Mahindra Thar's Off-Road Jump Goes Wrong: Engine Breaks! [Video]
The Mahindra Thar continues to be in high demand in India. It is now available in two different forms- the 3-door and the five-door ROXX. Many owners do tricky off-road runs and perform risky stunts with their three-door Thars. Many such videos are available on the internet. A recent clip, however, shows how a three-door Thar attempted an off-road jump and ended up breaking its engine.
As it opens, we see the SUV approach a ramp at a decent speed. It soon jumps off and lands on the other side. As it lands, however, we hear a loud thud as if something hit the ground. The driver soon brings the SUV to a complete stop. He gets out and does quick checks on the vehicle. People soon gather around the Thar.
Most parts of the vehicle look okay. The impact likely affected the underbody. Soon, we get to see the actual issue. We see a Magenta/purple coloured fluid oozing out of the vehicle in plenty. This is, in fact, its coolant. Upon landing, this Thar seems to have hit its underbody (and possibly even the lower portion of the radiator) against some rock or hard surface.
This may have punctured the radiator (or coolant hoses), eventually leading to a massive coolant leak. The video doesn’t mention the details of the issue or how the team managed to fix it. What we know for sure is that the massive coolant leak has possibly broken the SUV’s engine. The owner would need to fix the leak and refill the coolant before he can drive it again.
For the uninformed, the coolant is critical in thermal management and in ensuring the safe functioning of the engine. It runs through the engine and absorbs excessive heat. This prevents overheating and possible damage to the engine. This heat is then transferred to the radiator and later dissipated into the atmosphere. In addition to this, coolant lubricates the engine and provides protection against corrosion, freezing an cavitation.
Mahindra offers two engine options on the three-door Thar- a 2.2L turbocharged mHawk diesel and a 2.0L turbocharged petrol (mStallion). The Thar shown in this video had a diesel engine. Look carefully and you will see the ‘mHawk’ badge on the left front fender.
The video was shared online with the caption ‘Thought it was Fast & Furious… turned into Crash & Curious’. Many users have been actively commenting on it, mostly making fun of the incident. Many imagined satirically how the owner here would try to dispose off this vehicle. ‘Well maintained Thar for sale and never used for off-road’ commented a user. ‘Doctor-driven car only 10,000 km run top condition,’ said another.
The incident has also sparked a fresh wave of ‘Thar vs Jimny’ keyboard war. Several users remarked that the Jimny would have made it out of this jump in good shape, unlike this Thar.
These satirical remarks are indeed entertaining. It is, however, baseless to blame the Thar based on this incident alone. In the past, we have seen many owners do crazier stunts and action with this Indian SUV. The Thar in this case was seemingly stock, and the driver was probably having a bad day.
In a video shared on the YouTube channel Indian Hacker, we saw the host trying his best to destroy the SUV. He bought a brand-new Thar for the test, and in the 17+ minute video, tried to destroy it completely. The video had everything from folding the mirrors and seats forcefully to drowning it in a pond and scratching its body with a huge stone. Most of these ‘durability tests’ made little to no sense, but gained the YouTuber massive viewership.
In the video, we can see the Thar doing insane jumps. It was made to jump several times, some of which inflicted serious damage to the vehicle. We saw it landing on its nose and bursting its tyres. These were later replaced, and jumps repeated. Even in this video, we can see the radiator getting damaged in extreme jumps, leading to coolant leaks.
The Thar is indeed a rugged SUV. In its stock form, however, this SUV should not be put to extreme jumps and off-road tests such as the one shown in this video. If you plan to do such stuff, necessary changes should be made to the vehicle’s suspension and in other mechanical areas.