Mahindra Pik-up dual Cab, 2012

[Cyberess]

Mahindra Pik-up dual Cab, 2012

Good Points

* 4WD ability
* Factory rear Eaton Diff lock
* t's simple (will be easy to get things fixed)
* Factory mods that are available (Snorkel, Suspension kit, winch bar) these are supplied by Mahindra, and at decent pricing.
* Cheap spare parts
* Pricing
* Interior Room (This has to be the dual cab with the most leg room and that includes the rear seat area).
* Love the caption front seats
* Smooth diesel engine (quite responsive with no flat spots)
* Fuel economy
* Security alarm system as standard.

What mods have you done?
Rear Alloy Canopy body setup with side lift up doors, on the central locking system.
Dual Spare wheel setup
Snorkel
Steel bash sump guard
Steel winch bullbar
Centre Bearing Guard
Dual Battery setup
Auto Ironman battery isolator setup
Ranva 9500 winch setup
Rear reversing camera
Extra 140ltr Aux fuel tank (taking total fuel that can be carried to 220ltrs)

What mods are on the list to do?
There will be more still early days.

Why did you buy this vehicle?
Wanted to have something new that could be made into a Long range off road tourer (Long range tank, spare wheel mounts etc)

The fact that the dual cab chassis one can anything built the way they like, and how the whole build was handled by the dealer.

I wanted rear diff lock (and being a factory include swayed it the Mahindra way.

Dealer supplied everything, and the great assistance from Mahindra.

Just love the canopy setup -- Spare wheels on the back

After all the mods that Mahindra Pik-up now looks great.

How often do you go offroad?
With the Top End 4WD club

 

[cloughcarib]

Nice truck, and I like the way you've set up the tray.

 

[Scottteh]

I've never actually seen one of them before. Surprisingly looks alright. Not the best looking utes, but definitely not the worst. It looks like the little brother of a Defender!

Nice ute mate! Good to see something different!

 

[Cyberess]

I actually did consider a Defender, but it was just way too expensive, it would have added about extra $30000+ dollars to my project.. and a Defender 130 was a bit large, no air bags etc etc..

The whole Mahindra Pik-up build cost about $45000 completed with all the extras -- LR tank, winch, alloy canopy, dual battery, suspension kit , extra spares wheels etc etc-- with all the gear listed above, and that was with 3Yrs of factory warranty, plus an another 3yr extended warranty bring a total of 6 years of warranty, including road side service, and yes at that pricing it was all done by the dealer.

I did look at other utes such as Amaroks, the new Rangers, Tridents, and the new ute was nearly a Trident at one stage -- but dealing with all the dealers none of them really wanted to help me getting to the end product, just just wanted to sell the vehicle without any work, then send me off to get the vehicle setup externally -- the Mitsubishi dealer had trouble understanding I would only consider a trident with Diff lock. Hmm that's all another story.

Yeah the Mahindra Pik-up yeah I like it, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Cheers
Mark

 

[Scottteh]

I actually did consider a Defender, but it was just way too expensive, it would have added about extra $30000+ dollars to my project.. and a Defender 130 was a bit large, no air bags etc etc..

The whole Mahindra Pik-up build cost about $45000 completed with all the extras -- LR tank, winch, alloy canopy, dual battery, suspension kit , extra spares wheels etc etc-- with all the gear listed above, and that was with 3Yrs of factory warranty, plus an another 3yr extended warranty bring a total of 6 years of warranty, including road side service, and yes at that pricing it was all done by the dealer.

I did look at other utes such as Amaroks, the new Rangers, Tridents, and the new ute was nearly a Trident at one stage -- but dealing with all the dealers none of them really wanted to help me getting to the end product, just just wanted to sell the vehicle without any work, then send me off to get the vehicle setup externally -- the Mitsubishi dealer had trouble understanding I would only consider a trident with Diff lock. Hmm that's all another story.

Yeah the Mahindra Pik-up yeah I like it, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Cheers
Mark

I still think you've got an awesome ute there... with a reasonable price tag!

 

[faikwo]

Good on you for giving something different a go. The canopy looks pretty awesome. Hope everything goes well for you

 

[Dieselcon]

Wow, great price for what you got. All the best with the offroading. Some feed back on how it goes Offroad would be good.
What size diesel?

 

[Cyberess]

The Specs on a Mahindra
Engine 2.2L Diesel Common rail Engine
90kw

Yeah I get a few people asking me what's the kilo watts, it's 90Kw which is a bit lower than the other utes out there, but things ain't what they seem to be.. For instance a 2005 3L Diesel Prado is 96KW, and they are quite good to drive, a 2012 Greatwall 2L Diesel is rated at 105KW and when I took one for a test drive it did "not" feel good to drive (Flat spots). The Mahindra does feel good to drive, with no detectable flat spots, as I am still running it in I have not tried to tow anything heavy as yet..

There is a tow test of the Mahindra Pik-up done by caravanworld website by Philip Lord (You will google for it as this forum not allowing me to link it (Not enough post from me apparently)) Google for the text "Caravan World Mahindra Pik-Up tow test" -- Also remember that tow test was done on the older model with even less kw,..

As far as Off road it should do quite O.K. as the pik-up comes a Eaton diff lock as standard, and it has a far amount of wheel travel. As I was checking out the EFS suspension, I have attached some photos of the of backing the ute up on some 4WD truck ramps under the opposing front and rear wheels -- There was a little chassis flex, but all doors still closed and opened O.k. and the last photo show there is still some travel to go.. So all in all it should do quite well offroad.

Cheers.

 

[Piggins]

Very nice looking rig mate, Did you get the canopy setup done by the factory?
Cannot wait for your review once you get it muddy mate.

 

[Cyberess]

Very nice looking rig mate, Did you get the canopy setup done by the factory?
Cannot wait for your review once you get it muddy mate.

The canopy was organised by a business called "Tuffin The Truck Up" if you want to find them on the web just Google for "Tuffin The Truck Up" -- the actual canopy is a MWtoolBox Canopy. The Specs of the canopy when I was getting the ute setup is that the Spares wheels must be able to mounted on the rear of the canopy, the canopy must have central locking -- I mean why have good remote central locking then need a key to open the canopy would not make sense.

O.K. I have attached some photos
1/ Picture of the central locking setup
2/ Where I had the UHF antenna mounted
3/ An original plan that I used when planning the Canopy.

The Canopy is designed to be the same height as the cab, and the Mahindra dual cab Pik-up has a 1M high cab which suits this situation, probably why the whole lot looks nice and integrated.

Cheers

 

[LowLux]

Nice set-up. I'd like to hear some feedback on how it travels. Don't see too many of them around. Nice to have a new unit though.

 

[Cyberess]

I have been a bit busy -- haven't even done much driving in my new Mahindra..

Got out today, even some 4WD stuff.

Still early days but some Feed back -- Got a ScanGauge, only calibrated the scanguage for fuel consumption today, roughly doing under 10 Litres per 100km city driving, expecting that to drop to about something like 8 Litres per 100Km when things free up a bit.

BTW: Scangauges are a excellent addition, I have mine just stuck to my dash mat with Velcro (And it looks like it's meant to be there) -- An excellent method of adding extra gauges for fuel consumption, RPM, Kmh, water temp etc, and it's just a matter plugging it into a plug below the steering wheel.

The EFS suspension kit seems real good, giving a good ride on rough roads, and seems to have good travel. (Still early days for the suspension, will report more later).

Already ran into probs with the Aux fuel tank, discovered that the rear suspension stabilizer could hit the filler point -- so I have had filler point setup modified, and the dealer did come to the party with a part payment -- Also had the fuel tank lifted another 40mm for better ground clearance and filler points shifted up higher and behind the cabin, so the tanks can be now be filled with a Hi-Flow bowser. Much happier with the setup now, but the mods came to a cost of well over a $1000 What it takes to get the perfect setup.

The Air-con is excellent and extremely quick to cool things down -- important as I'm in the tropics. Being a high large cab, have found the cab much cooler than my old 4WD.

Weird -- front wheels seem to be already out of balance -- will get that corrected this week. Might even get the wheels realigned now that the new suspension has settled.

Found that the high seats have plenty of storage beneath them.. Finding this ute with its ergonomics really easy to live with. interior room excellent.

 

[Miket]

I'll be rudely honest, We have them as work ute and i there rubbish, but 10/10 for making it look awesome! love the back set up

 

[Cyberess]

I'll be rudely honest, We have them as work ute and i there rubbish, but 10/10 for making it look awesome! love the back set up

Hi Miket,

Interesting comment, why do you consider the Mahindra Pik-up ute are rubbish?
Have you been having issues with your work utes?
Is it a Mine vehicle? Part of a fleet?

I am interested in the issues you have been having -- might reflex latter within my ute.. knowing might help to short cut the repairs or fault finding.

There is forum South African forum on the Mahindra Pik-ups
Mahindra - 4x4 Community Forum
There is a thread reserved just for the faults that people have..
Mahindra Problems! - 4x4 Community Forum

Of course if you just don't like the Mahindra Pik-up's or you think that they are gutless or something that O.K.

Cheers

 

[Cyberess]

Just been on a 3 day trip --

On the hi way with trailer sitting on 110Kmh according the to the scan gauge was averaging 11 litres per 100km -- noticed that dropping the speed down does give better fuel economy but yeah I like to driving at 110kmh to 115kmh and that's what the cruise control is set to. I did get the gauge to read about 26 litres per 100km whilst in low range, going though rough rocky sections then a soft sandy river bed.

I did spend some time on rough corrugated roads, and off road in low range through creek beds, the updated EFS suspension as the vehicle was delivered with does it job well and quietly I might add. Yes it was a weekend of exploring.

Anyway what's a trip without some photos

Cheers

 

[Hotwheelsmick]

I work for the Mahindra dealership that supplied the work ute's for miket, our workshop complains about the mahindras all the time but when you sit back and work through there dramas they are not that bad, his work ute's are mine vehicles and they punish them like everyone else in the town that has them, but there engines are faultless, their centre bearings do fail a lot, we seen gearbox failures there is actually 5 ute's in the last 2 months we gearbox rebuilds 2 where not mine vehicles, another problem starting to raise concern is the auto locking hubs smashing the locking nut inside the hub cause unbalance and damaging wheel bearings, the 4x4 shift motor sensor has been replaced a lot, vehicles being stuck in low range or 2wd only, the parts are a nightmare but I have seen a big improvement since there new parts bloke started with Mahindra hopefully all will be sorted by end of year, but all in all they do the job!!! And there cheap, our local Toyota and Nissan dealerships are always booked out for weeks and the others independent workshops are always full of broken down nissans and toyotas, I hope some of this info could help, let me know if there is any questions I could help with

 

[Hotwheelsmick]

Oh by the way it's a good looking rig mate well done!

 

[Cyberess]

Hi Hotwheelsmick,

Thanks for your useful reply

I too have worked in the mine maint for Hamersley Iron at Tom Price back in early eighties -- driving FJ45 utes, Troupys etc .. remember that there was a TA who kept filling up a petrol FJ45 Troupy with Diesel and he wondered why it stopped about 300 meters from where he filled it up (amazingly he did it twice after the troupy got fixed). The utes on site were fairly stuffed, if you wanted to drive a fairly good one you had to hide it off to the side, and make sure that it got maintained.

Cheers

 

[Miket]

I think Hotwheelsmick has sumed it up pretty well, the work utes I'm referring to as Rubbish are fleet vehicles that go on mine sites daily, we have had new genuine parts turn up that look like you've let a 4 year old go nuts with a arc welder and a drill,
I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[Nicho]

rodeo

The canopy was organised by a business called "Tuffin The Truck Up" if you want to find them on the web just Google for "Tuffin The Truck Up" -- the actual canopy is a MWtoolBox Canopy. The Specs of the canopy when I was getting the ute setup is that the Spares wheels must be able to mounted on the rear of the canopy, the canopy must have central locking -- I mean why have good remote central locking then need a key to open the canopy would not make sense.

O.K. I have attached some photos
1/ Picture of the central locking setup
2/ Where I had the UHF antenna mounted
3/ An original plan that I used when planning the Canopy.

The Canopy is designed to be the same height as the cab, and the Mahindra dual cab Pik-up has a 1M high cab which suits this situation, probably why the whole lot looks nice and integrated.

Cheers

My 2002 TF rodeo 3lt turbo diesel is rated at 96kw and 264 nm of torque have had it since new and have had a ball with it.followed my son in his Land Rover disco up mount Terrible in the Snow and i kept up with him had a ball.Limitations are it sits a bit low and parts (as i have found out ) are not cheap .I have towed a 15 foot viscount caravan up to darwin and across the top of Queensland never missed a beat.Gives me 8 lts per 100 klms around the city 7klms a liter on a trip . I just love it too bits .

now has a tiger II 9000lb winch and an Ironman Bullbar on it need to upgrade the torsion bars but being on old age pension it might be awhile lol
cheers
Nicho