Thar RWD 1.5 Diesel, June 2024 model—Thar buddies! It's amazing to see all the cool options out there. Hope you're loving every moment with it!

Let me know if you're planning any mods! Would love to hear what you're thinking of doing with your Thar!

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by yuvmudapa

However, the very next day the SA told us that discounts were incoming and we should hold on.

Total discount provided: 1.5 lakhs.

Hope the SA was taken care for his honestly.

Congratulations on the Thar.

[yuvmudapa]

Originally Posted by swami69

Congratulations on your Thar. This colour look very good and resembling the Rocky Biege it used to come earlier, I think. Have a great journey with this "jeep"

Swami

Thank you very much. Yes it is quite similar and I often got confused whether a Rocky Beige Thar was a Deep forest one.

Originally Posted by BrakeDancer

Congratulations on your Thar! Hope you have a pleasant experience all the way!

This was the exact configuration and color I'm looking for, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Did the SA at any point say that the 1.5 lacs discount is actually 1.25 lacs plus 25k worth of free accessories? I'm asking because my enquiries in New Bombay and Bombay in general led me to this information. Curious to know what Mahindra folks are telling people.

Thank you! It has been lovely experience to own till now! As conveyed to me it was 1.5 lacs of discount, there was no free accessories given.

Originally Posted by NayanArora07

Congratulations on your new Thar! The Deep Forest colour is absolutely stunning and so unique! I have a White Thar RWD 1.5 Diesel, June 2024 model—Thar buddies! It's amazing to see all the cool options out there. Hope you're loving every moment with it!

Let me know if you're planning any mods! Would love to hear what you're thinking of doing with your Thar!

Originally Posted by Dippy

Congratulations on your new Thar and welcome to the clan of Thar owners. The Forest Green shade looks awesome. Thats quite a build up to your ownership journey.

Had this Forest Green been on offer when I bought my Thar last year, it would be a tough choice between this and the Everest White that I bought.

Enjoy your journey with your Thar. It gives a certain driving pleasure that is unmatched by most of the others. You eventually forget the shortcomings that are part of the package.

Wish you many happy kms.

P.S Are you planning any mods on it?

Thank you! Great to see others enjoying their Thars too! The Deep Forest is truly unique and I have not sighted another Thar in this colour yet. No plans for mods lined up as of now since I got most of it taken care off before delivery. Just planning to add a rearview dashcam from 70mai and maybe in the near future, those cool roof marker lights.

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Hope the SA was taken care for his honestly.

Congratulations on the Thar.

Thank you. I think the company informed them to tell the customers after the backlash they received with XUV 700 price cut. But if not we are truly grateful for his honesty.

[Traxxrc1]

Great writing brother.
Also regarding the tires, I've used CEAT cross drives as well the newer type of MRD wanderer. Trust me, MRFs are much better than CEAT. You are lucky that you got CEAT.

[Sss]

The Blue colour on MRF Wanderer font on Tyres is a coating and can be scrubbed off with a Brush while washing to reveal the White Lettering !