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Oh I didn't know that, thanks for letting me know. I actually like that they didn't try brake boosting and just made it resemble a traffic light take off. Lets be honest, none of us are actually going to be brake boosting in a 2 ton SUV that we paid good money for.

Thank you for the encouragement - yes I will for sure do the TD. The questions you ask are valid and I am hoping our more experienced peers can answer that.

So far - my impression of XUV vs SocrpioN is that XUV is meant to be more urban feature rich luxurious car while the big daddy is meant to be more for people who want a rugged massive vehicle. I would have gone for Scorpio in an instant if they had offered the panoramic sunroof. I am yet to test both though. The debate carries on. While the cars are very tempting and would offer a major upgrade from my current 2016 Ertiga, I also feel I am better off buying the HyRyder/Vitara (essentially the same car is what I see so far) and get the benefit of high mileage and low service costs. Any feedback is welcome.

Since you asked for feedback (and since i'm also in a similar situation):

Would suggest TD both. Preferably back to back. How a car feels to drive should be the biggest determining factor. Everything else is secondary.

Define your budget. Please remember that the car price is only one part of the entire ownership cost. Bigger car = more expensive maintenance/repairs, fuel, etc.

Define your usage. Will it be used for daily office run or a weekend getaway car? That will more accurately frame your requirements.

Personally, HyRyder doesn't appeal to me (on paper, but yet to check it out). Creta meets my requirements (except for poor safety, constant price hikes). XUV would be the ideal car but it's over the budget.

Scorpio is just so fantastic to look (esp in black) and drive that I'm blinded to its shortcomings (third row, mileage, etc) and have to keep reminding myself that it is not the ideal car for my usage.

I will book one for sure and decide later whether to buy or not.

Yes, I meant the auto-dimming type IRVM. My mobile keyboard perhaps did an auto-correct!

Many thanks to iTNerd and Rigs for answering my queries and clearing off my confusion.

Though this omission of auto-dimming IRVM is not a major deal breaker, I would have loved the auto-dimming type. Whatever I buy next, it will be my last planned purchase (I am 45 years old).

As of now, I am interested in Z8 Petrol AT. If budget doesn't permit after 21st July (AT price reveal date), I'll compare the specifications with Z4 Petrol AT and change the cart configuration. How much compromise it would be and whether that would be acceptable considering my requirements.

My major requirements are:

Petrol (Delhi-NCR factor),
AT (damaged knee factor),
Maximum airbags, well built body and essential safety features (for peace of mind. I do not intend to drive cars like crazy even if it secures n-th star in XYZ testing),
ESP, Hill hold assist, Traction etc. (For aiding hill drives),
Power folding type ORVM (I just hate manual closing/ opening operation of the ORVM),
Rear defogger/ demister and rear washer & wiper (I could see Scorpio N rear wiper coverage is really bad, and it could be a deal breaker)- this is non-negotiable requirement.
Good lighting set-up (need to understand what are alternative options possible in Scorpio N for good lighting in fog/ rains)- this is very important since I mostly start my long drives to the hill states at 1-2 AM from Gurgaon.
A good navigation screen (I always feel guilty to keep my wife engaged in the phone navigation, she can't sleep, she can't enjoy the nature outside),
As I am gaining driving experience in situations, I could understand how important it is to ensure proper tyre pressure and near equal pressure in all tyres, specially in hills (we visit to remote places in most of the trips). Perhaps a good reliable TPMS is a requirement.

And now, the biggest question for me- "bulletproof reliability"? Is the petrol Scorpio N close to the Japanese makes in this regard? This query can't be answered at this moment perhaps. And I am eagerly waiting for the detailed feedback and opinion from the Seniors here. What can go wrong with this car that can get us stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Fuel cost is a major concern, when fuel prices are sky rocketing and it will continue with faster acceleration in coming years. At present I extract 18-20 kmpl depending on where, when and how I drive my 6 year old petrol Swift. One positive point I would again reiterate, somehow I didn't face any problem in driving it forward (from B segment tiny hatchback to this big daddy). Don't know how it will be while parking in compact space or reversing this gigantic SUV.

Yes you have said all that is on my mind. the more I read on HyRyder the less appealing it becomes. I don't assume Vitara would be much different.

Here is a quick question, would it make sense buying a mid variant of XUV/Scorpion and later get aftermarket accessories. While I 100% agree that FE and service cost would be high, however I don't want to settle for a basic car that I will use for next 5 years or more and then regret it.

You can expect a mileage of about 10 kmpl. Parking and reversing the Scorpio is relatively easy due to the visibility up front and on the sides. You should invest in a good reversing camera if the car does't have it. As far as reliability goes, Mahindra is not a Toyota. You will need to deal with niggles and move on. Thankfully, they handle most issues under warranty.

Depends on what features you are missing.

I am not looking for new car today but if I would be in market, Scorpio N's W4 mostly looks adequate (especially with AT). If you are ok with manual transmission, can go up to Z6 as well, which has almost all features including basic (non panoramic) sunroof. Anyways certain features of higher variants like climate control or airbags won't be fitted aftermarket.

Just wanted to share an observation from my commute to office today while following a older Scorpio S11. Though it is still bad but even this variant's rear wiper swipe did not cover the complete glass. It is similar to scorpio N. Now I am curious to know what could be the technical challenges behind this for such almost vertical glass setup. Do we have any other vehicle with such constraint where rear glass is almost 90 degree and wiper does not cover a 180 degree sweep.

Having this petrol Scorpio along with swift won't pinch much but Scorpio petrol for city runabouts is definitely going to be much costlier.

Unless sunroof and 4wd is on must have list, I think ScorpioN Z4 AT is good variant with an option to build a good sound setup and add cameras, parking sensors. From whatever limited launch presentation videos available even the dashboard leather is there on Z4.

IMHO, big car + petrol AT + on a budget = bad idea.

On paper the fuel cost difference may be just a few lakhs over life, but practically, every time you go for a drive, it will pinch. You will then end up not taking it out much after the initial excitement, and defeat the very purpose of having one. The car will remain mostly in the garage, neighbour's envy and owner's pride but with a low odo reading, and few driving memories.

Buy a diesel. Life free. You will keep finding excuses to take it out for a spin = miles of fun and adventure. Also, this way it won't be your last planned purchase. You can relive all the excitement of buying a new car when you're 55. :)

Please do not fall for hype. Every new launch = incessant marketing, paid influencers and artificially induced FOMO. Block all the noise. Make a budget. Make a requirements list. See what models fall into it and which ones are appealing. Go for back to back TDs. Select the car that ticks the maximum boxes.

You may find that a City top model or Creta with a pano sunroof is more suited to your needs than any of the new launches.

Happy motoring.

Drove the Scorpio N diesel A/T few days back. And honestly was bowled over.

The engine is so refined that it caught me off guard. The ride quality was the biggest surprise. Never though a Scorpio could sail over bumps without throwing around it's passengers. The visibility and the overall driving dynamics is just what one would expect from a well engineered LOF SUV.

Having driving all the iterations of the previous Scorpio, this one does feel like 3~4 generations new.

It would be very tough for a buyer to choose between the XUV7OO and the Scorpio N (if he does have the budget for both). Mind says XUV and heart says Scorpio. If I was put in that place, I would go with my heart and blindly pick the Scorpio N. The driving experience of the Scorpio (especially in an urban jungle) is unmatched by the XUV7OO.

As an Indian, I am very proud to see Mahindra rise.

Based on personal experience with aftermarket accessories, i would say buying a variant of a car with all the bells and whistles you need, should be the priority. Considering modern cars have lot of electronics, aftermarket installation has lot of assembly and disassembly requirements, which might damage parts and cropped wiring resulting in warranty issues.

Of late because of creature comforts, car has become more technology product and less of driving instrument. So if you are content with the variant as is then you won't regret it. But if you are looking for aftermarket accessories and if the fit and finish doesn't match your expectations, everytime you see it, you will regret it.
This is coming from personal experience, so i am not saying I am correct here with any assurance. Happy to be proven wrong.

Also on Hyryder, i would suggest you test drive and then take call, based on limited YouTube videos it seems to share most parts with Brezza and rear seat has low head room with compromised boot because of battery, plus one thing I understand is HyRyder is just an assit system with dedicated motor and not a dedicated series or parallel plug-in Hybrid which can boost FE drastically.
Probably a TD can help you in that decision, but still wont match XUV/Scorpio N performance.
Also Toyota did say HyRyder has AWD, not sure if its more of a marketing gimmick or the system is actually capable one.

Thanks
Sid

I 100% agree on this. Lot of people look at cars as Petrol Vs Diesel and then on fuel price and come to conclusion that petrol cars are cheaper than diesel to own initially. But in reality most petrol cars are NA engines and hence cheaper than diesel counterparts most of which have Turbo. Once you get Turbo Petrol Vs Turbo Diesel in comparison, they both end up costing same or similar ex-showroom price, rendering the argument moot.

Also based on Marathi's marketing slogan of "Kitna deti hai" is lot to do on compromised performance for FE.
And moreover driving style influences FE of petrol cars far more than diesel. Driving diesel cars aggressively can still fetch 70% to 80% of claimed Fuel economy, where as petrol cars can go as low as 50% or lower on aggressive pedal driving.

I would say Scorpio N and XUV 700 give best of both worlds in terms of performance and FE (still decent for >=2Ltr engine class).

Sorry if the response went of topic.

Thanks,
Sid

Could someone please let me know if you experienced any nosedive when the breaks are applied ?

Thanks,
Rajesh

Yes it does nosedive on hard braking, but if you have driven the older Scorpio, it is ~10% of that.

You can copy the features of top most variant in spreadsheet and rate them as must have,good to have and don't care.

If mid variant covers 90% of those must have features,just go ahead with it.May be you will observe only "good to have" features are the ones you want to get from aftermarket.:)