Why I chose the Mahindra Scorpio-N over the Compass, Thar & Fortuner

Mileage is at 10kmpl so far, thanks to mostly driving on the cratered surface of LBS Road & the Eastern Crawl Highway.

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Background:

My 2020 Petrol S-Cross (Chetak) had been a faithful companion for the past 2.5 years, and had almost 40,000 km under his timing belt. However, his build quality was starting to show. Rattles were creeping in, and the lack of safety features was glaring in comparison to his peers: no ESC, traction control, only 2 airbags. The saving grace was the all-disc brakes setup. His suspensions had also started to degrade from the 20k mark, and 3 sets of Maruti service centers

The kids were also bigger and more boisterous than before, and space was becoming tight, especially when the entire family piled into the vehicle.

Despite my middle-class genes rebelling against it, and the numerous admonitions from the Maharathis on this forum to keep one's steed for as long as possible, it was clear that Chetak was running out of room. His engine was fine, and the AT was responsive enough to be able to zip through traffic, and he was just the perfect combination of size and power to be suitable for both city traffic and the highways. If the suspensions were better, and he had better safety features and AWD, we would likely have managed with the tight space and kept him till the end of his days.

The Search & Selection:

Since the end of the IC engine era is nigh, and diesels are heading to the chopping block first, it was decided that the next vehicle needs to be a proper SUV with a diesel mill, with 4WD for the OP to indulge his midlife crisis urge to go offroading. AT was a must, as were safety features like ESC, traction control, 6 airbags, all-disc brakes and a good NCAP rating. A good sound system was also mandatory.

Started checking out the various options available. Options considered are summarized below:

Very high level and lazy summary

After a careful consideration of the above options, a few test drives, long hard look at the bank balance, and channeling my inner Rohit Shetty, the ScorpioN was selected by me unanimously. The Z8 D-AT 4WD Napoli Black was immediately booked online, with the expectation of a loooong wait, by when most of the bugs would have hopefully been ironed out.

The Delivery, more painful than a C-section

As luck would have it, one day yours truly received a call from Voldemort, aka the dealer who shall not be named. They had a Z8L available in Black, for immediate delivery, due to a booking cancelation. They demanded immediate payment so the car could be blocked for me. My desi fraud detector went on high alert, considering the backlog was so long that Virat Kohli has booked one for his grandkids. A call was promptly placed to my buddy at M&M, who asked me to stay put while he checked things out. The dealer kept applying his pressure tactics, and was given the below response. (Un)surprisingly he stayed put.

After the vehicle was confirmed to be genuine by my buddy, I checked out the VIN and verified the vehicle was a Feb 2023 unit, and inspected it in the extremely dusty stockyard. Once again the dealer asked me to make a decision, but I insisted on a proper PDI after the vehicle was cleaned up. After their usual litany of excuses, another escalation call resulted in the shiny black version being made available for inspection. Seeing him in his glory, the name "Vader" sprung to mind, and was enthusiastically embraced by the parivar.

The trusty TBHP PDI checklist was invoked, and the vehicle passed unconditionally. Thanks once again to the veterans for creating and maintaining this comprehensive guide for us non-experts.

The only accessories selected were the 7D mats, mudflaps, sun shades and corner protectors. Not a chrome fan, so skipped the bling, and might in fact de-chrome some parts down the line.

Now the wait began. Once the money was paid, the dealer started dragging his feet, saying some "booking adjustment" had to be made in the back end. A week went by, then another, with no updates. The n=n+1 formula started wearing thin, resulting in a call to the dealer management threatening some khaki action. This resulted in the final invoice showing up in my inbox within an hour, the registration formalities getting done in 4 days, and the car delivered at the end of the week with much pomp and ceremony. Upon closer inspection, sticky tape residue on some of the chrome, the front tires under-inflated and a poorly installed rear mud-flap (2 screws missing) was observed, resulting in another yelling session, and the vehicle was again sent off to the dealer to be fixed.

Beginning of a beautiful friendship, it was not. Lets see how it goes longer term.

This key is NOT included

Meet the parents

Chetak was sold off within 10 days of Vader's arrival. The dealer offered a ridiculous trade-in value, and so did Cars24. Spinny & OLX were a lot more reasonable, and the vehicle was picked up by the latter after a few days negotiation. The process was seamless and very professionally managed, and worth the loss of any potential upside from selling to an unknown individual.

Initial Impressions of Vader:

The kids approve of him, so I can breathe a sigh of relief.

The official review (Mahindra Scorpio-N Review) is far more comprehensive, and is gratefully acknowledged. Below is what I have observed, warts and all.

Exterior:

The vehicle has PRESENCE. After driving crossovers, sedans and coupes all my life, it is an experience to be floating above them all. People also treat it with a lot more respect, including autorickshaw drivers, thanks to the tough looking front face. The doors, hood, handles, mirrors are all solidly constructed and reassuringly heavy, especially compared to the Maruti. Roof rails are sturdy and load bearing, as befits a vehicle in this class. Front and rear tow hook points (and tow hooks) are included and easily accessible. The engine hood is well insulated and HEAVY - hydraulic struts are missed.

The headlight throw is not the best though, and will likely present a problem when driving in dark areas. No rear fog lamps.

ORVMs are large and auto-fold/unfold upon locking the car/starting it up. Haven't figure out a way to do this manually in the tight situations of urban India and on narrow mountain roads.

Interior:

It is extremely spacious and airy on the inside, more so thanks to the large windows. The sunroof is well positioned and sized. This car doesn't need a panoramic one IMHO.

The 2nd row is spacious enough for 3 adults, with more than enough legroom. Interior lamps are powerful and provide sufficient illumination. Only 1 cupholder in the front row! The front passenger will have to stay sleepy, unless (s)he is quite intimate with the driver. Storage space in the doors is reasonable, but the interior compartments are small, including the cooled glove box, which feels flimsy to the touch.

The 3rd row tumbles forward easily, although the final position is TERRIBLY Designed, resulting in much wasted space.

Driving:

Handling is extremely easy for such a bulky vehicle. The steering is light and responsive, and there are plenty of horses available for any quick maneuvers. Haven't yet let the engine go beyond 2000 rpm, staying within 80-85 kmph. The transmission is well mated to the engine, although it does tend to stay in 4th gear for longer than I would like, even between 60-70kmph.

Fuel economy is at 10kmpl so far, thanks to mostly driving on the cratered surface of LBS Road & the Eastern Crawl Highway.

Features:

Features are a-plenty in this behemoth, and most are thoughtfully designed.

Driving & Safety: ESC, Traction Control, All-disc brakes, 6 airbags, Cruise control, hill hold & descent control. auto headlamps, rain sensing wipers, front foglamps, rear wipers. TPMS, auto start stop (is this even a feature ), front and rear bumper sensors, front and rear cameras, driver drowsiness detection

Some more Pics:

Interior Comfort: 6-way adjustable power drivers seat with manual (sigh) lumbar adjustment, Motorized sunroof, 12 speaker music system with immersive surround and ability to localize the output for when passengers need to rest, Dual zone AC for front row, 2nd row AC with fan speed control (no temperature control), wireless charging, 2 USB points in the front and 1 USB-c point for the 2nd row, illuminated driver side window buttons

The MID has a yuuuge number of options, including the ability to set the volume and tones of the various sounds, an alert window for matters that need immediate attention, multiple trip meters, real time fuel efficiency and range monitoring (have to compare against tankful method) with the ability to set it for auto-reset upon filling up and a mini navigation screen.
both

Have not really explored the Infotainment screen much, but don't have much to say that is positive. It has inbuilt navigation from MapmyIndia, Bluetooth audio connectivity and radio with ability to pre-program stations. Apple

CarPlay is missing though, despite being advertised on the brochure. Not acceptable, Mahindra, considering how integrated our phones and their apps are into our daily lives, and when even sub-10L cars come equipped with this feature.

The front camera allows capture of images real time and storing them locally, in the off chance of an accident on our ultra-safe roads.

Barely enough space in the parking spot

Now let's get the Number of this Beast. What is making the light saber sputter?

Some points are repeated from the first post, which indicates either how strongly I feel about them, or sheer laziness and lack of proofreading ability.

Design:

• Rear View Mirror: Very small and clunky to use. No auto dimming capability is unacceptable at this price point

• Request sensor unlocks all doors, and not just the driver side door. Even my old S-Cross was better set up. The Fob can be programmed to open only driver side door, but this is a miss.

• No Cruise "Cancel" button. Have to press the brakes

• No Apple CarPlay. Cannot highlight this enough

• Integrated navigation uses MapmyIndia. There is a reason every. single. person. I know uses Google maps. The navigation directions are often hilariously bad. eg driving from Colaba to Thane in the evening it asked us to exit the Eastern Freeway at Wadala

• A LOT more storage needed, including the glove box and the storage compartment between the driver and passenger.

• The rear wheel jack point is VERY awkwardly located and hard to access using the provided jack. Will need an electric jack.

• Rear wiper coverage is too small.

• The 3rd row tumble position has been mentioned before, by many people already.

• Lumbar support doesn't work for me at least.

Bugs:

Auto Start Stop: The feature is quite choosy about when to activate. It sometimes does not work when the car has been driven for a while and is nice and cool, and sometimes turns on when the car has barely been started with the AC on full blast, serving us a stream of hot summer air in the process. If I disable it while the car is stopped with engine off, not only does it NOT turn on immediately, it stays shut off even when I release the brakes. Have to put the car in park and restart the engine. Also shows oil low alert when active, which is kinda scary to see on a new car. The restart is also quits sluggish, which may be a diesel thing. NONE of the above issues were present in my old S-Cross which had the same feature.

Auto Stop is not the same as engine shut off, or is it?

• Front sensors randomly activate and deactivate: does not always follow the status of the included activation button

• Front and Rear Cameras: Very laggy and resolution is not the best. Once both stopped working for several hours despite restarting the car multiple times (the Windows best practice).

• Bluetooth Music: Music from the phone often doesn't play when it is charging via USB. When it does work, the response is sluggish, and control of the music randomly shifts between the device and the Infotainment screen. The screen is also creative with what it chooses to display when a particular song is playing, as can be seen below.

Since Eminem is not in the picture, I guess it IS the song "Without Me"

• The ORVMs occasionally refuse to unfold after starting the car. The first time it happened was in the presence of a valet, who seemed to know his way around this buggy implementation, and was able to quickly get them to open up.

To their credit, M&M have responded to these issues and will be taking the vehicle for a software check and update. Will keep the forum updated.

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