Why I decided not to buy a Mahindra Thar after a test drive

With the Thar plans dropped, the prospect of going for the Mahindra XUV700 became closer to reality.

BHPian ask99 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

TEST DRIVE on your regular routes!

That's my one piece of advice to any potential Thar buyers, after finally getting around to driving the Thar Petrol AT HT recently.

Backstory: I have previously driven a last-gen Thar on 2 occasions:

1. Did a week-long Overlanding trip through Meghalaya a couple of years ago in a rented Thar. This one was modified with a rooftop tent mounted on an external metal frame. The trip started and finished in Guwahati, so it included some nice stretches of mountain highways, well-laid canyon roads, as well as sections of non-existent roads, broken stone/rock layered paths. This is the experience that really sold me on the idea of owning a Thar. As a couple, we both didn't feel any excessive discomforts or tiredness over the week which involved hours of driving every day. I was actually quite impressed with the performance and handling (speaking loosely in SWB Ladder on frame expectations.)
2. Rented one for a few days in Goa. Drove north into Maharashtra. Explored all over Goa. Went for dinners, etc. The usual Goa itinerary. Felt quite comfortable with the car and drives were fun. The rudimentary nature of the Thar was more evident during this trip as we were no longer on an adventure where the utility of the vehicle allowed us to gloss over the minimalist features. Overall though, there were no deal-breakers, and it stayed on our list of adventure vehicles to potentially own.

Over the last 2-3 years, I have been glued to Overlanding videos on YouTube, and Travelogues on Team-BHP. The aspiration to get on the bandwagon with a go-anywhere vehicle was kept alive with planning the kind of modifications possible, the places that could be reached, etc.

In fact, I was even going through a debate over the tires of choice for my needs - i.e. non-offroading but adventurous drives through poor surfaces to reach previous unreachable destinations. A question that is yet unanswered on this journey is - Does the new Thar really need tires the same profile as a much heavier and much more powerful Jeep Wrangler and is the 255mm profile provided purely as a "Tashan" statement or does it serve a purpose besides making the car less fuel-efficient?

So while all the mental gymnastics took place, my current XUV500 hit the 80,000 km mark and for the most part has provided me with a smooth ownership experience. Mahindra has managed to keep me in the more than happy to spend money on your vehicles camp. So as is logical a test drive of the much written about new Thar was arranged by my dealer.

And this is when realisation dawned...

The Thar Petrol AT showed up at home and having previously already checked it out a couple of times at the showroom, I wasted no time in jumping into the driver's seat and set off. Or did I? No, I sorted out the seat positioning for my liking, being on the taller side, I went to adjust the steering and .... no reach adjust. Ok, I suppose, I can adjust myself for the love of adventure. Began adjusting the ORVM, and the driver side ORVM reached the extreme and wouldn't budge more. But I could still see a lot of Thar in the mirror, it should allow further adjustment for safer driving. Oh well, forget it. Minor details. We will figure something out when I get my own Thar.

So we finally set off... and... there it was!! The SWB jeep characteristics stared me in my face the moment we were out of the driveway.

**Anyone familiar with Kolkata roads will know that our streets never seem broken or poorly maintained, from a distance they look like nicely laid out tar carpets, but once you drive on them you realise that there has been zero effort to maintain any kind of levelling between the various patches along any stretch of road. You're driving on essentially a reasonably smooth feeling but wavy road surface. And not just wavy in one direction.**

And the moment the Thar was driven on these roads, I could feel the pitching, the kicking up of the rear, the rolling, shaking you around in the driver's seat. Ignoring that I powered on to get a feel for the drivetrain, and was quite impressed with the overall performance but not by the fuel economy on display. Having reset the trip meter pre-test drive, it stood at a handsome 7.1 km/L at the end. Adjusting for MID error, I'd expect a city efficiency of 6-7 km/L for the Thar Petrol AT in Kolkata traffic.

All the pre-test drive excitement had vanished and the realisation that this was definitely not a vehicle I would be comfortable using around the city set in. Plans dropped. XUV700 ownership becomes closer to reality for my future.

Of course, being a Team-BHPian, the dream isn't dead. The posts about suspension upgrades (AVO suspension) have kept the dream alive. Maybe in the future when I get a chance to drive a Thar with the suspension changed, this ember will once again light up into a bright flame!

So, TLDR - Please test drive the Thar over the surfaces you intend to drive it for most of its life. You can choose to compromise on many aspects of a vehicle, but make sure the compromise is a choice and not a post-purchase compulsion.

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