Spent 5 days with a Thar Roxx; Driving on highways & Bengaluru traffic

This is a perfect upgrade for the existing 3-door Thar folks who wants mild off-roading but a more luxurious vehicle.

BHPian Jaggu recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Disclaimer: This is an enthusiast take on living with the Thar Roxx and NOT an official TeamBHP review.

Pros

• Could be the one car garage for a young family.
• Feature and gizmo rich package at reasonable prices with 4x2 model. Hope the 4x4 pricing also would be juicy.
• Macho looks with good road presence, though polarising opinion on some design aspects.
• Much improved overall handling and space for 4 people with lugguage for a long journey. Key factor being 1830 Kg for 4x2 and 1970 Kg 4x4 weight plus new suspension / chassis combo.
• Enthusiast tune for the engines mated with tried and tested Aisin Auto box makes it a pleasure to drive in city and on highways.
• Launch pricing for two wheel drive are very competitive for the current market.

Cons

• Raised body on ladder platform may not be ideal for people with older family members.
• Slow speed ride, and handling at higher speeds are not in the same league as sedans and other soft road "SUV's" at similar price point.
• There are minor fit and finish issues that hopefully will get addressed in final production version. Door cards vibrating at even moderate volume level is one such. Don't expect German or European finesse in implementation, it is getting there but not yet.
• Those rear LED indicator lights are not great from visibility, one needs to double check if the vehicle behind has noticed the signal before making the lane change.
• Grabby brakes, especially with auto hold. Sharp braking may not be to everyones liking but disk brakes all around provides very good stopping power.
• Tech overload can be overwhelming for some. Plethora of menu to scroll and some features hidden under layers of setting.

TeamBHP was represented at the launch / drive event by Aditya and self. After the event I had made personal bookings to go to my hometown in Trivandrum from Cochin by train, and had mentioned this during a friendly banter with one of Mahindra officials. He out of the blue offered both Aditya and me "if we would like to take one of the Roxx and drive back" and we were surprised. Apparently they had already planned it and some of the other journo’s had taken up the offer as you are aware from the various social media posts. While Aditya had to rush back to Mumbai and roll out the review (meeting the deadline of 24 hours), I was in no hurry. Original train tickets to Trivandrum and personal flight tickets back to Bangalore were cancelled (note to self refundable tickets are a good idea now on) and by midnight I had collected the black Roxx 4x2 AT. I had requested for 4x4 coz we never got to do Offroad driving during the event, but had to be content with the 4x2 that was available at the end of the day.

Good PR and Marketing move this is, especially for a vehicle that can be a game changer for market and the manufacturer. Not only this move generate interests, but also create a feedback mechanism. Right from pricing to features, colours etc while things are being finalised. These are notes that I have made during the time I am living with Roxx, this is NOT an official review, that will follow when the team gets a vehicle in Mumbai and will be able to go through the complete checklist one expects from TeamBHP reviews..

Day 1 - Drive from Fort Kochi to Trivandrum.

Left after breakfast from the hotel after bidding adieu to Aditya, and met up with a close friend at Decathlon Kochi. This friend had organised the drive the previous day, but had not really seen or sat inside the vehicle. Picture of Roxx along with his mint condition original Thar. This one has done over a Lakh kms, kudos to the upkeep.

Took the horrible Cochin to Alleppey route suggested by google and it was slow moving single lane traffic till about Cherthala. Played with the adaptive cruise control for a little bit and it was good fun. As long as you have a moving 4 wheel plus vehicle in front, it is very useful in the crawling traffic. Moment a smaller object similar to a two wheeler slides in between the sides, the system gets panicky and 'bham' comes the brake which can be disconcerting. One way to override is use the accelerator and driver MID will display “adaptive cruise override” message. On and off drizzle was not helping and the black Roxx was soon a chocolate on the sides, automatic wipers are a boon though. They do work well and get confused at very odd times switching On the wiper when there is not a drop of rain on the windshield Or from the sky. This happened again on the return journey which was sunny. Similarly had the ADAS kick in and brake randomly with no obstacle on road and do a one second braking two times during the return journey. Not sure it is getting confused with sudden shadows on the road along the lane markers?? Aditya mentioned other vehicles with ADAS also throwing such behaviour. If another vehicle was tailing too close while attempting an overtake etc, it could have been ugly.

Finding the seat position was tricky, but once I set it at lowest and backrest more towards straight than laid back, I could find the sweet spot. The earlier 3 door Thar issue of legs hitting the transmission tunnel was surprisingly gone for me. The new leg rest, though positioned at an angle to left side, was just perfect for my 5’ 10” ish frame. Compared to my three door Thar, this was heaven. You can see the ample gap the leg has, the seat base bolster positions the leg this way and the inward placement of the wheel well trims help. If you sit close to steering this may not be the case. After returning I tried same seating in my 3 door Thar and there is a good difference.

The brake and accelerator pedals though are tad too close, fellow Mod Vidyut with his formal shoes faced some issues here.

This low seating I am not sure if others will prefer, especially the ones who like to see over the hood. I am used to large vehicles including jeeps and totally comfortable with just the view of the hood from top to judge the corners. ADAS plus warning gives the additional confidence even in chocoblock traffic.

Everyone has spoken about the 'oh so white' seat colour, they are washable still does not fit the purpose inside ANY Indian car used by families. No matter how careful, they do tend to get stained. Dark Brown / Tan seats would have worked wonders and given decent amount airiness and sophistication similar to these off white ones. Hope Mahindra takes this as an input and provide some choices at launch. From a visual perspective, the white does work in giving the cabin a bright and inviting ambience. I do believe more than the body shape, the interiors attract people to come near the vehicle to check it out.

Roads are mostly great from Alleppey to MC Road albeit with traffic. And this was the first time I could really enjoy the Roxx without being stuck in city traffic. The tall stance, overall good visibility all around and tons of power on tap makes you confident to drive in these narrow roads and with tight overtaking that one encounters. I was trying to reach home for late lunch and my catch up at Cochin has delayed my plans. Steering felt super light when I drove in Kochi, but on this drive I realised how it subtly weighs up with speed. It is NOT at all as heavy as a hydraulic system, but the directness of the steering wheel with vehicle direction change is something to be appreciated, no wandering or need for correction. No amount of explanation can do justice, including Mods were rather sarcastic when I described it, but when they drove the vehicle opinion changed drastically. So I'll leave it there. People who use the vehicle in the city would appreciate how effortless the vehicle is to drive. Even for long highway commute it is superb from comfort perspective (will tell more about that as my trip progresses).

The revised steering geometry + EPS + Agile chassis suspension = Big Thumbs Up!

Had another short break at Thiruvalla to meet another friend who has been through a plethora of vehicles ranging from Willys, to Land Cruiser, BMW 5 series to Seltos and to even new 3XO. This is what he said “Mahindra has truly made a world class product, that can compete with the likes of Toyota’s and even Land Rover’s”. Coming from him it means alot since he is super finicky and OCD when it comes to automobiles.

Drive from Thiruvella to Trivandrum was under pressure and I apologise if I have pissed off other folks on the road. This vehicle with huge reserves of power and superb handling at sub 100 Kmph makes it a riot on slow Kerala traffic, especially the two lane roads like MC Road. I was more worried about people trying to chase me and getting into trouble, so it was a quick overtake and then put some distance between myself and the rest of traffic whenever possible. Reached home a little late from the original late lunch I had in mind. While trying to park on the front porch that was recently dug up and with fresh concrete slabs that was just laid, I learned how useful the drive modes on 4x2 car is. Imagine a typical cross axle situation with a huge bump at front wheel and the rear left gets lifted spinning in the air for lack of traction. Party trick engage the "Mud or Snow mode" and it will give the bite to hop across.

A former armed service personnel stopped by to check on delivery schedules seeing my circus in front of the house, as he had already placed a booking via a local dealer had some questions on how to get the vehicle like me lol. Shared whatever info I had, he took some pics and moved on. This car has a huge following already, wherever you park you will be greeted by at least one person who wants more details of the vehicle, take pics etc. So I decided to move the vehicle to a friend's apartment close by which had a spare parking in underground basement no 2 lol.

That evening caught up with another friend; car fanatic, bike enthusiast and someone who restores classic cars in Trivandrum. He was dilly dallying on replacing his Yeti for last few months and after I took him and family for a short drive within the city, he decided to place a booking immediately. This is booking No 1 from my side, Mahindra if you are listening please send a 4x4 vehicle to test for long term as commission . My friends family wanted me to take a few undulations, a road hump without slowing down and were mighty impressed with the rear seat comfort. Last day with Roxx I also got to sit at the rear and it is not too bad, yes it is bumpy at very slow speed but not like what you expect in such an SUV. Car on 19” wheels is choppy and very BMW’ish ride till about 30 Kmph, beyond this is when suspension really starts to act proper. With 18" tyres this should improve remarkably. In short expect a 'Fortuner kind' of ride at slow speeds and it is not really a magic carpet when slow to set expectations right.

Next 2 days

Were pretty slow and I had family engagements, wherever I took the Roxx the feedback was unanimous, that this is a remarkable upgrade from the 3 door persona associated. I think Mahindra has got it right and urban folks seem to be loving the Roxx. My 80 year old dad managed to climb into the driver seat for a pic to tease his friends and it was not easy for him Or for me who was assisting him climb. So people with old folks at home, this is NOT a vehicle recommended if it is going to be your only vehicle. Rear doors open wide at almost 90 degrees, but getting in and out needs a decent amount of agility; step on the ladder, grab the handle at the pillar and hop in. Not really something you want to recommend to old people or people with other mobility issues.

I did not like the car with all the muck from the horrible Cochin to Cherthala section and that too a black vehicle, so even gave the review car a wash at home lol Wash observation and especially for the fans of detailing thread. Expect all the vehicles in metro's with solid water marks at the rear window, because that plastic cover on top of the glass hinge holds water and unless one has access to blow dryer, will keep dripping water after drying to ones best capability with a rag. Even if you lift the glass couple of times and shake it, water somehow keeps dropping after sometime. Second the 'Rock on' alloys have a gutter behind the front / outer half of the rim and that too holds water in after a wash. So you will have to drive the vehicle a bit before you can get rid off that collection. Personal note I still prefer the understated 3 door alloy design in grey. Another small yet 'big' issue during cleaning, lack of rain gutter or any projection to hold on to on the roof makes it super difficult to wash and wipe the roof area during washing. A small step stool or ladder would be required if you want to keep the sun roof glass clean. The mat roof finish is prone to easy white scratches if you wear watch or any kind of jewellery in hand.

Day 5 return to Bangalore, highway drive.

It is Tuesday morning and it is time to return to Bangalore from Trivandrum. After the tank up in Trivandrum, I had already managed to cover 85 kms (wow) during the 3 days within the city! This is not a big city like our metros and that is a decent amount of running lol. Normal IOC diesel and tank to brim for the sake of getting accurate readings (though am not a big fan of this). Left home at about 6.45 AM, took the coastal route till Parasala which was a breeze, then the horrible 2 lane section to Nagercoil which in reality was not bad that day and in this vehicle.

By 8.30 AM I was taking pics on the Nagercoil bypass, after a short coffee break in my usual spot in town before that. Pace was not bad at all considering it is a working day. A large powerful SUV contrary to what people believe (because of assumption associated with size), can be an advantage for broken 2 lane state highways.

Roads opened up after this and for the first time started pushing the vehicle to higher speeds. Was sure the FE would be messed up but I was not botherede, it was “send mode” all the way till about Karur. Vehicle is very silent till about 80 Kmph. There is a slight clatter type sound on driver side, noticed same on the launch drive 4x4 too. Can't really pinpoint if it is something to do with engine sound or some mess up in sound deadening.

90 Kmph is when wind noise starts and at 120 Kmph it is a rather perceivable element if you are not using the entertainment system. Having said that, the Harmon Kardon sound system is well tuned, just level 2-3 and you will not hear any of this wind noise. I don’t know if the noise cancelling tech that Mahindra spoke about has some connection to the volume levels of the entertainment system? It sure did feel like that to me. Apart from the NVH the remarkable difference in handling is something everyone notices. Steering is absolutely direct (no vagueness), dampers on extreme corners give superb feel to the car at speeds within legal limits. Once you defy that legal limit, physics takes over… Weight, Height, Center of Gravity all comes into picture, natural that and one will start leaning sideways while pushing the Roxx around corners. Mind you I was alone with just a backpack, so the car was not even loaded.

Oh a quirk - even a heavy backpack kept upright while resting the seat back will trigger seat belt warning! had to lay the bag down fully on the bench to stop this from happening.

Had parked for lunch at Salem and there was a Gurkha next to the Roxx. When I came back after lunch I was greeted by Force Salem dealer folks, who requested if they could check the vehicle closely and take some pics. This has become the norm with any long parking outside lol. Customary questions later, I resumed my journey back to Bangalore.

Drive was pretty relaxed, I knew I would be entering Hosur road at peak hours for Bangalore no matter what, and decided might as well enjoy the drive. Having said that this is one of those vehicles that will keep fingering your need for speed. One lands up doing 100-120 kmph without realising and it is the customary speed warning that alerts you. Good news, that sound is pretty non intrusive. Reminds me, after all this driving I really couldn't find a major difference between how a 4x2 and 4x4 drove. Yes if you are really observant the 4x4 felt a tad heavier but not really worth fretting and I guess that may provide oh so slightly better ride.

Anyhow fellow mod Vidyut wanted to check out the vehicle and made me crawl the horrible traffic under EC flyover to get into EC phase 1, and was given the Jimny in exchange of Roxx. No offence to Jimny owners and I really love that small Jimiky! In fact the purchase option for me were:

1) 5 door petrol AT if under 30L OTR
2) 3 door petrol AT if I get under 14L preowned
3) Jimny AT brand new in white!

But fact is Jimny felt like a prehistoric grinder after the whole day with the refined and silent Roxx, don't throw stones at me fellow Mod Vidyut and a jimny owner shared his comments below on this. Had met Guru (Gsferrari) during the drive event and he being an enthusiastic owner himself, had accepted the fact that we were driving a Jimny killer. So getting back to the last leg of Bangalore trip, my hands were clashing everywhere and steering was like I was driving an old Jeep in comparison, as vague as it can be and heavy. After a few kms and I was just getting used to it, unfortunately a broken down truck meant we crawled on top of the EC flyover for about 30 mts! This is where auto hold really helps. On the other hand in Jimny by the end of the crawl my back had started aching. Whole day in Roxx and more than 700 Kms I was fine, but that 45 to 60 mts in Jimny and it had taken the toll. Maybe my energy levels were getting low too? Brakes are vague and spongy on Jimny and needed effort Vs super slick ones of the Roxx. Oh that reminds me Vidyut pointed out the grabby brakes and auto hold of the Roxx, over the phone walkie talkie we were doing sitting stuck in traffic.

This is a fact, while Auto hold is super convenient that you don't need to worry about handbrakes (ever). The auto release when you tap on the accelerator is rather violent! Especially downhill, it can give you a nice jerk. I had started to get adjusted to this, but when Vidyut pointed out how smooth this is on his Kodiaq, I wondered why it is such a difficult task for Mahindra to sort out. Vidyut showered a lot of praises including BMW like brakes, overall improvements and the terrific automatic - inside rear view mirror that even the XUV misses out on. There are a lot of these small touches Mahindra has added on the top end model to lure the choosy urban folks to Roxx. I will leave Vidyut to share more insights with his trafficked experience with Roxx.

We went to meet fellow BHPian Robimahanta who wanted to see the Roxx and I in turn wanted to check out his lovely 3 door Thar with Tough Dog suspension. FYI Now I plan to add Tough Dog to my Thar, thanks Robi for the drive. Robi had a few of his friends gather and all were might impressed with the Roxx. One of them who was an XUV700 owner rated it above XUV. Hope he just was not being nice and meant it.

Finally said goodbye to all and came home by about 8: 30 PM, and yet another close friend who stays on the other side of Bangalore calls, asking if he can come over to see and feel the vehicle. He owns previous gen Santa and Tucson, new Swift, Tiago EV, Bolero and what not lol and have even booked Jimny which he cancelled after test drive.... Long story short he came with his son, took em for a spin and left by 10 PM. At 11 PM I see a message “It's really good. Suspension, dynamics, fit and finish, really good compared to 2 doors. I liked it. Will book one I think”. And that is confirmed booking no 2 from me, Mahindra!

Driving at night the LED fogs are pretty pointless, since they throw light pretty much under driver line of vision. Same with my 3 door also, is this some CMVR nonsense?? So I prefer to keep them switched off, that’s when I noticed they do work as cornering lamps. Switching On when the steering wheel is turned to take a turn and switching Off when the steering returns to centre. As for the main head lamps, they are decent projector set up, but like most LED head lamps lighting is just adequate thanks to the CMVR rules. Spread and reach is good, it’s just the brightness that’s just about ok. Gets auto high beam too on the top end, pretty nifty feature to keep the stalk in high and let the vehicle do the switching.

This is inner ring road Bangalore at night, left side illumination is what you can expect from Roxx, not too bad.

Same can't be said for the auto headlight On feature, it is too sensitive and most annoying and quick. Fact is even under a minor shade, not only does the headlight turns On, the whole MID and entertainment system goes dark along with it, making it impossible to see things like google maps if you are wearing shades. Even without shades it becomes difficult with dimmed displays. This needs to be addressed ASAP Mahindra. Similarly if you are doing any adjustments in MID setting, moment ADAS detects any object, displays the warning and interferes. There is bit of delay to return to the screen and one has to start over again. This is super annoying.

Experiencing city life.

Morning took the vehicle for the Bangalore traffic grind to office and apart from the tall seating position and butch size (which is a huge plus in Bangalore peak hour), noticed that the noise insulation is impressive too at these slow moving traffic. Dare I say kinda close to the 3.2 Endeavour we have at home, mild FM radio playing and only the ADAS beeps disturb you (you can switch them off, but I prefer to keep them On to stay away from harm as much as possible).

Tanked up in the evening while returning and it showed 11.4 Kmpl over 416 Kms of highway + horrible EC traffic including stuck in crawl from EC to Koramangala + 15 mts crawl in Koramangala on my way back home + the morning rush hour from Indira Nagar to Brookfields. Add a lot of idling and small passenger joy rides around Robi’s apartment. I think it is a very respectable figure for such a class of vehicle.

Will I or Wont I?

Now the obvious question will I now replace the 3 door petrol Thar with 5 door? This was choice 1 for me and had delayed the Thar 3 door transfer till last week.

Back story, it all started as a casual enquiry in friends group if anyone can help me with a quick hands on with automatic 3 doors before the 5 door review. I have only driven diesel manual versions of 3 door till then. A close friends calls and offers his Petrol AT, says I can even pick it up if interested in a buy. Till then I had this plan of buying a 5 door under company lease and save on taxes. He added that I need to make the offer and not expect him to quote. So I started with OLX and found vehicles ranging from 16 to 18 Lakhs, all low odo and single owner vehicle. One such piece with tad under 12,000 kms caught my eye due to juicy pricing, said MT in add but pics shows AT lever. Turned out to be an AT when I spoke to the seller. Decided to go check it out and test drive next day that was a Tuesday morning. Long story short, discussed the vehicle details with the friend who offered his Thar, decided to pay advance the same day, and Friday I got Thaggu 2.0 home lol. Drove about 250 kms that weekend before the review and even managed to do some mild Offroad with it. This is a 2021 Petrol AT hard top.

One of the primary reason I did this impulsive purchase was the lack of 4x4 Petrol AT which I came to know before launch event itself. I have my reasons for being choosy, for starters I checked fuel log app and I have done 1600 kms with my GV in last 1 year! The year before than did 3000 kms. Thanks to the bikes, city traffic and lone travel mode = I have kept away from 4 wheelers most of my travel. Thar was to start doing the Offroad fun events around South and maybe little touring once in a blue moon. For this I would have loved a 5 door comfort filled car. Then sense kicked in, paying double the amount, getting into a lease commitment Vs outright purchase of 3 door was a no brainer. Ownership transfer is pending, so I surely can go for the 5 door..... But what will I do with a Diesel BS6 engine, which will drink more fuel regenerating its cats than actual driving?

Having given it a long and hard thought, it did not make sense to my use case and dropped it.

Will it make sense to other 3 door owners?

Yes if you love the 3 door Thar but want more comfort, space, the quintessential 2 additional doors and luggage space. This is a perfect upgrade for existing 3 door folks who wants mild off-roading but a more luxurious vehicle. Offroading am still not very sure since have not really driven the 5 door off the road. Another use case moving the family way but don't want to give up on Thar? Roxx is the answer. Struggling with an older 4x4 to which you can't find a worthy and reasonable upgrade? Pajero etc... Roxx is again for you.

So after about 5 days we had to do a premature handover to another media house and to be honest was just getting used to the super chuckable, point and shoot beast in the city. It gives approx 8.5 Kmpl with chock-a-block Bangalore city traffic and with majority crawling traffic (MID shows 9-9.2 Kmpl) for reference sake.

So that has been my experience with the Roxx and now back to reality with good ol 3 door Petrol AT. Will top up with comments as and when I experience or remember something new. Till then you can ask if anything specific you would want to know from a daily usage perspective.

Disclosure: Mahindra provided the Roxx with 3/4 tank diesel, fully loaded Fastag and I am thankful for that. Rest all expenses including the full tank fuel that vehicle has been returned with, food and cigarettes at breaks are my hard earned salary money.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.