Tata Mine Protected Vehicle review, test drive

Tata’s Mine Protected Vehicle is a type of armoured personnel carrier that will take over some of the HUMVEE’s duties, all over the world. Designed to protect its occupants from threats like ambushes and sudden violent attacks using powerful explosive mines, it can do something the now-famous Hummer can’t. It can help its occupants survive the first assault. This is the reason vehicles like this are replacing the Hummer in the US. And there’s a huge demand for them in India too. Terrorism, Naxalite attacks and border roads exposed to incessant gunfire mean India itself is a huge potential customer. And then there’s the Indian Army, which is also a massive potential customer. And Tata is hoping to cash in on that demand.

So what’s it like in the flesh? Any vehicle that has a seven-foot-tall bonnet is bound to look menacing. And this is the case with the MPV too which, from almost any angle, looks like nothing but death on wheels. We asked Tata if any effort had gone into designing this vehicle, but they just smiled. “Of course not, it is meant to be effective, not look pretty,” they said. And pretty it isn’t. The huge locomotive-like cowl protrudes out like a battering ram, the flat bullet-proof windscreen looks strong enough to take a direct hit from a shell, and the long slender passenger cabin looks purposeful too, with its bullet-proof windows and gun firing ports. The Tata MPV makes a Hummer look decidedly delicate.

Sat on massive Pirelli Pista tyres, and with 845mm of enough clearance from the hull, there’s enough place to drive a Lamborghini under the  MPV. But why so much ground clearance, what’s it for? “That’s so that the MPV can cross obstacles like logs that have been put down to barricade the road.” 

What actually makes this vehicle special and quite different from anything else is its ‘V’-shaped hull. Designed to ‘shape’ the explosion of a mine away from the passenger cabin, it is made up of steel thick enough to embarrass a bank safe. Painstakingly cold rolled, so as to prevent it being weakened by the heat, the ‘V’ hull is so strong that the MPV amazingly needs no dedicated chassis. Everything — leaf spring suspension, driveline and engine — is just fixed onto it. But it is only when you get up close and personal that you realise how tough and indestructible this block of steel feels. Opening any of the almost one-foot-thick doors requires not just biceps but chest, shoulder and back muscles too. Then, operating the ◊
∆ solid metal door locks needs two hands, and the sides seem so tough, you could spend all afternoon pummelling the body with a sledgehammer and still not cause a significant dent.

About the only bits on the MPV that look delicate are the exposed driveshafts. Unlike on some international competitors, the driveshafts on the Tata MPV are not protected and Tata says they wouldn’t survive a sack-full of TNT going off anyway. However, the MPV has run-flat tyres, each costing Rs 1,10,000, a rail-mounted engine that can be rolled out for quick service or replacement, and even anti-lock brakes that can be switched off over rough ground.

The MPV can be serviced at regular Tata service outlets across the country and, like Ferrari has the Corse Clienti service support for customer F1 cars, Tata has an Annual Maintenance contract called the Sampoorna Seva Package.