Mahindra Thar soft-top convertible: Problems faced after 41,000 km

However, I continue to remain impressed with the SUV and have not regretted my decision one bit.

BHPian samanvya recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Comrades,

Here is a brief overview of the problems I faced in my Thar after driving it for 41k km.

Please know that I am thoroughly impressed and happy with my Thar and have not regretted the decision even once. It shines everywhere, it is a head-turner, good off-roader and blah blah blah.. we all know the good bits.However, over here I will be sharing the negatives only that I faced on a soft-top convertible:

1. It gets dirty. Due to small air vents/gaps here and there, a convertible will never be as clean as a hardtop. Some dirt will definitely settle everywhere inside the car. You have to spend some time cleaning it almost every alternate day.
2. Reversing the car will always be an issue until you get a camera. You can get the camera installed from the third party but will have to go to Mahindra Service Centre to get the Software tweaked without which video will not be displayed on the screen of the Entertainment Unit.
3. Within the first few thousand km (November 2020- February 2021), I started facing issues with the horn. It's a dual horn. Sometimes it works fine, randomly it starts sounding strange, sometimes it produces only a shrill tone while other times it produces a very heavy tone, sometimes it's just like a Scooty's horn. This issue automatically disappeared as summers came. Now since November 2021, I am again facing horn issues. On December 21 I visited Munsiyari (good snow)- over there the horn really went bad. It just stopped working. As soon as I came to plane areas, it was better but again. Once or twice each drive the horn goes crazy. Anyways the service centre guys believed my horn issue only when I showed them multiple videos of the horn going bonkers. They changed it under warranty in Jan 2022.
4. When I completed around 2000 km, the AC vent direction knob just broke without any rhyme or reason. It still remains broken. Cheap quality plastics I guess. Anyways I have got it changed from aftermarket ones as the service centre could not arrange a replacement even after a year.
5. After around 7000kms I faced ABS sensor issues. It used to give a warning 'Check ABS System'. The service centre got it rectified, though it took a few days for the sensor replacement to come.
6. I rarely engage 4x4 -even during light snow drives I found 4x2 was doing a good job in this car. However, when I do engage them, I feel that a little more than the required noise comes from the front two tyre areas. However, the service centre assures that it's normal. This noise is noticeable only with top-down or if you are outside the vehicle.
7. Within one month of ownership the 12v socket fuse was blown, it was promptly changed by the service centre.
8. Around 30k km later the FM radio/antennae developed a strange problem. It won't receive any signal. I cannot listen to the radio in Thar. I visited the service centre before Diwali 2021 for this issue and I was informed that there was some earthing issue. Problem remained. Again visited during December 2021, and I was told that some kind of wiring was required for the antenna then I got a call from the service centre in January 2022 to bring my car for the radio issue. took my car but the problem could not be rectified. even in March 2022, I cannot listen to the radio.
9. Seat belt- I faced a strange issue of seat belt jamming, so much so that it would just freeze/lock at any random time. I took it to the service centre, they didn't really do anything just pulled it real hard, and I haven't had that issue since 10k km now.
10. Major issue- some random times (thrice till now, in past 2000 km) the car and the ignition remains on even after you take out the keys. This is a major problem I faced. I take out the keys, still, the vehicle remains on, music system, lights everything remains on, you can even drive. I switch off the engine by putting it in 6th gear and releasing the clutch pedal while at a halt, however, everything else remains on. The Only option is to remove the negative terminal from the battery. absolutely nothing else can be done. This issue comes up randomly. Service Center has one reply, 'bring it in'. They put their laptop, see the error, remove it and then say that it won't happen again. And it happens again. the problem is that I can't leave the car with every light glowing throughout the night. not only will it drain the battery, but every thief will know that something is wrong with the car.
11. It's like owning an elephant. you have to give it a lot of maintenance. It needs one service centre visit, every alternate month.

Anyways, these were the issues I face(d) with the car. All that being said, I am still impressed by the capabilities of this car. and would love to buy it again.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.