We have entered in 2022… It has been over 2 years that I started this ownership thread and I believe its ripe time to put up the long-due update. So here it goes…
Lal Ghoda has put up over 75k kms on the odometer so far, its crazy to think about it considering past 2 years have been unprecedented because of the pandemic and resulting lockdown. In fact, while as a family, we have managed to put only about 10k kms in total on 3 of the other cars with us – just that the odometer of our Endeavour continues to climb up tells you how much faith we have put into this vehicle. I was going through old pictures and recalled that Endeavour had about 38k kms under its belt when the March 2020 lockdown was announced… to think that we have doubled the odo reading despite the pandemic is nothing but a huge achievement in my books.
Mechanically, everything has been running like a clockwork including regular services, apart from the fact that my 50k km service happened at 53k kms… This was simply due to the fact that Ford dealerships were non-operational at the time I had hit the 50k mark. The car hasn’t needed any attention apart from recommended items during these services. Among wear-n-tear items, I have had replaced a pair of front/rear brake pads and hand brake lining – very reasonably priced to be honest. During the recent 70k service, Ford A.S.S. reported a faint noise from idler pulley from the engine bay, the bearing in the pulley had gone kaput. I told them to replace it as a preventive measure. Again, nominally priced part at INR 9k or thereabouts.
If the readers can relate to my previous car, the Fortuner – I would say Endeavour has seen relatively lesser kilometres offroad compared to Atlantis/Gajraj. Because of the family commitments, I have been travelling between my local places a lot and that just means that a huge portion of my odometer reading are highway kilometres.
That being said, a few notable trips focused on offroad during 2020 and 2021 would be
- Jaisalmer in Nov 2020
- Bikaner in July 2021
- Himachal Camping Trip in Sept 2021
- Mussoorie in Dec 2021
- Mandawa/Churu in Dec 2021
- Himachal Snow Drive in January 2022
These trips were truly a chance to rekindle our love with off-roading while keeping highest levels of precautions for COVID. I am keeping my fingers crossed with the pandemic to move towards an endemic in 2022, and bring our lives back on track when it comes to our vehicle usage.
We notice a clear trend from manufacturers of all segments making car digitally connected and feature rich (that’s what the junta wants, duh). I have aftermarket audio setups in two of my other cars, the Honda Jazz and Hyundai i20, where Android Auto and other features get used very frequently. Suffice to say, that despite Sync 2 being a potent audio system in the Ford, I have had this feeling that my car is getting outdated in terms of technology. I was getting tired of keeping the phone holder on the windscreen and was wondering whether the Sync 3 upgrade was possible in my car. Did my research on the compatibility part and behold, it started a chain-reaction of much needed upgrades to Lal Ghoda in past couple of months.
The car was already perfect mechanically and staying true to the original ‘parts-bin assembled variant’ philosophy of Ford, following are the cosmetic changes that I have incorporated into Lal Ghoda, making it a true one-of-a-kind vehicle of its class currently available in India.
- Sync 3 upgrade from older outdated Sync 2 system : Among the OEM, Sync 3 is almost perfect infotainment system that is available in India. I have upgraded to the Sync 3 system featuring Android Auto and Apple Carplay, with inbuilt navigation (with latest maps available from Ford). Not only that, I have tweaked my Sync 3 to have latest available update internationally (Sync 3.4 to be precise), OEM USB Hub with Type C connectivity (this hub was imported from the US, is a standard part of Sync 4 and backward compatible with Sync 3.4 version only), customized Aqua Glow theme and custom wallpapers courtesy online tools from F-Mod team and ForScan wizardry, Navigation Screen replicated into instrument cluster, enabled Video Player on OEM screen, tweaked Ford Bronco Splash Screen etc etc etc, the whole hog.
- Upgraded Alloy Wheels from 2019-2020 Generation – Purely aesthetic and aimed to keep the car looking fresh.
- OEM LED headlamps from Endeavour Sport – Let’s be honest, the OEM lights of Endeavour were crap and Team BHP review of the 2020 Endeavour mentioned that OEM LED headlamps made available in 2.0 litres model were leaps and bound ahead of older cars. While, I was running a custom HID based headlamp upgrade from XenonPlanet earlier as well, the wiring wasn’t upto my liking and that led me to think about this upgrade, hence executed. OEM DRL integration was the free cookie in the process. However, now that I have had these headlamps for few months, I am of the opinion that the overall lumens from HID setup were higher for sure, and while the LED headlight may look cool, in my personal opinion the colour temperatures of current crop of OEM LEDs leaves a lot to be desired in real life. OEM plug-n-play wiring is why I am keeping this upgrade, otherwise performance wise XenonPlanet HID setup was surely better.
- Integration of OEM TPMS – If you recall my previous posts, I did have an aftermarket TPMS. While the system was good, the batteries died within one year of the purchase. I wasn’t keen to get another aftermarket system and thus decided to get Ford’s OEM TPMS retrofit into my car, despite being relatively expensive.
All said and done, I managed to do a proper mid-life upgrade of Lal Ghoda – and this is especially relevant because of the fact that in current market I do not see any alternative to my current car. Fortuner at 50 lakhs is simply crazy and feels like a downgrade in terms of interiors/ride quality etc, and because of family use, I don’t see V-Cross (and the upcoming Hilux) as a potential alternative. The less said about vehicles like MG Gloster the better.
Simply put, my Endeavour was already a rare variant and unique vehicle as it is, a ladder on frame 4WD SUV meeting my requirements to the T, and post the tech upgrades mentioned above, it has become even better. I had to sell my Fortuner pre-maturely because of mess created by NGT regulations and considering that the Endeavour is near perfect car to me, I intend to keep it as long as I can. Ford’s exit from Indian market hasn’t been a dampening factor to my spirits, I do believe that Ford’s service will continue in large cities like Delhi NCR and Endeavour has sold in enough numbers for aftermarket ancillaries to justify developing a parallel network of imported parts in later years. Having said this, I did order a spare set of clutch, flywheel and related components because my car is a rare manual transmission and while my current clutch is doing at 75k kms, I don’t want to get into trouble in case I have difficulties in sourcing these parts specific to MT variants. My fears can be completely unfounded in future, and I sincerely hope they do.
Anyway, I think its about time I share some delightful memories with Lal Ghoda from past 2 years. Although they are in no particular order, enjoy them below.
Watching an approaching sand-storm in Rajasthan
Exploring some old Havelis...
Across Thar Desert
With .anshuman's Isuzu
Local Aravali Jungle Trips in NCR
Roadtripping with our other car... the Honda Jazz.
Roadtripping with Friends...
Our Toddler posing in passenger seat...
During our camping trip in Himachal
Exploring some off-road tracks in mountains
With a friend's L663 Land Rover Defender... probably one of the LRs in the country that are being used for their original purpose
Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand
Few More pics from the mountains...
Enjoying an amazing view...
and amazing weather!
A few good shots in agricultural fields... At our farm.
Canola Fields...
Enjoying a Monsoon Rainbow
At our old place...
At a Friend's Farmhouse