I am a Scorpion, 52, a very senior Government Officer, traversing 38 kms from residence in New Bombay to Ballard Estate, daily. I have been driving my Scorpio for the last six months and my experience has been as thrilling as the challenges I take up in my line of work
I am an experienced driver, with more than 15 years of fast driving experience and after my experiments with a starting with a Willy?s long ago, a few Maruti variants, Commander, Tata Sumo and motor cycles, I decided to have a vehicle that would speak my language, aggressive, powerful and intelligent and that was when I went for a Scorpio.
The fellow drivers would know, at least when I am on the driver’s seat on my Scorpio what a powerful vehicle my Scorpio is. Off the Uran phatak crossing, off the busiest Sanpada signals, off the Vashi toll gate, my Scorpio is the first</> vehicle to zoom past every other car, Ford Endeavor, Cherolet Tavera included.
All the rest are cars anyway and I do not want to comment on them. The highway truckers, taxi drivers and invariably oil tankers have a tendency, sometimes proclivity, to cling on to the right lane, blocking all other vehicles, come what may.
In the past, driving other cars, I either used to honk my horn forever, or go for a left overtake at the first available opportunity. Not with Scorpio, a big vroom on the throttle and a blaring, sharp horn are all it takes to get my way through. Sometimes I have a few small cars ahead of me, all blowing their horns with no avail on the part of the truck.
I draw near the car ahead and give a sharp horn and a vroom. The truck, willy nilly, moves left and the grateful convoy give me way. Some drivers do object but most of them understand and give me way ahead.
I have a special pass for the BPT Road and the drivers, who know me well let me go first so that they could safely follow me through the narrow corridors of the BPT Road. Those who don?t, had better know, when my Scorpio is on the prowl.
In the D’Mello Road, I get priority clearance, especially in the night, when my red and gold SLX assumes a formidable, demoniacal facade. The small cars are scared of its mean and ugly smile and the bigger cars are of her meaner headlights and fog lights, which I always keep on.
Once I took my Scorpio to the scary heights of Ekveera temple off Lonavla, with my extended family of 12 members. When I had climbed nearly till the penultimate ’Z’ turn, an upshot driver climbing down from the top overtook a descending vehicle and came neatly close to my bumper. I had to screech to halt. That was not the problem.
My vehicle was at a slope of about 45% and on the clutch it started rolling back, even with the handbrake. With heart up my throat, I told my wife to release the handbrake and praying to God, I gave a full throttle in the first gear. My Scorpio went up the steep climb like a new-born colt and the dumbstruck row of the cars and two-wheelers ahead and behind me cheered me off (Mind you, I am 52 and look 55) with thunderous applause. I could have caused a series of disasters that day.
Of course, I have some complaints about my Scorpio. The AC is a bit slow, not like my Maruti Alto. It still has the remnants of the peculiar Mahindra droll, which I like thought, but my family doesn’t. The service agencies especially the Autopoint at Cotton Green, are no good, too bureaucratic even for a senior bureaucrat like me.
But still, given a choice, I will go for Mahindra Scorpio, Euro III, CRDi model. Nothing else will do.