re: Review: 1st-gen Mahindra Thar (2011 - 2019) Quote:
Originally Posted by Tha'Red i use mine as a daily commute vehicle and have not had any urge to go back to my Scorpio or Honda City for the comfort they offer. The feeling is different in a THAR. In fact I miss the THAR at times when I drive the other two! | Dear all - the comments that I am going to make to the underlined portion of Tha'Red's quote above / other similar comments from page 109 onwards are not self praise, so please don't go off into a tangent again. Thank you in advance for understanding. Dear Tha'Red / all - as a part of my portfolio, one of my activities is that of a trainer in the organization / R&D. I deal with a topic called "Vehicle Behavioral Feel". This topic covers things like understanding the very subtle nuances of a vehicle as you put it through its paces, the way a vehicle starts a conversation with you, the finer moments of articulating the vehicle within continuously changing situations in real time, the art of ballet dancing with a vehicle, the "gates theory" of perfectly executing an overtaking manoeuvre with the perfect common tangent between obstacles in real time, definition of a constant line of sight to place the front wheel within one inch of your intended position etc. These sessions are indeed a delight because I continuously learn from them. What I want to tell you is that when I drive the Thar, I get the feel of these things actually happening. That's why you get the feel which draws you to the car like a magnet, which some of you have expressed.
For example (and you would have never read this before) - "a perfectly executed overtaking manoeuvre with the common tangent way involves subtly throwing the rear end of your car into the car which has just passed you, just a light twitch on the steering wheel is all it takes with the shape of the steering wheel's cross section determining the drgree of finesse achieved, this also determines the steering mounting's degree of integrity" - or - "the angle of attack on the first bump of a rumbler strip to execute it without slowing down at all" - or - "the methodology of using the tail lights of the car in front of you to drive without slowing down even in the face of blinding glare of oncoming headlights" - or - "body posture / position on the driving seat to determine the shoulder blade support, thigh support, foot orientation on the accelerator pedal, anti-submarining effectiveness of the seat" - or "angle of dip about the transverse axis in a braking manoeuvre v/s deceleration v/s subtle change of seat belt position during this manoeuvre activity" - or - "what exactly is acceleration? Rate of change of speed means what? what is an operator supposed to experience for him to make a comment as "I am delighted" on acceleration"? etc. What I want to tell you is this - the things mentioned above is what the Thar CRDe is delivering, which is why you are making these comments. When I drive the vehicle as a test engineer, I take it to its limits and beyond and although we have set up the suspension a little towards the softer side for my liking (it can certainly be tuned, how? find out!), the way the oneness between the Thar and the operator (you) is happening is what is drawing you to drive it more and more, like it more and more, enjoy it more and more. I knew these comments would come, they have come. I would normally have chosen to keep quiet but in this case I choose to pen down my thoughts on what is it that is pulling you to the Thar in spite of you having other choices available in your driveway, I thought I would share these nuances with you. As Deepak said, let us further discuss the fine, finer, finest points in such areas of the Thar which will delight all of us. This is the crux of what we have delivered, and I quote: So, you can buy the books, you can hire the consultants, you can implement the program, you can preach business transformation and you can eventually run out of energy, lose enthusiasm and be puzzled over why a program failed to bring a good car into production and transform your business, put the fat binders on a conference room shelf and go back to business as usual. What happens every day is teachable and learnable. But it is not a set of goals, because goals mean that there is a finish line and actually there is no finish line. It is not something you can implement, because it is not a check list of imprvements. It is a way of looking at the world. You simply cannot lose interest in it, shrug and give up, any more than you lose interest in your own future. For most people, it is a big shift for them. They kind of don't get it for a while. They do what all managers do, they keep trying to meet their management objectives. They move forward, they improve, they look for a plateau. It seems like a constant struggle. If you are looking for a plateau, you are going to be frustrated, because there is no plateau. Once you realize that you are not seeking a plateau, you can relax. Doing the task, doing the task better, doing the task the best become one and the same thing. In the end, there is no end. "THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO ME - TO COME TO WORK"
Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar
Last edited by DHABHAR.BEHRAM : 10th May 2011 at 23:12.
|