Mahindra Thar (Fourth report)

It's nice to have factory approved, off-the-shelf mods for your car. That way, there are no warranty issues. MH-01-BB-8861 now has a Bushranger DS-9.5TH winch, a snorkel kit, rock slider running boards, flared fenders, headlamp protectors, a rear towing eye and a new rear bumper from the Mahindra customisation catalogue. All at an approximate total cost of Rs 1.6 lakh. There are no interior upgrades as I like the convenience of hosing the insides down after every off-road excursion. Fitting an audio system, faux-leather seats or a better-looking centre console (which are on the catalogue) won’t let me do that.

There’s only one problem though. Because there’s not a rain cloud in sight over Maharashtra, there are few places to put a winch or a snorkel through their paces. Lucky then that Mahindra now has a sprawling, purpose-built off-road track at Igatpuri near Nashik with axle twisters, an all-season slush pit and a serious decline called the ‘balls-in-the-mouth’ (their words, not mine). 

Sunday started well with the Thar not needing any outside assistance over the first few obstacles. And then we beached it driving through a few really deep ruts. Out came the winch wire with a thrilled me happy to finally put it to good use. The joy didn’t last long though – the winch pulled us out and then stopped working thanks to a blown fuse. Plus, we got first-hand experience of what a pain it is to roll a winch wire back manually. We used another Thar’s winch to yank us out, drove through the other obstacles including the slush pit without any problems and finished the day with the usual ‘dirt-everywhere’ grins plastered on our faces.