Force Gurkha 5-door: First Look At The Roomiest Lifestyle SUV

Published October 21, 2022
Views : 41403
3 min read

This 7-seater variant seen in these images gets a bench seat in the second row and captain third row seats

Five-door Gurkha gets a similar design as the three-door model but has a longer length.
It also gets a 5-split spoke alloy wheels distinct from the three-door variant.
To also get a nine-seater option with jump seats in the third row.
Prices likely to start at around Rs 16 lakh (ex-showroom), launch expected in the coming months.

Lifestyle SUVs are getting bigger in India, as a segment and individual models. The five-door version of the Force Gurkha has been spied multiple times, and a longer Mahindra Thar is in the works, too. Now, a new spy video gives us a closer look at its exterior and interior.

Longer Gurkha can seat a lot more people

The standard Gurkha is currently offered in a three-door body style with four individual seats. On the other hand, the stretched variant has a bench seat in the second row and will offer either a pair of captain seats or jump seats in the last row.

The captain-seat variant (in the third row) is a 7-seater, while the jump-seat variant can accommodate up to nine people, albeit probably not as comfortably as the former version. Entry to the last row of seats is still via the tailgate.

From the above walkaround video, it’s evident that the longer Gurkha retains the overall aesthetics and design of the three-door model inside-out. It has the same round LED headlights and black plastic front grille with ‘Gurkha’ lettering, but has a longer wheelbase and different five split-spoke alloy wheels compared with the three-door Gurkha.

Get latest updates on
the automobile community

Inside, it has a similar dashboard layout as the three-door SUV and features such as a 7-inch touchscreen, manual AC and power windows. Rear seat occupants also get power windows, which is handy, however, there seems to be no presence of rear AC vents in such a large SUV.

It offers seemingly decent room in the second row and adjustable headrests for the outboard passengers (middle passenger doesn’t get any head or neck support from the seat).

In the back, there seems to be just enough room for the two captain seats. The existing Gurkha is already a large SUV and this elongated version will be even larger, but from the video it seems like with the last row seats in place, the SUV might not offer any more luggage space behind the third row.

However, similar to the three-door SUV, it still has space between the captain seats for storing bags and other luggage. The large metal roof rack seen in the video will likely be offered as an accessory for those looking to boost luggage capacity. Of course, if you don’t need all seven seats, the five-door, five-seater will offer plenty of room with the last row seats removed.

Force Gurkha 5-door specs

We expect that the long-wheelbase Gurkha will offer the same 2.6-litre diesel engine as the current three-door model, although it could get a different state of tune than the smaller SUV which gets a 91PS and 250Nm output.

Three-door Gurkha profile view for reference

The ‘4x4x4’ badge in the video as well as the conspicuous snorkel air intake at the front reaffirms that the longer Gurkha will offer the same off-roading kit as the three-door model. This includes a low-range transfer case and manually locking front and rear differentials. That said, it remains to be seen how different the five-door version’s approach, departure and ramp breakover angles would be due to the larger dimensions.

Also read:

We expect the Gurkha 5-door to be launched in the coming months at prices likely to start from Rs 16 lakh (ex-showroom). It’ll be a ready rival for the upcoming five-door Thar and Maruti Jimny.

Was this article helpful

Yes No