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Originally Posted by 4x4addict All I can say is that I am glad there are so many of us who live in the hills and drive steep inclines with 11 people on board. If not for the 63 bhp MDI3200TC engine we would have to use a bullock cart. Since no modern deisel engine can climb steep slopes with 11 people on board. But frankly of all the people who praise this engine, I know only 3 to 4 people who use it every day including your's truly... Let us actually see how many people would buy this engine for a personal vehicle. |
Please keep in mind the local NGO's requirements, which is what I started this discussion with.
But sales numbers would be easy enough to look into, and I think they'd bear out the reality that tens (hundreds?) of thousands of "normal" non-hill people have been choosing the DI (i.e., Bolero) for private vehicles. Up here in Manali there are just loads of them, almost none being taxis (mostly Spacios take that role, for their roomier interiors); I just met the very satisfied owner of a Scorpio M2DI a couple days ago, too; People want these engines and have kept buying cars so-equipped simply because they provide a great overall ownership experience and suit the general conditions well, even when lugging far less than 11 passengers. I'll freely admit there are "nicer" (much less NVH, more powerful bhp-wise) modern engines out there.
But lest it be considered merely a hill-sensation and therefore a marginal / specialized application and clientθle, should mention the many private ones seen coming up from the Punjab plains packed with family members and their luggage, too. I suspect that there in the Indian breadbasket, there are probably strong positive associations with the M&M DI tractors (575DI, etc) as well, which have supported these passenger-car sales. As DB indicated, the DI has truly been a brand... its eventual, inevitable demise notwithstanding.
In the hills you don't need extreme inclines to appreciate the DI's torque-curve superiority vs. that newer machinery, either. When I drove the Scorpio mHawk 4wd out to Spiti a couple years back, there were only 4-5 persons aboard, and I was appalled that it could hardly get moving (once stopped) on the fairly mild climb at Rani Nallah, Rohtang Road; it was requiring heavy throttle/serious clutch abuse to build sufficient boost in 1st gear, until I just gave up and put it in 4Low - but what can 2wd owners do?... Whereas in truth our old DI - also with five aboard, could get going on with hardly even touching the accelerator. This was not just a problem of "me" as a driver; EVERYONE running up to / beyond the pass complains about it. So every time I have to start out on an incline (a notable one a couple days ago in Kullu, but pretty much every day when slipping into our parking spot at home) in our own car, I'm grateful for the low-rpm "grunt" tuned DI. It just makes sense up here. Again, they also have a reputation for being fairly abuse/neglect-proof, and if they do break down, they are roadside-repairable - a real benefit when you're three hundred km's from the nearest workshop (Manali-Leh, etc). This is not an unrealistic scenario - I can remember a local mechanic being sent out to Sarchu to repair a Spacio (DI) late in the season a couple years ago. I think he actually ended up doing some major overhauling, nothing he couldn't manage with a very basic set of hand-tools: and a few days later he came back smiling!).
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Originally Posted by JKDS I think the salesman is un-equipped to handle the query, because I recall that the first salesman I spoke to didn't even know that this model existed. I guess it's also to do with monthly targets and incentives. I'll try and find out from the dealer I bought from in Kolkata whether only the LX 4x4 model has been discontinued (seems unlikely, as it is targeted at Government sales, as per disclosure from Mahindra on the website itself). Till then, let's keep our fingers crossed. |
Wish it were that simple. As mentioned above, the salesperson here is fully aware of the LX model (has sold a number of both these and the base DI 4x4 up here, including a private one to a friend some time back) and knows he's losing sales by not having it available.
Latest: I'm friendly with the RTO up here, and a few days after my previous post was sitting in his office, where he and another official were poring over legal wordings trying to figure out whether they could register a BS-III schoolbus that had been purchased new just a few days BEFORE the latest state directive arrived - which apparently bans sub-BSIV registrations. So perhaps the rural areas of the nation will no longer be immune, and M&M has just quit the model, at least till they can figure out which BS-IV engine will work for it.
If anyone comes up with additional info, I'd be most appreciative.
Thanks,
-Eric