Mahindra ute!

[JAFO]

I will admit, I did look into the Mahindra ute when looking for a replacement to my SsangYong Musso Sports.

Standard features in 2012 were rather tempting: Power Windows, Power mirrors, rear Diff-lock just some. The thing that put me off was not being able to get a Australian Made Canopy for one, only canopy available at the time was a import from Malaysia, still don't think a Australian Made Canopy is available even today I believe, otherwise winch bars, snorkel and all the other gear all available for it due to mining sales and base model for under $30k on road with a ABN . . . was very tempting.

Was told by one friend down south, that one dealer down near Wagga who for 20 odd years had been a sole Holden Dealer, in their first year of taking on the Mahindra ute dealership sold more Mahindra ute’s then Rodeo/ Colorado range, the farmers love them and they have heaps of headroom, so no need to remove their 10gal hats while driving.

They are becoming very big in the mining industry as well due to their headroom and the ease of fitting cabin roll bar protection systems inside the cabin, something that is difficult with Toyota’s and our Nissan dual Cabs.

And yes, bloody dam side more ugly then my old Musso Sports ute, but put a Winch Bar and Snorkel on them and not so bad on the looks . . . and price, Low purchase cost does make you look twice.

At the time of looking, I test drove a Mahindra ute with the new Mhawk engine . . . more power then my SsangYong Musso Ute, but delivery time for a Mahindra with the New Mhawk Engine was about a 5 week wait, so that with the canopy and other accessories issues pushed and reconfirmed the D22 as the number 1 choice

Also, in India Mahindra is a big name for Tractors, Military and Civilian Heavy Vehicles including buses, and Yes they do sell tractors here in Australia and have also started to sell trucks and Buses here as as well, and looking at the Mahindra ute website, they are now also selling a SUV vehicle in Australia as well. http://www.mahindra.com/

And on a side note, today Mahindra owns majority of SsangYong Motors.
http://www.mahindra.com/What-We-Do/Automotive/Products/Actyon
http://www.mahindra.com/What-We-do/Automotive/Products/Actyon-Sports
http://www.mahindra.com/What-We-do/Automotive/Products/Rexton#

 

[nathand22]

I will admit, I did look into the Mahindra ute when looking for a replacement to my SsangYong Musso Sports.





And yes, bloody dam side more ugly then my old Musso Sports ute, but put a Winch Bar and Snorkel on them and not so bad on the looks . . . and price, Low purchase cost does make you look twice.

No mate NOTHING and i mean NOTHING not even a DOG TURD is uglier then a MUSSO they are even uglier then road kill after sitting in the sun for a month!!

 

[04SilverSTR]

you know what? that white one on 4x4 earth doesnt look half bad! a good list of factory accessories and a eaton e locker!! still dont think i could buy one but!

 

[tanz]

I don't know anything about the utes, but do remember working on the "Willys Jeep" style Mahindras in the early nineties. One of the other mechanics used to love working on them as nothing was tight and all he needed was a blade, phillips screwdriver, and two shifters. None of the bolts matched and panels were held together with a mis-match of screws.

I'm sure their build quality is much better now, and on Myswag there is a guy that's more than happy with his!

 

[robmacca]

you know what? that white one on 4x4 earth doesnt look half bad! a good list of factory accessories and a eaton e locker!! still dont think i could buy one but!

I reckon it s ok as well.... It's one of those vehicles that u buy 2nd hand as the depreciation from new would be fairly high.... For a knock-a-bout vehicle it would be pretty good

 

[gadgets]

Its not about looks, its all about personality?! hahaha

 

[robmacca]

Its not about looks, its all about personality?! hahaha

Well they certainly do have that unique personality......

 

[JAFO]

No mate NOTHING and i mean NOTHING not even a DOG TURD is uglier then a MUSSO they are even uglier then road kill after sitting in the sun for a month!!

For me, when it came to the Musso Sports, looks were not really a major concern, I was looking at value for money and after 18 months of research the Musso Sports ticked the box . . . just like the Mahindra ute does for many today (which I don't think the current SsangYong Dual Cab Ute does).

The Musso Sports Ute may had been ugly, but it was priced right, had a large cabin with heaps of rear seat leg room for the kids for a Dual Cab Ute, a reasonable amount of after-market accessories, and in the 5 years I had it, I could not fault it, it was a very comfy long haul ride, for most part mechanically sound, a good 4WD'er and to this day I am still kicking myself that 1 switch which resulted in an electrical fault could course its demise,

Even thou we were looking at the D22 Navara as a replacement around 2013, the only reason we brought the D22 is that Nissan came to the party and gave an offer that was just way too good to knock back, thus I got a D22 Navara 18 months before we were planning on doing so

 

[terryc]

I also reckon they are behind the worst looking car I have ever seen.

Bullshit. The Mahindra was on our consideration list in 2010. any web site which shows you a picture with coooes or sheepsee loaded in the back of the ute has to be a winner. Especially compared to steriod pumped bogan ones you normally see.

Two points against buying it was; the dealer was also the local $50K Hilux Toyota dealer and they didn't have one in the yard. The actual "yard" was parking for the spare parts business.

P.S. Looks like I'm going back to Wagga Wagga to buy the next ute. It was a good place to buy pants braces.