Team-BHP - Just in! My Mahindra Scorpio LX 4WD

Car Bought:

As in the title, I bought a Mahindra Scorpio LX 4wd 7 seater, colour:black.

Alternatives Considered:

Between my wife and I we had a 2006 Swift petrol (Vxi) which I had bought new, and a 2009 Alto which she had bought from Pratham True Value a couple of years ago. Both these are our daily drives, plus we use the Swift for outstation / highway trips sometimes with the family and it gets quite cramped. We had been thinking about a bigger car for a while.

The first alternative was a sedan such as the VW Vento or Skoda Rapid, but then we felt it doesn't really provide much extra apart from the boot, so was eliminated as a choice. We then considered an Innova and this was kind of "decided" upon.

Then, we happened to make a trip to Wayanad in June, during which we did a short OTR as passengers in a jeep. This quickly put things into perspective and the Innova went flying out the window. Whatever we bought, it had to be a 4x4! We considered the Thar at first, perhaps as a third car but realised it wouldn't be practical to keep three cars at home (only have parking for one really!) and thus finally came around to the Scorpio.

Booking & delivery experience:

I first requested a test drive via the Mahindra website, but there was no response for 3 or 4 days so I decided to go directly to a dealer. Chose Sireesh Auto at Bommanhalli, (for no better reason than proximity to my house) and booked a test drive.

Of course, they didnt have a 4wd test drive vehicle, (expected given the miserable sales volumes of these) but were happy to provide a 2wd version the following Sunday as requested. Their sales exec showed up with a white Vlx. It was the version with captain seats and forward facing third row, plus all the gadgets and gizmos (which I duly ignored :) ).

We took a drive of about 10km in moderate traffic and also tried (as far as possible) to simulate a bit of highway driving by choosing a relatively empty stretch of the outer ring road on Sunday morning. Overall experience was good. We were impressed by the quietness of the cabin and visibility. By then I had done sufficient research here, in particular 1100D's threads, and was familiar with the usual Scorpio issues. Still, I felt the clutch was a bit hard, and there was a lot of vibration (more than expected) through the gear lever. The sales exec acknowledged both issues and assured us they would be much better in the actual car.

The following week I handed over a cheque for 50k and filled out the booking form at the dealership. They had a 2wd LX at the service center nearby which they showed us, since we had booked the LX. (It was a "zoom" car by the way) and promised us a tentative delivery date from the company in a few days. Now the fun part:

After no word from the dealer in over a week I call them to check, and find out that the order hasn't even been placed with Mahindra! Apparently they now required an additional 50k (bringing the booking amount to 1 lac) on account of the colour choice (black). Some choice words were exchanged and calls made to competing dealers, but finally we decided to stick with them, but requiring proof of order booking before handing over any more money. They provided an extract from their booking system showing the status and date, and also assured us we would get the vehicle within 4-6 weeks at the outside before we parted with the cash.

As it turned out, they kept their promise, in fact delivering the vehicle 4 days sooner than the promised date (Aug 1 instead of Aug 5). Total waiting period was just over 4 weeks from booking to delivery, and apart from the above issue, the whole experience was very pleasant indeed. Their executive visited my home on multiple occasions in the evenings to take signatures, give me receipts etc. He was extremely courteous and thoroughly professional throughout. Hats off!

On-road price, discounts etc.:

Ex showroom price was about 10 lacs. Add registration, road tax and insurance another 2 lacs approx, for a total of 12 lacs. They offered a trade-in price of 1,35,000 for the Alto (slightly on the low side but it was the convenient option, letting us keep the old car till the new one was delivered).

Discounts:

Exchange bonus of 10,000 for trade-in of the Alto
I went with a different insurance provider (HDFC ERGO) and saved around 15,000 on the premium - not really a dealer provided discount
The bare essential freebies - floor mats, perfume etc.
10 liters of free IndianOil diesel

The vehicle came shod with Bridgestone Dueler H/Ts - the dealer was more surprised at this than I was, saying mostly their cars come with JKs or Apollos. I plan to add a few accessories - wheel covers (after getting the wheels sprayed black) and OE fog lamps. Also on the agenda is ICE of course, but probably will not get this done by the dealer.

Actual ownership and driving experience:

Engine, performance and driveability:

The MHawk 2.2 ltr is a gem. I really enjoy the kick of power around 1800 RPM when the turbo starts working, and it sounds great too with lots of whistle. Quite responsive in city driving and always feels like you have a lot of reserve power at your disposal. Overtaking is a breeze and it feels like highway cruising would be fun too. In terms of driveability in the city, the high seating position and commanding views make it quite easy to manoeuvre in and around traffic. The only real blindspot is directly behind, below the level of the rear windshield, which makes it hard to back up in an enclosed space. I usually end up with a foot or more of space between the rear wall and the trailer hitch (which is the furthest protruding point at the back of the vehicle).

Build quality:

One point that stood out was the absence of any sort of rattling. When my swift was new this was a nightmare and took several visits to the garage, removal of panels and adding of bits of insulation here and there to fix. As against that, the scorpio is completely rattle-free. To operate anything on this car requires a level of force at least 3x more than on the swift (from opening / shutting doors to ramming the glovebox closed). But the payoff is that everything feels rock solid and well put together.

Ride and handling:

Please note I'm not listing the usual suspects - bouncy ride, body roll etc. These are things I knew about and accepted before deciding on this car. Many of them are just a matter of getting used to and adopting a slightly more conservative driving style compared to a hatch. That said, there is a bit of bounce on going through a pot-hole for example, but other rough patches (e.g. uneven tarring) feel smoother than with my swift. Haven't quite figured this out yet. Maybe because of the tires too. So far I've kept to speeds of 80 or below so no idea about high speed behaviour.

Gearshift and clutch:

The clutch is a bit stiff when compared to my Swift of course, again something that takes getting used to. The breakpoint is just above the floor which is nice. Gear changes are smooth the shifter slots in quite nicely even though it has a weird slanted position. Gearing seems to be shorter than on my swift, and I don't need to downshift quite as much. On the downside, the gearshift does tend to vibrate a bit, and its impossible to gauge which gear one is in from looking at the gear lever - all positions look like either 5th or reverse to me because of the angle! I haven't had the chance to try out the 4wd yet. Looking forward to doing that once I put a little more mileage on the odo.

Steering:

Steering is surprisingly light for such a big car, but a bit less precise than I would like. One irritating aspect is that the wheel does not return to center quickly after completing a tight turn and I often have to manually straighten up. There is a limited range of vertical adjustment possible for the steering column, but again, ergonomics could be better. The grip and feel of the steering is quite good because of the rubberised wrap, and the massive horn pad is easy to reach but requires quite a lot of force to be used.

Brakes:

I haven't had the opportunity to test panic or even hard braking yet. In normal situations it performs adequately even on wet roads and the braking seems to be getting better as I drive (or maybe I'm just getting used to it!) The hand brake lever is nicely positioned and needs only a light pull.

Seating, interior space and comfort:

The variant I picked is a 7-seater with a forward facing middle row and side-facing rear seats. The larger cabin and the fact that the seats seem to be positioned closer to the doors makes for a feeling of space. Head and shoulder room is definitely more, and the seats are also firmer and more supportive. Drawbacks include lack of a seat height adjust, no sliding middle row and no seat-belts for the jump seats in the back. This third one is a pretty serious drawback and the only consolation is that these seats will be very rarely used if at all, and even then probably only on short city runs.

Air conditioning:

The AC comes with two chill settings (lo and hi) in addition to the usual fan speed settings. This makes for quite a lot of combinations to try. so far though, I've used it only on the lo setting with fan speed at 1. Despite the massive cabin volume, lots of glass area and the black exterior I've found the AC more than adequate and it brings the cabin down to a reasonable temperature in five minutes or less (after being parked out in the sun). Middle row passengers get two AC vents in the space between the front seats. All vents come with 2-axis directional control plus an airflow adjust which can also block airflow completely if required. The oval shape is a bit weird though, and they would look nicer if rectangular IMO.

Fuel consumption:

I filled the tank with Shell diesel at Mahadevapura soon after taking delivery it took around 46 liters till the auto cutoff. (although it wasn't empty to start out with and probably had around 10 liters). Since tanking up I did 524 km of city driving with pretty heavy AC usage before filling up again. Once the fuel warning lamp came on I drove another 20 or so km and then filled up at the same filling station and pump as the previous time (to hopefully minimise any metering errors). Second fill was 50.5 liters, giving a tank-to-tank economy of around 10.2 km/l. The needle drops pretty linearly and once it gets to just above the red zone the fuel warning lamp comes on (intermittently at first, then steady). The fuel lid pops open when a button on the dash is pressed (as against the normal under-seat lever), but there is also a mechanical over-ride in the cargo area in case this system fails.

In summary:

Things I liked about the Scorpio:

• Quiet cabin with commanding views and visibility all round, solid with the absence of rattles
• Nice, responsive engine with a surge of power around 1800 RPM when the turbo kicks in
• High ground clearance
• Interior space (coming from a hatch its quite roomy)
• Boxy, no-nonsense looks and straight lines (aesthetically pleasing IMO but also functional as it makes parking easier)
• AC is quite powerful. even on the "lo" chill setting and minimum fan speed
• Wipers and defogger do a decent job of keeping the windshield and front windows clear in the rain

Things I did not like about the Scorpio:

• Less-than-perfect ergonomics, lack of door panel arm-rests
• Gear stick angle and vibration (much less than in the test car but still quite apparent)
• Rear doors missing door-open sensors, window controls and arm rests
• Lack of 3-point harness for middle row center seat, no seatbelts at all for rear jump seats!
• Lack of closed ashtray (not that I smoke, but it's useful as a trash repository or coin holder)

As of now I've been using this car as my daily drive for commute to office, school run and general city driving. I've driven about 600 km in total since taking delivery, most of which has been peak-hour commute with lots of stop-and-go and some long straight runs on the outer ring road.