JMC Grand Avenue

JMC has given an upmarket cabin layout with new-age features and better-appointed quality materials for the Grand Avenue when compared to the Vigus. While the quality and texture of dashboard layers, trims, and inserts feel better than Vigus, they are still not in the league of other more well-established trucks in its segment.

Behind the four-spoke multi-functional steering wheel, which gets a brushed aluminium finish for the spokes, the JMC Grand Avenue gets a rather staid-looking instrument console with old-fashioned analogue gauges and a TFT MID. The middle layer of the dashboard here has a scooped-out design with a soft touch leather finish over it while having a waterfall-like cascading design for the centre console that accommodates a 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system with sleek AC vents above it.

The high-placed lower centre tunnel of the JMC Grand Avenue between the front seats gets a premium-looking transmission lever and drive mode controller. The JMC Grand Avenue is decently equipped with modern essentials like power windows, a 4-speaker Audio system, rear AC vents, a tilt-adjustable steering wheel, a powered driver’s seat, and an electronic parking brake.

Compared to the very utilitarian Vigus, the JMC Grand Avenue looks more contemporary with not-so-basicity in its visual appeal. While the overall design of the JMC Grand Avenue is still easy to the eyes, many highlights position it as a lifestyle pickup truck.

At the front, the JMC Grand Avenue has a hexagonal grille with vertical side edges and tapered lower side edges. This bold-looking grille has two large horizontal slats with mesh design within them and a dark silver finish for them while having a large JMC badge proudly sitting in the middle. The square-shaped headlamp housings on the sides of the grille have projectors within them while having LED strips for daytime running LEDs and turn indicators above and below them. The front bumper of the JMC Grand Avenue also has chrome-finished pentagonal housings for the fog lamps.

The JMC Grand Avenue has a decent stance when viewed from the side, with the pickup truck having angular lines and contours for the bonnet, door panels, and fenders. JMC is offering options of 17-inch and 18-inch alloy wheels for the Grand Avenue, which nicely fill the wheel wells below the squared wheel arches. The JMC Grand Avenue also gets body-coloured door handles and rearview mirrors for a more upmarket look. The rear profile of the pickup truck looks conventional with a simple design for the deck lid and vertically aligned trapezoidal tail lamps, which have a greyed-out effect within them for a very unique appearance.

All the versions of the JMC Grand Avenue come with a traditional suspension setup comprising of a double wishbone with coil springs at the front and non-independent leaf springs at the rear. While the suspension setup feels more sorted than that of the Vigus, body roll and bounciness are slightly evident at higher speeds. The four-wheel drive system is also offered as an option for additional grip and load-carrying capacity over adverse terrains.

The JMC Grand Avenue lineup is offered with 2.3-litre engine options in both petrol and diesel. The 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine claims 245 PS of power and 400 Nm of torque, while the 2.3-litre four-cylinder diesel engine churns out 177 PS of power and 450 Nm of torque. There are two transmission options for both the engines available in the JMC Grand Avenue – a 6-speed manual and an 8-speed automatic transmission.

While the JMC Grand Avenue misses out on ADAS, it does get all safety essentials like front, side, and curtain airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, electronic stability control, traction control, hill hold assist, hill descent control, roll-over mitigation, front, and rear parking sensors, reverse camera and tyre pressure monitoring system.

For its price, the JMC Grand Avenue comes across as a decent offering with well-balanced performance and equipment across its variant lineup. With the additional premium essence and smarter look over the more basic Vigus, the JMC Grand Avenue is a premium offering that justifies its pricing.