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-   -   Mahindra Scorpio Automatic (AT) 4x4 with Airbags (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/111235-mahindra-scorpio-automatic-4x4-airbags.html)

Finally after two months of taking delivery of the vehicle managed to get time long enough to complete this portion of the post. Apologize for the delay!

Got the delivery of the vehicle on 14th Sep 2011!



Only other SUV's looks I like in the market today is Toyota Fortuner, which was out of my budget and do not have an automatic variant, so the choice was quite narrow, in fact only one. So no work on comparing vehicles!

Nothing much to select when it comes to color either. Scorpio has very few colors and I don’t like any of them. And to top it AT + 4x4 which is made to order, even here they offer only two colors Black & White. I already have a black Santro so went with the white, what a sad way to select color on a 15 lac vehicle. Only solace is that the lighter interiors on the white is pleasant on the eye as compared to the dark one on the black.

So the selection process was more of which dealer to go with rather than the vehicle comparisons. And the interactions with dealers was interesting:

India Garage: I called them for test drive and there was no response. About two weeks later I get a call from the sales rep asking if I have already bought the vehicle if not he will get the vehicle for test drive. I had not booked yet so I did take a test drive. Sales guy knew nothing about the automatic and was initially discouraging me from buying one saying there are a lot of issues with gear box and later when he realized that I am only looking for AT 4x4, he changed the story...

SKS: They did respond immediately but came with a Manual 4x4. Again the sales rep knew nothing about AT and he dint even know there is a AT + 4x4 variant. But at least he was forth coming and tried to get some answers to my questions, unfortunately he had to always refer to his 'senior'.

Sireesh (Hosur Road): This one I just walked in to their showroom one afternoon met this sales rep Mr. Manjunath. I took several test drives of both manual and AT (no 4x4). And he claimed he has sold a few ATs (no 4x4) and one of his colleague's has sold a AT 4x4 recently, I eventually bought from this guy, more about that shortly.

Sireesh (Yelahanka): I met this sales guy when I was visiting the service manager at the Sireesh service center. Interestingly they share the test drive vehicles between the two showrooms and the same vehicle was present there which I had driven earlier and I took another test drive, this time at a near by mud track. This is when you realize the power of this vehicle where I was able to speed 60 to 80 kmph on this mud track which was very uneven, the track was so bad I would have turned back or gone at 10-20 kmph if I was in my Santro.

So I knew it is going to be Mahindra Scorpio Automatic 4x4 and I knew Scorpio has proved itself over time, I knew MM are good at their 4x4s and the Automatic gearbox over the past three years has been meshed well with this engine. What I was worried about was do the service engineers knowledgeable/skilled/trained on the AT + 4x4 combination (as I gather there are less than 10 of these in Bangalore, I have only spotted three till now) and AT + 4x4s off-roading capabilities.

For the first issue, I contacted MM and they have given a me written (email) confirmation that they have all their service engineers trained and are capable of servicing AT + 4x4 combination at any/all of their authorized service centers.

Also I found out about this service manager Mr. Satish from a common friend, I suppose he came highly recommended by MM itself when my friend had escalated an issue and he had resolved the issue well and they have been going to him for over five years now. So I met him in person, very friendly guy and he spent considerable time with me and he confirmed that his center services AT + 4x4 vehicles regularly and added advantage was that this center is just about 2 kms from my home.

Next question was about AT + 4x4 off-roading capability. I don’t intend to go climbing rocks but I must be able to survive Mahindra Great Escape event and all the research/reading, phone calls did give me the confidence I can go ahead. In one of the reading found out that Hummer comes only in AT variant.

So the decision was made! Mahindra Scorpio Automatic + 4x4 + Airbags it is...

Now to decide on the dealer, so to the best deal: but MM has a good control over what offers and freebees a dealer can give, as all four dealers offered more or less the same. Even after pushing and prodding none of them came back with anything better except for Manjunath.

All were offering offs on Insurance and as I was purchasing via company, I did not even get the that benefit. Of the four only Manjunath had been very proactive and helpful and did not want any down payment so I went with him (Sireesh - Hosur Road), also he was the only one who promised he can get me the captain seat variant (more discussion here) and some additional freebees. He has been very helpful post booking and post sale as well.

So finally after about two months of active research booked the vehicle with Sireesh Hosur Road on 24th June 2011.

More on off-roading capability - (this was after booking) I was visiting Kannur and had some issue with the vehicle (Santro AT) and found that the L & 2 gear selections on Santro AT was very helpful in the ghats and realized this did not exist on Scorpio AT. I started reading about the MM AT again and found this on auto sensor of inclination. I called MM they put me on to their techie but I was not convinced and he suggest I take another test drive in a hilly place.



Now I need to really applaud & appreciate the dealer Sireesh & the sales guy Manjunath, they arranged for me to take AT test drive vehicle to Nandi hills (I could not think of any other place!) to test the AT gear functioning especially during down hill drive. I could not see the above in action (at least I could not sense it) however I could get the engine breaking to work both on its own as well as with the double peddle trick that I picked up during one of the readings.

Now to the delivery: the initial date given for the delivery was 10th Aug then after two new dates a third one with about a month of delay (discussed on this thread), the delay was due to an issue with the supply of the AT gearbox, but finally got the vehicle.

The finance was from company lease (discussed on this thread).

Finally the vehicle arrived in Bangalore, and I did PDI (procedure discussed on these threads - one & two):







As some one called it on the team-bhp, the dragon's tail.


Did not want to leave the vehicle with the dealer (I have seen they remove ODO connection and take it for test drives for other prospects, I have driven one such MT 4x4 - don't ask the dealers name) so, took the deliver very next day.

I was quite impressed with the delivery procedure - they almost worked like an assembly line and the process was complete in about 30 min. The delivery in charge explained the essentials then a quick photo shoot and 8 ltrs/500rs of complementary fuel and I headed home with my new ride.











Before I left I got a gift, half I had asked for it and half was a surprise - yes the Scorpio Coffee table book and a glass/crystal cuboid with Scorpio etched in side!!!

good one!
wish you lots of happy buzzing around in your AT!
my friend bought one in Feb and is extremely pleased with it overall especially the 4x4. He is very happy with its behaviour in the city on account of the AT box.
it takes quite a bit of beating in his plantation in Coorg so I guess you ought not to worry really about the ability of the Scorp. He mentioned that he hasnt felt uncomfortable in the back seat on the highways - so I guess all the suspension tweaking must be helping. The only thing is watch out for the FE - in city it can get pretty low because of our stop start situation here in Bangalore!
cheers and all the best!

Congratulations on finally getting the AT 4x4! That was an impressive writeup on your booking and delivery experience too. Wish you many miles of happy driving.

Congratulations ajit. Interesting buying experience, well written !
Hope to get a live 'darshan' of your Scorp 4x4 AT sometime soon :D
Wishing you loads of Happy Driving.

Sorry folks, i wrongly posted it in this sub-forum, I have request the mods to move it to the right sub-forum.

@shankar.balan: thanks! and its encouraging to know about your friends experience with the AT4x4.

And thanks for your post on the coffee table book that inspired me to get it.

I beat the Bangalore traffic mostly by traveling to office off peak hours but one can never beat it completely.

On the FE front I am bit concerned how to measure it. I think the first reserve voice alert is not consistent as well as the fuel indicator is also not consistent, I have seen it go back up after showing low! Here is how its been tracking till now:



@SS-Traveller: thanks for the wishes.

@NPV: Thanks! and sure let me know when you drop by at BG4.

Quick specks - this is public knowledge so not much details:

• 2.2 liter 4 cylinder engine
• 120 bhp
• 6 speed fully electronic automatic transmission

• Fuel tank - 60 liters
• 4WD

• Tubeless Tyre
• Airbags
• ABS
• Collapsible steering column

• Cruise Control & Audio Control on Steering wheel
• Tyre Pressure Monitoring System
• Intelli park
• Rain & Light Sensors
• 2-DIN Audio system with Bluetooth, CD/MP3 player, USB & SD Card compatibility
• Power OVRMs
• Digital Immobilizer
• Tiltable steering
• Alloy Wheels (I got the new design Alloy's)

After taking delivery, drove to parents place via NICE road, used cruise control that is such a pleasure. (Again sales guys of all dealers knew nothing about Cruise control, not even how to engage it). Then pooja with parents.






That weekend Sireesh sent a guy to do 'home installation' who is supposed to explain the vehicle in detail. Such a waste of time, I had cancelled other engagements for this and the morning totally wasted. The guy who explained during delivery did more and better in the short 10 min. (feedback duly sent to Sireesh)

The driving is very comfortable, steering is very responsive, breaks very effective. I could test the breaks thanks to a moron in a Santro who jumped the traffic light near Cubbon Park - MG Road junction. If my vehicle did not stop in time I would have rammed in to him on the driver side, exactly perpendicular to his entire car, I don’t want to even think of what could have happened to him forget about the car.

What I like about the ride?

• Driver Seating position and comfort
• View from the drivers seat
• Steering mounted controls
• Cruise control
• Sturdy build
• Auto rain water sensor
• Bluetooth connectivity to Audio system
• Arm rest
• When driving a Santro everybody used to bully you even when you have a clear way to go other vehicles would jet in, even if I honked my frustration out nobody would care. But that has changed now! Folks see scorpio in the RVM and give way, I like that :).

What I don’t like about Scorpio?

• Color - no good choice even for made to order vehicles.
• Storage space around the driver - not sufficient or difficult to access, especially on 4x4 as you lose one more space
• Power Window control on central console is a bad design, would have been good if it was on the doors. Also you lose storage space.

• For this price, I would have preferred to have Auto close of OVRM
• Auto light sensor have not been effective - or may be I have not yet figured out how to use it right
• Headlight could have been more powerful
• Steering tilt adjust, top point could have have been a bit more higher.

Seat Saga
I preferred the 8 seater but due to RTO concerns, I settled for the 7 seater captain seat version and Manjunath the sales guy had promised he could get me one. But even after two months he has been struggling to get it done. So stuck with protecting the current seats as they have to be exchanged. I have decided I will escalate if its not done by next week.

Extended warranty
Initially I was told no extended warranty is being offered for 4x4 vehicles by the dealer. However I contacted MM again and got the extended warranty after some back and forth.

FE/Mileage:
I am not sure how to track mileage on this. Typically its done reserve to reserve, however I feel the fuel gauge and the voice alert are not consistent. Here is my fuel log, this is a habit I picked up when I bought Santro and helped a lot when I installed LPG to know when I broke even, which bunk gave good mileage. One additional column added last week was the density. I am yet not sure of its impact on mileage but this tracking should give some insight shortly.



I have done about 3.5K kms now and will be due for first service by 4k another week or so. Will update about the experience after the service.

Congratulation on buying this good looking SUV, 4x4 Auto should seriously be most comfortable to drive around in the city. The fuel log is awesome, is it a spreadsheet, could you upload the file as well. Its very well maintained and detailed.

On a separate note one of my colleagues is using a android app for this purpose, don't need to remember or keep the receipt until you come back home and enter it all in the spreadsheet.

Firstly, congrats on your purchase. Good choice.
The ride looks awesome and automatic is a boon in a city like Bangalore.

Two questions:
Are you planning to upgrade the headlights? - as you mentioned its not adequate.
what about ICE? you are satisfied with the stock setup.

Regarding the fuel track, doing a Tankfull-Tankfull method will be more accurate than Reserve-Reserve method. Its a very good spreadsheet that you maintain.

Congratulations ajitkumarlb! With its stunning looks and killing performance, you will definitely get miles of happiness :-) BTW, i have always thought the stock blue-vision headlamps are powerful enough. How do they feel @ highways and in rains?

@GTO: Thanks for the prompt update!


Mayank, Thanks!

I have attached the spread sheet, I have similar logs for my Santro both Petrol & LPG from the day 1.

I use Blackberry and I have tried using some apps on it, but none of them were simple & easy to enter or later extract the data. So I send my self an email each time I fill fuel from the device, a simple & short one. Just four different numbers (ODO, price, liters, total sale value) if at a new bunk the location and the next time I get to my Laptop I update the Excel sheet.

mileage.xlsx

Karthik: Thanks! and yes auto is a boon and not only in city even on highways.

Headlights: I am considering either upgrade of the headlights or go with additional lamps. Change in headlight can cause issue with warranty and I have to park my vehicle outside untill I renovate my house so additional lamps has a risk of theft - so going slow on this. But I will check during the first service, if the service center guys say no issues with the warrany I might get it done from them itself.

ICE: I am not a music fanatic or an expert so what comes along is good enough for me. My wife though is a music person and she felt its quite flat. This one, the decision is up to my wife and she is yet to make up her mind. And we are not much in to watching stuff on TV so no video screen planned as well.

Mileage: As per my research on the net/forums and my expereince, reserve to reserve is the way track mileage. Not sure how to do using Tankfull to Tankfull, can you please eleborate?

Laki, Thanks!

For a typical city drive - they are ok. But on highway (or roads without street lights) with or without oncoming traffic its totally inadequate.

In fact on the way back from Tirupathi near Kolar, there was almost a feet high heap of gravel spread across the road and I could not spot it untill it was too close to stop or change course, I had to go through. Fortunately it was gravel and it flattened as I went through it. If it was anything solid, that would have been a major accident.

Mileage in Tankfull to Tankfull method:
In short, its the KMs consumed from your first tankfull to second tankfull divided by the fuel consumed in Litres for the second tankfull

Procedure:
1. While filling the tank for first time, note the kms in odo. let's say X kms (or reset your trip meter)
2. Next time while filling up the tank (second instance), note the fuel in litres consumed by your vehicle for tankfull. (Say F litres). Note the kms in odo. say Y kms. (or reading in your trip meter - say Z).

(Y-X)/F or Z/F gives you the actual mileage.

I use the same formula except that I use Reserve to note the ODO.

say:
- first reserver a
- I fill 10 liters (I know I am filling exactly right)
- second reserve b

then b-a/10.

now instead if I fill 25 liters, that yet gives me accurately...

Irrespective of the number of liters I fill this approach works as I am not guessing the denominator, as I exactly know how many liters I filled. And the reserve indicator are quite accuate and consistent so the numerator is also quite accurate.

With full tank approach I think, both deno' & nume' are not consistent, unless I am exactly filling to the same level each time, the results will be different.


The issue I am seeing with my Scorpio is the reserve warrning is not going off at the same level consistently and even the electronic guage goes back up two units after going down all the way to E. Will have to get it checked.

For now I will start tracking the ODO at the time of the fill, I never get top up, I always stop when it stops automatically.

Congrats on your purchase its a great vehicle and can tolerate a lot of bashing from the kind of bad roads we have in our cities. I too have a Scorpio AT (2WD) model and driven it 8000 kms, 95% heavy city traffic of Mumbai. The VMS for low fuel comes a around 20 litres is what I have usually seen but yes it is too soon for a reserve warning. Have fun with your Scorpio.