- Joined
- Feb 2, 2013
- Messages
- 17,108
12 and a half grand gets you this - http://www.mahindra.ph/enforcer-elite.php (postage not included)
Don't like the adverts? Click here to remove them
If you were looking for a new LR Defender ............
- Thread starter Shayne
- Start date
And probably about the same build quality. I've been in one in India that looked a bit like a mark 1 Shogun but that was where the similarity ended.
Don't like the adverts? Click here to remove them
I missed that!
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2013
- Messages
- 17,108
Well to be honest it ticks loads of boxes for me , used by Philipines police force and military , locking diffs , simple design and build and a price tag that would make putting it on its roof painful but not devastating . Shame the engine lets it down but then its aimed firmly at being an off road tractor with no pretence at being a mile muncher .
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2013
- Messages
- 3,203
- Country Flag
in 1994, three of us college 1st year students beg'd borrowed and used part of our education loans to buy an ex-police Mahinda cj3b - 4 cyl petrol with a 4spd manual gbox. It looked something like this when we got it, for the princely sum of Rs. 26,000 ( £300 in todays money, was more like £500 then, as students it was almost every last penny we could muster up ) - it was a non runner, with 250km on the clock:
Over the course of the next 24 months, we rebuilt it, got the engine sorted out, putting in another Rs. 20,000 or so into it. Then in summer of 1996 we had something like this :
Summer of 1996, we then slapped in some new tyres and did 9,500 Km's across down the west side, into the peninsular, around the perimeter and then back up on the east side cutting through central India northwards, took a week long break at a friends farm and put the jeep on a train back home. 4 months on the road. aside from a couple of flat tyres and one oil service near Bangalore, we didnt really do anything much to the car, other than topping up the water in radiator almost every couple of days. 44 Deg C in some parts, with a canvas roof was rather uncomfortable for both us and the vehicle.
in 1997, we did another trip in the same jeep, this time shorter, going around the central india bits we had largely missed, but also doing the lower himalays all the way through to Manali and back again. It was ~ 5000 km's this time, but still the 4 summer months.
the colours are accurate - but these images are just off the internet, i will go back and see if I can dig up the real ones of the mahindra we really drove around. Between trips, the jeep literally sat on the drive, being used for the odd weekend drive around town etc. At the end of the second trip, things were a lot worse, brakes were almost non existent, the tyres had worn out on the left side on both sides of the car ( almost as if the entire vehicle was leaning left all the time ). There was no second gear to speak of, it was a case of start in 1st, get the rev's up and switch to third.
We sold it to a local fruit seller who was going to use it to drag his trailer into the fresh market, for Rs.26,000 - as it stood, two weeks after we got back from the second trip, in August of 1997.
Over the course of the next 24 months, we rebuilt it, got the engine sorted out, putting in another Rs. 20,000 or so into it. Then in summer of 1996 we had something like this :
Summer of 1996, we then slapped in some new tyres and did 9,500 Km's across down the west side, into the peninsular, around the perimeter and then back up on the east side cutting through central India northwards, took a week long break at a friends farm and put the jeep on a train back home. 4 months on the road. aside from a couple of flat tyres and one oil service near Bangalore, we didnt really do anything much to the car, other than topping up the water in radiator almost every couple of days. 44 Deg C in some parts, with a canvas roof was rather uncomfortable for both us and the vehicle.
in 1997, we did another trip in the same jeep, this time shorter, going around the central india bits we had largely missed, but also doing the lower himalays all the way through to Manali and back again. It was ~ 5000 km's this time, but still the 4 summer months.
the colours are accurate - but these images are just off the internet, i will go back and see if I can dig up the real ones of the mahindra we really drove around. Between trips, the jeep literally sat on the drive, being used for the odd weekend drive around town etc. At the end of the second trip, things were a lot worse, brakes were almost non existent, the tyres had worn out on the left side on both sides of the car ( almost as if the entire vehicle was leaning left all the time ). There was no second gear to speak of, it was a case of start in 1st, get the rev's up and switch to third.
We sold it to a local fruit seller who was going to use it to drag his trailer into the fresh market, for Rs.26,000 - as it stood, two weeks after we got back from the second trip, in August of 1997.
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2013
- Messages
- 3,203
- Country Flag
We had always thought that we would come back together and do the far east of India at some point, and then the north into Leh - and then maybe do the entire central himalayas via Nepal and swing all the way to Burma. We were 21 at the time. The goal was to do this before-we-turn-35. We are all in the early 40's now. We never did do the journeys. Maybe before we're 55 
What a brilliant story, well done you guys, and a credit to the vehicle, to boot!
Great story KB. Must have been a lot of fun.
On the original post from Shayne, I think I've worked out what it looks like. Front end- Suzuki Jimny. The rest- Merc G wagon.
On the original post from Shayne, I think I've worked out what it looks like. Front end- Suzuki Jimny. The rest- Merc G wagon.
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2010
- Messages
- 6,058
- Country Flag
Great story GOK. 
Regarding the Mahindra, that is tiny in comparison to a Defender as its a Suzuki SJ/Samurai/Sierra.
They sold them here in Australia for a while and my old boss has a few.
They were/are almost as good as the original Suzuki ones but the build quality wasnt quite as good.
You couldnt pay me to own anything with a lamerover badge on it but I'd happily take a Mahindra!
Regarding the Mahindra, that is tiny in comparison to a Defender as its a Suzuki SJ/Samurai/Sierra.
They sold them here in Australia for a while and my old boss has a few.
They were/are almost as good as the original Suzuki ones but the build quality wasnt quite as good.
You couldnt pay me to own anything with a lamerover badge on it but I'd happily take a Mahindra!
