This is a sort of homecoming for me, because 2 years ago, I had finalized my decision to purchase the Scorp after getting feedback from fellow MS-ers [In fact I got introduced to MS while searching for reviews on the Scorp on the net]. That time I had thought to my self in an Arnold-esque style "I’ll be baaak! to write my own review"
So here goes.
The Mahindra Scorpio- what can I say about it! It’s a fabulous car.... inside out! Hold on, I’m a bit more balanced in my opinion, but for a moment lemme’ gawk about my beast a bit. This being MY first car will always be special to me, but looking back I would never have got myself another car. Well maybe, if I’d waited for a few months, I’d have gone in for the CRDe. And with all it’s faults and shortcomings, I’m still in love with it.
Ok, what I hate about the car first:
Well size and driveability doesn’t figure in this list [it figures in the positives]. But my pet peeves about this car are the clutch, the horn pad, the jack and the service.
The clutch and horn pad are both very hard. No amount of adjusting helps. And it’s not just me, a lot of the members of the Scorpio Yahoo group are facing the same problem. The jack of the Scorp doesn’t fit under the car if you have a complete flat, esp in a front tyre. So if you’re going in for a Scorpio, then buy a separate jack [rated at 2+ tonnes] and use that. Since it has leaf springs on the rear, the ride esp on the back seats is a little bumpy, but that’s been taken care of in the all new version.
All these are issues that are minor and I suppose if you own an Accent, a Safari or even a CRV for that matter, there would be some design and QC issues for every car. But one thing that is the most important negative for this car is the service. I’m based in Pune and both the dealers in Pune are overloaded with work because the Scorpio is doing so well. Consequently getting your warranty-time services are a nightmare. They attend to routine servicing but will leave jobs undone or take 2-3 days to get a routine servicing done. With my extended warranty my nightmare is also going to be extended. The positive side to it however is that they are very courteous and at both places the people at the top are very helpful. So if you were to complain to them, they will go out of their way to do things. But things rarely get done unless you sit on their heads or make a big fuss about it. I think that Mahindra desperately need to appoint another dealer or atleast M&M authorised service centers to ease pressures and tempers.
With that out of the way let’s look at the positives. Positives purely from the layperson’s point of view. technical issues are on the website.
Well, the single most important thing about the Scorpio is it’s road presence. It looks all brute, all male! It has the look and the stance that few other cars can match. People would actually stop dead in their tracks and allow you to pass. All you have to do is growl!
Inspite of this, driving it is extremely light. The steering is nimble [some find it a bit too light for their liking], the turning radius is very good for it’s size, and all round visibility is extremely good - which makes it easy to judge.
The car is powerful with a 2.6 litre turbocharged engine. I’ve never been left wanting for that extra push to get out of situations on the road. AC is powerful, although the rear vents in the older version tend to freeze the knees because of their positioning. Leg space and seating comfort is very good. As I mentioned the ride becomes a bit bumpy, but since I’m always at the wheel I’m comfy. Great ground clearance, I’ve driven on the moon [read pune roads] and never had a problem. Oodles of space, but shortage of storage area in the form of racks, depressions and pockets.
As far as the mileage is concerned it gives me about 10.5km to a litre of diesel in city driving conditions and about 11.5-12 on the highway [all figures considering AC as a taken-for-granted feature], which I think is pretty decent. Ofcourse I’d have liked it to be more, but I would rather strike this balance between the economy and the power.
Maintainence on the car is also quite economical. 5K km servicing doesn’t cost a bomb. Spares and routine servicing materials aren’t very costly either.
The list is much longer than this, but this is the gist of the story. The all new Scorpio available now is a great improvement over this baby that I own with a lot of new features and gizmos. But unfortunately M&M have left some of the basic nagging problems unattended. Hopefully they would correct those in the next version AND also improve the service network.
All in all, you are for the scorpio and the scorpio is for you if you’re looking at owning something ’jara hat ke’, powerful in it’s right, easy to drive [after getting used to it ofcourse] with the economy of diesel and the reliability of M&M.
I’d say "Go for it"