Mahindra Thar Roxx: Pros & Cons

Mahindra has recently launched the five-door version of the Thar, which is called the Thar Roxx. Prices for the rugged SUV range between ₹12.99 - 20.49 lakh (ex-showroom, India). The new Thar Roxx is a major upgrade over the three-door version, but does it have any downsides? We look at the pros and cons of the new Mahindra Thar Roxx. 

Pros

1. Rear seat space

The biggest pro of the Thar Roxx is the fact that it gets a much more accessible second row of seats. While the Thar always had a second row, the ingress and egress in the Thar Roxx are easier because of the rear doors. Even the headroom, legroom and shoulder room have improved by leaps and bounds with the Thar Roxx. 

2. Features

One drawback of the three-door Thar was the lack of features. While it did get a touchscreen, it lacked features like a digital instrument cluster, ventilated seats, sunroof and more. The Thar Roxx gets a 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen, a 10.25-inch virtual cluster, ventilated seats, a panoramic sunroof, a 360-degree camera, and a Harman Kardon-branded audio system to name a few. Even the base variant gets features like the touchscreen, four speakers, LED lights, rear AC vents and more. 

3. Safety features

Safety has recently become a strong decision-making factor when purchasing a new car and the Thar Roxx comes loaded with safety tech. Standard features include six airbags, ESC, three-point seatbelts with reminders for all seats, ISOFIX and more. The Thar Roxx also gets level 2 ADAS with features like autonomous emergency braking, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control and the likes. Interestingly, ADAS is available from mid-spec AX3L trim. 

4. Price

One of the biggest plus points of the Thar Roxx is the prices. While the pricing for the 4x4 variants isn’t out yet, the Thar Roxx RWD is priced very very competitively. The base-spec MX1 petrol MT variant is priced at ₹12.99 lakh and the fully-loaded AX7 diesel MT RWD variant goes up to ₹20.49 lakh. With this kind of pricing, Mahindra has a winner in its stable but how well it will do, only time will tell. ​​

5. Design

The three-door Thar was always a butch-looking SUV, the Thar Roxx just improves that macho feeling. The Thar Roxx looks great with its curvy bonnet yet boxy proportions. Mahindra hasn’t just stretched the three-door Thar, rather it has worked on it properly to make the Roxx look very proportionate. That also lent the Thar Roxx a massive road presence and it is sure to grab eyeballs on the road. 

Cons

1. Design

While the Thar Roxx is a good-looking vehicle, it does have some weird design elements. One of the biggest sore points in the design is the grille which looks a bit odd. Another weird design element is the design of the C-pillar which is narrow at the front but widens massively as it reaches the rear wheels. 

2. White Interior

The Thar Roxx comes with a dual-tone black and white cabin theme, like most new Mahindra models. However, white isn’t a very easy colour to maintain, especially in the Indian climate. White is prone to getting dirty very quickly and will be very difficult to maintain on a regular basis. The white interior will also be difficult to clean in an off-roader. 

3. No third row

It’s great that the Thar Roxx gets a more usable second row of seats and a very practical 644-litre boot. However, the Thar Roxx should have had the option of third-row seats to make it even more practical to haul more people, given the fact that it could accommodate two seats in the back. 

4. Ride quality

One of the pain points of the Thar was the ride quality. It has improved substantially with the Thar Roxx but the five-door SUV still isn’t the most comfortable model in the compact SUV segment. We say this because most of the buyers of the Thar Roxx will not opt for the 4x4 variants and it will mostly be used in the city. Given this scenario, a more comfortable suspension setup would have been welcome.