2025 Mahindra Thar Roxx long term review, 13,000km report – Introduction

The timing for this new lengthy termer getting into Autocar India’s fleet couldn’t have been higher. With monsoons setting in, a 4×4-capable SUV was greater than welcome. Nevertheless, earlier than we indulged in some mud-slinging enjoyable, we put it via a correct highway journey.

Mumbai to Indore and again – a 1,200km spherical journey is a reasonably strong initiation for our latest storage entrant. And it’s thrown up fairly a number of issues: good, not good, and usually Thar.

Our Thar Roxx is a top-spec diesel computerized model, the two.2-litre mHawk paired to a 6-speed torque converter. It’s the mix most patrons gravitate in the direction of, and after this journey, I see why.

This isn’t your on a regular basis city SUV, nevertheless it didn’t depart me fatigued even after 600km.

I actually just like the motor; it’s super-refined, and efficiency is easy. Actually, the refinement is so good that it may be simply confused for a petroleum motor on the go! There’s a wholesome dose of torque in reserve and it feels overly peppy at instances, so you need to ease-off the accelerator fairly often; triple-digit speeds are achieved effortlessly. I additionally just like the totally gentle steering, particularly in visitors.

The gearbox, too, is clean and fast, and it does a high quality job of retaining issues relaxed. What irritates me, although, is the engine stop-start, which is sluggish to reply after which sends an enormous shudder via the cabin that’s exhausting to disregard when it cranks the engine again on. It’s a reminder that beneath the city gloss, the Thar Roxx remains to be a hardy, body-on-frame 4×4 at coronary heart.

Large panoramic sunroof permits plentiful gentle and makes the cabin really feel spacious and ethereal.

What’s made an enormous impression early on is the panoramic roof. It’s large and never solely permits heaps of sunshine but additionally offers the cabin a correctly ethereal really feel. It’s an important contact, particularly in case you’re spending lengthy hours on the highway and the climate is nice. Pair that with cooled entrance seats, which work properly with out sounding like a mini cyclone beneath your bottom, and also you’ve acquired the makings of a reasonably civilised off-roader.

Ventilated entrance seats work quietly, with barely any fan noise, and do a very good job of retaining you cool.

Mahindra’s completed a commendable job with the cabin structure, too. The whole lot’s the place it must be, and all of it feels sturdy sufficient to take a beating. Nevertheless, the white upholstery on our Roxx might be tough to maintain clear, particularly with the completely different customers and utilization our long-term automobiles undergo. They’re spotless now, however I’m not betting on them staying clear for too lengthy, particularly as soon as the monsoon kicks in in full swing. I’d have appreciated a bit extra space for storing, particularly for a daily 1-litre plastic water bottle, which, even within the front-door pocket, must be actually squeezed in.

If there may be one space the place the Roxx nonetheless wants polish, it’s the low-speed experience consolation. Mahindra’s clearly tried to dial in some city usability, however on patchy tarmac or via villages with rumble strips each few kilometres (and there are loads between Mumbai and Indore), the Roxx strikes round loads.

The suspension lets via exhausting kickbacks over rumble strips and makes the occupants uncomfortable.

The agency suspension doesn’t compress over smaller imperfections, thus transferring all that motion to the physique and shaking the occupants side-to-side. The rear passengers, particularly, bear the brunt of the jostling, so in case you’re heading out with pals or household, put together for some complaints from the again seat.

The boot area, too, isn’t a robust go well with for the Roxx. Whilst you can stuff in a number of duffel baggage or cabin baggage, it’s tight for a automotive that appears this large. On our journey, we did handle to slot in a good quantity of bags however needed to do loads of juggling. It’s a compromise. And whereas the cut up rear door is charmingly old-school, it’s not essentially the most sensible setup while you’re juggling baggage within the rain.

Boot area is tight, particularly given the Thar’s measurement. Packing issues wants some planning.

And talking of rain, the wipers want an improve. In a heavy downpour, the blades struggled to maintain up even at their highest velocity.

One other factor I observed on this drive was a problem with the gas lid. It refused to pop open on a number of events at gas stations. Even after urgent the fuel-flap launch button, the lid didn’t open and wanted to be pulled out bodily with a key or a coin. I believe that some mud and muck have in all probability prompted the lid mechanism to jam. It certainly must be checked throughout its subsequent service. What was a much bigger shock was a glitch with the infotainment and the instrument cluster blacking out fully whereas driving, however fortunately, it got here again to life by itself.

The instrument cluster and touchscreen blacked out a number of instances whereas driving and turned again on on their very own.

The Thar’s gas effectivity determine hovered round 10kpl throughout the spherical journey. Now, that’s not catastrophic for a heavy, 4WD SUV with an computerized gearbox, nevertheless it’s additionally not one thing to boast about both. On the entire, the Thar managed the journey properly. It did cowl a 600km stretch in a day with out leaving me fatigued, which is greater than I can say for some monocoque SUVs.

Subsequent up? Properly, the monsoon’s right here, and so are a bunch of off-road trails simply ready to be explored. The Thar Roxx’s 4×4 {hardware} hasn’t seen a lot motion but, however that’s about to alter within the subsequent report. Mud, slush and perhaps a hill or two. Time to search out out what this Roxx is basically manufactured from.

Additionally see:

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