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5 reasons why I bought Force Citiline & what I like & dislike about it

31st December 2023, 11:50 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

After test driving the Tata Safari facelift, Mahindra Scorpio and XUV700, we also test drove the Force Cruiser.

BHPian anupam00 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Dear BHPians,

Sharing the story of my recent buying of a truck or should I say, a bus. Yes, probably the first Citiline on Team-BHP - ownership review.

Well, my association with Team-BHP and cars has been really long - from a collection of small bay toys to a huge garage of cars from Indian brands to Italians and Germans. I have cars which were always for enthusiasts. I have a good collection of cars and would start a thread on the same very soon.

Coming back to the decision-making process for the Citiline. It all started with Tata Safari ageing and the need for a people carrier and also some time back, my son - he is currently in class 10th - started his own brand of cold drink manufacturing i.e. Wild Drink. We thought it was time we built a car for him and that is how we started our search. The cars that were considered were the new Tata Safari, Scorpio-N and XUV700. At the same time, we needed space to carry people and also enough space to have a fridge installed and carry loads of stuff like cold drink bottles.

Took a test drive of the Cruiser after a test drive of the new Safari, Scorpio and XUV700. The preference was the following because we have big Germans already in the garage.

Engine - Rugged
Maintenance- Easy
Electronics - Bare minimum
Space - Huge
Road Presence - Extraordinary

Since we would be doing badging of "Wild Drink Drive", it should be smooth.

So the decision of a Force Cruiser-type car was made. At the same time, the Force Cruiser came with bench seats at the last row and it came to my notice that Force has launched the Citiline. Also, read the thread of the Citiline on Team-BHP in which our GTO said - I can't be the only one out here thinking this extended MUV has the potential to look handsome. Well, the decision was made and we decided to book one and the same was done with Rohit Force in Delhi. The day of delivery came when I actually saw how this truck looked.

There were no surprises here. Our visualization and the actual were the same. We took the delivery of the Citline and asked the dealership to install the following:

Roof Rails
Windshield protection bars
Red Grill Horn (plan to install roots as well)

The delivery day

There were some troubles which were later addressed by the dealership well and the delivery was taken at 10 in the night, thanks to them. It was Dhanteras, so we wanted a new car at home. The car was driven some 1400 kms as per the odometer. We were told that their cars are driven from plant to dealership. Hence the km reading.

Coming to the car's look and feel, well, I was not very happy with the way the car was cleaned. Maybe they had an extra workload that day. So no worries. I took the car later to World of Service and got it washed.

The front looks similar to the Mercedes G-Wagon or should I say, it's inspired by the Mercedes G-Wagon

Coming back to the list of things that I plan to do:

Audio installation choices in consideration - Pioneer or Blaupunkt music system
Speakers - Rockford Fosgate
Component speakers
Custom wooden box for rear speaker installation
Pods
4 channel amplifiers - maybe two of them
Bucket seat covers
7D mats
Roof carrier besides roof rails
Alloy wheels
GPS and central locking
TPMS
360 degree camera
Rear parking camera
Projector headlights
Projector fog lamps
Indicator fitring - like Gurkha
Roots horn with Hella horn
Battery cut off switch
Wild Drink badging
Snorkel
Remapping shall be done by World of Service
Cold air intake
Fridge in the rear
Rear windshield mirror
Changing of gear oil to fully synthetic and adding additive
Steering cover
Body cover - to get it built / buy
Interior lights
Engine bay light
Rear ladder

Any suggestions you all have are most welcome. I am sorry the wish list is quite a huge one. The company has left us to do a lot of things. The second way was that they could have done all that themselves. But anyway, I like doing things on my car. I'm happy to get it done myself.

The road presence is truly amazing and the space it has is simply awesome. Loads and loads can be carried comfortably

The rear stance of Citiline

More updates shall be coming as soon as I complete things.

I have driven the car 400+ km post delivery and am happy with the performance. ABS has a loose connection that we sorted out today during washing at World of Service Greater Noida. Rest of the updates are coming soon. Do let me know what all accessories you propose.

Thanks to Rupam & Naveen Sir from the Gurkha group for their suggestions and support towards making my decision of buying a Force Citiline.

The rear camera comes as stock in the Citiline

What I like

The space and the road presence
People carrier that can ferry 10 people comfortably
Body-on-frame construction
Build quality and steel used
Turning radius considering the size of the vehicle
Good lower end torque
Modification options are quite exhaustive
Ground clearance is acceptable
Good A/C. Rear A/C is also very effective
Although this vehicle is a 4X2, it's still effective on bad roads

The tall, commanding driving position makes you feel nice and also helps to manoeuvre the vehicle well. The purpose for which it is bought, it shall serve well and that is people carrier / goods carrier / Wild Drink vehicle. Above all, one thing that is huge is space, space and space!

Loads and loads of space - something that is missed in most vehicles including luxury wagons

What I hate

The power out of the car is less. It needs a bigger intercooler and definitely remapping. That I plan to get done in the next 30 days or so
The basic audio etc is missing. So one area which the company should look at improving
The oil and lubricants used should be of better quality - fully synthetic oil of German brand makes the vehicle smoother
A 6-speed transmission is required in the vehicle
The dashboard could have been better
Airbags should have been there. This feature is missing for sure
The engine mountings should have been hydraulic or better quality to reduce vibrations
4X4 option should be given by the company
The features / add-ons which are present in the Gurkha could have been provided by default in the Citiline
The service support is something they definitely need to improve upon. If you need to sell cars in India, learn from Maruti - which is to date best example of how to products in India
The part quality could have been better. The cooling coil - a few Gurkha owners faced failure. That too within 3 years.

Reasons why I bought the Citiline

Space that the vehicle has is huge
No other alternative to the Citiline for the purpose that it's been bought
The price at which it comes
The road presence
Ability to carry loads if required. It shall be used as a Wild Drink vehicle - my son's venture which is of herbal soft drink

Currently on the stock tyres and rims. Plan to upgrade to Gurkha alloys

Things/Modifications done so far

Audio installation choices in consideration were Pioneer or Blaupunkt music system. Installed two systems - a single DIN system for audio and the second as a screen system for the 360 degree camera and GPS
Speakers: Rockford Fosgate. Went ahead with Pioneer
Component speakers - Rockford Fosgate
Custom wooden box for rear speaker installation - did not get installed
4 channel amplifiers - maybe two of them - went ahead with a Pioneer amp
Bucket seat covers - got the same done. At a few places where I feel some more foaming shall be required, I shall get redone
GPS and central locking - Central locking of RD company installed
360 degree camera - installed the same
Rear parking camera - installed the same
Projector headlights - after installing projector fog lamps, I am now not planning to install projector headlights
Projector fog lamps - installed the same and yes, they work well
Indicator Fit - like Gurkha - installed the same and yes, it works well
Roots horn with Hella horn - installed the same and yes, they work well
Rear windshield mirror - not required now since I have a 360 degree camera in place
Changing of gear oil to fully synthetic and adding additive - done

The famous FM 2.6 engine - the same is used in almost all Force cars / buses

Things yet to be done

Pods- yet to be done
Bucket seat covers - got the same done. A few places where I feel some more foaming shall be required, I shall get redone
7D mats - yet to be done
Roof carrier besides roof rails - this is a little tricky. I shall get it done this week
Alloy wheels - got alloys of the Gurkha thanks to Naveen Sir. I'm in a dilemma about whether to install them or not
TPMS - yet to be done
Battery cut off switch - yet to be done
Wild Drink Badging - yet to be done
Snorkel - ordered the same. looks like it will be delayed since it's not in stock and it's dependent on the factory which is busy making the new Gurkha
Remapping shall be done by World of Service - to be done
Cold air intake - to be done
Fridge in the rear - to be done
Rear windshield mirror - not required now since I have a 360 degree camera in place
Steering cover - to be done
Body cover - to get it built / buy - to be done
Interior lights - to be done
Engine bay light - to be done
Rear ladder - to be installed. Got the one used in the Gurkha
Rear foot-step - to be installed

Any suggestions you all have are most welcome.

A few pictures of the vehicle

The front gaps of the bumper - but that is okay. We knew what we were buying and why

The left view

The right view

Your suggestions are most welcome for modifications and upgrades.

I shall update the thread with the latest pictures of the Citiline with the accessories installed and once I get the remapping done, I will give an update on the performance.

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