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Checked out Thar Roxx interiors; Observations from a 3-door Thar owner

30th September 2024, 08:33 by Rahul Nagaraj

First off the vehicle is imposing especially when you stand next to it. I am 6'2" and the vehicle is pretty much my height!

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Had a nice detailed look at the interiors of the Thar Roxx at the local dealership. Being a Sunday, it was less crowded and I had a chance to take a leisurely look and try out the various seating positions. However, there was still a considerable queue for test drives, and I did not want to wait to take a test drive. Made a mental note to come back earlier in the day for a test drive.

First off the vehicle is imposing especially when you stand next to it. I am 6'2" and the vehicle is pretty much my height! It is higher than the Thar 3 door, due to the stepped up roof, and the larger sized alloy wheels may also be contributing to this.
I expected the alloy wheels to appear visibly larger than those on my three door, however, the difference is not very noticeable, this could be down to the design of the alloys. the alloy design makes it look smaller than it really is. The design reminds me of an industrial fan with four blades rather than twin peaks!
The side steps are really rugged and very helpful to get into the back seat, especially with the generously, large grab handles provided everywhere.
The step up in the rear door is quite prominent in the lighter colours of the car, and geometrically jarring somehow. Pratap Bose argument that this helps the vehicle to stand out when pulling up next to you in traffic is a bit absurd. If I wanted to admire a vehicle, I would look at it from a distance when I'm relaxed, rather than when I'm in thick traffic, all stressed out, and something that is huge and quirky is pulling up to my side, I would be more worried about not having my car scratched or dented.
The panel gaps, while not big generally, did seem quite inconsistent across the vehicle. In some places, such as the front edge of the rear door, the gap very small, while in other places, such as the backside of that same door, the gaps were wider.
However, from a distance, it does not appear very large, probably due to the shorter length of this vehicle. The Innova HyCross looks significantly bigger overall, when you see them side-by-side. The front grill is oddly shaped and the looks were difficult to digest for me. The ADAS LiDAR is on the top left of the grill and has an odd shape, like a donut and not the regular rectangular shape.
I noticed the same difficulty in closing the doors at the first attempt from the inside, as I have on my 3-door. The door gets stuck in a half closed position, and it takes a couple of attempts to fully close it. My suspicion is that the front doors are narrower than those on 3-door, as it seems harder to reach for and close the door when seated inside.
As others have already pointed out, the white seats will be a nightmare to maintain. They were absolutely dirty by the time I saw this car. It would have been barely a week since the display car has been in the showroom, and the seats already look like they have been used for years. Mahindra should have absolutely opted for tan-colored fabric as in the ScorpioN.
The buttons underneath the ICE screen appear cheap and tacky. The Aircon vents and controls are slightly better than in the 3-door, but still appear jerky and flimsy. M&M should have provided Mercedes style vents from the factory instead of making people do this in the aftermarket. If they can copy the vehicle exterior looks from Jeep, why not copy the AC vents from Merc?
The position of the engine start-stop button at the base of the steering column is highly non-intuitive, however, there is no other place for this button, unlike in the XUV 7OO. The glovebox is wider and way better than the three door, and has some damping action while opening. The placement of the Harman Kardon tweeters at the top of the door. Grab handles are neat, and make them look sophisticated.
Leather wrap steering wheel feels absolutely superior and comfortable compared to the three door. The twin peaks logo has poor quality chrome, which has already started discoloring in places. In contrast, the original old Mahindra chrome logo on my 3-door still feels good as new.
The instrument pinnacle looks very modern and visibility is great from the Driver position. all the plastics on the dash have some soft touch effect. Overall quality of materials is inconsistent and don't feel premium. You clearly get the feeling that you're sitting in a 15-lakh Car rather than in a 30-lakh Car. the top variants of the car possibly costing close to 28 lakhs on road, I would definitely expect higher quality of interior materials.
Storage space in the interior will probably be the biggest headache or long road trips. I never travel far in my car, without a full 1 L bottle of water on my driver-side door bottle holder. This will not be possible with the Roxx. The central cupholders are too shallow and small to hold most larger bottles firmly, without the risk of getting dislodged while in motion. The glove box is the only place where potentially a medium size bottle can be kept horizontally, and this is not a convenient location for the driver to access while on the move. I guess prospective owners will need to hunt for small bottles in the market that can fit the tire rocks and contain at least 700 ML of water. On the back door, there is only enough space to fit a wallet!
Even with the AX7L top and version, the padding on the armrests of the front doors is inadequate. There seems to be a layer of rexine on the door, which makes it slightly better than the hard plastic on my 3-door, however, it is not thick enough to be comfortable. The armrest padding that I saw in the XUV3XO and 4OO subsequently was much thicker and more comfortable. The white fabric lining the roof was also getting quite dirty with the number of people touching it.
Just as in the 3-door, the serial number is embossed along with "Made in India with Pride" on the metal plate on the left side of the dashboard. This is.a very special touch, The car I was looking at was No. 1834. So M&M seems to have made at least 2000 cars for display/test drive!
The sunroof is quite massive, but almost invisible to the driver unless you're sitting quite far back. It is clearly meant for the seat passengers' enjoyment. Sunroof control, buttons, large, and quite legible. I wish service indicator next to the auto AC controls to show the actual temperature that's being set as or no display on this panel. One has to look in the largest screen while filing with the knobs to set the correct temperature.
The four wheel drive control lever is aligned at an angle towards the driver, rather than straight, (as in the 3-door). Not sure of the reasons for this, but it does look a bit odd as it is set at an angle to the main gear lever.
The shiny black trim around the window controls on the door pad is quite a nice touch. It makes this area feel more premium as compared to the 3-door. There is a whole array of eight buttons on the lower right hand side of the steering beam, including Hill control, traction control, auto start stop, etc., which are hard to see and make out which button is which, from the driver's seating position. This will take some getting used to and learning from the manual.
It is nice to see 65 W USB socket provided. This is enough to fast charge most forms and also charge MacBooks another laptops. The football has enough room in the automatics, and the built-in foot-rest is at a reasonably good angle.
The extendable split armrest for the front seats is a great addition. It feels to be at the right height and width to make your left arm, comfortable or longer drives. I'm not sure why the passenger side armrest is not given a fore and aft adjustment. On the other hand, the fold out armrest with cupholders in the rear seat is not at all ergonomic.This is because the it is set at a fixed angle to the seat back, which reclies considerably.If you push the seat back to the fully reclined position, the armrest rises at an almost 30° angle to horizontal, which makes it very uncomfortable to rest one's arms on it, as you would be front corner would be cutting into your arm. On the other hand, if the recline is set to a minimum, the armrest slopes downwards, which is also not great. The rear armrest is only useful when the recline angle is somewhere in the middle.
Overall, the backseat comfort is fantastic.it will rival any other SUV in this class and even one class higher. The seat base is deep enough, the seats have some level of contour and the seat cushioning is not too firm and either too soft. Thai support is quite good and there is plenty of room to slide your feet under the front passenger seat. As for the rear seat passenger sitting behind the driver, if the front driver seat is set very low, this does intrude into the foot room, but with a medium or a high seat tight setting of the driver seat, there is more than sufficient room to slide one's feet in.
The driver seat comfort seemed somehow is a bit worse than on the 3-door. The seat depth in my 3-door Thar is about 49 cm. Although I did not have a tape measure with me, it seems like the depth of the driver seat in the five door was 1-2 cm lesser than in the 3-door. In addition, it seems like the 3-4 cm or so, at the front of the seat was swooping downwards in an arch which further reduced thigh support. The seat height adjustment mechanism is exactly the same as on my three door, except that it is powered. When the seat is pulled upwards, it actually moves at an angle going upward and simultaneously going towards the front. Similarly, when going downwards, the seat also goes backwards. I tend to keep the seat height in the middle position in my car and with this, while not great, I have never felt uncomfortable due to want of thigh support on my 3-door. While it did not feel significantly different sitting inside the 5-door for a few minutes, It did feel that the thigh support was a bit less, with a similar setting of the driver seat.
The opening mechanism for the hood is well hidden at the bottom of the footwell area, and is very difficult to locate, with no obvious markings. The latch mechanism is exactly the same as on the 3-door Thar. The Mahindra logo is far less conspicuous since it is not in chrome. The hood is really heavy and there are no hydraulic struts for the hood. A shorter Driver may find it hard to lift the hook up and latch in the support rod. The engine bay is neatly laid out, exactly similar to the 3-door. There was no sound deadening material underneath the hood, even in the diesel Thar Roxx.
As others have already described, the boot is cavernous and very well shaped. The swing out door at the back feels very sturdy and able to carry the weight of the massive wheel and tire easily without shakes and sqweaks.

Overall, I find the interiors of the Thar Roxx is somewhat inconsistent, as some bits have good quality and appearance, and some bits still feel rough and cheap. It feels like Mahindra made a lot of compromises in selection of materials to uplift the ambience of the cabin from the 3-door, yet had to keep costs in check. It seems to be a somewhat confused interior theme as compared to the ScorpioN and or the XUV700. The ScorpioN does not aspire to create a luxurious interior and quality of materials is consistently on the poorer side. The XV on the other hand does have more consistently good materials. For example, the leather seats and the XUV7OO feel much superior in terms of finish and are more comforting to sit on. My 3-door makes no pretense about luxury - the plastics are selected for the rugged and hard wearing nature. The all black interior is built with a clear intention of enduring all the dirt, mud, and other things that might be thrown at it. It is less pretentious and true to its DNA and ethos of a go-anywhere SUV that is built to endure. The Roxx on the other hand, felt to me like it had a confused brief. It is a highly capable vehicle mechanically, but also trying to pass off as Seltos/Creta substitute, competing half-heartedly on quality of interior materials, electronics etc.. I think I would prefer the simplicity and consistency of the interiors in my 3-door Thar to the mish-mash of themes in the Roxx.