One of the emails I sent to force motors:
Dear Sir
Few Points for Gurkha
Gurkha
[ ] Mats for noise – There is lot of road noise filtering in to Gurkha along with noise of metal vibrations. With three layer of mats I have been able to reduce this. But I guess with proper wurth coating or rubber coating the vibration noises can be contained.
[ ] Door opener - Hits the knees. This becomes an issue when travelling long distances, I have covered 1000 kms in one go and I know it starts to pain as it is very hard plastic. I now when going for long drive usually wear crepe bandage to avoid hurting my knee.
[ ] Tire size - The current tire size reduces Gurkha’s clearance. 7.5 x 16 are good tires, if you cannot get them then 235x85x R16 are next best size. I have tried almost five sets in Gurkha with 15” and 16” rims. My best tire till now has been Cooper discovery STT 235x 85 x R 16. Gives good ground clearance and torque also does not reduces drastically because of usage of wider tires.
[ ] Paint quality – There has been bubbles coming out in paint. Also I have seen while off-road when there are scratches or anything the paint actually peels off.
[ ] Cutting of boards near fan
[ ] Extra fan
[ ] Seats not at 90 degree
[ ] Hose pipes touching metal
For these above points I have sent two separate emails, which you have received earlier. I believe these have been sorted in new Gurkha except for Extra fan for condenser.
[ ] Loose bolts - Bolts are either of shoddy quality or are not tightened properly. Once my alternator got loose and other time the engine oil compartment screw got loose and would have drained engine oil had I not checked it accidentally!
[ ] Bonnet welding and opening wire : The cross under bonnet has a weld which breaks after use and then the Bonnet vibrates a lot resulting in noise. The vibrations have caused an issue in my vehicle where it is not opening by use of bonnet opening knob inside the cabin.
[ ] Rear seats high and have no leg space. I moved them back for the same. Also The seats can be modified by chamfering the edges in the wheel arch by 2” on each side and then fitting two bucket seats inside, which will reduce the height of the seats thus the rear passenger heads wont hit the roof and they will have a clear view from front windshield. Also now since space on wheel arc is freed they could be used for placing speakers, or storage space or proper glass holders.
[ ] Water separator is made of plastic thus it breaks. We can either have a changed design or fit metal water separator.
[ ] Accelarator pedal breaks. This pedal is made of Bakelite along with sensor. If we can run two metal strips from the side of pedal, the issue would be resolved.
[ ] 4x4 gear stick reduced in height. I did reduce the height of gear lever by two inches as the drivers or the people in dealership first just pick the 4wd lever and slot it in 4H. They then forget to place it back in 2wd mode. The issue is the gear lever is tall enough and confusing to many people who do not know what 4x4 lever is to be used for.
[ ] Plan lock for diff lock levers : the people in Dealership use the diff locks as Hand breaks as it resembles Toyota Qualis hand breaks. Either there should be a locking mechanism or the shape should be changed slightly for avoiding this situation of confusion.
[ ] Horns : The horns are not very great and tiny for this size of vehicle.
[ ] Wiper assembly : The wipers are pretty bad and during heavy rains they fail to function properly
[ ] Wind shield washer pipe is of poor plastic. The pipe comes out because of heat and just withers away so most of time the windshield washers are not working.
[ ] No heater or defogger, this has been done.
[ ] The front roof should have a sleeve or depression before it connects to windshield. As when it rain or even when it is raining very slowly the water on roof pours down the windshield.
[ ] The rear windows open up because of vibration rendering AC useless and lot of vibration noise. It would be good if they can be rolled down.
[ ] The front bumper should be winch ready and not this plastic bumper. Besides killing the look it is of no use.
We can also put a rear door for easy exit and entry for rear passenger if possible.
These are few of the items I was able to think off hand and there can be many more which will come out in further use. Please feel free to ask me in case my points are not explanatory.
Regards
Rahul
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for those thinking about "For these above points I have sent two separate emails, which you have received earlier. I believe these have been sorted in new Gurkha except for Extra fan for condenser."... Please go through this thread ...
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ve...-kms-done.html