First Drive: Mahindra Legend

First Drive: Mahindra Legend With the Legend, what you see is what you get.

A comfortable ride, great air-conditioning, quality interiors, good handling… these are some of our favourite things in a car. Manufacturers spend billions every year in getting these factors right. None of those billions have gone into the Legend, though. Here’s a vehicle that remains proudly traditional, that has no pretensions, and doesn’t strive to create any. What you see is what you get. It may be too basic and crude for regular use, but what’s your Merc for then?

The Mahindra Legend, built to celebrate 60 years of Mahindra Automotive, is based on an army-spec MM550 body, powered by Mahindra’s 3200MDI turbocharged direct injection diesel mated to a traditional four-wheel-drive gearbox with a transfer case.

A metal grille, heavy duty railway gauge metal bumpers that protrude from the super stiff chassis and a leaf spring suspension are what it proudly states as part of its character. The six extra lamps, 16-inch bling wheels, roll bar, heavy duty winch and Keshub Mahindra’s signature on the doors are what you get as standard. Oh, and it’s a limited edition version; just 60 will be built and sold by invitation, so you’ll be driving something that’s even rarer than a Ferrari Enzo. However, when it comes to how it drives, it as far removed from the Enzo as MS Dhoni is to Maria Sharapova. It believes that light power assisted steering systems are for fussy ‘Mama’s boy’ types and at low speeds; the Legend’s non-assisted steering is a highly recommended alternative for working your shoulders, chest and upper arms. Speed up and it lightens considerably, although you need to shuffle the steering in your hand several times to get the car to point in the right direction. Push the spring-loaded gearlever into first, ease off the heavy clutch, and the torque from the growling diesel jolts you forward with surprising eagerness.

On the road, it’s like an unhappy horse and the leaf springs have you bobbing over every expansion joint and ridge. This take-no-prisoners ride is certainly not for those with weak stomachs. It does have that a special mechanical feel to it, and there is very little isolation from the road; that makes you work — really work.

You can’t ignore the downside, though. The Legend is crude (a lot of vibration and noise), barely manages 100kph and talking to passengers when motoring at anything above 60kph is next to impossible.

This is the civilian version of the army Jeep, so it’s built to run through a hail of bullets and mines. And it certainly feels like it can. You sit high up and with a commanding view of the road and from here, proceed to scare the living daylights out of anything smaller than a BEST bus. Mahindra wants to portray it as a Saturday night cruiser, but the Legend would be a far more potent machine with a set of on/off-road tyres and lockable differentials.

At over Rs 6 lakh, it’s not cheap, or for that matter, value for money. The Legend is not an everyday car and if you do use it as one, you’ll probably end up being too tired after driving it to work. But then, it’s not meant to be one anyway. It believes in other things. It stands out in any company, looks great in the military green paint it comes in, and you get the complete open-top experience. And you are buying a slice of Mahindra’s history.