[MileCruncher]

Hey Doc, congrats on the mHawk 4X4. Hope you have taken delivery by now. I now look forward to a detailed ownership review and some travelogues to 4X4 terrain in the mHawk.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Until one day, I started off the same rant with a close friend who works in Shell. Are you crazy? You want BS-IV? You'll just be spending money to buy trouble. WHAAAT?

Sarkar,

don't tell me you didn't know that in advance. That was one major reason for CNG over ULSD in terms of pollution!

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

@SS-Traveller: Congratulations on your purchase!

Originally Posted by sanjayatarizona

Congrats on the drive drive Sir .Perhaps ,the most awaited vehicle on t-bhp

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Hey Doc, congrats on the mHawk 4X4. Hope you have taken delivery by now. I now look forward to a detailed ownership review and some travelogues to 4X4 terrain in the mHawk.

Thanks for all the good wishes folks.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Sarkar,
don't tell me you didn't know that in advance. That was one major reason for CNG over ULSD in terms of pollution!

...was I supposed to know that? I'm not a petroleum person!

Anyway, delivery taken around 5 pm. 120 km on the odo - I know that's not supposed to be there, but it seems the car was tested at the factory for some km before being sent here. The dealer swears by the fact that it was not driven more than 10 km in their hands, and I believe them. I've somehow managed to terrify the sales guy there anyway, and a quick check with their stockyard said the car hadn't moved since delivery on 13th night - only driven to the showroom. Well, M&M must be making sure all's well for a car off a new assembly line.

First job was to remove all the plastics on the seats, and the God-awful red ribbon on the bonnet. Good riddance. In fact, the dealer's people removed it themselves, and were quite surprised that I asked them to do so. Err, I've seen new cars before, and those who matter know it's new.

Drove around in murderous pre-Diwali traffic for around 60 km, including a trip to West Delhi from South Delhi, topped up with 48.2 l of normal derv, and here I am, back home, tired of being over-careful with a brand new car which I am not used to, tired of hauling around a car which needs a little more muscle power than my Accent did (both clutch and gearshift are less smooth and light than the Accent or Swift), and immensely happy with the way half the traffic gives way to it.

Despite learned advice to the contrary, I've decided to stick to the OE set of Bridgestone HTs for now, and watch how they perform. A change may be warranted at a later stage, for which I might lose some money, but I've been happy with Bridgestones in the past despite some fairly rough use (heck, I've been even happier with Infinitys on my Accent!), and if there are the first signs of damage to them during use, out they go.

The MicroHybrid system helps to save some fuel, I guess, but needs to be kept off in crawling traffic because it activates in 2 seconds after the car comes to a standstill and the foot is off the clutch. Engine shuts down exactly when I want to get moving again.

There's a 100,000 km/4 year warranty on this car free of cost (special offer for October 2009 on all Scorpios by M&M - otherwise costs an additional Rs.9999) but I was told the extended warranty papers will come to me directly by post from the company.

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy Diwali/Kalipujo. Will update with further driving impressions as the miles pile up.

[rkbharat]

Amazing Sir Amazing,

I am hooked to all your threads for a very very long time

You have the beast that I had in my mind for some time, a 4X4 on scorp is a killer out right. How I wish they would have launched it an year back.

Sir post some more pics

[NIP]

WOW SS !! A 4x4 MHawk ! Its got to be the first on the forum. Congrats and hoping to see more pics and reports !! Here's wishing you many years of offroading thrills !!

[Jaggu]

Once again Congratz to you! Details of microhybrid will be appreciated, as in what all it does apart from switching off the engine? what about AC will it run off battery or only fan? And how is the start up, the moment you touch accelerator does it fire back?

[naveenvenkatesh]

Congrats SS_Traveller on the first M-Hawk 4WD on t-bhp. Some more pictures will set the pulse racing, if you know what i mean :-)

[suman]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

The MicroHybrid system helps to save some fuel, I guess, but needs to be kept off in crawling traffic because it activates in 2 seconds after the car comes to a standstill and the foot is off the clutch. Engine shuts down exactly when I want to get moving again.

Sorry to keep asking this on various threads - but what happens to the golden rule of half minute idle before shutdown & drive off in the case of the Micro Hybrid? I thought that was essential for the Turbo to not pack up prematurely?

Happy Kali Pujo!

[predatorwheelz]

What the!!!!

This is not fair, Shamindra Da. After being given an exclusive insight, so much discussion, and even after such a long conversation the day before you got the vehicle, you didnt tell me about the delivery?? Sob sob!

Anyway, congratulations on the car. Do call before you plan the NE trips. Might just accompany you. A small plan is brewing on my side too.

[raj_5004]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Once again Congratz to you! Details of microhybrid will be appreciated, as in what all it does apart from switching off the engine? what about AC will it run off battery or only fan? And how is the start up, the moment you touch accelerator does it fire back?

the engine will shut off in 2 seconds as soon as the gear is in neutral & clutch is disengaged. the AC fan will keep blowing but compressor will be off!

as soon as you engage the clutch to slot into first, the engine starts.

Originally Posted by suman

Sorry to keep asking this on various threads - but what happens to the golden rule of half minute idle before shutdown & drive off in the case of the Micro Hybrid? I thought that was essential for the Turbo to not pack up prematurely?

Happy Kali Pujo!

the idling is necessary only during morning starts, that is, after the car has been lying idle for a long period. in case of micro hybrid, the engine is already running & so the turbo is already in its optimum running temperature, so it does not affect the turbo in any way.

[suman]

Originally Posted by raj_5004

the idling is necessary only during morning starts, that is, after the car has been lying idle for a long period. in case of micro hybrid, the engine is already running & so the turbo is already in its optimum running temperature, so it does not affect the turbo in any way.

The idle is recommended for half a minute before shutdown as well, at least my Safari manual clearly mentions this.

[raj_5004]

yes, thats what i meant, idling is necessary during morning starts & when you shut down at your destination. idling everytime throughout the day is not necessary.

[faithless_1984]

Hey congrats on the new addition to the garage Doc.!
Its looks great in White.


Cheers

[ACM]

Originally Posted by suman

Sorry to keep asking this on various threads - but what happens to the golden rule of half minute idle before shutdown & drive off in the case of the Micro Hybrid? I thought that was essential for the Turbo to not pack up prematurely?

Happy Kali Pujo!

Originally Posted by raj_5004

the idling is necessary only during morning starts, that is, after the car has been lying idle for a long period. in case of micro hybrid, the engine is already running & so the turbo is already in its optimum running temperature, so it does not affect the turbo in any way.

Originally Posted by suman

The idle is recommended for half a minute before shutdown as well, at least my Safari manual clearly mentions this.

Originally Posted by raj_5004

yes, thats what i meant, idling is necessary during morning starts & when you shut down at your destination. idling everytime throughout the day is not necessary.

All guides on Turbo diesels will clearly mention 30sec to 2 min idle time for the car before shut down (else the filters (mesh) in the turbo get clogged with Oil which is not able to drain out.)

The Safari mentiones 30 sec, the Laura talks about 2 mins.

It believe in stop go traffic since we are already crawling along and the engine is more or less idling, this gets taken care of.

The problem situations are when we say drive the car (with turbo diesel) for more than 15 mins at at high speed, and then suddenly come to a halt and shut down the engine before the turbo which operates at a really high temperature can come to a halt.

[SS-Traveller]

@ lsp, Rajiv, NIP, naveen, faithless: Thank you so much.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Once again Congratz to you! Details of microhybrid will be appreciated, as in what all it does apart from switching off the engine? what about AC will it run off battery or only fan? And how is the start up, the moment you touch accelerator does it fire back?

Thanks again, Jaggu. The MicroHybrid appears to be a fairly simple system, wherein the engine switches off about 2 seconds (it used to be 10 sec in the earlier models) after the car comes to a complete standstill, is in neutral, and one's foot is off the clutch (won't switch off if the car is coasting in neutral with foot off the clutch). The AC blower (but not the compressor) keeps working, and so do the lights - all off the battery. This is a slight irritant at night, since with the engine switched off, I would have liked the headlamps to go off too - so I end up manually switching them off, which I am used to anyway, because I habitually switch off headlamps (but not engine) at traffic stops.

The next time one presses the clutch (as in getting ready to move off), the starter automatically cranks and the engine comes to life. This saves the two-step process of turning on the ignition & cranking, then shifting into gear and moving away. Also, with most cars I've seen, the AC blower also goes off as soon as the engine is switched off - that is not the case here. When switching off with the key, the blower fan still keeps working for a minute or until the key is pulled out of the keyhole.

One more interesting feature - the starter would not crank at all if the car is in gear with one's foot off the clutch. Get it into neutral OR press the clutch, and the starter cranks the engine.

Originally Posted by suman

Sorry to keep asking this on various threads - but what happens to the golden rule of half minute idle before shutdown & drive off in the case of the Micro Hybrid? I thought that was essential for the Turbo to not pack up prematurely?

Originally Posted by suman

The idle is recommended for half a minute before shutdown as well, at least my Safari manual clearly mentions this.

That's a question that's bothered me too. I also figured that with the MicroHybrid system armed, one mentally tries not to let the engine shut down too soon and therefore rides the clutch - which also is not good. So I've been trying out an adaptive driving technique, i.e. shift into neutral and coasting in anticipation of a stop, feet off accelerator and clutch, and as soon as the car stops rolling, it switches off. That lets the turbo cool off a bit, as well as saves the clutch from unnecessarily getting the boot!

I also took the car for a drive for about 2-3 km over some dirt tracks between Rangpuri and Ghitorni, totally unmapped territory there. Switched on 4WD though it was not really 4WD terrain, and me and my daughter had some fun. No pics though.