Mahindra Pick Ups

[R.I.D.E.]

The old Toyota T100 was one of my favorites with the 2.7 four cylinder. Put a 2.5 turbo diesel and a 6 speed manual or dual clutch auto and you could gear it to get 30+ with some decent aero. I think it had a full sized bed.

regards
Gary

[Robert]

All the reading about posts geting hyped up about 30 mpg diesel.
In early 1980's ..A man named Moody...took the time to put this midsize car together...and was averaging 80 mpg...using a 3 cylinder perkins diesel...geared out right...

He took it to congressional hearings...and all he got was a deaf ear syndrome.
Europe 65 mpg????
India 30 mpg????
6 speed tranny...gear bound.

Just my 2 cents.

Robert

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by Robert

All the reading about posts geting hyped up about 30 mpg diesel.
In early 1980's ..A man named Moody...took the time to put this midsize car together...and was averaging 80 mpg...using a 3 cylinder perkins diesel...geared out right...

He took it to congressional hearings...and all he got was a deaf ear syndrome.
Europe 65 mpg????
India 30 mpg????
6 speed tranny...gear bound.

Just my 2 cents.

Robert

Here's an article on that: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...916788,00.html

This was Ralph Moody, half of Holman and Moody, builders extraordinaire of NASCAR winners for many years. A real person, not a crackpot. Be interesting to find out what happened with this car.

[cems70]

I called Mahindra's USA headquarters in Atlanta a few weeks ago to ask when it's expected to be available. They said June in the Atlanta area and in my area - RI/MA- around August. They expect the EPA to verify Mahindra's 30 - 33 mpg combined city/highway fuel economy estimate. I read somewhere that highway FE could be as high as 39 mpg.

I'm considering purchasing one along with a slide-in camper to use for business this summer through the first few months of 2011. I'll be on the road away from home quite a bit and would rather put lodging expenses towards an asset instead of throwing it away on a hotel. The only issue is a fully self-contained, one piece non pop-up camper (with an inside shower) gets pretty heavy and perhaps too long for the Mahindra bed. At around 2,000 lbs loaded, the weight of the camper may drop the fuel economy well below 30 mpg. The empty curb weight of the truck is already just over 4,000 lbs. In that case, a used Sprinter RV that I'm pretty sure I can average 28 - 30 mpg with may be a better alternative. But the Sprinter does not have the dual utility of being an empty pickup truck.

Steve

[theholycow]

Payload is 2400-2700 pounds, so a very light truck camper could work. However, will it fit in the bed?
http://www.mahindrana.com/pdf/specsheet.pdf
The bed dimensions for the 2 door are ~92 inches long, 44 inches between the wheelwells, 53 inches wide at the rear. The width may be an issue.

The aerodynamic implications of a camper are far worse than the weight. I would not expect to approach 25mpg even in the Mahindra with a camper. The Sprinter with its stock exterior would probably do better.

[Jay2TheRescue]

The sprinter class B RV's were what my dad was looking at really hard before he bought his RV. (Because of fuel price concerns) At the time diesel was over $4/gal. He ended up buying a 6 month old used class C on a Ford E Series super duty chassis because he got an incredible deal on it. I had talked to him about the longevity of the diesel engines, but the diesel required more oil per oil change, a more expensive filter, etc. He figured the gasoline engine had cheaper maintenance.

[cems70]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Payload is 2400-2700 pounds, so a very light truck camper could work. However, will it fit in the bed?
http://www.mahindrana.com/pdf/specsheet.pdf
The bed dimensions for the 2 door are ~92 inches long, 44 inches between the wheelwells, 53 inches wide at the rear. The width may be an issue.

The aerodynamic implications of a camper are far worse than the weight. I would not expect to approach 25mpg even in the Mahindra with a camper. The Sprinter with its stock exterior would probably do better.

Yeah, at 94" - 97" wide for an 8.5' - 9' long camper, about 20" would stick out on each side of the bed. But the 7.5' long bed is long enough to accomodate an 8.5' - 9' camper.

I'm probably better off with a Sprinter RV, but they're pretty pricey at around $40,000 used.

[cems70]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

The sprinter class B RV's were what my dad was looking at really hard before he bought his RV. (Because of fuel price concerns) At the time diesel was over $4/gal. He ended up buying a 6 month old used class C on a Ford E Series super duty chassis because he got an incredible deal on it. I had talked to him about the longevity of the diesel engines, but the diesel required more oil per oil change, a more expensive filter, etc. He figured the gasoline engine had cheaper maintenance.

I'm sure he crunched the numbers carefully before he made his decision, but it's hard to imagine that the cheaper maintenance on a gas engine can make up for the lifetime fuel savings from a 30% - 40% more efficient diesel engine, even if the diesel is slightly more expensive than gas.

In the class B categoruy, I figure a Sprinter RV is good for 28 - 30 mpg versus 18 - 20 mpg for the most efficient comparably sized gas RV (like a Winnebago Rialta?). Over 200,000 miles, the Sprinter would use nearly 4,000 fewer gallons and $20,000 less in fuel at $5 per gallon.