Moderator: 3ne2nr Mods
Ramirez wrote:Mazda BT50/Ford Ranger
Occupant protection: 3 stars
Mahindra
Occupant protection: 3 stars
civic minded wrote:Ok , Padna got his ; here is my honest review
First of all , the one he got is the 2.5l turbo 5 speed manual 4x4, lifestyle provided side bars , tint, mats and reverse sensors - he paid 130k vat inclusive thro a company. 3 Years warranty - first year service free.
The amount of space in it is mind-blowing . You can stretch your legs and hands as far you want without touching anything - you can practically play lawn tennis inside. Massive leg room head room. Feel real big. The air con have two separate settings and very good at cooling the big interior . This unit comes with a 4 speaker stereo mp3 unit with steering controls.
The ride is surprisingly good , coil springs in front and leaf springs in the back give this mammoth a really nice smooth ride over the bumps. This unit comes with load leveling headlamp adjuster and a MSD, which supposed to be better than LSD. This vehicle is tall! About 7ft , taller than any other out there and lots of ground clearance , front and back
Now the cons, major drawback for me is power, the mahindra cause of it size and weight- the engine feels lazy and underpowered. 2nd gear is especially lazy as i am used to the power that the ranger has . This is defiantly a step down. Another con is because of the dimensions of the vehicle , you can't take corners too fast , it will tip over. Also too , there is no seroius shielding underneath , only plastic so if you want to go offroading , mods will be necessary .You get 16 inch 5 hole steel rims with hubcaps - that need to be cable tied cause they fall out everywhere. It have the center nut similar to the old frontiers but there isnt anything to turn - There is a switch dial in the cabin similar to the ranger to engage the 2H-4H-4L. What i dont like with the interior, the buttons for the windows are in the center next to the handbrake - so if your in the passanger seat you need to lean over to the side across the handbrake to put down your window. The stock sound is okish but sound real sucky. I tried to tweek it as much as i can but it wont really help. Certain parts of the van you can tell the cheapness of it - especially when you look under the bonnet and undercarriage but i guess it what you pay for. The Engine is loud - very loud - you know it is coming about a couple of miles away and when you switch on the morning - you swear your starting a tractor.
All and all , for 150k or so it is really good for the price , it's a workhorse and will be a good company vehicle but I don't really seeing it more than that. Although it comes with something like A/T tires - i won't chance it in the bush unless some mods are done and flare out the tires to give it a more stable stance - i just friad it tip over when i am doing a corner too hard.
lighthammer wrote:Would be hard to get lost, its not a rally we having, its an obstacle course.
Yes, the Mahindra has an Eaton locker, aka Detroit locker. Mechanically locks the diff if wheelsin is detected. Different from an LS cuz an LSD still aloows some slip if you work it too hard.
Those who say there's no more rugged pickups anymore, let's not forget that the bt50 in 2.5 wlt is still available in commercial grade, as well as the ranger, hilux and isuzu dmax. There's even a 4x2 single cab navara called the XE trim... And remember the frontier is still available in TD27 variants..... All these pickups can take "jamming" as they say. The rangger and bt 50 come with torsion bar setups, which is as rugged as it gets.
Just because we trinidadians like to follow trendy and flashy things by dressing up our vehicles in tacky shiny chrome and useless plastic accessories, we get the impression that these vehicles are soft and can't take a beating.... But we forget that these are still workhorses underneath all that caryboy and winbo crap.
What a lot of people don't reize is that many pickuos, like the hilux, navara, dmax and so on are now being manufactured with modification by the end user in mind. Places like australia, new Zealand, southafric an so on, have HUGE markets for modifications. Just so happens we live so far away from the real action that all we see is flashy, mostly useless Thailand acccessories and not the real good stuff. (plus no one wants to pay for it when bringing it halfway around the globe).
Mahindra is a good brand, and it will take time to be established in trinidad. People will get excited, be curious about it because it looks different, and its marketed as a more basic, reliable and rugged vehicle than a crims-down vigo.. So I don't understand why people want to compare the two. Just appreciate what the vehicle is worth, and accept it.
Oh and btw the mahindra is definitely gonna need that Eaton locker, cuz that obstacle course gonna be a very serious offroad challenge!
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