Mahindra Axe review: Mahindra defense vehicle road test
This street take a look at was initially printed in the September 2007 concern of Autcar India.
Why don’t you attempt this 1,” he suggests, egging us on gently. We look above our shoulders to a steep climb that qualified prospects to a form of ledge ten feet earlier mentioned the dust path below. Definitely, we have misunderstood.
We look back at him, but he smiles, nods and gesticulates in the similar way, pointing to the top rated. Certainly this ex-military man and tank commander has taken leave of his senses likely the influence of all those superior-velocity tank shells being fired only inches away from his head. All that pounding have to have remaining a deep scar, due to the fact the only way we can get up that slope ourselves is on all fours! Nonetheless, he seems to be assured. Some head-scratching, soul-looking and dry gulps later, we gingerly issue the Axe in the way of the ridge.
There’s no concern of grounding the nose, as the angle of attack at the entrance is an pretty much wall-climbing 70 degrees and ground clearance is a lofty 350mm.
So we decide on 4-wheel-drive reduced and power up the pile of rocks and shale, as the nose of the Axe points skywards, the motor rumbling and booming away. The Axe’s enormous off-street tyres claw the earth and it edges forward. . . but then stops. By now the angle of our ascent right here is so steep, our weight is similarly dispersed between the backrest and the seat, and there’s almost nothing to see ahead, only sky!
“Use a lot more power and a lot more speed the following time,” yells our performing drill sergeant and this time the Axe does make it, like a significant lizard clambering, scrambling up a rock face. This is an off-roader, guaranteed, but no 1 reported anything about rock climbing. Impressed? We had been stunned! And this was only the beginning. Only 1 aspect of this vehicle’s enormous functionality envelope.
In the earlier, Autocar India has examined our Indian-built Primary Battle Tank, the Arjun and Hindustan Aeronautics’ Sophisticated Mild Helicopter. This time we have a thing a lot more terrestrial and acquainted, but similarly Indian. And don’t consider this motor vehicle is any less unique or beguiling in comparison. It may perhaps look like a cross between a taxi driver’s worst nightmare and the acquainted American Humvee, and that’s what it is, but beneath its tough exterior is more than enough superior-tech to make a Bentley blush.
