It all started when, while returning from a trip to Coorg I drove my Baleno into a small ditch. You can read all about it in my account of that trip but for now, we’re going to talk about what came after that incident. Well, what came after was a Mahindra Thar MX5, the manual, petrol version. I have wanted this car since it first came out 15 years ago but due to a multitude of reasons and situations, I never was able to get it… until now. This is going to be my ‘review’ of my Thar Roxx, my impressions, feelings, comparisons etc. To get there I went through a lot of options and even a fair amount of antagonism from the dealer but in the end, on the 2^nd of Oct 2025, I had my very own Thar, and the 15-year wait was finally over.

Making the choice

This was not as simple as it sounds. I started by listing my requirements and they were:

• An SUV with a ladder frame chassis
• The body should be boxy with a tall stance
• The driver should have a view of the bonnet while driving
• It should be a 4X4, or at least capable of dealing with most rough situations
• I should not think of it as a compromise between what I want and what I could have
• The budget was not to exceed 20L

With these rough guidelines in I started my search. The first choice, and the only choice for some time, was the Mahindra Bolero. It is basic but capable; and it can outlast the apocalypse. But as time and investigations went on, it dropped it in favour of something that was a cross between old school and modern (what can I say, my Baleno spoilt me).

From the bolero I moved onto the Jimny and the Force Gurkha. The Jimny was too small and the Gurkha too expensive. Then came a wild thought, what if I look at the second-hand market. And there I found the Isuzu V Cross. It had everything, the stance, the ruggedness and the 4X4 but then I saw the distance on the odometer, 70k! While it wasn’t a dealbreaker per se, I didn’t want to take a car that had done such mileage.

On and on went the exploration for almost a month and at the end of it I ended up with this list of considerations.

Car	What I Liked	Why I Dropped It
Force Gurkha 5-door	Proper off-roader DNA, immense presence, old-school charm.	Too utilitarian for daily drives, uncertain service support. Struggled with highway speeds
Mahindra Bolero Neo N10 (O)	Compact, tough, easy to live with, proper ladder-frame.	Rear seat & boot too cramped for two large dogs; lacked the emotional pull.
Mahindra Bolero B6 (O)	Indestructible feel, simple mechanics, true workhorse.	Too bare-bones, diesel, not comfortable for long highway runs. Car cheap but modifications would push the cost up
Mahindra Scorpio N Z4/Z6	Balanced SUV — comfort, space, presence.	The steering wheel was too low even after it was adjusted to max height. Suspension concerns Didn’t give the I can go anywhere vibe.
Mahindra Thar 3-door Petrol MT	Iconic looks, fun-to-drive, instant grin factor.	No boot space, not practical for travel with dogs, limited rear comfort. Suspension concerns
Isuzu D-Max V-Cross / Hi-Lander	Solid pickup feel, dependable engine, highway stability.	Diesel-only, pricey (₹26L+), limited-service network.
Maruti Jimny Alpha AT/MT	Adorable proportions, light off-roader, easy to drive, 4X4.	Weak engine for long highway drives, small boot, 2 big dogs won’t fit.
Mahindra XUV 3XO AX5 Petrol MT	Refined petrol engine, good feature set, city friendly.	Not an SUV
Maruti Grand Vitara Smart Hybrid	Efficiency, refinement, comfort.	Too tame; didn’t match the “go-anywhere” vibe I was chasing.
Tata Safari / Harrier Diesel MT	Spacious, powerful, comfortable highway cruiser.	Diesel-only
Toyota Fortuner Petrol / Diesel	Reliable, capable, aspirational.	Budget buster — around ₹50L on-road

I know it is quite the task going through so many choices, but I had some help in the form of AI, and I’ll tell you all about it in a separate article. Needless to say, I found it VERY helpful using AI to aid the choice. After weeks of back and forth and a scary moment where I almost ended up choosing the 3 door Thar because it gave me the 4X4 with a petrol engine, I made my choice and headed off to the deal for test drives and bookings.

I was going to book a Thar Roxx MX5. It would have a petrol engine and a manual transmission, and it would be green, what Mahindra calls Dark Forest. I chose this colour because the black was too common, the white, while nice, would show dirt easily, the red was not the right shade of red, and the grey looked… boring.

The final 3 options

After all this research, I ended up with a shortlist of 3 cars that met my requirements, but, since I am not made of money, I had to choose one. I, of course, ended up with the Thar but these are the ones that almost became why, and the reasons I dropped them.

The Force Gurkha 5 Door

Now this is a car that I almost ended up with. It offered me the 4-wheel drive setup. It, unlike the Thar Roxx 4X4 has both front and rear differential locking. It comes factory-fitted with a snorkel and a very rugged looking roll-cage around the windscreen. However, there are no variants in the Gurkha, so you get a choice of diesel engine or diesel engine; and diesel engines mean regeneration issues if you drive in the city most of the time. Watching the reviews also told me that on the highway, where this car will be most of the time, it will struggle with overtakes and fight you to reach ‘highway speeds’.

It also was working out to be a bit more expensive because even today, after the GST cuts, you’ll notice that sites like CarDekho list it as costing about 20.8L on-road. Now add to this the cost of new all-terrain tyres of roughly 50k (price as per Bridgestone Dueler AT), with a trade-in of stock tyres and you end up with a bill for 21.3L.  My ceiling was 20 L.

Maruti Suzuki Jimny

Had there been nothing else to consider, there is every chance I would have ended up with this. It has petrol engine and a proper 4X4 system. By all accounts, it is very capable when presented with rough terrain. However, it got beaten mostly by one simple thing, its size. I do tend to travel with two big dogs, a Labrador and a Golden Retriever and the car simple isn’t big enough for the both of them.

Another minor problem with this car is that since it is so small, every time you change gears, you end up brushing against the knees of the person in the passenger seat. While this may not be a problem if that person happens to be your significant other, with anyone else, you will end up saying sorry a lot. Finally, it too suffers from the problem as the Gurkha in that it too will fight you to get to ‘highway speeds.

The Thar Roxx

This, honestly, was the middle ground between the two choices. It was fast enough on the highway, wide enough to accommodate the dogs and boxy enough to suite my taste. As for the off-road capabilities, well, I don’t foresee myself doing anything that needs a 4X4 system and for the rest, there are the drive modes themselves.

Booking and delivery experience

The kindest thing I can say about the delivery and booking experience was that it was disappointing. This was not the car’s fault, but the people selling the car. The showroom felt like a barn and the lack of finesse in the communication felt like Mahindra was just out to make a buck. There came a point when I asked if dashcams were available and one person said yes while the other said no. Anyway, I was going to take the car so I ended up paying 21K as the booking amount and was told that it would be a 4 month wait. I was prepared for this.

3 short weeks later I suddenly got a message that the car had been allotted. Needless to say, I was shocked. After hearing tales of 1 year waiting periods when the Thar was re-launched, had me thinking that 4 months was fair enough. But to get it in 3 weeks was crazy lucky. I don’t know if it was truly available or if it was all the grumbling I did about the booking experience, but I was suddenly on track to get my Thar Roxx in just a month. In fact, the exact timeline from the day of booking to the day I parked it at home was just 25 days.

As for the delivery itself, since I was going to get the car on an auspicious day, Mahindra had decided to rent a ground and make a mela out of it. So, me, along with hundreds of others, got our cars on the same day. Since I had gone alone to get the car, the sales rep assigned to me was sweet enough to help me with the puja of the car. I was then given the keys and told to move to an area a few meters away so that the number plate could be put on and then I was off!

Four days after taking delivery I actually ended up dropping an escalation mail on the whole buying experience. If this article reaches 100 shares, I’ll add that email here. 😉

How much did the Thar cost me?

All in I spent nearly 20L on the car. When I went to book the car, I got a quote of 20.3 L for it. Once the GST cuts happened, the ex-showroom prices fell, and I was able to get the car for 19.6L. This included the cost of the car and the accessories and one change I did after getting the car (read on to figure out what it was).

Now, I know there are a lot of smart buyers out there already but if you are looking for some advice, the only thing I will tell you is to always, always, ALWAYS, check with an insurance company what they would quote for insuring your new car. I say this because I got a quote for 70k for insurance from the dealer but after talking to my preferred insurance company, I ended up paying only 53k for insurance. When you talk to the insurance company, they will give you a quote for the car, take that quote to the dealer and tell them to match it.

Remember, it is not mandatory that you take insurance from the dealer. So, if you are happy with the direct quote from the insurance company, you can always tell the dealer to not charge you for insurance.

What’s in the box? Technical specification and features of the Thar Roxx

Since I have the MX 5 petrol manual, all the specs and features I am going to list are going to for this car.

Technical specification of the Thar Roxx MX 5 petrol

Let’s start with the specification:

1. It is a rear-wheel-drive car but comes with RWD and 4X4 in diesel
2. It has a 2-litter mStalion engine that is turbocharged. It’s actually as 1997 cc
3. The engine produces 160 bhp of power, and you’ll feel it when you drive it
4. The car has a lot of torque to give too. It has 320 NM of it between 1500 and 3000 RPM
5. The manual has a 6-speed gearbox
6. The tyres are 255/65 R 18s, and they come with disc brakes on the front and drum brakes at the back. All four tyres have alloy rims, different from the design of the alloys on the AX series (higher variants)
7. The car comes with a ground clearance of about 226mm which is going to make you need the step to get into the car
8. Since it is supposed to be able to manage rough terrain, it also has an approach angle of 41.7 degrees and a departure angle of 36.1 degrees
9. When you buy the car, you don’t have to worry about any run-in period. The first service will be at 2000 km or 2 months from purchase, the second service at 10,000, or 1 year from purchase and the third at 20,000 or 2 years from purchase.

Those are the important specifications that will matter to you more than the 1000 other details that can be written here so let’s move onto the features… the fun part!

Features of the Thar Roxx MX 5 petrol

So, the features on the Roxx MX 5 are different from the higher variants because it is a middle variant, but it still comes packing some seriously interesting stuff. I’m going go into details about only those that I really feel are worth a special mention, according to me, because I don’t want to make this boring:

1. The sunroof: Yes, it has one (unfortunately) but it’s not a panoramic one. It’s a smaller one. The shade for it will retract with the roof but will not close with the roof. You’ll need to do that by hand but luckily, it can be done easily while sitting in the front seats
2. Since it is not a 4X4 it comes with drive modes. An important thing to note here is that while these modes are helpful, they are not a substitute for a 4X4 gearbox with low range.
   1. Zoom: Meant for the road and is the more aggressive mode in terms of throttle response
   1. Zip: Meant for the road but is the more city friendly version of Zoom
   1. Mud: A mode that changes enough settings to help you avoid getting stuck in wet mud
   1. Sand: Just like mud, this mode helps you avoid getting stuck in the sand
   1. Snow: Once again this is a mode meant to help avoid losing control when driving on snow
3. It also comes with a brake locking differential (BLD), which uses the brakes to transfer power to the wheel that has traction when the other one starts to slip.
4. The car has a simple cruise control, higher variants with ADAS get adaptive cruise control
5. You get the TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System) which will tell you the tyre pressure and temperature. It is also quite accurate.
6. There are 6 speakers in the car, and the sound system are actually quite good. I didn’t feel bad that I didn’t get the Harmon Kardon speakers that come in the higher variants.
7. When it comes to safety you get 6 airbags and all the short forms like ABS, EBD, etc. You also get traction control, and brake assist.
8. When it comes to gimmicks, if you hold down the unlock button for a few seconds the driver side window will roll down, and the sunroof will open… AWESOME!
9. The car also has hill descent control that helps you maintain a steady speed when going down a slope. It also has hill hold where if the car is stopped on a slope, it will not roll down even if you don’t step on the brakes.

Thar Roxx mileage

Ahhh the sticking point… what is the fuel efficiency. Well since I have done just about 500 km in mine, as I write this, I can only give initial impressions. It comes with a 57-litter fuel tank and is supposed to give around 12 to 14 kmpl on the highway. What I have observed so far is that I am getting around 8 kmpl in the city and about 11.5 on the highway. But since the car is brand new, this could improve over time. My current estimation is that it will do about 500 to 600 km on one full tank.

One important thing you have to keep in mind is that the fuel efficiency will depend a LOT on your throttle control. I was driving around the city, not going fast or anything but getting an indicated average of only 7 kmpl. I was not surprised but concerned till I realised something. I was changing gears at around 2000 RPM. When I started shifting at around 1500 RPM the mileage went up to 8.3 kmpl. So, be smooth with the gear changes and you will be rewarded. Also, at 1500 RPM, the gear changes are smoother.

Most importantly, if you thought you are buying a car that can balance fuel efficiency and performance then you thought wrong. You have to accept the reality that you might end up on a first name basis with the guy at the fuel bunk.

First Drive: first impressions of the Roxx MX 5

The first drive I took in my new Thar Roxx was from the dealership back home… obviously! What I realised ion that drive was that the seating position is VERY commanding and high up. It is so high up that you will be able to look into the Safari next to you to see what that guy is up to.

When you drive it, you may think that such a big car will be a bit slow to start but there’s none of that. All that 160 bhp comes into play and the Roxx really moves. If you are coming off an 88 bhp Baleno, you’ll love the power and torque. It isn’t delivered in one go but steadily and lazily across the gears. That makes the car a lot of fun to drive. It is also very sharp in its response to steering inputs which work beautifully with the feather light steering wheel. The ride is a bit bouncy but not as bad as the 3 door Thar or the Scorpio N. Besides, that bouncy ride is to be expected from a ladder frame chassis and a big SUV.

Accessories and modifications for the Thar Roxx MX 5

While people go and put all sorts of lights and tyres and stuff on their cars, to each his own, I prefer a stock+ approach. So here are the things I did for my Roxx.

These are the accessories I got with the car

1. Added a dual channel (front and back) dash cam. Luckily Mahindra provides it, and it costs about 10k
2. I also had steel guards put under the fuel tank and the radiator. If you take a diesel Roxx they, you’ll get one for the DPF tank too
3. I had the 7 D mats put inside the car along with some cosmetic appliques around the car.
4. I also got the underbody coated with the anti-rust coating
5. I also got front and rear mud flaps put in

These are the things I got from outside: (I’ve linked the products I got so that you can also buy them if you want)

1. A new set of Bridgestone Dueller all terrain tyres. These I got a good deal on since I traded in my stock tyres which were practically brand new
2. A battery powered tyre inflator
3. A fire extinguisher
4. A bag you can hang from the passenger side grab handle
5. A GPS tracker. It’s so-so and will be changed the moment I find something better
6. An emergency escape tool

First long drive

For the first drive I ended up driving from Pune to Mumbai and back. It was a thrilling drive because I got to stretch the car’s legs for the very first time. And boy did it deliver! It felt fast and nimble on the highway. The power and torque meant that you could EASILY keep up with the 100 km/h speed limit on the expressway.

In the start-stop traffic I encountered while driving out of Pune, the controlled power delivery made the car feel easy to drive in heavy traffic. The straight edges make it easy to judge where the car ends. Compared to my Baleno, I felt more of the bumps and undulations of the highway but not to the point that it became annoying. The AC in the car is a bloody freezer though. I guess because it has to cool a big car, it is extremely efficient and there were times when I actually switched it off for a bit.

I did notice that I got the ‘right of way’ a bit more often with the Thar Roxx than I did with the Baleno but that could be just my imagination. Overall, I was just swept away with how easy it was to drive that big a car in the city and on the highway. I drove it on the choked roads of Pune, the open express way, the sea link in Mumbai (Bombay), past a burning car and through the heavy evening traffic of Mumbai – it felt at ease everywhere.

Is the Mahindra Thar Roxx a family car?

While my first long drive was a solo drive, it does raise the question, is the Thar Roxx a family car? The 3-door Thar was definitely not a family car, so has the Roxx managed to improve things? My answer is yes, and no. keep in mind that to me an SUV is not a family car only if it has 3 rows. Sedans and hatchbacks don’t have a third row, yet they are family cars. The Thar Roxx, like sedans and hatchbacks, now has a proper back seat and doors to access them. Then why is a yes and a no for me? The answer is simple.

Yes, it’s a family car because not only does it have a proper back seat, but it also has doors. Those seats also have enough leg room to keep you comfortable. It is a family car if you need to drive over to a friend’s house with the wife and kids, or to that friend’s wedding too. But what about the travel aspect? No, it is not a family car then because that suspension really rocks, no pun intended, you out of the seat if there is uneven terrain. While it may be easy to tolerate the suspension over short periods in city drives, it’s a whole other thing dealing with it for long hours on a road trip. Another thing to note is that if your family includes the elderly, well, they are going to struggle a bit to get in and out of this car.

This leads me, quite neatly, to all the stuff I don’t like about the car.

Things I don’t like about the car

For this list, I am not going to restrict myself to just the car and its features. I will look at it as an entire experience

1. The dealership’s handling of my booking tops the list. Though I got the car quickly, the dealerships aptitude was very disappointing. It was lazy and chaotic.
2. The dealerships absolute refusal to paint outside the lines even though you are ready to pay. Ex, the MX 5’s spare tyre is a steel wheel. When I asked to replace it with an alloy, they refused. Even Maruti gives you that option!!!
3. Accessories lists are pretty decent, but you have to read the fine print. Not everything on the list is for every car. Example, they have brilliant mocha brown seat covers but those are ONLY for the MX 1 and MX 3. There are NO seat cover option for variants higher than that, MX 5 and above.
4. The fact that they decided to make white seats to make you feel luxurious and then decided to put it in an off-road car
5. The cruise control doesn’t tell you what speed has been selected
6. The software is glitchy:
   1. Android auto disconnects on its own. This happened 3 to 4 times in 20 minutes when I was on the first long drive
   1. The guidelines on the reverse camera take long to show up.
   1. Sometimes when you shift into 1^st after reversing the car the reverse guidelines show up over the main display
7. The glove box is TINY
8. Only the top models come with in built tracking. The lower variants don’t get any part of Mahindra’s AdrenoX telematics system forcing you to look for aftermarket solutions
9. The MX 5 doesn’t come with all terrain tyres, it comes with highway tyres
10. There is a 12V socket in the car but it’s at the rear. There should have been 2, one in the front and one in the back.
11. The arm rest in for the front seat is also a problem for me. First of all, only the driver’s side moves back and forth. Secondly, when extended, it covers one of the two cup holders in the car.
12. Another thing I didn’t much care for is the fact that one portion of the back seat windows does not roll down.

Baleno Vs Thar Roxx MX 5

A car show, or a channel would generally NEVER have such a comparison, but you and I live in the real world. And in the real world most people go from a practical choice, like a Baleno, to a car like the Thar Roxx, so it becomes important that we talk about such comparisons. This is not a pros and cons section, but just a piece about what you can expect.

Difference	Winner
The steering wheel on the Roxx is very light but a bit heavier on the Baleno. I prefer a slightly heavy steering wheel.	Baleno
The Roxx is very easy to get off the start line whereas the Baleno was a bit twitchy in the first gear.	Thar
The seating position of the Thar is more upright whereas the Baleno has a more sunk in, sitting on a couch feel. This means that there will be a bit more fatigue that you’ll experience with the Thar.	Draw – two very different cars
The cruise control on the Thar doesn’t show the speed selected whereas the Baleno’s cruise control does.	Baleno
The fog lights of the Thar are very bright and actually useful; the Baleno’s fog lights were more cosmetic than functional	Thar
The ground clearance of the Thar is great for almost anything. The Baleno, being a city car, didn’t have that great a clearance for the rough roads	Thar
The thar will do about 600 km on one full tank and the Baleno will do about 700 km, but it will do it in half the fuel. Best I got out of the Baleno was 26 kmpl. The Thar’s best so far is 11.7	Baleno

Conclusion? I LOVE the Thar Roxx MX 5. It has almost everything I wanted, and I am fine with the shortfalls.

Why did I not go for a 4X4 or a higher variant?

I don’t want a diesel because most of the driving I will be doing is in the city, which is not the best when you have a DPF system that prefers long drives. I didn’t want to deal with the whole maintain DPF levels and ensure regen happens, headaches.

I didn’t want to take a higher variant because most of what you get in the higher variants are things I don’t want. I don’t want a panoramic sunroof or ventilated seats. I especially don’t want ADAS because it is too intrusive and I can manage driving a car just fine without needing help with maintaining speeds, lanes and braking.

I didn’t take the 4X4, even though it is something I still want, because that option is only available in a diesel variant. Also, while I was doing my research on the Thar Roxx, I came across a video where a person with a 4X4 Roxx was being interviewed. In the interview the person admitted that though they had done 10K km in the car, there were on one, maybe two occasions where the 4X4 was actually engaged.

Now while my travels do take me to some rough terrain, I have almost never ended up in a place where I needed a 4X4. A capable SUV with good power, torque and the right tyres would be just fine for me.

Verdict after 500 km

At around 500 km, the Thar Roxx feels like a solid companion — a little thirsty, a bit bouncy, but unapologetically full of character.

What’s next?

Well, I wanted a car that was able to go anywhere with relative ease so that is what I am going to do. It is going to start travelling with me. And though time may not allow me to do any epic road trips, I will still be driving to many, MANY places and writing about them here. Also, this is by no means a complete review. What I will do is to keep updating it as I learn more about the car, like I did for the Baleno.