There have been multiple occasions when I have taken jeep rides on non existent roads. Meaning on pathways littered with stones rocks, or paths where your normal cars/two wheeler refuse to ride.
On each such occasion, I have traveled in a Mahindra jeep. I have always been a huge fan of Mahindra vehicles, its sad that I could not afford one, 6 years back!
So after our Sunday's jeep ride from some forest out of nowhere near Munnar to Kerala-TamilNadu border, I just thought, about what real toughness is all about.
I guess thats what Mahindra vehicles stand for esp Mahindra Jeeps, Mahindra Bolero, Mahindra MaxR. I'm not counting in Scorpio/Xylo/XUV in this list, because, I have never seen them being driven over such pathways.
It has always been bare basic jeeps, if not Bolero/MaxR/Pickup truck.
Its one department, where Mahindra wins easily with no competition. Many reasons exist, so let me list them
- One cannot ride Range Rover over such roads. the cost of Range Rover parts to the cost of Mahindra spare parts differ by leaps and bounds.
- Weight - Mahindra Jeeps especially, weigh very less, they carry no weight by themselves apart from their subframe and a bare minimal body and top. They literally have less weight, where as other vehicles weight tonnes.
- Technological advancement - Many other off-roaders come with so much technological advancement, electronics that, it hurts to pay for these gadgets to run them in the wild. But Mahindra runs with bare minimum technology even with the engine. So cost of buying one is extremely less especially, if you want to ride them where there are no roads.
- Repair - Repairing them is simple as each part is visible to the naked eye. Unlike other vehicles, where many parts are hidden within a fort of body work, Mahindra jeep has most parts reachable by hand, even electricals, (btw are there any electricals, yes there are).
- Engine - DI Engine (no fuss engine 2.5L / 3.2L), every hard working man's dream (including mine). Loads of torque, grunt and able to take tonnes of load. Can newer technology replace this one, I doubt! Simple parts, can be repaired by village mechanic, no add-ons in the form of Turbo, intercooler. All power / torque by natural aspiration, not by shitty forced induction!
So here is one such post dedicated to Mahindra expressing gratitude for all those jeep rides which have taken us away from civilization into wilderness and brought us back to civilization and also to loads of other people who earn their livelihood because of these hard core off road Mahindra vehicles.
And if you want one example of "Make In India", you have it in front of your eyes, since 50 plus years, even before " Make In India " concept was born.
Its sad to see each individual is hesitant to buy a Mahindra (though being Indian) because they just cant accept the fact that its built so tough, instead choose cheaper Japanese/Korean alternatives! (quoting escape reasons such as niggling vehicle issues, back-pain etc,which leaves me giggling)
My only regret is I could have taken additional loan and brought a Mahindra 6 years back, that's another story, but I would have dearly missed falling in love with a TATA.
I can tell, my regret gets nullified though. Someday I hope to own a Mahindra Bolero XL Plus, a 7+1 seater, with a good engine, preferably a CRDE preferably with a Turbocharger and intercooler. (MEagle engine I mean).
Considering, that spec is not available for production(my guess), I am not thinking about buying one though and after driving and being driven around in an Innova, I guess, I am in a dilemma.
Cheers,
