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Mahindra Thar Convertible: Purchase & ownership experience

13th October 2021, 14:08 by Rahul Nagaraj

I wanted the top-down experience in the hills and it was worth the 25-week waiting period.

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Hey guys,

Thank you to all who posted their experiences with the Thar, it was really helpful and informative. Here's a summary of my booking - delivery - 1st impressions:

I booked Petrol AT Convertible - RED RAGE on May 25 in Chandigarh. At the time of booking the wait was 24-25 weeks.

Rationale for the variant - I test drove both diesel and petrol AT at the dealership. I found petrol to be more responsive and smoother in the gear shifts. My estimated mileage per year for the Thar is around 5000 Kms, so the better fuel efficiency of the diesel is not something that I pondered much with. Red Rage colour because I wanted something fun, already have a black car in the driveway and it's a pain to keep it looking clean.

Booked it online after the test drives for 21K. Had 3 days to reconsider my decision if I wanted to cancel, but I had already made up my mind.

Delivery:

Got a call from the dealer on Sept 20 that the car is allocated and en route from the factory. I confirmed with them that I am still interested in purchasing the car and they gave me an estimated date of arrival of the vehicle and asked me to come to the dealership to discuss finances.

The SA wrote the final pricing on a rough piece of paper and told me these are approximate numbers. I was surprised that they didn't have a proper invoice generated for the delivery and why they would give me approximate value for registration/TCS etc. These values were much different from the Mahindra website invoice when I booked the vehicle. Insurance quotes are always vague and I was quoted 68K. I had already gotten a quote for 58K from ICICI Lombard and when I refused the dealer quote, he revised it to 57K for the same coverage with ICICI.

Payment:

The dealer wanted full payment done asap after their call that the vehicle was dispatched from the factory. I was reluctant and told him I would clear finances only after a full PDI on the vehicle. Dealer reluctantly agreed to this and once PDI was done, payment cleared and I got the delivery.

First Impressions:

Engine and drive:

Took the Thar to the hills the very next day it arrived. The petrol engine handled the slopes effortlessly, but the thing that impressed me the most is the agility of the Thar, it is quick and gets in and out of tight curves very well. There is a bit of body roll, but as long as the speed is nominal, it's an afterthought. The lightweight of the Thar makes the handling seem more like a regular sedan than an SUV. The engine is very silent, barely noticeable inside the cabin.

Convertible Top:

This is the #1 feature why I got the Thar! I wanted the top-down experience in the hills and it was worth the wait. I had previously seen videos on how to open/close the mechanism and the first time I did it, took me 2-3 minutes to open the top and maybe a couple of minutes longer to close it. The mechanism is very simple to use, and the only thing that can prolong the time frame is getting the side panels to snap in. Having repeated this process several times, requires minimal effort.

The canvas top does make "flapping" sounds when you drive over 70 Kmph. The noise is primarily the plastic window hitting the sidebar that runs across the window. I added double-sided velcro tape to both of these and it has improved the acoustics inside the vehicle.

Interiors:

Seats: Comfortable, fabric covers are adequate.
Sound: Okay if you don't pump up the volume. Pump it up to 60-70% of max volume and you can hear the hollow bass. Also, the roof-mounted speakers are more dominant than the front ones. Definitely need to upgrade these at some point.
Head Unit: Works fine 9 out of 10 times, sometimes hangs up on Carplay and will need a restart. Could've been a bit brighter but it's fine.

The only quirk I have is the really small cup holders in the middle.

Fuel Efficiency:

Perhaps this is a reason for the majority of folks why they opt for diesel over petrol. During my city-hills drive over the past week, I got FE of about 8 KMPL. I believe this to be the worst-case scenario as I was either in rush hour traffic or on the slopes.

However, I would recommend folks to estimate their mileage/year and then calculate how much extra they would spend on Petrol vs Diesel. But also factor in that diesel annual service is about 2-3K higher than petrol and it also requires the fuel additive.

Since my mileage will be around 5K/year, for me the petrol was the better option and it has better performance numbers all around compared to diesel.