Fortuner & ex-XUV500 owner buys a Thar 4×2: Observations after 1 month

Fuel efficiency was a nice surprise, I got 16 km/l.

BHPian Stolidus500 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Got the delivery of 4×2 LX on 4 August. That was my first time sitting in Thar. I had seen no reviews, no videos, not even a Team-BHP review, probably the first car ever that I took delivery that I didn’t know inside out. All I knew about the car was that it had approximately the same power as 4×4. The dealership installed a reverse camera as apparently, they didn’t want to sell a car without any accessories. Took insurance from them and lost my commission, I didn’t make any fuss as they informed me my booking was under price protection, I didn’t know that. Price protection saved me around a lakh.

As for the car, it pleasantly surprised me. It had really nice features like TPMS, Instrument cluster lights can be turned off, and the sound quality is much nicer than my ex-XUV500. Fuel efficiency was a nice surprise, I got 16 km/l. My car was delivered with 100% DEF. Headlights have a nice throw and don’t have to slow down if any vehicles come on the opposite side with high beams on. The engine is quite powerful, it reaches cruising speeds easily. No issues in overtaking too.

My service experience with Mahindra was sub-par, to say the least when I owned XUV500, so I was dreading the first service. I visit the ASS which is closest to me at 45 km all the others are at least 100 km away. I called their number available online and it took me 10 calls to schedule an appointment as they kept shuffling me to one number to another saying the next one oversees the service. Finally, I got the number of SA from them and he scheduled the appointment. When I reached there, most of the people remembered me from my XUV500 ownership, it was a good experience overall. But being used to Toyota service now, I felt I could’ve been out an hour quicker but still a huge improvement for the better than my XUV days.

I had two concerns, one was condensation in the left headlight and a noise while braking that started that morning only. For the noise rear drums were cleaned and the noise disappeared. For the condensation in the headlight, they said, I had to bring the car with condensation present in the headlight and they would replace the light but nothing could be done then. They didn’t bother to verify if it was an actual problem or not. Overall I was happy as I was out in 4 hours as opposed to the whole day that was indicated by SA.

In a month I have driven over 2500 km in Thar. Ride quality is quite good for a Jeep but it in comparison it makes our Fortuner appear as though it has a magic carpet ride. I think the thing that makes the most difference is seat shape and fabric. The fabric used for seats is really low quality and rough. The seat shape is quite puzzling too, it is too firm and the squab is quite small too. I feel if seats were better, comfort in Thar would increase 10 fold. Can I fit seats from Innova or Crysta without any cutting or welding to the floor? As that would solve my only gripe.

Overall it has been a big hit with family, everyone loves it. The only car that can and will replace my Thar would be a 5-door Thar or a Rubicon.

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