[eq24]

Originally Posted by Honda Monk

But HM is HM.
Good news is that HM Mitsu are at the verge of separation, so time to cheer as Mitsu will definitely look to improve its presence all alone.
Regarding the vehicle, I think none need to advocate that pajero is a time (in deed ages) tested vehicle that we all know. Moreover you have driven it yourself. With Fortuner and Pajero you need not worry about reliablity and durability.
Well for Rexton it's an unknown territory and none can say how efficient and learned mahindra mechanics would be to give a good technical support. I think if its a full import vehicle then you can have international reviews on he same. But I believe we should give it some observation period.

This was mentioned by the SA's at both dealerships that Mitsubishi is indeed separating from HM, when is not clear though. But the bigger thing was, and this is as mentioned by the SA, that me and my father was the only customer they had all day at around 4 PM, whereas at the Toyota next door, the Fortuner had a mad rush around it. So just can't figure out personally why the PS is not gaining traction amongst the masses.

One correction my friend, the Pajero Sport has nothing to do with the Pajero lineage as it is based on the Triton Truck a very different vehicle, but I get your point about the reliability part.

[Honda Monk]

Originally Posted by eq24

So just can't figure out personally why the PS is not gaining traction amongst the masses.

One correction my friend, the Pajero Sport has nothing to do with the Pajero lineage as it is based on the Triton Truck a very different vehicle, but I get your point about the reliability part.

Even when writing about PS I knew that you or somebody will point that pajero ans Pajero sport dont share same platform. But we can think of the lineage!
Marketing is something that can make or break your brand or product. Toyota marketed it well and making sure they get large billboards across the country whereas HM thought its waste of their leisure time.
It's only 2 weeks back that I saw first PS billboard. No newspaper ads, no TV commercials nothing at all. How is one supposed to get info about a new launch vehicle?
When HM is not bothered to sell at first place, What will they do afterwards (Read Fall VICTIM) one can imagine!?!
I hope and wish that Mitsubishi get itself distanced from HM (Light years away) and takes the lead and market it well. I believe there is required a little more price correction, after all they are straight competing with fortuner.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by eq24

Can someone just for the sake of economics comment on the resale values of these cars say 3 to 5 years from now.

Thanks Akshay, the Pajero is indeed winning in my books right now and I appreciate it mainly for the amazing drive and better interiors. The features are mostly aftermarket fittments and will be done anyways.

Well the Fortuners resale value is probably going to be the highest, but the Pajeros won't be too bad either, I mean going by the current resale values of Pajeros. The Rexton would be substantially lower than both.

[TRANSAM]

just to give you an indication, a friend, picked up a Fortuner 4x4, 2011, 16k on the odo, last month, for 21.25 in Mumbai, single owner and Mumbai registered. This wasnt through a dealer and a private sale. I reckon if the deal was through a dealer, the car would be sold @ 22 or so.

So its fair to say the Fortuner, has a fantastic re-sale viz a viz the others mentioned here. OT-Another Mahindra vehicle (not in your consideration) that stands well in the re-sale is the XUV 500, W8's 2011 going for like 13..

Do update us about the Rexton and your final pick..good luck

[eq24]

Originally Posted by TRANSAM

just to give you an indication, a friend, picked up a Fortuner 4x4, 2011, 16k on the odo, last month, for 21.25 in Mumbai, single owner and Mumbai registered. This wasnt through a dealer and a private sale. I reckon if the deal was through a dealer, the car would be sold @ 22 or so.

So its fair to say the Fortuner, has a fantastic re-sale viz a viz the others mentioned here. OT-Another Mahindra vehicle (not in your consideration) that stands well in the re-sale is the XUV 500, W8's 2011 going for like 13..

Do update us about the Rexton and your final pick..good luck

The fortuner even I figured has better resale values.

So just came back from GSP motors Gurgaon after seeing the Rexton, Their Automatic version was not available as the vehicle had an accident, they wanted to show me the Manual but there was no point as the differences between the two were quite high so I persuaded the SA a gentleman by the name of Shrawan, who I must say was not only extremely professional but also very knowledgeable on the car. So as I was saying asked Shrawan to take me to their stock yard and show us Auto vehicles there. He agreed and I took him in my car to their yard on the NH 8 around 15 KM from the Sales center. OT - I did see a Kerala registered Scorpio with Team BHP stickers on the way on Sohna road.

Anyways there were 8 or 9 Rextons standing in the yard all waiting for delivery. Now I will try my best to describe this car as best as I can.

Exterior - It is not butch looking like the TFORT or the PS but has a very gentlemanly look more on the lines of the M, of which it is derived. So it basically looks more cross over than proper SUV, even though it is a body on frame structure. The car is bigger than its competitors but due to the lines it has, does not look so. The front grille is beautiful and so are the lights, has proper DRL LED's, which was nice. There are a lot of badges on the car though, it seems Mahindra wants every one to know that this is a Rexton.

Interior - The interiors are very plush and have a luxurious look and feel. Plastics are good to touch and the leather looks and feels that it will last the time. The after market Kenwood unit does not actually feel aftermarket as compared to the T FORT. Seats are comfortable as are the back seats. A big point here I am 6'2 and weigh 96 KG and I fitted perfectly in the third row and even if I had another soul in there it would still be OK for at least a normal 2 to 3 hour drive. More than that I can't comment, the point is I fitted fine and didn't mind it at all. The second row has fully reclining seats so another point there. Sun roof though is a gimmick for India but nevertheless works as intended and does feel nice to have.

I could not drive the car so can not comment on that aspect but have fixed something in a days time.

I will add more to this report tonight as leaving for the Mercedes dealer ship now as the B class just came up in the contention. Will brief why and how this happened in the evening.

Cheers

[eq24]

Another hectic and crazy day but thankfully the decision has been made.

The Mercedes B Class suggestion was made by a close friend, so we thought what the hell, lets check it out. But on first look itself we knew this was not the car for us. It's a lovely car don't get me wrong, but it had some drawbacks which we could not get over. These were

Petrol - At more than 20,000 km running in an year and that too to Himachal Pradesh, this was not economical.

Space - The B has loads of space, but still can not fit 5 in comfort.

So we thanked the guys at T and T and returned home.

Fortuner - The black auto I had located was lost and now the waiting time had gone up to 5 months for White/Black. More over with the budget coming up, there was bound to be a price increase by the time delivery was made. And it felt quite bland on the inside. More over and I really don't care much about this but it is so common. There are around 10 fortuners on my street alone, out of 30 odd houses. So the Fortuner was out.

Pajero Sports - This was a front runner but HM and Mitsu were coming up as a big hindrance. We just learned from someone who was one of the first allottes of the Sports at 23.53 lac ex showroom was furious when they dropped the price to 22 in less than three months. His point was what if Mitsu takes control and reduces the price further to compete, the existing users would be badly affected. And one more thing was with all the accessories and fitments planned our choice was touching 27.5 OTR. SO the pajero is also out.

So that leaves me with the last and final contender, who had it not been the advert in the Times would not have even be considered. The fit and finish is amazing, It is fully kitted, has decent lineage, good engine. So without even a TD we today booked the SSangyong Rexton by Mahindra in Volcano Black for 22.2 OTR.

Good decision or not only time will tell, but as of right now we are all very happy with our choice. I will post a detailed review once I get the car.

Thanks to everyone who helped.
Cheers

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by eq24

So without even a TD we today booked the SSangyong Rexton by Mahindra in Volcano Black for 22.2 OTR. Cheers

Congratulations eq24. But I strongly suggest you do 2-3 test drives before final delivery. Not a good idea to buy a vehicle - especially a SUV - without proper test drives. That holds true (for BHPians at least) whether you are buying a Merc or a Maruti Alto.

Edit: Black looks really nice on a SUV, but can be a pain to maintain (speaking from personal experience). Overall it is worth it!

[eq24]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Congratulations eq24. But I strongly suggest you do 2-3 test drives before final delivery. Not a good idea to buy a vehicle - especially a SUV - without proper test drives. That holds true (for BHPians at least) whether you are buying a Merc or a Maruti Alto.

Edit: Black looks really nice on a SUV, but can be a pain to maintain (speaking from personal experience). Overall it is worth it!

Thanks for the wishes, You are right about the Test drive part though, we have put a clause in the booking and the SA has signed and stamped it as well, that unless we get a TD in a weeks time of the booking, we will take back the money. The SA has assured us that the TD will be provided in a couple of days time as the vehicle is damaged.

I am getting a lot of flak from relatives and friends as well, as to why have we agreed to take a car with no history in India and that too such an expensive vehicle. The Oh My God what have we done feeling is slowly creeping in as well , its all down to the brand only, otherwise it was a fantastically kitted car and I hope it drives well too.

Yesterday I had a tough time even explaining to people what SSangyong was and in the end everyone was like so you have bought a Mahindra for 22 Lakh .

God I hope we have made the right decision.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by eq24

So that leaves me with the last and final contender, who had it not been the advert in the Times would not have even be considered. The fit and finish is amazing, It is fully kitted, has decent lineage, good engine. So without even a TD we today booked the SSangyong Rexton by Mahindra in Volcano Black for 22.2 OTR.

Congrats. This, I believe is the first Rexton on TBHP. What variant did you book, the manual or the AT?

What are the timelines promised? Did you take a TD? How much is the warranty?

[eq24]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Congrats. This, I believe is the first Rexton on TBHP. What variant did you book, the manual or the AT?

What are the timelines promised? Did you take a TD? How much is the warranty?

Thanks for the wishes, We have booked the RX 7 Auto variant, the warranty is the 20,000 or two years. Delivery is end February.

Ironically the Fortuner is now suddenly available at more than 3 dealers in Delhi , apparently more than 10 people cancelled, and Toyota SA's are pestering me to ditch the Rexton, his exact line was Sir SUV means Fortuner.

The Pajero Sports guy called as well and wants to come to Gurgaon with the vehicle just to convince me again that the Rexton is indeed a very bad choice. He is even promising that all the price changes are a thing of the past now and no new structuring will take place.

How things change, till yesterday afternoon things were so clear and easy. Now everything is so confusing.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by eq24

Ironically the Fortuner is now suddenly available at more than 3 dealers in Delhi , apparently more than 10 people cancelled, and Toyota SA's are pestering me to ditch the Rexton, his exact line was Sir SUV means Fortuner.

The Pajero Sports guy called as well and wants to come to Gurgaon with the vehicle just to convince me again that the Rexton is indeed a very bad choice. He is even promising that all the price changes are a thing of the past now and no new structuring will take place.

Well, Mr. Murphy is a very close friend.

Moving on, I feel it was not a bad decision to go for the Rexton. Both the Pajero and the Fortuner are overpriced and get away with it ONLY for their much hyped reliability tags.

I m sure the Rexton, with its Mercedes based engine and other improvements is certainly an equal competitor with some price advantage too.

If you want to reconsider your decision, I d suggest you look at the PS and ask the SA if he can factor in a decent discount of about 80k or so. Since the SA called you back, I m sure something significant can be coaxed.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by eq24

The Pajero Sports guy called as well and wants to come to Gurgaon with the vehicle just to convince me again that the Rexton is indeed a very bad choice. He is even promising that all the price changes are a thing of the past now and no new structuring will take place.

How things change, till yesterday afternoon things were so clear and easy. Now everything is so confusing.

The price changes happened because the Pajero Sports in the first few months were full imported CBUs, and now they are assembled here so Mitsubishi could reduce the price to more competitive levels. Don't expect a further price cut.

[eq24]

Well I am back and this time it really is Final.

What can only be described as the most confusing week ever has finally come to an end and what we went for was something which was never so strong in the contention list.

I will post up an Initial owner ship review soon as our story I feel is quite different to what most people face when they go car shopping. I think we ended up seeing the entire spectrum of cars and SUV's from the 20+ to the 45 Lac price point and in the end our choice made the most sense.

So say hello to the soon to be owners of a Black Mica Fortuner AT.

[alabjarus]

Originally Posted by eq24

So say hello to the soon to be owners of a Black Mica Fortuner AT.

Congratulations....! You seem to have made a sane & safe decision. Wish you many miles of happy motoring.

[Sheel]

I don't think Pajero Sports prices would be lowered further. IIRC, the prices were lowered when the announcement of axing the SFX came. If one has the budget, Pajero Sports is the one to buy.

Please test drive the Rexton prior to committing. Hearing a lot of flak about it for its body-roll & dead steering.