Thar Roxx Review: The Best SUV
Before we start, let’s understand what “SUV” means. It means body-on-frame construction and that it’s not front-wheel-drive.
A lot of the cars sold as SUVs — Creta, Seltos, Taigun / Kushaq, Hector, Hyryder / Grand Vitara, Mahindra 3XO, XUV 400, Jeep Compass, Honda Elevate and Citroën Basalt — are actually crossovers, since they’re front-wheel-drive and don’t have a body-on-frame construction.
There are few SUVs in the Indian market, like Roxx, the Scorpio N and the Fortuner.
SUVs are suited for towing and for going offroad. Or if the vehicle is going to be shared between multiple employees at your company who are going to going to drive it all day, every day, and treat it roughly because they’re not skilled or because it’s not theirs. If none of these use cases applies to you, you shouldn’t buy an SUV. It’s going to be noisy to drive. It’s going to vibrate a lot. It will look ugly rather than sleek like a M. G. Windsor or Creta. Everything about the SUV will be rough. A crossover will meet your needs better. Buying an SUV when you don’t intend to do SUV things is like buying a TV to listen to music: sure, the TV has internal speakers, but buying a dedicated speaker will work out better.
A couple of reviews I read say that the Roxx is an exception to the rule, that it’s great both as an SUV and as a crossover. It’s not. It can’t hold a candle to the Creta or Seltos.
Here’s a detailed list of pros (+) and cons (-). If you do SUV things and are buying the Roxx for that purpose, which is what it’s meant for, my review would be of limited use: I don’t do SUV things, and I’m not qualified to evaluate it. But if you’re considering buying it for urban use, as a Creta substitute, as many people want (including me before I test drove it) the rest of the review will disabuse you of that notion:
+ Comes in both petrol and diesel versions.
- The SUV comes with white seats. One of the Mahindra test drive vehicles already had a dirty seat. If you don’t want white seats, you can go for brown seats, but in that case, you also have to go for a diesel 4-wheel-drive.
± When entering or exiting the SUV, it’s easier to use the step, since the floor is very high.
± Torque converter 6 speed
+ Electronic parking brake
- When you put it in Park, the EPB also activates, so parking is a one-step process rather than a 2-step process as with most other vehicles.
- The interiors are hard, all functionality, poor fit and finish.
- The wing mirror adjustment wasn’t smooth. When it reached the end, as it swung outward, it also angled down a bit.
- When I switched from D to P, the engine turned off and immediately on. I’ve never seen such poor attention to detail.
+ Higher position from the road as compared to any other car I’ve driven.
- The windshield is not curved as it is in most vehicles. Curved surfaces feel more welcoming and organic while the Roxx has straight, harsh surfaces.
- The Roxx looks ugly to me:
I prefer a modern, streamlined look like:
Comfort
+ Legroom good
+ The steering wheel doesn’t touch my legs
+ Headroom good
+ Stomach not pressed
+ Tilt but not telescoping
- The dash is high, neck level, but it’s not a problem when driving
+ 6 way electrically adjustable seat
- The thigh support isn’t adjustable.
- The engine vibrates a lot, even when idling.
- There’s also a lot of noise from the engine, since it’s a diesel. There was also a hissing sound which the salesman unhelpfully explained is the sound of the engine working. Well, other engines are able to work without hissing at me. In addition, there was also what the sound of fluids being pumped through a tube, or so it sounds. This sound comes from the bottom right, from somewhere deep below the accelerator. And all this on top of the main low-frequency sound of the engine. I would have preferred the engine to work silently without telling me everything it’s doing.
- There’s occasional noise of wind against glass.
- The suspension is not as smooth as the Creta. You feel the undulations and imperfections in the road, unlike the Creta, which insulates you from these.
- When driving over broken roads, I expected the Roxx to handle it better than crossovers, since it’s designed for broken roads. But it wasn’t comfortable. The SUV may not get damaged, but it’s uncomfortable for the people in it.
- When getting moving after auto hold, it jerks forward.
- Brakes stop with a jerk. It happened when the salesman was driving, too, so it’s not a problem with my driving style. You have to focus a lot and brake very deliberately to prevent this from happening. This would be tiring to do consistently.
- When I move my foot from the brake to the accelerator or vice-versa, my toes bump against a panel on the top. No other car screwed this up. They don’t put the panels in my way.
- The turn indicators, gear and brake all require conscious effort, unlike crossovers like the Creta where they feel easy, and the experience premium.
Driving
- In small roads, it accelerates fast enough, unlike the diesel Alcazar, which felt sedate.
- I test drove the diesel, and flooring it results in only moderate acceleration, unlike a Creta, which surges forward.
- Being a diesel, the Roxx can’t go fast.
± The driving position is so high I could see the roof of the Seltos in front!
Safety
+ On the highway, I was in the middle lane, and there was a truck in front of me and another in the right lane. So I switched to the left lane. I normally don’t overtake in the left lane, because it’s dangerous to others and to me, but in this case, that was the only available lane. And then I realised to my shock that the lane was coming to an end and I saw the guardrail straight ahead. I slammed the brakes, and the vehicle decelerated from 100 to 10 quickly. It didn’t hit the guardrail. I was concerned since the Roxx is a tall vehicle and isn’t wide, which isn’t stable. Plus the steering wasn’t straight. Vehicles tend to become unstable then you emergency brake while turning. The Roxx didn’t. I still had steering control and could steer away from the guardrail. There was no body roll (in other words, it didn’t lean left or right). The car didn’t dive forward. It was perfectly stable and in control. This is an impressive performance from the SUV, both the mechanical design and the electronic stability systems. We don’t need them or use them most of the time, but when we do, it’s amazing what they can do. I know I’ll be safe in the Roxx. Kudos to Mahindra for keeping me safe.
+ The lane-departure warning system is so subtle that it’s easy to miss, say if you’re sleepy and drift across lanes. But for someone who wants the flexibility to change lanes without signalling, the Roxx’s subtle lane-departure warning system does a great job of gently nudging you to improve without annoying you.
+ Both turn indicators start a blind spot camera view.
+ The SUV reads speed limit sign boards and warns you if you’re speeding.
Cooling
- The AC cooled unevenly
+ Ventilated seats
+ Climate control
+ Dual zone AC
+ Cooled glove box
+ Can turn on AC remotely
- No rear window sunshades
Digital features
- Both A and C
+ The C port can supply 65W, enough to charge a laptop, say if you’re en route to a meeting and you forgot to charge your laptop.
- CarPlay is wired only, A only. But in practice, CarPlay didn’t work, neither wired nor wireless (we tried just in case).
- Since CarPlay didn’t work, I resorted to just Bluetooth pairing. But when I got a call I couldn’t answer and wanted to call back, the Recents list was empty. The contacts was also empty. It said, “Phone book unavailable. Please retry phone book download.” Since there was no Download Phone Book button to tap, that error message wasn’t helpful.
- The infotainment screen’s height is low, which means that you don’t see much of the road ahead. Navigation requires height, not width — width only shows you what’s far from the road beside you, which is irrelevant.
Offroading
+ If you buy the 4WD, it comes with 2 High, 4 High and 4 Low modes. You have to stop, put both gear levers in neutral, and only then change. Otherwise you’ll stress the transmission.
± You should drive only in 2 High on roads; otherwise you’ll damage the vehicle.
± I drove in 2-wheel-drive mode till I got stuck, and only then switched to 4-wheel-drive mode, specifically to 4 High.
- 4 Low is very low and suitable only for extreme offroading.
- The Roxx creeps at 15 kph when you release the accelerator. This is too fast when driving on broken roads, so I had to slow it down with the brake.
- The SUV offers the following traction control modes: normal, mud, sand and snow.
+ The Roxx comes with a diff lock, but in the limited off-roading I did, I didn’t have a situation where the 4-wheel-drive wasn’t enough to get me un-stuck.
Front passenger seat
- I can stretch my legs comfortably
- Headroom could’ve been better.
+ Ventilated seat
+ Good, spacious view of the road ahead
- The window isn’t panoramic
- The seat isn’t electrically adjustable.
Rear seat
- I can’t stretch my legs
- Headroom isn’t great
- I felt heavy engine vibration in my stomach and in my right hand when it was on the center armrest. This was very uncomfortable. The Roxx is a rugged vehicle, not a refined vehicle for urban use.
+ There’s a center armrest with two cup holders.
- Getting in is hard — I had to climb the step and then crouch.
+ The panoramic sunroof opens all the way till right above my head, giving me an expansive view.
- The window isn’t panoramic.
+ There are two AC vents with independent up / down / left / right adjustment.
+ USB-C
vs Scorpio N
Should you buy the Scorpio N instead? Both are SUVs — ladder frame construction, rear-wheel drive on roads and 4WD on roads, suitable for towing and offroading…
Here’s how the Scorpio N fares in comparison to the Roxx:
- I have good headroom and legroom in the Roxx, while both are poor in the Scorpio N. My stomach is pressed in the Scorpio N, making it uncomfortable, while it’s comfortable in the Roxx.
- The Scorpio N is longer at 4.7 meters as opposed to 4.5 for the Roxx, making the former harder to park.
- The Scorpio N has a lot of body roll, making driving on the highway uncomfortable.
If you want to know more, compare each section of this review with the corresponding section of the Scorpio N review.
In summary, don’t buy an SUV like the Roxx unless you intend to do SUV things.