We get a quick impression of Force Motors' new off-roader.
Under the Gurkha's'designer skin' is the same basic body as the old Gurkha. It is mounted on a beefy tubular ladder frame that is also from the old Gurkha. The front suspension is an independent, double wishbone arrangement with an anti-roll bar, while the rear is a leaf spring, anti-roll bar and live axle combination. Brakes are via discs up front and drums at the rear.
Powering the Gurkha is a Mercedes-Benz OM616-derived 2596cc turbo-charged, inter-cooled direct injection (not common-rail) diesel that makes a modest 81bhp and 23.5kgm of torque. It doesn't meet BSIV emission norms as of now, but work is on to make it so. Mated to a five-speed G18 gearbox from Mercedes-Benz, it powers the rear wheels under normal conditions and all four if you stir through the second gearlever that sits between the front seats.On our short test drive at a specially designed off-road course at the Force Motors plant in Pune, a few things were immediately apparent.
The view from the driver's seat is great – the Gurkha's slim pillars don't obstruct your view much and its old-school square lines make it easy to place the Gurkha accurately on narrow off-road tracks. The two-tone dashboard is simple and straightforward. Ahead of you are the dials, which consist of a speedo, temperature- and fuel gauge with a tiny rev-counter placed under the air-con vents. The AC vents are hugely adjustable but the AC itself has no thermostat control and wasn't particularly strong on cooling.