All-New Mahindra Thar: Ownership Review


Thread Starter #32
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Had a call from Zulaikha Motors for replacement of hood latches and to check for roof water tightness. Thar had been for service today; the hood latches were replaced, and additional sealants were neatly applied on the middle hard top to hard top joint. Understand from service personal that there was a leak deducted and was rectified.

Glad Mahindra is taking customer feedback seriously and rectifying & updating Thar. Instead of treating the customer feedback as an isolated case its been checked for global occurrence, this attitude will take Mahindra to a very high product standard level.
 
Thread Starter #34
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On 13th March 2021, Took out my Thar for hardcore off-roading. This event was organised by Terra Tigers on the Palar riverbed, near Chennai. The vehicles ranged from G-Wagon, Wrangler, Fortuner, Pajero, various generations of Thar including the new ones.

Drove through sand, mud slush, water wading, grass/ vegetation, sand dunes. Taking Thar to such places made me realise the true capabilities of the vehicle. Until the day, I had no prior off-road driving experience and all I did was to read & watch about off-roading, thanx to YouTube & Google. Thar is a very forgiving vehicle with its power to move, good ground clearance and little overhangs. All I had to do was to shift to 4-Low range and keep shifting between 2nd, 3rd & 4th gears, Thar would push forward with little or no throttle inputs. For steep sand dune climbs were easy with 4-Low range and 2nd or 3rd gear and with acceleration.

When on deep slush or soft sand the rear mechanically locking differential & front brake locking differential did the job to keep the vehicle moving. The short front overhang and short rear overhang with good ground clearance and short wheelbase had Thar going to places without breaching and without any hitch. The wide tracks kept the vehicle stable. One another good point is that, there are no low hanging points except the rear shocks close to the tyres, and my guesses are that my footsteps might not get hit easily.

Tyre pressure monitoring system was useful to keep an eye on the tyre pressure and temperature as we were running on lower tyre pressure while off-roading. Steering position indicators were very useful while driving on sand as the vehicle direction of steer would be very different from the actual tyre direction. In built navigation system would be a very useful feature when we drive through non-network areas.

On comfort front, the air-conditioning was powerful enough to keep the cabin cool despite the hot weather. The suspension system was good enough for the comfort and the articulation was good enough for the required traction. On & Off road, I would still say that the front suspension is on the softer side and could be slightly stiffer and I am exploring options to stiffen the same.
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The wheel arches are not fully clad or covered, this leads to slush/ sand accumulating in the frames, away from sight. Proper underbody wash needs to be done to flush out the sand/ slush. Top of frame collects good amount of sand and this needs to be looked out for and suitably cleaned.
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Few More Clicks from other mild off-roading
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Stay tuned for more pictures/ videos from Off-roading event.
 
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Had a call directly from Mahindra on 3rd Dec 2020, to inform about the price hike for Thar from December but this would not impact my price as I had book in the month of October. The ex-showroom price at the time of booking will be maintained for the earlier booked Thar.

It was also informed about the 4-stars in Global NCAP crash tests received for Thar.

75 more days more.
Lucky you, Sandeep! - I booked my Thar (LX, petrol, hardtop, manual, aqua marine) last week and the staff at the showroom here - Royal Motors, S.P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata - informed me that the delivery price (waiting period expected 36 - 38 weeks) would be the same as that prevailing at the time of delivery, and not the price at the time of booking! I share your enthusiasm for the vehicle and look forward to getting behind the steering wheel. Prior to this my earlier experience with Mahindra was the Scorpio which we ran for 14 years, before selling it - reluctantly.

One point I still need clarification on is the BLD. Just what is it & how does it function - is it in any way similar to the EBD system. The Hummer (when it was introduced) had an interesting system to counter wheel-slip. Individual slipping wheels had brake force applied selectively to counter wheel slip, till torque was automatically transferred to the non-slipping wheel - through the open differential -and stability was regained. Is the BLD in any way similar to this system?

Your review is very interesting and thoroughly informative. I am looking forward to the next bulletin!
 
Thread Starter #37
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Lucky you, Sandeep! - I booked my Thar (LX, petrol, hardtop, manual, aqua marine) last week and the staff at the showroom here - Royal Motors, S.P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata - informed me that the delivery price (waiting period expected 36 - 38 weeks) would be the same as that prevailing at the time of delivery, and not the price at the time of booking! I share your enthusiasm for the vehicle and look forward to getting behind the steering wheel. Prior to this my earlier experience with Mahindra was the Scorpio which we ran for 14 years, before selling it - reluctantly.

One point I still need clarification on is the BLD. Just what is it & how does it function - is it in any way similar to the EBD system. The Hummer (when it was introduced) had an interesting system to counter wheel-slip. Individual slipping wheels had brake force applied selectively to counter wheel slip, till torque was automatically transferred to the non-slipping wheel - through the open differential -and stability was regained. Is the BLD in any way similar to this system?

Your review is very interesting and thoroughly informative. I am looking forward to the next bulletin!
@gearhead2 Glad you have book Thar and you will definitely enjoy the Petrol for its smoothness, power and capabilities.

Thar has limited slip mechanical locking Rear differential (LSD) and brake locking front differential (BLD). I have noticed brake light glowing in my Thar when I was not really using brake but BLD kicks in where front tyre spin is noticed (Will upload the videos shortly). Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD), is braking force is distributed on the different tyres based on requirements and this feature is more for on-road conditions. EBD is more of function before ABS and once tyre skid/ locking is sensed ABS kicks in. ESP is Electronic Stability Program, this also applies brakes when Thar senses overturning/ loss of traction. All the above are safety functions available in LX version of Thar.
 
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@gearhead2 Glad you have book Thar and you will definitely enjoy the Petrol for its smoothness, power and capabilities.

Thar has limited slip mechanical locking Rear differential (LSD) and brake locking front differential (BLD). I have noticed brake light glowing in my Thar when I was not really using brake but BLD kicks in where front tyre spin is noticed (Will upload the videos shortly). Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD), is braking force is distributed on the different tyres based on requirements and this feature is more for on-road conditions. EBD is more of function before ABS and once tyre skid/ locking is sensed ABS kicks in. ESP is Electronic Stability Program, this also applies brakes when Thar senses overturning/ loss of traction. All the above are safety functions available in LX version of Thar.
Thank you Sandeep for the feedback. So what I gather from the above is that all these peripheral programmes (BLD, EBD, ESP) are in a way all centered around preventing wheel-spin while at the same time not interrupting normal differential functioning. Its really good to know that Mahindra is offering these features in the Thar and this just whets my appetite [:D]
I just heard from the Mahindra folks that the delivery date for my Thar has been advanced to Aug 3rd from Oct end. Looks like Mahindra has actually ramped up production!
Regards,
Shashanka
 
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I forgot about the major ESP function - you are right. It senses imminent danger of a roll-over when a wheel(s) breaks contact with the tarmac, and the system algorithm applies brakes to the appropriate wheel(s). I feel happy & relieved that Mahindra is providing these safety features in the Thar, currently their star off-roader.
 
Thread Starter #40
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Following are small glitches observed in Thar,
  • Change in AC Air vent position with blower in operation leads to part air flow to the windshield and water condensation is observed on the windshield. To avoid this the air blower is to be turned off, and then the air vent position is to be changed as desired. I guess the sir speed is too high and the diversion flaps does not seal well.
  • Many timed the average fuel economy is displayed as 30 KMPL, which is not true for sure. When its reset, its correctly displayed for few days but after some time its incorrectly reported as 30 KMPL, however the fuel economy for each trip is correctly reported in the trip history.
  • The music system volume is turned down to zero after each start of the vehicle. The volume needs adjusting each time and it does not remember the volume at which it was switched off at. However, all other functions are normal and starts at where it was left out when being switched off. (Not sure if this was intended or a miss)
I have purchased a Bug Deflector and a steering cover from Mahindra’s official site, as the dealer did not have these in their stock. I will have to take it to the dealer for installation. The website has all its accessories & spare parts and when it’s out of stock they have personally call up to check and made the product available.
Link as below,
Buy Genuine Mahindra Thar Accessories | M2ALL
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Last edited:
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Following are small glitches observed in Thar,
  • Change in AC Air vent position with blower in operation leads to part air flow to the windshield and water condensation is observed on the windshield. To avoid this the air blower is to be turned off, and then the air vent position is to be changed as desired. I guess the sir speed is too high and the diversion flaps does not seal well.
  • Many timed the average fuel economy is displayed as 30 KMPL, which is not true for sure. When its reset, its correctly displayed for few days but after some time its incorrectly reported as 30 KMPL, however the fuel economy for each trip is correctly reported in the trip history.
  • The music system volume is turned down to zero after each start of the vehicle. The volume needs adjusting each time and it does not remember the volume at which it was switched off at. However, all other functions are normal and starts at where it was left out when being switched off. (Not sure if this was intended or a miss)
I have purchased a Bug Deflector and a steering cover from Mahindra’s official site, as the dealer did not have these in their stock. I will have to take it to the dealer for installation. The website has all its accessories & spare parts and when it’s out of stock they have personally call up to check and made the product available.
Link as below,
Buy Genuine Mahindra Thar Accessories | M2ALL
View attachment 285765 View attachment 285766



Thanks for the above, Sandeep. About the FE reading 30k/l - Have Mahindra acknowledged the glitch in the system & is there a way of getting round this problem of the system reverting back to 30k/l.
 
Thread Starter #42
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I have not taken this to Mahindra, nor i have any update on this issue.

Video showing the Thar Manufacturing,
 
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