[shatrughna]

I have already written how I booked a Scorpio while hunting for a Safari so I wouldnt write much about how I chose it this make model but definitely will share as to why I chose black color for it. I was expecting Bridgestone duelers but I got JK -Elanzo and I dont know what to expect from it. Hope someone can share his experiences with JK Elanzo - if any.

You may have seen the new interiors of Mhawk - mostly in biege color but my experience with beige interiors is not so happy. In 6 months of regular use , Verna's biege interiors had got dirty as kids in my family have so mnay things to do when they are awake in car. When I enquired with the dealer, I was told that I may get black interiors only in the black color and so be it. The good thing is that even the steering grip and the dash is black and the seats too. So I am happy with the upholstery overall.

After driving a Verna CRDi SX and Santro AT and almost spoilt by it - switching to Scorpio I guess has its own learning curve and I am on my way. I find everything heavy and hard - starting with the remote (door lock) itself. The button needs to be pushed much harder and deeper to lock or unlock. Then the arm rest , clutch pedal , hand brake lever , tilt steering adjust lever almost everything needs an effort but its okay. everything works the way it should work and I was aware of the heaviness and prepared for it when decided to buy SUVish vehicle. So I am not complaining about it.

What I find difficult to learn are
1) living without a clutch foot rest and almost every 10-15 minutes I missed it whenever, I needed to adjust my seating position while driving ( its there even in Santro)

2) Elbow space on the right side( driver) is comapratively less and sometimes I felt it too crammed but the use of door moulding as an arm rest is easier than small cars/ sedan where I tend to keep my right hand elbow sometimes on the window and

3) The seats are very comfy and well padded but I would have preferred a bit lower at the tip as I found a bit uncomfortable while driving for longer period in same position - I even felt a bit tingling sensation -initial stage of numbness- due to perhaps my bad seating position.

4) adjustment for ORVMs was not effortless for me as though I got very good view but this was achieved at almost the lowest end of the adjuster ( and badly miss the powered ORVMs).

5) The gear lever was continuously vibrating though no rattling sound or noise.

6) Most difficult bit is the power window switches as so far in all my cars- I had it on the door moulding ( arm rest). I almost fumbled for these switches each time I had to pull it up or down - I almost instictively search it with my right hand while its only on the left hand side and in the night with arm rest open - I couldnt even see the switches. But now that I know - I guess I ll get used to it.


What all I liked are summarised below:
1. Color- black interiors - and ease of getting in / out and manageable doors ( not too heavy) and handles are okay.
2. All the gadgets like cruise control, TPM, parking sensor, auto wiper / auto headlights etc. and gimmicks like recorded Voice (warning sounds)- including the SD/MMC / USB compatible MP3 player with rotary volume control switch( Verna didnt have this). I prefer the rotary switch more than the push button type. I didnt find anything useless / not required kind of fitting or accessory. I am happy that I chose VLX rather than VLS. In fact, I could find about hand brake problem only because of this sound alert and also it reminded me to wear seat belt and once when one of the door was partly open. There is an option to switch off which I dont intend to. I like the baritone.

tested the automatic rain sensors and headlight on the expressway - it works so well - I am impressed - just a bit of drizzle aslo activated it and in tunnel - wow the headlights would switch on - on their own- like magic.
3. Much better all round view and other two passengers with me also reported much better scenery and view from Scorpio. We could see much more of surroundings than we could see from car- may be also because uptill now it was always like how fast we can reach - this time slower speed meant more time to look around and higher seats meant better view down and around.
4. Space - of course.

I got delivery at around 60 kms - I forgot to note exact kms. The first pic which was almost a week before delivery has 48 kms on odo. At this moment odo reads 375 kms. I filled in tank on first night and almost run 60 kms for repairing ( hand brake lever, wiper wash & ac water problem) and testing. While coming back - I filled in tank again - it took in 21.15 litres of fuel when odo was 327 kms- a rough calculation shows FE of 12.6 kmpl ( largely - which is okay IMO considering the continuously varying engine speeds that I was doing as per the suggestion in the user manual.

While on the last few kms on my return to Mumbai long after the express way ended - got bit adventurous and first I left it in third gear and it was as comfortable at very low speed and pulled like almost anything but that was expected in third gear but I didnt believe what I felt- in 4th gear too it was equally torqy , responsive from low speeds and so quick to overtake at speeds around 50. I thought such pull was only in the league of Magnum / Verna but I am pleasantly surprised with the motor. I was prepared to put in Petes but I doubt if I would need it as I find the performance good enough.

There is some sound like Hoo/ whoosh as if it is hooting sometimes- which Raj had also mentioned- wondering whats that supposed to be. It comes at low speed- mostly near speed breakers - when brakes are partly applied and released soon / turn - but not always - so couldnt relate with any one activity that it may be indicating, as yet.

I am supposed to be sending it to workshop to sort out issues that I have , if any more tomorrow morning- but now I dont intend to send it to them until its time for first service . I will try to borrow some nail paint remover and try to remove that dirty streak of paint on the rear ac module myself and the dirty brown patch on the carpet near the scuff plate - I ll ignore for sometime and next weekend will use my black shoe polish to paint it black again - Cherry blossom.

I intend to put a front bull guard only and there is something like solar glass provided in VLX. In a cloudy weather its difficult to comment on how effective or useful it is , but as of now , I could feel that its surely tinted a bit more than other cars I have used so I will wait till I experience how it feels in the sun before deciding if I would need to put sun film also. Anyone who has used it in summers may please, share their comments/ opinion.

So now you all must be a bit relieved knowing that may be I have reconciled well and I am happy with my new ride. My daughter had named the Verna - Rest Rocket ( as per her its very comfortable as if resting and it moves like a rocket) and for it we are yet scrambling few names- last name I had suggested was 'Cruiser' but her approval is yet awaited. Till next time cheers:

Uploading some pics- including that of black dashboard and red theme on speedo.

[shatrughna]

Two more pics remaining from the last post are attached. Pic with 48kms on odo is taken at the time of booking when engine and chassis no. was allotted. This was almost 10 days before the delivery actually happened

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by shatrughna

Mods may please, change the heading as deems fit - may be just the name "Scorpio VLX".

Done, the title is changed to Scorpio VLX- Initial Ownership Report

[shatrughna]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

One heck of a first day. Anyways glad to know that it was sorted out and you made a good trip. Hope you enjoy your ride & writing about it too. Goodluck.

Thanks to you all- Smoking Jay, Anup Sahab, Happy wheels, SumitB, KB100, and Steeroid for your comments and good wishes. Now the thread has also been named appropriately. GD has forwarded link to Scorpio group on yahoo and I hope to see some of the TBHPians there as well.

Looking forward to some information on "Solar " glasses of Mhawk as well- whats this and whats special about it.

[HappyWheels]

Shatrughna,

Great news chief! :-)

And in your last pic whats the "1116" below the "48"? Isn't 48 the trip meter and the 1116 the odomoter reading???

[shatrughna]

JK Das- thanks to you too for your good wishes. In fact have been reading yours posts with keen interest apart from Guderian's travelogues.

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Shatrughna,

Great news chief! :-)

And in your last pic whats the "1116" below the "48"? Isn't 48 the trip meter and the 1116 the odomoter reading???

Thats the time ( 11:16 AM) . It has three things Trip A, Trip B and Time in mode.

[raj_5004]

@ shatrughna: congrats again on your new ride mate.
1) now i understand, the cool red and green dials are only for the black interiors and not the beige interiors like mine.
2) even i found the gear lever vibrating friend, but dont worry, it reduces drastically as kms pile up. mine has covered 1200 kms now and vibration has reduced a lot and i expect it to reduce further.
3) yes, even i faced the problem of the sound like hoo/whoosh and i got it inspected in the 1st service. they said, its a problem in some of the scorpios and it comes from 2 motors placed besides the engine. i have no idea which motor he is talking about (my driver took the car to the A.S.S.) and he added that he will replace the motors and the problem will be solved. so my car is going to the A.S.S tomorrow. he also said that this sound in no way affects the health of the car! so it a simple problem with a simple remedy.
4) i am glad you found the voice assist system useful! those who have heard it eventually started liking it!
5) also be careful if you try to change your alloys or head unit. you can lose the TPMS or volume controls on steering.
cheers.

[shatrughna]

Thanks Raj. I have no plans to change alloys due to TPMS, but I definietly would like to add a cassette player as I have plenty of good old cassettes which I love. There is an option to convert them to MP3 at some price, but still I like to add it. May be after first service is over as after the initial experience, I dont want to take any chances.

I also would like to add front sensors/ parking as I usually have to park facing a wall and I guess it would be helpful but so far not enquired anywhere. If you have any idea whether its possible to do it without spoiling anything else.

Can you throw some light on the Solar glasses- what does this mean?

[raj_5004]

well, i guess you can add a casette player in the slot below the provided head unit. this way you wont mess with the original fitment.
i have seen many cars fitted with front sensors but have never felt its necessary. but if you want them, you can get them fitted by a professional. he will have to cut holes in you bumper. it will look good if its done properly. i have done it in my innova's rear bumper in the showroom itself and have not faced any problems yet. why dont you ask the mahindra A.S.S? they must be fitting sensors in the SLX and DX variant.
sorry mate, i have no idea about the solar glasses.

[anirbanm]

Congrats man ..Guess nothing else will do ...now for you

[kb100]

Originally Posted by raj_5004

5) also be careful if you try to change your alloys - you can lose the TPMS

Is this true? Is there anything preventing the sensor from being swapped into any rim??

[chaxy]

congrats !! your car looks real evil in black..!! best color for the scorpio.

Any particular logic for the design on the sides and back for the mHawk version? i feel the car looks better without it.. what do you think? Can it be removed. The last time i saw it i think it cannot be peeled off..

[shankar.balan]

Mahindra states that they've made these changes in aesthetics based on customer feedback and as a strategy to clearly differentiate the appearance of the MHAWK from the regular Scorp- personally I dont like the decals all over the MHAWk.

But they are only stickers, same kind of stuff as the ones that used to come on the Bolero Sportz.And if you request the Mahindra people they will peel them off prior to delivery at the dealership. This removal has to be done in the very beginning itself or else it will leave behind a shade difference, because once the new vehicle gets used and dusty and all that, only the parts which are covered by the decals will remain clean.

Originally Posted by chaxy

Any particular logic for the design on the sides and back for the mHawk version? i feel the car looks better without it.. what do you think? Can it be removed. The last time i saw it i think it cannot be peeled off..

[Maverick_x1]

Congrats Shatrughna! Excellent choice, A great product, indeed one of its kind vehicle in India with all these features.

A quick question on the Turbo, do you feel it to be better than other Diesel burners? Spooltime, boost etc..

[hellstar]

Hi pal, congrats on your new car . i belive taht all your bad luck with teh car has finishedon the first day itself so henceforth should be trouble free