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Aesthetic & functional modifications on my Mahindra Thar LX

11th August 2021, 16:49 by Rahul Nagaraj

While running in the engine, I drove it at sedate speeds and under low rpms in the city. It fetched me an average of 11.5 km/l, which IMO is okay for a 1.7 tonne behemoth.

BHPian Gurkeerat Singh recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Introduction

The last 17 months have seen an over abundant series of changes in the status quo. The only thing which has persisted in the midst of this pandemic for me has been the bewildered state-of-mind my father set me in, last September. I scored exceptionally well in my 10th boards (well, a little more than what was expected) and was promised to be bought a car of my choice, before I turn 18. From then on started the drill, extensively reading the Indian car scene, following new car launches intimately and making lists after lists.

The car

To cut it short, we zeroed in on the Mahindra Thar LX in a couple of weeks. For a moment, I started to reason out things and do a cost-benefit analysis of cars in this price segment where the Thar would prove to be at the bottom of each list without fail. However, no car was half as aspirational as it was and by then, I had already fallen in love with it. Another influence in this process was that lately, everyone in my family has started to like only and only low slung sedans and truth be told, even I don’t see myself in a BOF SUV a decade from now. So, this might have been my only chance. We had a similar garage situation to 84.monsoon, so his review helped a lot in this decision!

We wanted the LX hardtop diesel. We were initially fixed upon the AT, but after test driving both the transmissions we felt that the MT did more justice to the Thar’s character. The variant soon got finalised manual top end variant- LX HT MT mHawk. Initially, we were quoted a waiting period of 8 - 9 months, but the caveat was that the car would have been enjoyed the most in these few months only; because if the college I get admitted to does not allow student cars on campus then the car would, for the most part become a weekend ride. A few calls here and there, with some dealers and mutual friends and my dad got me the Thar, in just over a week.

Brief Review

The Thar towers over the monocoque SUVs and crossovers. No car near this price point can give you the road presence it does. It drives well in straight lines, it does not corner half as good as the Ecosport I learned to drive in. It eats bad roads for breakfast, and the visibility is unlike any car I’ve driven. While running in the engine, I drove it at sedate speeds and low rpm in the city, it fetched me an average of 11.5 km/l, which IMO is okay for a 1.7 tonne behemoth. Ergonomics are almost spot on (apart from missing armrests, almost non-existent boot and glove box etc.).

I’ll write a comprehensive ownership review after the 10k service.

Until then, here’s a list of aesthetic and functional mods I’ve done:

1. Wrangler style Grille: The original one initially felt out of place to my eyes and I felt that the big 7 slats suited it better. First we got it fit with Matt black paint (original) but after seeing the gloss black in person we got ours painted too.

2. LED taillight indicators with a swooping animation

3. Amplifier: We bought this one a few years back for our EcoSport and IMHO its bass cannot even be paralleled by the Harman Kardon in our 5 series! The stock sound system otherwise is decent enough.

4. Front armrest with some storage: with its tall gearing, I found my left elbow constantly looking for a place to rest. I chose one with some storage because its glove box can literally hold nothing more than a pair of training gloves.

5. Red coloured radium tape inserts on the alloys: purely aesthetic.

6. Floor Mats: the OEM mats were a joke, I wouldn’t even use them in my truck! Regular ones didn’t work for me and we had tried the 7D ones in our Endeavour but they would always entangle with the pedals. Ultimately, we got a big and heavy (since its floor is quite slippery) rug and cut that according to our taste, got its sides stitched and added a layer of foam underneath them for sound insulation and better feel (BTW that’s what we’ve been practising in all our cars for nearly a decade).

7. Bigger IRVM: better rearwards view, looks good.

8. Red hand towels for the seats

9. Rear view camera: this is a must, I feel it should have come with the car. We went for the one in the official accessories list and it’s really good, the picture quality is excellent.

10. Heads up display: it was also one of the official accessories, and seemed good to me in pictures, but it’s extremely gimmicky. I’ll probably get it removed before the first service itself.

11. Stitched tissue paper holder at the back: it doubles up as a paper +mask holder, I keep the car’s RC, pollution, etc in this to avoid folding them in the glove box.

12. Multi-colour ambient lighting: these are LED strips which can’t be seen after installation and work really well. The only caveat is that it has to be operated by a remote since our mechanic couldn’t connect it to the door lock.

13. DIY ceramic coating: we used the Meguiar car wax and the Thar was gleaming in all its glory post that.

14. Blind spot mirrors on the orvm: there’s a particular cut I’ve to take every day where these help a lot.

15. PU leather Steering wheel cover (black with red stitching)

16. Upgrading the bulbs in the headlight: the stock bulbs were okay, however, an upgrade was required. I switched to 125W bulbs from Osram with a relay. They work really well!

17. 4*Blue Angel eye fog lamps under the bumper (the blue outline works along the DRLs while the fog lights work with the OEM fog lights)

18. 3M green tint on the windows, less intensity*(Looks like the green UV cut glasses on the Rapid and Baleno)

19. Soft head rests

Next on list:

Hella rallye 3000s
Aftermarket bumper: I’m a little apprehensive to its notion because despite the manufacturer's claim of it getting crumpled at the slightest of crash; I doubt it.
Stage 1 remap/Diesel-tronic: the petrol Thar makes 152 horses and 320Nm so I believe this one would be able to manage those figures too.