Thoughts on Bajaj/Tempo/Force Trax?

[Rhino08]

My 2 cents on this...

The tempo Trax SUV's are really people transporters, very basic and hardy.. The Gurkha however is a bit of an exception in that it is made to order and was really designed for the indian army.. it is truly amazing offroad, however a very difficult daily drive to live with and hence is only seen in the hands of true offroaders...

The Mahindra Bolero, The Tata Safari are two other indian offroader are better daily drives and still are very capable offroaders...

 

[Gurkha]

My 2 cents on this...

The tempo Trax SUV's are really people transporters, very basic and hardy.. The Gurkha however is a bit of an exception in that it is made to order and was really designed for the indian army.. it is truly amazing offroad, however a very difficult daily drive to live with and hence is only seen in the hands of true offroaders...

The Mahindra Bolero, The Tata Safari are two other indian offroader are better daily drives and still are very capable offroaders...

Can't compare them in any way........Trax SUV's are utilitarian and their low cost of entry meant people with low budget could well afford it. Its MB power train and G460 based design coupled with super strong suspension and tubular chassis meant it was the most reliable vehicle on Indian roads. The legendary OM616 coupled to MB G1-18 tranny and 407d diff rated for 3 tons meant average life of 400,000+ miles with moderate maintenance and severe abuse even when loaded beyond its design. Its common to see the Trax carrying 30 people at once. The Tata Safari or Mahindra doesn't have the basic credentials to be off roaders in any sense. Weak diffs, poor engine which starts drinking oil by 50,000 miles, horrid suspension which breaks down when taken off road on regular basis means they are occasional off roaders at best. The Gurkha with IFS is a dream on or off road but till now only few of them were given to the Indian public as most were meant for Germany, South Africa and other places including Israel. Thats the reason you don't see them on road but you will see them in Europe if you look carefully as they are hard to discern from older G460s. Btw have you driven a Gurkha to pass this judgement on it? OTOH, I have kept both Safari 4x4 and Mahindra Grand Armada 4x4 and few of my relatives own the nightmare called Scorpio, the 4x4 is a veritable joke needing coupling fix after few off road jaunts. Neither the Safari nor the Mahindra has any pedigree from the likes of Mercedes or any other reputed brand, the Safari DICOR was based on their nasty 407 turbo truck engine and before that, the hopelessly unreliable Peugot XUD engine, same goes for Scorpio which started its life with a modified Perkins engine courtsey M/S AVL.

FYI, Gurkha was and never will be designed for the pauper Indian army, their budget is a meagre Rs. 280,000 per vehicle plus kickbacks, Gurkha with imported German made components cross the Rs.500,000 scale and therefore even though it was demoed to Indian army, it was made for export to Germany and rest of Europe as a true 4WD utility vehicle which was marketed for farmers who needed a true off roader minus frills. It was the brainchild of Dr. Bacher who was on board of Bajaj Tempo via Tempo Mercedes Benz. In 87 it was and still remains the only Indian made vehicle to meet and get tough German TUV. Best of all German off road mag tested it and gave it the title of Haarter Im Buschtaxi and called it a toughest off roader ever to be tested. The Safari and Mahindra vehicles all have clearance of less than 200mm compared to Gurkha's whopping 238mm which makes even the TLC look small makes it the only contender for off roading along the likes of TLC FJ, Nissan Patrol LR Defender, JEEP Rubicon and G Wagen.

For further reading take a look at this site. http://www.force4x4.com/vehicle_main.html

 

[Rhino08]

Good to see you passionate about yr drive Gurkha.. Keep at it!!!

Have I driven one.. I have driven the Safari and Bolero and a Trax.. never a Gurka...I do however drive a landrover now and hence know that offroad capabilities and good interiors can co-exist..

Now I have nothing but respect for the Tempo Gurkha.. but Tempo does need to get its act together .. if folks need to consider stripping out its interior and redoing it.. that just kills the buy for me..

Would love to own a Gurkha when I am back in India .. even pay some extra money for it .. but need more from the truck inside to make it a serious consideration for a daily drive plus fun weekend drive..

Cheers!

 

[Gurkha]

Good to see you passionate about yr drive Gurkha.. Keep at it!!!

Have I driven one.. I have driven the Safari and Bolero and a Trax.. never a Gurka...I do however drive a landrover now and hence know that offroad capabilities and good interiors can co-exist..

Now I have nothing but respect for the Tempo Gurkha.. but Tempo does need to get its act together .. if folks need to consider stripping out its interior and redoing it.. that just kills the buy for me..

Would love to own a Gurkha when I am back in India .. even pay some extra money for it .. but need more from the truck inside to make it a serious consideration for a daily drive plus fun weekend drive..

Cheers!

If you like the interiors of your LR, then the Gurkha's interiors won't disappoint you, its quite different from the Trax which you have been used to. However having said that, I wouldn't want Gurkha to go the luxury route that G Wagen and TLC have taken. That would deviate from its purpose. My Gurkha has metal dash and no carpets inside, that means on any given weekend I go mud plugging with it and then come back home, remove the rubber mats and open the drain plugs and give it a thorough hosing down with no ill effects. The German importers as well as the various military it is supplied to stipulated its spartan interiors. The front bucket seats are comfortable even for a big person like myself and it comes with lumbar adjust. The spartan interiors are more than made up by extra smooth on road performance devoid of body roll and with excellent steering thanks to its dual wishbone IFS. Btw, I also own a 96 Nissan Patrol which is a very competent vehicle on its own and have also owned quite a few modded Toyota 4 Runners while I was in US, one of them with TRD parts. If you decide to get the new Gurkha, you are in luck as the new one is getting the MB OM611 and G32 tranny combo from the Sprinter.

 

[Rhino08]

If you decide to get the new Gurkha, you are in luck as the new one is getting the MB OM611 and G32 tranny combo from the Sprinter.

... now that is sweet... would you know how they are doing with the production of these? I know they had their hands full with some large orders, so what sort of wait periods are you seeing for this?

Which part of India are you in?

Cheers!

 

[Gurkha]

... now that is sweet... would you know how they are doing with the production of these? I know they had their hands full with some large orders, so what sort of wait periods are you seeing for this?

Which part of India are you in?

Cheers!

OM611 from November onwards. I live in West Bengal currently, was in Himachal after coming back from US.

 

[Gurkha]

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Gurkha in action, temp that day near Rajasthan desert was close to 50C, man gave up but not the machine, I was near heat stroke.

 

[taco2go]

Nice photo of the Tempo in action- did you drive all the way across from W Bengal ?- that must have been some trip.
I was recently reminded of the wild beauty of the Thar desert -watching Tarsem Singh's "The Fall" -he has some spectacular Rajasthan scenes in the film.

 

[Gurkha]

Nice photo of the Tempo in action- did you drive all the way across from W Bengal ?- that must have been some trip.
I was recently reminded of the wild beauty of the Thar desert -watching Tarsem Singh's "The Fall" -he has some spectacular Rajasthan scenes in the film.

Thanks taco2go,

This was last year when I was living in north, have moved to West Bengal this year. I have driven across lenght and breadth of India and in all sorts of climate and predicaments from flood, snow, sleet, heat and non existent roads.

I will post some more pics of the drive in the desert.

 

[4x4abc]

Tempo history

Tempo production started 1928 in Hamburg/Germany
It was a very popular vehicle in post war Germany
Mercedes bought the brand in 1956

 

[Gurkha]

Tempo production started 1928 in Hamburg/Germany
It was a very popular vehicle in post war Germany
Mercedes bought the brand in 1956

Thanks for the info Harald, it would also be interesting to note that Tempo and Hanomag vehicles have been made by Bajaj-Tempo limited since late 60s in India and they also make certain diesel engines for MB currently. BOSCH, ZF and Behr were also set up in India during the same time frame. The Tempo Trax Gurkha chassis is entirely based on Hanomag which used tubular chassis with double wishbone torsion bar independent front suspension. The same Bajaj Tempo is now called Force motors and they also manufacture MAN range of trucks.

 

[landamqabba]

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Gurkha in action, temp that day near Rajasthan desert was close to 50C, man gave up but not the machine, I was near heat stroke.

I can vouch for that i used to go everywhere in summer (i live in Malta) it never gave any problems! no over heating nothing now i am restoring it almost finished mine is a 94 trax gurkha bajaj with the 2.4l merc engine (not the turbo version) i have some questions tough, is there a 4x4 kit for my version and is there a 5 speed transmission?

 

[Gurkha]

I can vouch for that i used to go everywhere in summer (i live in Malta) it never gave any problems! no over heating nothing now i am restoring it almost finished mine is a 94 trax gurkha bajaj with the 2.4l merc engine (not the turbo version) i have some questions tough, is there a 4x4 kit for my version and is there a 5 speed transmission?

There is a 4x4 as well as 5 speed. My Gurkha is turbo with 4x4 and diff locks in front and rear. Send me a PM and I will give you the details. Interesting to see that the Trax reached as far as Malta, Germany and Switzerland as well as South Africa has few of them but never knew that Malta also got one.