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Real-world fuel efficiency of the new Mahindra Thar

27th April 2021, 13:31 by Chirag Moro

I think 10,000+ KM is a good time to revisit my mileage track - let's get real!

BHPian ph03n!x recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Never Ask A Man's Wage, A Woman's Age, or A Thar's Mileage

No, that is no original quote - but so well suits my Thar! I had posted about the MID mileage of my Thar when I had clocked a tad under 4,000 KM. For those who missed that post, the MID showed a mileage of 16.3 KMPL after a ~500 KM from Madras to Coimbatore, maintaining an excruciatingly painful ~90 KMPH on beautiful 4/ 6 lane highways.

That is only a part of the story - that drive from Madras to Coimbatore, plus some 70-odd KM in city conditions gave a tankful to tankful mileage of 13.41 KMPL, against a MID indicated 15.xx KMPL during tank-up. As of now, this remains my best mileage figures.

I think 10,000+ KM is a good time to revisit my mileage track - let's get real!

How is real-life mileage been in my Thar LX DSL AT CT, across 10,000+ KM ownership?

Owing to the interesting experiences I had during the initial few thousand KM (Water-in-Fuel!), let me break it up into before the fix and after the fix - considering we did drain the fuel tank once due to this gremlin.

Mind you, I am old school with mileage tracking - the only update I did? Moved it from an offline Excel sheet to a Google Sheets based tracker!

All these tankful readings were contaminated by the water-in-fuel issue, and had several instances of limp mode, check engine marking it's presence - and the grand culmination of draining out the fuel tank. The 12th Dec reading would be affected by the ~5 liters that we drained out. With all these in mind, and being 90% highway usage, the final stats shows a mileage of 11.50 KMPL, with Rs. 6.87 as the cost per KM.

This is how I fared from there on, after the issue was fixed:

Green shades - ghat sections | Grey shade - extensive 4x4/ offroading

Let's ignore the first line in this - this was a tank-up from ~half tank, and I don't think it is accurate for whatever reason. The 29th Dec tank-up is where I did my mileage experiment. The rest of the driving was mostly highways, again 90% of them - and there were some ghat sections involved (Yercaud, Ooty, Valparai), highlighted in green. And the one in grey is where I took my stock Thar offroading.

Of these, the Feb 7th tank-up stands out for me - this is when I was driving from Hyderabad to Coimbatore alone (no, I halted in Bangalore!), and was testing the jeep's limits - max speed, handling, braking while at max speed, and how it handled that - put it through its paces and we came out knowing each other a lot better! For me, this 10.75 KMPL is the worst mileage I'll ever clock.

The numbers from 3,000 KM till the last tank-up? 11.57 KMPL, cost per KM of Rs. 7.20 - no thanks, the daylight robbery under the guise of fuel price increases. 10 bucks in 6 months?!!! The overall average for the 10,000 KM ownership is 11.55 KMPL, Rs. 7.10 per KM. Yeah, not much of an impact vs. the first 3,000 KM - but am sure I could have clocked better mileage figures in the first 3,000 KM because I was babying the Thar at ~80 KMPH, with only bursts of 90 to 110 KMPH. Oh well.

Which fuel brands do I prefer? Depends - in Coimbatore, my trusted fuel stations are the SSS IOC and Ramsons BP. On highways, I try to get a Reliance. In Madras, I stick with Shell. And in Hyderabad, I frequent the HP pump in Kondapur. Let's see how the brands fared - do note, this is not a brand performance ranking. Driving conditions, driver (me!) mindset, heck, even what was playing on the ICE or how good my kids were behaving - would have affected the mileage a bit!

So what are my takeaways?

For my usage, Diesel is the best - apart from the miles I munch, the difference between the worst mileage (10.75 KMPL) and the average mileage (11.55 KMPL) is not a lot. This narrow difference is why I love my Diesels!
My realistic highway range is 550 KM for a full tank. I will have to factor in ghats and offroad driving in this
The variance from the MID vs. Actual is something I started tracking recently - and I have seen MID vs. Actual fluctuate from 1.44 to 2.31 KMPL (actual is always lower). Do not trust the MID mileage!
I would plan at 8 to 9 KMPL if am using 4x4 extensively - ~450 KM full tank range
Those who own a MT Diesel Thar will definitely be able to squeeze more mileage - at least 2 to 3 KMPL more should be easy-peasy. And those who picked an AT Petrol - mind your mileage, am sure it will be considerably lower under similar driving conditions

We haven't seen much of the roads off late - what with Wuhan Coronavirus making a v21 comeback. I'm taking it easy for now, and will plan some interesting travels, but only after we are ahead of the virus' curve (and hope and pray that v21Pro/S or v22 is not on the horizon!).

Until then, let me know if you would like for me to give you a closer scrutiny on the Jeep, and I'll give it a shot!

Speaking of giving it a shot, how can a post be - without a parting shot?