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Why we bought Mahindra Thar RWD petrol automatic: Initial observations

1st October 2024, 11:26 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I was informed that the production of the SUV was slowed down due to priority being given to the Mahindra Thar Roxx.

BHPian yuvmudapa recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Prologue

Our Honda Brio was going to turn 12 years old and since it was our city car, it had barely run 25k kilometers. But there was one major issue, that gave us the itch to upgrade. It's size. It was simply too small.

With three out of four members in my family being 6 feet or more, we could simply not travel comfortably together in the Brio. We used to end up taking the XUV 700 everywhere as it was larger but parking for such a big car was a pain especially here in Bangalore. Gradually the need for a new vehicle grew bigger and thus began the search for a replacement.

Requirements:

Petrol due to low running.
Reliable.
Automatic since its primary use case will be in the city.
Under 16 lakhs ex-showroom.
Small length for easy city use.

Cars considered:

1. 2022 Maruti Suzuki Swift

Likes:

Peppy engine.
Reliable and easy to maintain.
Good fuel economy.

Dislikes:

4 speed auto.
Not really larger as compared to the Brio.

2. 2022 Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R

Likes:

Pretty much the same as the Swift mechanically.
Very good headroom and legroom.

Dislikes:

Looks.
AMT gearbox.

3. 2022 Maruti Suzuki Baleno.

Likes:

Peppy engine
Loaded with features (HUD, 360 Degree camera etc)
Good looks (Personal preference here)

Dislikes:

Due to the sloping roofline, the headroom was not great. My head was touching the roof.
AMT gearbox.

Although the Wagon-R was a perfect match size wise, my family was not convinced with the AMT gearbox and the looks.

After an unsuccessful search in the below 10 lakh category, we decided to step into the next segment.

4. 2022 Kia Sonet:

Likes:

Loaded with features.
Looks
Service center and dealer experience
Smooth, refined engine.

Dislikes:

Did not have enough legroom.
Reliability of DCT was a concern.

5. 2023 Kia Seltos:

Likes:

Looks
Features (ADAS and dual 10.25 inch screens in particular)
Multitude of variants with automatic gearbox options

Dislikes:

Was surprisingly small and we were not able to sit one behind the other.
Variant that we preferred (HTX) was out of budget.

6. Honda Elevate:

Likes:

Looks
Engine was smooth and powerful
Pricing for the variant we considered (V CVT) was good for what it offered.
Good legroom and headroom.

Dislikes:

Reliability of the CVT gearbox.
Future of Honda in India.

Wild Card Entry - The Mahindra Thar

The Thar had been something we always dreamt of owning but the previous gen was extremely impractical and its Diesel manual configuration and heavy steering was not something that you would want for the city.

Then came the Thar- W504 in 2020. It changed the market completely and with its increased practicality and Petrol + Auto configuration, it got us interested. However, we would have no use for the 4x4 and we were not sure about selling the Brio yet.

Then in 2023, Mahindra launched the Thar RWD, almost 3 lakhs cheaper than its 4WD equivalent, and it was like a match made in heaven.

So after all the other cars we looked at and were unhappy about, we decided to give the Thar a try.

Called our SA from the time we bought the XUV 700 and asked him if he could bring the Thar for a home test drive.

Test drive experience

The SA showed up at our house a little late due to some traffic, but we were too eager to drive the Thar so it did not bother us much.

Here are some photos from the test drive:

The car was clean but there were some rattles which I am assuming to be the tools like in the boot, but I am not too sure.

Observations:

Petrol AT is a good combo and felt powerful.
Slightly heavy steering compared to the Brio.
Ingress and Egress from the rear is difficult but the legroom and headroom are good.

Contemplation

After the test drive, we were extremely confused about whether we should go ahead with the Thar or give the Elevate a chance.

We initially decided that we would buy the Elevate and take the maximum extended warranty available. But since this car would be kept for long we also looked at our future plans and found that the Thar would be much more usable in the future, when we move to our hometown Coorg full time.

The Thar could be used in our coffee plantations and with its hardened interiors that are meant for these conditions, it would fare much better than the Elevate.

Thus, the plan was decided- a THAR!

Booking, Pricing and PDI

The variant and transmission we chose was the LX P AT RWD, being the only variant with Petrol+AT in the RWD guise.

We decided on the Deep Forest colour, as the Black colour was too common on the Thar and Red was just too flashy for us. We have also wanted an Army green for ages and missed the chance in 2014 when Mahindra discontinued it with the XUV 500.

Finally, the booking was done on July 22nd, 2024 with an expected delivery date of a month.

Price break up shared at the time of booking:

After a month, I was informed that production had slowed down due to priority being given to the Thar Roxx, and we would get it by month end. By this time however, I had already sold the Brio and could not really wait for longer.

The SA informed us that black and red are readily available, and we could get it in within 2 days. We finally agreed on the black colour as we needed the car quickly.

We sold the Brio to Mahindra First Choice as they matched the price offered by Spinny and it would be easier to deal with them since the value of the Brio would be subtracted from the total price that we had to pay for the Thar.

Some parting pics of the Brio:

Final ODO reading:

We did a PDI of a black Thar allotted to us, attaching some pics below:

Made the full payment, and we were ready to take delivery in 3 days. However, the very next day the SA told us that discounts were incoming and we should hold on.

Since we were anyways waiting, we decided to switch back to our original booking of Deep Forest.

The SA confirmed that the vehicle would be allotted within 10 days and sure enough, on Sept 10th we got the call that we had been waiting for!

The pricing shared by the SA:

To the left is the original price before the discount and to the right is the revised price. Negotiated the insurance cost by comparing ACKO's cost and SA agreed to match the same.

Total discount provided: 1.5 lakhs.

The discount is provided on brand new cars as well and not just cars lying in the stockyard. My Thar is August manufactured as indicated by the VIN.

Transit would take up to 8 days and another 2 days for registration, according to the SA.

On Sept 17th, the vehicle arrived at the stockyard and on 18th, the PDI was done.