Sheena Sabharwal was born for adventures. A dynamic young architect who builds extravagant homes for those with an appetite for elegance, Sheena knows a thing or two about being in charge. Unsurprisingly, quite a few of her weekends are reserved for her other passion – off-road rallies! Among a long list of her exploits is entering her brand-new, bone-stock Thar into one of India’s most infamously challenging TSD rallies. And emerging intact!
When the Thar Roxx came around, she obviously didn’t want to wait around too much to push it to its limit off the road. So much, in fact, that when the Roxx arrived at Pro Dirt Adventure, on the outskirts of Pune, she set off around the technical and hugely fun track way before the rest of us had gotten there! ‘Wait? With the Roxx and a track around? No way!’ she chuckled, by the way of a morning greeting.
Fortunately, she was happy to do many more laps around the roller-coaster track, this time with the rest of us in tow. A lap later, her driving prowess made itself amply clear; she was making all of this hugely technical off-road driving look a bit too easy. ‘It’s not me, it’s the Roxx,’ she said. ‘It’s so capable, and just such a natural off-roader by DNA. And all of that power and torque – it does have a lot of it – makes it so confident and effortless!’
Well, she did make quite a significant point very early on. The Thar Roxx is, after all, a structurally rock-solid SUV, one that is very robustly engineered. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to you because Mahindra has a legacy of making capable vehicles like this for decades now – it’s a long list of illustrious nameplates, won’t you agree? Yet, somehow, as menacing as it looks on the outside, it’s all very calm and premium and comfortable on the inside.
Seeing through our heightened state of comfort, she chirped ‘Getting too comfortable, are we? Guess what? I haven’t even engaged 4×4 yet!’ It was true. We had been kicking up a monstrous dust storm for the better part of the morning, all of it with only the rear wheels laying down the power. A slick shift into 4H, using the eternally cool manual transfer case shifter, felt like the Roxx deploying its core muscles. From behind the wheel, you can feel that extra traction being made available to you.
The Thar Roxx is all kinds of capable. Riding on chunky 19-inch rubber and with 370Nm of torque, it’s an inherently dominant off-roader but Mahindra hasn’t stopped at just that. You can select from between three terrain modes – Snow, Mud and Sand – and it has a water wading capacity of 650mm! It also not only gets a brake lock differential for, both, front and rear axles but also an electronic locking diff that cuts power to the wheel that’s not in gear.
You know what else is very cool? The Adventure Statistics on the 26cm infotainment screen! There’s so much interesting real-time data in here, it genuinely makes you a better off-road driver. Sheena agrees, although with her kind of skill and talent, she intuitively knows her way around every kind of curveball off-road terrain can throw at her. What she admires, though, is the Crawl Smart Assist feature, which automatically applies the throttle over obstacles, making those really tricky, slow manoeuvres ultra smooth.
Another interesting feature is IntelliTurn, which simply locks the inside rear wheel so you get a tighter turning radius. This is a feature you have to see to believe, for it works in a perfectly non-intrusive way, but giving the Roxx – an SUV that’s massive by any standards – a delightfully quick ability to turn the tightest of sections.
‘Is it as awesome on the road as well?’ asks Sheena, clearly keen on adding it to her garage, alongside her existing Thar and ScorpioN. There’s only one way to find out, we tell her, before setting off on a highway adventure that sees us traverse the expanse of Pune’s outskirts, from the southernmost to the northernmost point. This time, it’s her turn to play passenger, however.
‘Oh! This SkyRoof is so amazing!’ she instantly exclaims, a reaction those of you have experienced the Roxx will be familiar with. It is, after all, the world’s largest for a car under 4.5m, and it adds an inexplicable amount of airiness to the Roxx’ cabin. The two-screen setup – each measuring 26cm – is another impressive addition, especially when you consider it features over 80 Adrenox features. And then, you instinctively arrive at the Roxx’ party piece – the 9-speaker Harman Kardon sound system!
Yes, you read that right. It’s a 9-speaker unit, including a subwoofer that’s cleverly tucked into the tailgate, giving the Roxx an audio spec that’s enviable to say the least. But that’s still only scratching the surface. The Roxx features a 12-channel setup and a 560-Watt output, and it lets you choose from between three modes – Studio, Quantum Logic and Ambience. In fact, aside from comprehensive equalizer settings, it even lets you tailor the level of surround sound, and also offers you the option to shift focus between directing sound to the entire cabin or, if you happen to be on a solo drive, towards the driver alone. Incredible, right? Clearly, the Thar Roxx isn’t just for adventurers in a stereotypical sense, it’s for anyone who enjoys life on the highway.
‘That sounds like some serious equipment,’ says Sheena, right before expressing her disbelief on the acoustic windshield feature. ‘No, you’re making this up!’ she says, when we tell her about Mahindra’s truly insightful idea to transform the Roxx’ iconic flat windscreen into something that genuinely – and very noticeably – makes the cabin quieter. It’s that kind of thoughtful, the Roxx.
The conversation makes way for a couple of hours of just being immersed in music (classic ‘70s rock, if you’re curious), which makes the two hour drive transitioning from the four-lane highway to the countryside nothing but a hugely relaxing time. The road narrows further as we find ourselves amidst the hills again, while the Roxx simply glides over the many imperfections we encounter. The tree cover around us grows more dense with every passing moment, making for quite a dramatic view through the SkyRoof. Eventually, we arrive at Adventure Maval, a sprawling camping getaway which is a favourite amongst Mumbai and Pune’s off-road enthusiasts. A refreshing lunch later, we set up camp by the tranquil lakeside – not before chomping down another intense trail, of course.
As the sun begins its descent towards the horizon, reflection comes instinctively. ‘I am someone who is always, always behind the wheel. I do road trip once every month, I rally, and I’m just always driving. But in the Roxx, I really loved being driven around,’ says Sheena, quite clearly in admiration of the Roxx’ versatility and premiumness. It’s not difficult to see why, because everything about driving, or being driven around in the Roxx – the way you’re seated, the sheer magnitude of it, the muscle – gives you a feeling that’s unmatched by anything else in its class; in any case, it is in a class of its own. And, let’s not forget, it’s got a 5-star Bharat NCAP safety rating! In fact, not just a 5-star rating, but also the highest score within the 5-star rating category. That’s, honestly, just commendable.
‘It really is iconic, no? What a legend, the Roxx is!’ she says, summarising a car she’s clearly planning on bringing home quite perfectly. Like in the past, it shouldn’t surprise you if she sets off on yet another rally with her Roxx, too, pretty much right out of the showroom! The assumption is validated when, given the choice between a soothing barbeque, an evening of music and a night off-road trail drive, she chooses the last on the list. ‘We’ve got one life to win it all,’ she says, ‘and the Roxx is a great place to tune into some music anyway!’
