2020 Mahindra Thar Off-Road Capabilities Tested In Snow

Just launched in an all-new avatar a while back, the 2020 Mahindra Thar has established itself as a popular SUV in India. The all-new Thar has created quite a benchmark in terms of sales, causing a soar to the waiting period to 6 months. When it comes to the new-gen Thar, most of the buyers wonder if it can inherit the legacy of the older versions which has established itself as an iconic true-blue off-road beast. While we’re already reporting you how the Thar performed in sand, mud or rough terrain, here’s a video showing how the 2020 Mahindra Thar tackles the dense snow.

The video was recorded in Gulmarg, Kashmir where there was a heavy snowfall, showing a 2020 Mahindra Thar accompanied by some mighty off-road spec vehicles like Toyota Fortuner, Maruti Gypsy, Tata Safari and even an older-gen Thar model. The video is short but we can easily notice that the new 2020 Mahindra Thar failed to go through the snow while the erstwhile Thar could glide over it smoothly. However, when getting further to know the reason behind this failure, it is easy to find out that it was not completely about the Thar’s fault. It turns out that the 2020 Thar couldn’t conquer the snow as the driver had no experience in driving in these extreme conditions.

Aside from this, there was another reason that the SUV was in 4H mode. Still, the 4H mode is highly effective in the new Thar but it should have been the 4L mode that might give the Thar extra torque at low speeds to handle the heavy snow. The throttle response and steering management are also the primary factors to help the car out of such situations.

Mahindra offered the 2020 Thar with both petrol and diesel engine options. The all-new Thar is powered by either a 2.0-litre mStallion petrol engine that develops 150 PS of power and 320 Nm of peak torque or a 2.2-litre mHwak turbocharged diesel motor churning out 130 PS/ 300 Nm of torque. Both the engines are available with a standard 6-speed MT and a 6-speed AT as an option for the higher-spec variants.

The 2020 Mahindra features a coil-spring setup in place of the leaf springs in the older-gen model. Also, the new Thar gets double wishbones at the front along with a multi-link suspension at the rear. It comes with standard part-time four-wheel-drive and a manual-shift transfer case system. A mechanical locking rear differential is also part of the package.

The 2020 Mahindra is on sale at the price range of around Rs 9.80 – 13.75 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), making it the most affordable 4x4 SUV in the Indian market now. With the three-door model getting off the ground, Mahindra might bring back the five-door Thar that would certainly grab more eyeballs from the traditional SUV buyers in India.