[smats]

I thought of penning down experiences with my Scorpio. It has 70k on the odo and is going great. I intend to use this thread to give updates on the milestones that it has gone through till date and will go through in the future.


I had been using Dad’s faithful 800 and bro’s wagonR since 2000. Around Feb 2005, I finally decided to get a car of my own. Multiple discussions followed along with several hours spend at team-bhp. One agreement was that we wanted a bigger car which can carry whole family (6 adults 2 children) together on long trips. Only 2 options were there - Innova or the Scorpio. After the test drives, the family wanted the Innova while the driver(me) wanted the scorpio.

Finally went ahead and got a blue colored 8 seater Scorpio CRDe Dx. The buying experience was not so pleasant, but nevertheless the truck more than made up for it.


1000 kms – Drive with family to Vrindavan. The truck manages 140 without much ado. The family is not so happy with the comfort levels at the back. The truck is rock steady at straight roads, but at curves it becomes scary

2200 kms – The truck gets some rocking ice. Iced it with all blaupunkt compos and a beautiful drop shaped blaupunkt woofer that fitted right underneath the last seat. The truck suddenly sounds great and everyone wants to spend more time in it.

2500 kms (late July 2005) - got a call from the dealer about engine wiring change that is to be done on all new CRDe models. Took the vehicle to the dealer workshop on Mathura road and gave it for the wiring change.
“Do ghante lagenge sir jee” said the SA

So went and killed time by test driving the Honda City, Baleno and Accent Viva. (Honda, Maruti and Hyundai have showrooms on the same road) After 2 hours reached the workshop and got the gate pass and went outside to claim back the truck and drive home
Gaddi kahaan hai?? Blue scorpio??

Abhi to yahin thi sir....uski chaabi bhi nahi mil rahi ! !

[Proxima]

You lost the car? Nice intro, carry on.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by smats

2500 kms (late July 2005) - got a call from the dealer about engine wiring change that is to be done on all new CRDe models. Took the vehicle to the dealer workshop on Mathura road and gave it for the wiring change.
“Do ghante lagenge sir jee” said the SA

Engine wiring harness change? But why? Any particular reason told by the SA?

Spike

[Utopian]

Kindly continue, smats. We are waiting to hear more.

[n.devdath]

This sounds interesting, please go on asap...and yes, I haven't heard of the change either.

[cadaver_prad]

Did they loose your vehicle? what happened after that?

[smats]

The truck was stolen from the workshop. The thief actually took the keys from the guard room and simply drove away with it. The police, the workshop guys, everyone, was zapped that how can someone drive away with the truck without anyone knowing about it. I cannot think of words to describe what I went through and will leave the agony part.

September 2005, while I am near to getting the NOC from police, and am thinking of which small car to buy, I get a call

Ham Jalpaiguri se Inspector XXXX bol rahe hain. Ye blue color ki scorpio aapki hai?

Ji..mere paas ek blue color ki scorpio thi but wo July mein chori ho gai.

Haan haan wahi…wo mil gai hai, yahaan aakar le jaiye?

The truck was found near Bangladesh border. Later during court cases I came to know that it was designated for arm smuggling from Bangladesh. It reached there via Patna.
The police along with the workshop guys retrieved the vehicle from Jalpaiguri.
Damages - The driver side door and cladding were damaged, AC was not working and the ICE was gone.

After almost a month long wait and multiple visits to the court and police station and the workshop, I finally got my truck back on 16 Sep 2005. The odo read 7800 kms.


Only 2500 kms of those were mine !


Since then the truck has gone through all its service routines and has been my only ride.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by smats

The truck was stolen from the workshop.

The truck was found near Bangladesh border. Later during court cases I came to know that it was designated for arm smuggling from Bangladesh. It reached there via Patna.
Only 2500 kms of those were mine !

That was quite a blessing to get your truck back without much damage to it. I must say you are lucky. Any photos of that time which may have been taken by you or the police at Jaipalguri or elsewhere?

Did you find any rounds or guns lying around which they might have forgotten to take when emptying the truck?

[mpksuhas]

Well, you are one among the lucky few who got their vehicle back after a theft. Also, somehow stolen scorpios keeps appearing on other side of country. Yours found on Bangladesh border. Similarly my neighbours scorpio was stolen (from Kerala) and was later recovered from Punjab after about a year. Some guys were overspeeding and hit a group of people in some village lost control hit some wall. Villagers 'treated' them good, police came and found vehicle number plate to be bogus and finally my neighbour got call from police.

[smats]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Engine wiring harness change? But why? Any particular reason told by the SA?

Spike

All the SA said was that they are changing a potentially faulty engine wiring in a particular batch of vehicles. I did not asked more details and didnt bothered then.

Originally Posted by n.devdath

That was quite a blessing to get your truck back without much damage to it. I must say you are lucky. Any photos of that time which may have been taken by you or the police at Jaipalguri or elsewhere?

Did you find any rounds or guns lying around which they might have forgotten to take when emptying the truck?

Sorry n.devdath. i don't have any pics of the scorpio with the damage. Actually it was marked for that purpose as per Police but since it never reached the border, it never carried any guns and Thank god for that !

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Well, you are one among the lucky few who got their vehicle back after a theft. Also, somehow stolen scorpios keeps appearing on other side of country. Yours found on Bangladesh border. Similarly my neighbours scorpio was stolen (from Kerala) and was later recovered from Punjab after about a year. Some guys were overspeeding and hit a group of people in some village lost control hit some wall. Villagers 'treated' them good, police came and found vehicle number plate to be bogus and finally my neighbour got call from police.

I know. i consider myself lucky to have it back. Scorpio is amongst the most stolen vehicle in the country, particularly during election times in Bihar/UP. As per the court case that followed, my vehicle was first ripped off the ICE near Delhi, then taken to Patna, but since it was not election time then, it remained unsold. It finally ended in someone's hand who was taking it to Bangladesh to bring in arms.

[raj_5004]

this is a great start buddy. a really interesting thread.

we need to know the rest of the story soon!

[Utopian]

Smats, that is just car stolen from the workshop itself. However, you got it back. How many lucky people like you are there to be found?
It seems the car developed a close affinity for you during those 2.5k kms.
Treat the "truck" well.

[chaunfa]

i also got my stolen bolero back. two weeks after being robbed it was found near a village called itauja near lucknow. the story is too long and old to be written. it was stolen from my flat in chittaranjan park delhi.

[tanwaramit]

damn to those workshop guys, if an owner wants his car, he needs to open the car, show the gate pass etc, however thief can just walk in and drive away the car. Please share which service center it was ? People need to be careful with such dealers.

The best part is that you got it back.

Chaunfa: share your story on a separate thread, however long your story be, we are here to hear it.

[smats]

After the agony of not having the veichle for 5000 kms ended, i started searching desperately for a new service station for the scorpio. Then, there was not too many options as Delhi had only 2 service stations while Noida had none.

Even though the *** (and i literally mean that !), from where my truck was stolen gave me a "lifetime Labor free" option, i never returned to it. Koncept in Noida opened up and since then am little less worried about my truck's service.

Now i don't have a habit of logging things but the journey till 70000 has been peaceful. I have njoyed the truck in pieces during my India trips. All this time it was being used and cared for in the family. Since early 2009 i have stayed in desh and have put the truck through its paces. Some milestones since it has become my daily drive

50000 (March 09) - On a trip to Amritsar, the clutch gives up. The replacement is done at Amritsar delaer workshop while checking out the new Xylo. Thank god i bought the scorpio before this "Banglization of Mahindra"

55000 (August 09) - Trip to Nainital. The truck has oodles of space at the back. We remove the 3rd row seat and it accomodates a stroller and luggage with ease. It becomes a virtual 'Big Bazaar' during the road trip with all kind of Juices/Chips/Chocolates kept at every possible corner of the truck. However during the road trip i realize that the tyres are skidding on wet surfaces and the truck is loosing grip at times. On return i replaced the tyres (original JK ELanzo tubed ones) with Yoko geolanders on Neo wheels. The truck looks great and the noise levels have gone down

60000 (January 10) - A trip to Jaisalmer comes up after reading Tanveer's travelogue. Thanks to him, i undertake a similar trip. Sambhar lake is amazing. Unlike Tanveer, i did not do any drifting or likes since am scared to do something like that on a scorpio. But the truck is great on the highway. Beautiful empty roads around Jaisalmer are gobelled without any problem. There is however increase in vibrations during high speeds and at start and stops. On return the engine check light lights up just after filling it up, but the truck is running fine. So i do what always comes first to us geeky types...I shut down the engine and restart after waiting for 10 mins. A Ha ! The engine check light is gone and never comes back again.

65000(February 10) - the whole suspension is overhauled. Shocks are changed and Engine mounts are also changed. The vibrations are gone now and its again super smooth

70000 (Apr 10) - My office commute has increased to 100 kms a day from the earlier 20kms a day, and hence the odo has gone into an overdrive. There is lot of squeaking from doors and door panels. I have been toying with the idea of adding some dampening to reduce door panel vibrations. One positive though is that the avg fuel economy has gone up from 10 to 12.5-13. This is with 100% AC, and on the DND-RingRoad-GurgaonEWay route, during not so peak hours.

I will keep on updating this thread as i continue experiencing my truck. I do have a Leh trip in mind, but not finalized as yet.

Pictures of the truck coming up in the next post.