Mahindra Jeeto Strong First Drive Review: Small But Strong

The Mahindra Jeeto has been around for quite some time now. In fact, Mahindra claims to have sold more than 2 lakh units of the vehicle. We drove the Jeeto Strong which has better features, increased payload capacity and improved fuel economy. We tell you exactly what is on offer.

Design and styling

The Jeeto Strong is one cute looking commercial vehicle that is easy on the eyes. It has basic halogen headlamps up front and a black grille that connects the two. The bumper has a massive air intake and hollowed out space for the fog lamps.

On the side, it gets a 145/80 section tyre wrapped on a 12-inch wheel and ‘Strong’ branding on the door.

The unladen ground clearance is 165 mm. It even has a snorkel at the back to increase water wading capacity.

The deck length is 2257 mm and it can haul a healthy 815 kg of payload in the diesel variant and 750 kg in the CNG version. This is up by 100 kg over the Jeeto Plus that it replaces.

Interior

Given that it's a light commercial vehicle, don’t expect too many conveniences inside. It seats one more person apart from the driver.

There’s a basic but digital instrument cluster with readouts for trip, speed and time. There is a cubbyhole beside the instrument cluster, a lockable glove box on the front passenger side and open storage above it. There’s space for the music system in the centre console which can be retrofitted from the aftermarket.

Driving experience

You are perched high up on the driver seat with a great field of vision from the windshield, the rearview mirrors and the internal rear view mirror. We are driving the Jeeto Strong CNG which is powered by a 625 cc, single-cylinder engine that develops 20.1 bhp and 44 Nm of peak torque.

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It is paired to a 4-speed manual gearbox. The gear lever is smooth and the clutch is also easy to operate.

It can reach a 60 kmph top speed which isn’t much, but is good enough for a vehicle like this. Legal speed limits for commercial vehicles are much lower than passenger vehicles for obvious reasons. The non-power assisted steering wheel requires effort to operate, while the seat back is upright so long hours will be taxing unless you’re used to it. The suspension is stiff when travelling without load but should become less lumpy with some load in the cargo bay.

It also has electric vacuum pump assisted brakes which are a first for any sub-2 tonne weighing commercial vehicle. The brakes offer decent feedback but there will be a difference in the braking performance when the vehicle is fully loaded.

The fuel economy figure is important for a small commercial vehicle like this and the Jeeto Strong has respectable numbers- 35 km/kg in CNG guise and 32 kmpl in diesel versions.

Verdict

The Jeeto Strong diesel is priced at Rs 5.50 lakh and the CNG version retails for Rs 5.65 lakh (ex-showroom India). At this price, it's a basic but capable product for load hauling. It will be of particular interest to small businessmen or big businesses aiming for an affordable option for last-mile mobility. It competes against the likes of Suzuki Super Carry and Tata Ace Gold.