[jalsa777]

A limousine hire service will be starting in Mumbai soon. Here's a brief about the service and a look at the car.



Positives:

• It provides a sense of arrival that is unmatched.
• Ample space on the inside for 5 - 6 people.
• Ultra-comfortable ride.
• Security and non-alcoholic refreshments are included as part of the service.

Negatives:

• Is a major attention grabber, controlling the crowd could be an issue.
• Ingress and egress could be a bit challenging for ladies in sarees (not for the bench between the doors - but the other seats).
• Might not fit into driveways of certain hotels (that would be embarrassing if you had to walk the last 10 meters).
• Monster turning circle could hinder accessibility to certain roads and localities.

About the Service:

• The car will be available for hire on an hourly basis, after a minimum of around 8 hours. (Different packages and pricing are yet to be finalized).
• The car will be accompanied by a Chauffeur and an additional helper. The Chauffeur also provides security for the guest and the car.
• A follow vehicle with 4 security guys can be arranged. (for the protection of the car, crowd control, etc).
• Soft drinks provided, along with glasses, ice, tissues, etc.

PS: Thanks to Rehaan for some of the points and pictures.

[jalsa777]

Exteriors:

This car is L-O-N-G, it’s a 120 inch stretch (measured from front door to the back door) on a Lincoln Town Car. This is the smallest stretch for a limousine in the traditional sense and hence was chosen for India. To give an idea, Hummers are usually stretched by 200 and 220 inches !

It was manufactured in 2004 and has been stretched by DaBryan Coach builders based in Missouri, USA. The Lincoln Towncar has had the same shape and design since 1998. Hence, the 7 year old car doesn't look like an older generation car. Very useful for limo and taxi services.

The car is powered by a 4.6L V8 producing 239 hp of power and 389 Nm of torque. There's a 4-speed automatic transmission transferring power to the rear wheels. Fuel economy is a bit low at around 4 to 5 km per litre of petrol, but not surprising at all bad considering the size and weight of the car. (It returned 6km/l on the long and empty roads of North America)

The white colour and the roof which is covered in beige fabric make it look imposing. The car will definitely get a ton of attention.

Imposing and tough looking front-end:






Did I not mention that it was LONG:


Even the bonnet looks like its been stretched! (PS: Its as it was from the factory)




The old-style headlights give off the car's age:


No clear lens treatment here (I feel it actually looks better this way):


The hood ornament oozes class:


Notice the beige fabric covering the roof, there's metal underneath it, so no problems in the rain:


The wheels look like they are bullet proof:


Enter the correct code to gain access! (This is the driver's door):


The coach builder's monogram:

[jalsa777]

Interiors and Ride

A limousine is all about space, comfort and amenities on the inside and this car delivers on all three of those counts

All the seats (or sofas if i may call them that) have great cushioning and are leather trimmed. Leg room is very generous (obviously!). Seating capacity varies depending on the degree of comfort the passengers want. The rear sofa will occupy 2 passengers. The other long sofa will carry 3 very comfortable and probably upto 5 or even 6 if they are willing to be a bit cramped.

The amenities include a stereo with 4 speakers and a woofer, 2 small LCD screens, mirrored roof, colour-changing fiber-optics all round, bottle holders, glass stands at a lot of places, ice boxes, etc.

The whole glass area is covered with 5% visibility tints. Thus, it would be very hard for people to peep inside (and believe me there will be a lot of them who'll try). Also, it will help the AC cool this massive cabin space. We were comfortable but it was with ambient temperatures in the range of 25 degrees. The AC might have a tough time in the Mumbai summers.

The interiors surely look and feel dated. The switches look like they come from a by-gone era, the LCDs are small and the Stereo is old. The acres of wooden trim might not be to current tastes (but that's subjective, I for one did not mind it) but considering that this car will be used more for impressing the people outside rather than inside, i feel the interiors are quite acceptable.

The vehicle has the typical wafty American car feel. Soft air suspension and smooth slushbox automatic gearbox add to that feel. There is no engine noise heard (the engine's just too far away!) and the suspension soaks up all the bumps. The long wheelbase ensures that nothing's tumbling around. The passengers are completely isolated from the road and even the surroundings to some degree.




Notice the mirror on the ceiling. No sunroof here:


Perfect for 3 passengers, but 4 would also do:




Those are the glass holders. The small dots on the mirror are actually fiber optics. This place will come alive once its dark:


These are for long stemmed glasses:


Ice Box:


The crowd just never moves away:


The arm-rest has ample cushioning:


The privacy window rolled up. The passenger as well as the driver can control this. (But the driver can disable passenger's control for safety reasons)


LEDs, fiber optics and AC vents are all over the car:





Control panel for the passenger:


Ancient switchgear:


Passengers can control privacy window from here


Well illuminated vanity mirror. It even comes with dimming control:


The transmission tunnel hump is huge.


Talk about leg room. Now this, is a CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR !




Intake vents for the Air Conditioning unit:


Seems like the car was with Atlantis resort for sometime:

[jalsa777]

Misc. information:

The car is based at Malad in Mumbai. It has been in India for 2 months now and was driven down from Hyderabad to Mumbai in about 20hrs. (imagine watching a stretch limo overtake you on the highway... )


Here are some pictures of the 'front seats' and the driver's compartment:













Look at the kilometer reading !


I told you that the car grabbed some attention. Look who came to check it out !

[SRK]

That seems to be a nice service to be launched.

But how come will the car run on International plates?
Does that mean its going to fly back within a year at the most?

Interiors could have been better, specially those mats (they are an eyesore).

Wouldn't it have been better for the company to get a Limo done on an Indian car by DC and offer that?

[libranof1987]

Old or not, it's going to find plenty takers! Premium luxury at it's best.

Btw, how is it still running non-Indian reg. plates? It should ideally be registered in India, right?

[MARCUS_520i]

Looks good!

Two questions:
1. How did the company acquire permission to operate the vehicle for commercial purposes, but running on US license plates?
2. How much does the service cost? (8 hours minimum and then hourly)

[NIP]

And how is a left hand drive car allowed to be imported !?? Is this legal ?

[CRDIsamir]

Last Year I had been to Ludhiana for some business work & training. There I happened to see a couple of Limousines built on Sumo Grande & Mahindra Xylo. Any BHPian from Ludhiana share detials of the Indian built Limousines which I could not see in detial but I would like to share that from what I saw it was a good job done.

[drsnt]

last month I was at my home town in haryana and while crossing Rohtak I saw two Limo one a hummer and other a Merc, parked at on the city out skirts some road side vanue.

[mohit]

Interesting! Its the first time I have seen an Ontario plated car in India - fairly recent registration too. Is the car down temporarily? I see that even the mats are from here (I use the same one as a one piece rear mat in winter for my Civic!)

Its definitely a great idea given the penchant for people to show off. If they can manage to maneuver the car around comfortably,there should be many takers for this service.

[vinjosep]

those are Canadian plates. Wonder how much they had pay as tax for importing it.

[mayankjha1806]

"Who came to check it out?" in the last picture, you meant the cop right. I was trying click on the picture to open a bigger version to see if there was some bollywood personality standing there .

Seriously they would be the first ones to use something like this most probably.

[lamborghini]

How was he able to import a used LHD?
Had a stint in a brand new lincoln towncar - not the limo recently.
I found the backseat to be the most comfortable in the class - felt like one was sitting on foam!
But that aside, I found the engine lethargic, FE was dismal at 8kmpl avg (over 2000kms) in Canada on the highways - it will definitely be much worse for this model in Mumbai - 2kmpl is my guesstimate. The handling was poor - lots of body roll, and the ride was a little to soft for my liking (I prefer stiff suspensions though). Also, the feature list was poor - though i really liked that one could adjust the height of the accelerator and brake electronically. Found that quite nifty!

However, since this is a few years old, I don't expect much from it in terms of comfort. More of an attention grabber. If I had a choice, I would pick the 300C limo that was doing rounds in Mumbai a few years back. Sat in one in Vegas, and it was terrific in terms of space and presence.

[Animesh]

I have seen this limo at Bandra Kurla Complex (Mumbai) multiple times during the last 10 days. IMO, it looks very very dated and doesn't looks swanky at all. Not from the outside and certainly not from the inside. I wonder with the kind of traffic we experience here in Mumbai, who would be so lame to rent this one.