Mahindra Thar and Thar Roxx: A Complete Family of Adventure SUVs

When Mahindra rolled out the latest three-door Thar, Indian roads suddenly looked like Instagram’s favourite trekking trail. Now the carmaker has added a bigger, five-door sibling called the Thar Roxx. Stack them side by side and you’ll see the same chiseled jawline, round headlamps and upright windscreen, yet each one plays a very different role in the household.

Same Spirit, Two Personalities

Both SUVs are cut from the same rugged DNA: ladder-frame chassis, proper four-wheel drive, meaty tires and a sense of mischief the moment the tarmac ends. The three-door Mahindra Thar is the free-spirited elder, short, light on its feet and always angling for the next detour.

The Thar Roxx arrives as the grown-up younger sibling. It’s longer by almost half a meter, has five doors, and sits on Mahindra’s new M_GLYDE platform, which promises a smoother, quieter ride.

Heartbeats That Love the Hills

Under their clamshell bonnets, you’ll find two familiar engines: the 2.2-litre mHawk diesel and the 2.0-liter mStallion turbo-petrol. In the three-door, both motors are tuned for 300 Nm of torque, enough to crawl up a rocky ledge at idle or pull past lumbering trucks without downshifting.

The Mahindra Thar Roxx adds “CrawlSmart,” a clever bit of software that meters out throttle so smoothly you can sip coffee while conquering a boulder garden. Manuals and automatics are on offer, so purists and pedal-shy drivers are equally catered for.

Cabins: Hose-Down vs High-Tech

With the Thar, you get drain plugs in the floor, chunky rotary knobs for the HVAC and a 7-inch touchscreen that covers the basics: Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, tyre-pressure read-outs and a compass. The Roxx has a 10.25-inch HD infotainment screen that stretches across the dash, flanked by a fully digital instrument cluster. Nine Harman Kardon speakers, including a subwoofer, turn the cabin into a mobile concert. Wireless charging and a panoramic “Skyroof” complete the gadget fest. If your idea of unwinding is a Spotify deep dive instead of campfire silence, the Roxx will feel like home.

Riding Comfort: From Bounce to Balance

Short wheelbase SUVs are nimble off-road but can hop as needed on broken tarmac. Mahindra has tamed much of that in the three-door Thar with coil springs and modern damping, yet you’ll still feel the odd thump. The Roxx’s longer wheelbase and Watt’s-link rear suspension calm things substantially. For long highway hauls or patchy rural roads, the Roxx is kinder to spines and coffee cups alike.

Off-Road Cred: No Compromise

Both offer a low-range transfer case, hill-descent control and locking differentials. Ground clearance? A lofty 226 mm in the three-door and only a smidge less on the Roxx despite its bigger body. The difference lies in approach. The elder Thar relies on its short overhangs and lighter weight to wiggle through tight switchbacks. The Roxx answers with selectable terrain modes for Snow, Sand and Mud, plus 360-degree cameras that spot hidden stumps before your tyres do.

Safety Nets for the Whole Family

Mahindra packed the three-door Thar with dual airbags, a roll cage, electronic stability control and ISOFIX mounts. It even earned respectable crash-test scores, an achievement for a lifestyle 4x4. The Roxx offers six airbags, a more advanced ESP 9.3 suite, automatic emergency braking and an electronic parking brake with auto-hold.

Blind-view monitors flash live video of the lane beside you, while a surround-view camera makes parking as easy as a video game. For parents handing over the keys to a teenager, those extras buy priceless peace of mind.

Owning and Running

The Roxx is more expensive, and its extra sensors can hike repair bills after an unfortunate scrape, but service intervals, fuel economy, and parts pricing remain rooted in everyday reality. Mahindra’s growing network means spares aren’t an expedition in themselves. And if you’re the DIY type, the basic nuts-and-bolts engineering, solid axles, and body-on-frame remain accessible with a socket set and a Sunday afternoon.

Which One Fits Your Story?

● Pick the three-door Thar if your weekends include narrow forest trails, you rarely ferry more than one passenger, and you love the idea of hosing mud out of the floor after every trip.

● Choose the Thar Roxx if your adventure circle has grown, kids, pets, perhaps grandparents, and you want to reach the campsite refreshed, playlists intact, and everyone belted up in comfort.

If you’re lucky enough to park both in the driveway, you’ve essentially covered every scenario from solo dawn drives to full-house beach holidays.

Wrapping Up

So whether you’re eyeing the rough-and-ready classic or its tech-savvy big brother, know this: each one carries the same promise, to turn every mundane journey into a story worth telling.