I'm really excited about the car i'm going to test drive today and i had to just drive out and bring it into its natural habitat. This is an iconic car. It's all about freedom, all about lifestyle, yes i'm talking about the brand new Thar.
Seldom do you find a car that becomes an icon and the Mahindra Thar is exactly that. Launched originally 10 years ago in a very bare bones form without creature comforts like air conditioning, the first generation Mahindra Thar evolved from the romance that was the open jeep. A classic design packed with the latest and best diesel powertrain technology of its time, good old-fashioned four-wheel drive and of course a soft top. Tested on some of the roughest off-road courses across the country, it wowed many before it even hit the showroom floor. Eventually the thar evolved into something slightly more user friendly and for many it was a childhood dream reimagined. Boy, did it excite a whole new audience of off-roaders and lifestyle vehicles for whom the Thar was the perfect second or third vehicle.
2020 Thar : Exterior (Front, Side & Rear)
Now this time around it's quite different because Mahindra are looking to take the Thar mainstream, so they've made this a car that will appeal to all kinds of people not just ones that want to go to the outdoors. But let's take a look around the car before we delve into more of the details. Well, there's no denying when you first look at this car, it does bear resemblance to the wrangler. Well, they have tried to make it quite different. A lot of changes the front grille, now has horizontal slats, the bonnet kind of slopes down. You've got the round headlamps over here in front, large chunky bumper that tells you, this is tough, this is butch, It is an SUV.
The front wheel arches curve down to the front where the fogs rest, of course you've got those bonnet ties again, that bear resemblance and there is this wheel arch, which is tough, it's quite wide, it extends out of the width of the car, giving the front a lot of width and under that wheel arch that extends to the side you have the tire it's an 18 inch large wheel with 255/65, so good amount of rubber there hopefully that will help the ride, black cladding that runs into the floorboard and around the rear, there's contouring around the windows, you see that both front and rear under the window line. Squarish windows, a leaned back a-pillar and of course it squares down to the rear at the back as well. Interesting details on the side, the m-hawk logo, fin antenna over here, the Thar name that's emblazoned into the rear view mirror on the side over here and of course this is an SUV, so we have to talk about the ground clearance which is 226 millimeters and they say that the water weighting capacity is 650 millimeters, so basically you can go through anything in this one. You see the external hinges as well here on the doors, a lot of these details tell you that this is also an outdoorsy vehicle.
Let's take a look around the back. So, at the rear, it's like a big slab. What breaks it, is this massive tail mounted spare wheel but otherwise it is very square. The top of it is literally like a rectangle. No tumble home, which we're used to seeing at the top of the cars which is literally when the car leans in towards the roof area. Tail lamps over here, which have the hexagonal feature that they've been talking about around this car but this is the first of the areas i've really seen it and we can see that it's a very short overhang at the rear which you can notice around the side over here so that means it will be a good departure angle something that's necessary for a tough suv like this.
Let's take a look at the boot space. Well, it opens in two parts. The bottom half of the tailgate opens up to just give you access to the boot area and the window can be opened upwards as well. I like one of these cars for tracking for my articles because i think that would be ideal. Of course the seats split and fold to allow you more luggage.
2020 Thar :Interior
It is a bit of a step up into the cabin. There's no real grab handle on the driver side of course but there is one on the passenger side. The other grab handle is right here on the dashboard. On the whole, it's more modern, it's far better than before, materials used are much richer, there is really nice carbon fiber kind of texture that sits in the middle of the two ac vents, plastic and the matte chrome plastic as well, even the upholstery on the whole a lot richer. The vents are also circular. The movements for the vents a bit flimsy and doesn't really direct the air up or down too easily but that's a small bit of nitpicking i do the dials as well a little basic and stand out amongst this otherwise richer looking interior.
You do have steering mounted controls as well, lots of storage spaces, one for the phone, cup holders, door pocket spaces, you have nice toggle like switches over here and of course controls for the ac vent right here in the middle of the dash. On the feature front, you do have the usb ports as well, the 12 volt charging right up here in front and of course there are some interesting details like this silver badging right here which was something that the customers really wanted to feel like they got a piece of history. Then of course you do have the four-wheel drive gear lever which is right here very easy to access and of course the main gear lever which i feel is a little bit long the stalk it could have been a little shorter but on the whole i'd say a really nice looking interior and much much better than before. It also has quite a few features let's take a look.
It looks like a reasonable amount of space in the rear seat and let's get in there and see as i get out i noticed there's star logo on the door as well. While stepping out, i have to point out and you can look down there. The floor is washable material but it tends to be a little slippery when it's wet while you're getting in and out. Let's get into the rear. Move the seat full forward, flip it, okay i really have to step in, a bit of a tight squeeze into the back. While i access the second row from the driver's side, the passenger seat does flip forward a little more, so access is better but it is still tight. You notice a fair amount of room. The front seat has been pushed all the way to the back. I'm 5'4 so a good amount of room over here. Taller person also has decent legroom. You can stretch your feet out but the wheel will intrude so this is just a very small portion over here. The base kind of comes into the leg area.
The wheel well comes and intrudes into the seat area as well. So you know, where there could have been space for three, it's now just good enough for two at the back. Good amount of headroom. You can see the exposed roll bar here because this is the hard top version where the top can come off as well and some rustic looking grab handles over here which are quite interesting. Overall it's a comfortable place to be in this back seat and even adults can sit here comfortably for a long while.
2020 Thar :Driving review
Since this is the Thar i chose to begin my drive in the terrain that it calls home. Now, though we didn't do any serious off-roading, we did go through a fair amount of slush, broken roads, stony surface with large rocks and we did wade through some water and the Thar just sailed through it all as if it were tarmac. The thar begs you to keep going on, exploring and having fun unfettered by the terrain.
But it was time for me to head back. So i also got a chance to see how it fares out on the highway and in traffic. You really feel like the king of the road. It's got this nice high up seating. You get great visibility, you know the really wide windscreen allows you to see the full extent, left to right, i mean there's no blind spots as such and though they're large rear view mirrors which really help you get a great view at the back, they don't block anything so yeah as far as visibility goes it's really great. You know, though it's big, it really doesn't feel like that from behind the wheel, i'm nipping in and out of traffic gaps quite comfortably. In fact i feel quite invincible. I think nobody wants to mess with me, nobody wants to get in my way and i like that feeling.
Talking about performance, Mahindra has chosen the Thar to debut two brand new engines, a 152 hp 2 liter direct injection turbo petrol and an all new 2.2 liter diesel that produces 132 hp. Both engines come with six speed manual and auto transmissions and i was driving the diesel first up. This engine really drivable, i mean you know i'm in traffic and sometimes i really have to slow down to a crawl, 1000 rpm third gear, put my foot down, no hesitation just picks up moves on and then continues to breathe easy. Post 1200 rpm, you can really feel the pace pick up and it's got a nice flat linear acceleration after that and power feels more than adequate. The diesel is fairly refined and it only gets audible when you push hard and cross past the 3000 rpm mark and even then it's really not intrusive.
Now this is a new ladder frame chassis and i have to say it has made a big difference to the ride, to the handling, tunneling around in the city, this rounds off the bumps and potholes really well. So you don't feel much filter through to the car. It does get tossed around a little bit over the bigger bumps and potholes but then that's to be expected from something like this. Out on the highway, the tar fell stable and planted. Only getting tossed up over bad sections.
A Short Snap Of Petrol Variant
Now, I'm here with the petrol automatic, the two liter petrol automatic, driving it in town and this is really, the environment where a lot of people will use the new Thar don't forget this car has been designed not just for the outdoors but even for the urban jungle. First impressions of this engine are is how smooth it is and above all how responsive it is. Just stab the throttle and it just shoots forward and that's what i like about Mahindra and their calibration. They don't throttle the engine for that last kpl and fuel consumption. They just prioritize power and performance and that's how it feels in this new Thar. You always feel that this got enough surge. You tap it and it shoots forward and quite frankly this two liter petrol is super impressive.
I think this is gonna be the surprise because a lot of people who want the convenience of an automatic, who want that little bit of refinement are going to want this variant. So, overall a really refined vehicle, in fact the refinement is one of the strengths and one of the things that will really surprise traditional owners. In fact the only thing you can really hear is the canvas stop which after 80 starts flapping about a fair bit. The Thar is easy to handle, it has a very reassuring feel, the white track feels very stable really, i mean this is a car that you can cruise on highways also quite effortlessly but there's one thing i'd like improved, is the brakes. They're a bit grabby and they don't have enough bite. And before we ended the day an we must go through an attempt to see how easy it was to take the roof off. It was a bit of work but it was well engineered and easy enough to master once you got the hang of it. Let's take a look at the two variants that the Thar will come in.
So this is the new Thar pretty exciting. It has evolved a lot whether we talk about the looks, whether we talk about the ride and handling, whether we talk about the interiors, the quality of it, all of it has improved on every level. Now it may not be as plush and comfortable as other vehicles around. It may not be perfect but this is a car that appeals to your emotions, it makes you want to go out and drive. Get out into the outdoors like i am doing today and you don't have to worry about a thing .The good part is that, now more than ever before it crosses the divide between being that outdoorsy vehicle and still being comfortable enough to be your everyday city drive as well.
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