Mahindra Thar Roxx (5-door) first drive review

One of the most anticipated Indian car launches this year has undoubtedly been the 5-door version of Mahindra Thar. The vehicle has finally been launched, christened the Thar Roxx, and that too at a very competitive price that starts from INR 13 lakh (ex-showroom). Public test drives of the SUV will start on September 14, and the company will begin accepting bookings on October 3. However, we got a chance to drive the new Mahindra Thar Roxx this Independence Day and here's what we feel about this upcoming vehicle.

How's it looking?

Design has been a big part of why the 3-door Thar is so popular. So, the new Mahindra Thar Roxx continues with that classic boxy shape, but it's longer with a 400mm longer wheelbase. It also has some new design features to fit in two extra doors and give the whole look a bit of an update.

The front of the Thar Roxx has gotten some upgrades with a new grille, C-shaped LED DRLs, and round LED headlamps. The bumper has also been changed a bit, now featuring fog lamps (cornering function in the higher trims) and a front camera module integrated into the grille. While these changes give the Thar Roxx a tougher SUV look, I'm not sold on the side profile. The rear doors seem like they were tacked on, and the rear roof profile looks like it was added as an afterthought. Design is subjective though, so many people might still dig it.

The higher variants come with 19-inch machined alloy wheels, while the lower ones have 18-inch steel wheels. If it were up to me, I'd go for solid, chunky spokes instead of machined ones for the wheels, but the current ones don't look too shabby. The quality is okay, but nothing to write home about. Just like the previous 3-door Thar, you can see some gaps between panels and rough edges here and there in the Thar Roxx as well.

What's it like on the inside?

As soon as you step into the Roxx, you'll see that it has the same dashboard as the 3-door Thar, but the tough plastics have been traded for softer materials. This really lifts the cabin's premium feel. I was pretty impressed with the cabin's design and space inside until I grabbed the door handle and noticed it left an indent between my thumb and index finger. That's when I started noticing some rough edges and gaps, including around the door handles.

Besides these small issues, everything felt really comfortable. Mahindra has put a lot of effort into creating a cabin that feels really high-end, with a nice mix of soft materials, brushed metal, glossy black finishes, and leatherette on the top models. The seats are super comfy both in the front and back. The front seats offer a six-way electric adjustment for the driver and manual adjustment for the co-passenger. Even the rear bench offers two-step adjustability for the back support. However, I'm just not sold on the idea of using light-coloured upholstery in a serious off-roader – it's hard to keep clean even in normal driving conditions!

When it comes to the equipment, the Roxx is packed with cool stuff. It's got a big 10.25-inch infotainment screen, a similar-sized digital instrument cluster and a Harman-Kardon sound system. Some more extras that the Roxx has over the more basic 3-door model include an electronic parking brake, 360-degree camera, ambient lighting, Level 2 ADAS, wireless charging, a blind spot monitoring system, and automatic climate control. It even comes with a massive panoramic sunroof, which is a big selling point these days.

How is it to drive?

The Roxx has a bunch of engine options for you to pick from. You can go for a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol or a 2.2-litre diesel, and you can get them with either automatic or manual transmissions. However, the 4x4 feature is only available with the diesel. The power outputs of these engines vary, with the petrol-automatic and diesel 4x4 versions giving you a bit more oomph.

We, however, drove the 2.2L diesel with the 6-speed automatic which, most likely, will be the highest-selling version. The powertrain is much more refined as compared to the 3-door version, and the gearbox is impressive too. Shiftings are so smooth that you hardly get to notice and the ratios are pretty fine too. Mahindra has worked on both its power mills and that can be felt, at least in the diesel that we drove. The delivery curve goes smoothly and the Thar Roxx goes, it really goes!

We all know that the Thar has never been a speed demon. But now, Mahindra claims they've toughened up the fourth-generation body-on-frame chassis to address issues with the older 3-door Thar, like the rough ride, heavy steering, and off-road capabilities that made it less ideal for everyday driving. So, we ditched off-roading and drove the Thar Roxx on roughly 250 kilometres of different road conditions.

The first thing that we would like to mention here is that the new electric steering makes it much easier to manoeuvre on the tarmac. Then, Mahindra has introduced a new 'M-Glyde' setup with WATT's link suspension, uprated shock absorbers, and hydraulic rebound stoppers for a more controlled and smoother ride experience. You can actually feel the difference in both rebound and damping frequencies as compared to the 3-door version. But the Thar Rox is not completely different. After all, It is a body-on-ladder platform and you will get some body roll complimentary with it. Here, it has been reduced though.

In terms of ride quality, there's definitely an improvement, especially in the rebound area. The car settles down much better now, and both the low and high-speed damping also have slight improvements over the 3-door Thar. This means the Roxx is a better Thar for everyday use. You could even use it as your family car, as long as you don't have very old or too young passengers who can't handle its bounciness, which is much lesser than the 3-door version though.

We took the Thar Roxx for a spin while keeping practicality in mind, but we know it is an off roader at heart. Even though we couldn't go off-road ourselves, we did experience a thrilling taxi ride with a professional off-roader in a challenging off-road area. The ride as a passenger was truly impressive, thanks to the electronic features that allowed it to smoothly navigate through mud, slush, inclines, declines, and whatnot. One standout feature was the 'intelli turn assist,' which locks the inner wheels for a tighter turning radius. We are confident that the Thar Roxx's off-roading capabilities will be on par with, if not better than, the original Thar.