This Sunday, I was at the right place at the right time. It was a carefully planned Mahindra Scorpio shoot, right from the Grand-daddy OG Scorpio to the Big Daddy ScorpioN.
My Thar and XUV700 being the supporting actors.
The ScorpioN here was the Petrol AT Z8L in Black.
Firstly, the appearance is good. Viewed from the front, the Scorpio-N does look great. Still, I don't like the DRL design. DRLs should have been at the top of the Headlights as a continuation of the chrome strip of the front grill. Or inside the Headlights somewhere.
DRL design looks bad to me
Side profile is ok-ish to me because looks a bit too tall and short(Lengthwise) to me. A slight addition in length would have made the side profile just about perfect.
Old Scorpio with the new Scorpio-N
Scorpio-N with my Thar Yes, pictures were shot in ultrawide (Sorry for that) so not a proper representation of the side profile.
Rear is the talk of the town now. Yes, Volvo-esque Tail lights and a slanted rear glass. The tall taillights makes the Scorpio-N look dis-proportionally tall and narrow even though its a wide car.
A split and bigger taillights assembly and a more upright rear glass would have been great for its rear stance.
Coming to the interiors, I like the brown color scheme. Although too many newly launched cars now with brown interiors (Brezza, Grand Vitara/Hyryder).
Center console and dashboard design is modern and looks good.
Material quality is good when compared to old Scorpio. Well, I am not the right guy to give feedback on interior material quality because I drive a 2021 Thar, so ScorpioN's interior is great to me. Although XUV700's interior felt better and more airy cause of the massive panoramic sunroof and white theme. Not a fan of the paino black inserts on the touch points of the Scorpio-N though.
Interior space management is certainly a mystery when compared to the big exterior dimensions. Although from my Point of view, interior space is good. My father also accompanied me, he also found the interior space good. 3rd Row is something I didn't bother to explore because it is not a requirement for me.
As per the boot space goes, the Boot space with the 3rd row up is less. Space is very much comparable to my Thar's boot space. But we can obviously fold and tumble the 3rd row of the ScorpioN and the boot space is very much usable. I will not have any complains regarding the boot space of the ScorpioN, because 3rd row will be rarely used.
Now comes the mStallion engine, I didn't drive this Petrol AT and will wait for the Diesel AT test drive car to arrive (which will arrive soon). I am absolutely floored by the awesome NVH of mStallion, not only inside the car but even with the hood open. Although this was my first encounter with the mStallion 2.0l.
For my current usage of 14-15 kms a day and 70-100 kms on a weekend, the Petrol AT makes a good case but the resale will be a massive headache back in my place. Its already a Herculean task to get a proper price for my Thar Diesel AT.
Ride quality of the ScorpioN is pretty good for a BOF tall SUV. Won't even compare it to my Thar, But from my memory of 1st gen Fortuner, ScorpioN rides much better. Although, Ford Endeavor has the edge over the ScorpioN in terms of ride quality and body control, although I had a very short ride on the BS6 Endeavor.
I am planning to book a Scorpio-N Z4 Diesel AT, main reason not to go for the Petrol Z4 AT is because of the resale issue.
But all things depends upon one key criteria. If only I get good value for the 2nd Gen Thar Diesel AT.
Final verdict:
Niggles aside (Rare Camera was dangerously Laggy), ScorpioN for the price is a good package. Yes, many people say it is overpriced (Z8L variant is overpriced) but looking at the pricing of other cars now, Still feel its overpriced?
If yes, ScorpioN being a BOF SUV is definitely not a good choice. Maybe because I never had the budget for the top variants, I feel the pricing is ok-ish or maybe because even the Maruti Suzuki Brezza or XL6 has 16+ lakh onroad price here.
Disclaimer:
These are my personal opinion and are not intended to offend anyone.
Also, this Scorpio assemble was made possible by a fellow car guy and a Good friend of mine from Dibrugarh, Assam. Kudos to him and his Teams effort.
Fellow BHPian Prakritij was also a part of the team.
Was a pleasure to be a part of the shoot.