Mahindra Thar CRDe – evo fleet

It has been around for eight months and I love using the Thar on my daily drive. During rush hour you cannot squeeze it into gaps like a small hatchback, but then again no one wants to mess with the beast. So that does the trick. Usually the credentials of the Thar are outlined when it’s slotted in four-low, clawing through the earth, powering its way through slush and crossing over boulders in an off-road arena, not as much on tarmac.

BMC gave us an off-road OTA (Oval Trumpet Airbox) – a performance air filter to test, and the Thar was chosen as the mule. Once fitted, the first noticeable change was in acceleration. The usually sluggish acceleration of the Thar became more responsive and the 247Nm of torque became more evenly distributed across the rev range. As a result, on tarmac, the Thar has become a lot more fun to drive and feels much quicker off the line. The real test however came on a Sunday morning off-road escapade.

Down by the lake, while crossing over boulders and powering through slushy trails, the little bump in power gave the Thar that extra boost to power through the muck and over boulders with ease. The only drawback is the drop in fuel efficiency, which I am not complaining about. If you own a Thar and are looking for a bit more grunt for the beast, then the BMC OTA at `32,000 is a good step to begin with.

Date acquired: April 2016
Duration of test: 8 months
Total mileage: 13,257km
Mileage this month: 2092km
Overall kmpl: 10.3kmpl
Costs this month: Nil