[rahul4321]

Originally Posted by zalaps

Hey Rahul,
Happy to see 46 reaching workshop. Which workshop have chosen? Punjab or Sheetal?

Its with Param Motors in Gandhinagar. I did not give it to Punjab or Sheetal in Ahmedabad because I share a good rapport with Param. How is your Bolero doing?

[chaunfa]

I had the same experience when mine was stolen about 11 years ago. The thieves fell asleep at the wheel.The sad part was that they killed two kids and then turned turtle at drain.
when I found it at Itojah village near Lucknow, it had been stripped like some wild animal had chewed it up. I went through a real painful recovery process with the corrupt policeman at Itojah extorting money for my 'good fortune'.
Then looking after the stay of the Delhi Cops accompanying me, paying courts to get the car released for Delhi. The car battery had died so it was jump started and the car rumbled alive. One corner had been pinched in by a crane, the headlights were cock eyed but damn if the power windows didn't work !

Had a very painful drive back and then a month went by between insurance and the original workshop guys. Got shafted an paid thirty grand from my side and the insurance paid sixty grand.

Then the greater tragedy of learning later that the workshop did not use a new body cage but repaired the old one.

So what do I do next? Buy another Bolero the next time around. The storm has done 80 k km with me and is on its second set of shoes.

[karthikd21]

Originally Posted by rahul4321

M&M has the 7 seater Bolero and the 9 seater Bolero. I proudly present my single seater Bolero!

happy to see, its coming up very well!

3 opportunities i see here:
1. Since your Bolero looks like a bit lengthy over the ZLX ones' why not try and and see if you could install a forward facing 3rd row seat with seat belts?
2. Try making 2nd row seat fold-able?
3. 2nd row, elastic seat belts instead of the loose ones provided by M&M

[VaibhaoT]

You are really lucky that you were able to get your Bolero buck. Congratulations!
I think you did right choice to repair it.

Originally Posted by rahul4321

All in all- one thing has impressed me. The Bolero after toppling over, just stood up, shook itself off (just changed a 400 buck fuel hose) and covered a high speed 1200 kilometer journey without a whimper. I don't know which other engine would have been able to withstand such abuse and still manage to get up and go. Speaks volumes about the reliability and abuse tolerant nature of the engine, bodyshell and chassis of the Mahindra Bolero

I really admire Bolero since I had a long ride on hostile roads in remote parts of Uttarakhand. It never refuses to bend down in front of any road condition. Bolero is one of the toughest vehicles in India.

[Ace F355]

Hey Rahul, tough luck there, but I am happy to see you being able to trace down the Bolero. Definately a Tough Nut! You did the right thing by getting it repaired and I hope the see it back on the road soon.

[ashish_BHP]

Hi Rahul,

Feel elated and high reading your narration of the entire episode. The vehicle never gave up and neither did you . Nevertheless Bolero is one of the toughest SUV's for indian roads and your story just supports this fact . I feel both of you had that emotional connect and the vehicle responded handsomely for its way back home . All the best and take care of your vehicle next time.

[rahul4321]

It has been quite some time since I have updated this thread. A new job, new responsibilities at work and the fact that the Bolero stayed garaged for a period of almost 4 months meant that I did not have much to update. My last update was on the 1st of July 2016 where the Bolero was on the verge of completion of repairs. I visited the garage a few more times to check on how the vehicle was progressing and then on the 28th of July 2016, I finally took delivery (redelivery?) of the Bolero.



The bill came up to a whopping 2,10,000 rupees out of which the Insurance covered around 1,41,000. This left me out of pocket by 70,000 + the 40,000 I had spent on the trip to get the Bolero back + 10,000 on legal charges and the lawyer to get the car released from the police station. Total damages= 120,000. But I do think every single penny was worth it.





The car at this point of time has done around 48,000 kilometers. Here is how it currently looks






New AC Switches after the old ones got stolen


New Dashboard colour


Same old bumpy jumpy rear seats



Service Experience: Initially the dealership guys proceeded very slowly as according to them Mahindra was not sending them the parts they had ordered. I have no reason to not believe them (or even believe them) and hence I proceeded to accept everything at face value. The guys there took 4 months to strip the Bolero off everything but its engine and rebuild it again but I do feel it was worth it in terms of quality. I would recommend the service manager Mr. Dixit for the pains he takes to make sure that the customer experience is nothing less than extraordinary. He has answered all of my questions time and again; entertained my unscheduled visits just to check on the status of the car and seamlessly dealt with the Insurance guys as well as the RTO guys (for a new number plate) on my behalf to make sure I dont get into procedural things and end up wasting my time.

Quality of Rebuild: 9/10. Everything works flawlessly. Some things like the AC (where I have had distinct issues regarding the lack of cooling and had complained to this same dealership a few times) now work even better than when the vehicle was delivered to me new. . How did that happen? I dont know. But the AC works atleast 10 times better than when the Bolero was brand new. I guess whatever the problem was went away when they dismantled the entire car and put it back together. Apart from that, everthing is tight and works flawlessly so far. The dealership when cutting out the old roof of my car stowed away the grab handles above the 3 doors and were planning to fit them onto the new roof. However they forgot to do so. Right now the passengers sitting in the rear of the Bolero are jumping and bumping away to glory without having anything to hold to.

I have since then bought a new Punto Pure a month ago and planned to use it as my daily drive to office. But for some reason, everytime I walk out of the door with the Punto keys in hand, 8 out of 10 times, I go back and change it for the Bolero keys

Here is a photo I took of the odometer when I crossed the 46k mark.


Point to note; I have only done 42k by my own. The other 4k credit goes to the thieves who had stolen it.

[rahul4321]

Originally Posted by chaunfa

I had the same experience when mine was stolen about 11 years ago. The thieves fell asleep at the wheel.The sad part was that they killed two kids and then turned turtle at drain.
when I found it at Itojah village near Lucknow, it had been stripped like some wild animal had chewed it up. I went through a real painful recovery process with the corrupt policeman at Itojah extorting money for my 'good fortune'.
Then looking after the stay of the Delhi Cops accompanying me, paying courts to get the car released for Delhi. The car battery had died so it was jump started and the car rumbled alive. One corner had been pinched in by a crane, the headlights were cock eyed but damn if the power windows didn't work !

Had a very painful drive back and then a month went by between insurance and the original workshop guys. Got shafted an paid thirty grand from my side and the insurance paid sixty grand.

Then the greater tragedy of learning later that the workshop did not use a new body cage but repaired the old one.

So what do I do next? Buy another Bolero the next time around. The storm has done 80 k km with me and is on its second set of shoes.

This is exactly what I had gone through as well. I can relate to it word for word. I am sorry though the repair guys did not use a new body cage but repaired the old one thus effectively reducing its useful life. However, I am glad you got a new Bolero. I always wanted the Bolero Storm. However, when Mahindra was selling it, I did not have enough funds. And when I did have enough funds, they discontinued the car.

Originally Posted by karthikd21

happy to see, its coming up very well!

3 opportunities i see here:
1. Since your Bolero looks like a bit lengthy over the ZLX ones' why not try and and see if you could install a forward facing 3rd row seat with seat belts?
2. Try making 2nd row seat fold-able?
3. 2nd row, elastic seat belts instead of the loose ones provided by M&M

Thanks Kartik. I have been wondering about he 3rd row seats myself but the headroom in the third row is somehow much more less than the headroom in the first two rows so I dont think it is a reasonable option. The foldable 2nd row seat is something I really want to do and will do soon. Nobody in the 2nd row every buckles up even if i use the best quality of seat belts available

Originally Posted by VaibhaoT

You are really lucky that you were able to get your Bolero buck. Congratulations!
I think you did right choice to repair it.


I really admire Bolero since I had a long ride on hostile roads in remote parts of Uttarakhand. It never refuses to bend down in front of any road condition. Bolero is one of the toughest vehicles in India.

Thank you so much Vaibhao. Its now ready and back up running on the roads.

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Hey Rahul, tough luck there, but I am happy to see you being able to trace down the Bolero. Definately a Tough Nut! You did the right thing by getting it repaired and I hope the see it back on the road soon.

Thank you so much for your wishes. It is indeed a tough nut. Its now back on the road.

Originally Posted by ashish_BHP

Hi Rahul,

Feel elated and high reading your narration of the entire episode. The vehicle never gave up and neither did you . Nevertheless Bolero is one of the toughest SUV's for indian roads and your story just supports this fact . I feel both of you had that emotional connect and the vehicle responded handsomely for its way back home . All the best and take care of your vehicle next time.

Thank you so much. I do feel the same that we both had an emotional connect with each other and thats why it was found in just a matter of 30 days. It is now ready and back up running on the roads.

[93000BHP]

Hi Rahul, good to know that she is all set and back on the road.. wishing you many more happy miles with your Bolero!!

[maddy42]

Hi All,

Sorry am using this thread for a query i have. We have a 2002 xdp bolero which we do not intend on selling for 2 years. I did a recent change of the wheels to alloys spending like 35k on them and currently that change is biting back.

Whenever the vehicle passes a puddle(i live in coorg and it has many) all the water is splashed onto the windscreen, mirror and even the driver and passenger windows. Any way to prevent this from happening? Changing tires or rims is out of the question.

Thanks in advance,
Maddy

[maddy42]

Updates with some pics

[dass]

Originally Posted by maddy42

Hi All,

Any way to prevent this from happening? Changing tires or rims is out of the question.

Thanks in advance,
Maddy

Wouldn't having a wider mud flap/guard solve this issue? From the symptoms, it looks like the tyre is probably protruding outside the vehicle and hence this is happening. I believe you can get a custom made one, though might look ugly.

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by dass

Wouldn't having a wider mud flap/guard solve this issue? From the symptoms, it looks like the tyre is probably protruding outside the vehicle and hence this is happening. I believe you can get a custom made one, though might look ugly.

Looking at this option, but as both my brother and myself are not at home, we cannot get this done. Anyone done such a jugaad, as i did see some products in the states to prevent this from happening.

Maddy

[rahul4321]

Hi all,

Finally the Bolero saga comes to an end as I had to sell it off. The prime reason for me to sell it off was the fact that it was a 2WD and I should have bought the 4WD in the first place but I did not. Asking around, there were not many people who were ready to get their hands dirty to convert it to a 4WD and the few that were ready- told me even before they took on the project that they would not be able to guarantee reliability.

Reliability is the only virtue that the Bolero has. After toppling over on its head and staying there for 2 days, it still ticked back to life at the third ignition and I drove it back all the way from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh to Ahmedabad. The new owner is my neighbour (2 doors down) who is a policeman, travels in Bolero's every single day of his life and loved my Bolero since the day I bought it. I sold it to him at 58000 kilometers roughly and I can still see it everyday.

What did I buy? A Ford Aspire Sports. However, the itch for the 4WD still persists.

Mods- request you to please close this thread.