Mahindra Scorpio Automatic (AT) 4x4 Airbags

Finally after two months of taking delivery of the vehicle managed to get time long enough to complete this portion of the post. Apologize for the delay! Got the delivery of the vehicle on 14th Sep 2011! Attachment 844365 Only other SUV's looks I like in the market today is Toyota Fortuner, which was out of my budget and do not have an automatic variant, so the choice was quite narrow, in fact only one. So no work on comparing vehicles! Nothing much to select when it comes to color either. Scorpio has very few colors and I don't like any of them. And to top it AT + 4x4 which is made to order, even here they offer only two colors Black & White. I already have a black Santro so went with the white, what a sad way to select color on a 15 lac vehicle. Only solace is that the lighter interiors on the white is pleasant on the eye as compared to the dark one on the black. So the selection process was more of which dealer to go with rather than the vehicle comparisons. And the interactions with dealers was interesting: India Garage: I called them for test drive and there was no response. About two weeks later I get a call from the sales rep asking if I have already bought the vehicle if not he will get the vehicle for test drive. I had not booked yet so I did take a test drive. Sales guy knew nothing about the automatic and was initially discouraging me from buying one saying there are a lot of issues with gear box and later when he realized that I am only looking for AT 4x4, he changed the story... SKS: They did respond immediately but came with a Manual 4x4. Again the sales rep knew nothing about AT and he dint even know there is a AT + 4x4 variant. But at least he was forth coming and tried to get some answers to my questions, unfortunately he had to always refer to his 'senior'. Sireesh (Hosur Road): This one I just walked in to their showroom one afternoon met this sales rep Mr. Manjunath. I took several test drives of both manual and AT (no 4x4). And he claimed he has sold a few ATs (no 4x4) and one of his colleague's has sold a AT 4x4 recently, I eventually bought from this guy, more about that shortly. Sireesh (Yelahanka): I met this sales guy when I was visiting the service manager at the Sireesh service center. Interestingly they share the test drive vehicles between the two showrooms and the same vehicle was present there which I had driven earlier and I took another test drive, this time at a near by mud track. This is when you realize the power of this vehicle where I was able to speed 60 to 80 kmph on this mud track which was very uneven, the track was so bad I would have turned back or gone at 10-20 kmph if I was in my Santro. So I knew it is going to be Mahindra Scorpio Automatic 4x4 and I knew Scorpio has proved itself over time, I knew MM are good at their 4x4s and the Automatic gearbox over the past three years has been meshed well with this engine. What I was worried about was do the service engineers knowledgeable/skilled/trained on the AT + 4x4 combination (as I gather there are less than 10 of these in Bangalore, I have only spotted three till now) and AT + 4x4s off-roading capabilities. For the first issue, I contacted MM and they have given a me written (email) confirmation that they have all their service engineers trained and are capable of servicing AT + 4x4 combination at any/all of their authorized service centers. Also I found out about this service manager Mr. Satish from a common friend, I suppose he came highly recommended by MM itself when my friend had escalated an issue and he had resolved the issue well and they have been going to him for over five years now. So I met him in person, very friendly guy and he spent considerable time with me and he confirmed that his center services AT + 4x4 vehicles regularly and added advantage was that this center is just about 2 kms from my home. Next question was about AT + 4x4 off-roading capability. I don't intend to go climbing rocks but I must be able to survive Mahindra Great Escape event and all the research/reading, phone calls did give me the confidence I can go ahead. In one of the reading found out that Hummer comes only in AT variant. So the decision was made! Mahindra Scorpio Automatic + 4x4 + Airbags it is... Now to decide on the dealer, so to the best deal: but MM has a good control over what offers and freebees a dealer can give, as all four dealers offered more or less the same. Even after pushing and prodding none of them came back with anything better except for Manjunath. All were offering offs on Insurance and as I was purchasing via company, I did not even get the that benefit. Of the four only Manjunath had been very proactive and helpful and did not want any down payment so I went with him (Sireesh - Hosur Road), also he was the only one who promised he can get me the captain seat variant (more discussion here) and some additional freebees. He has been very helpful post booking and post sale as well. So finally after about two months of active research booked the vehicle with Sireesh Hosur Road on 24th June 2011. More on off-roading capability - (this was after booking) I was visiting Kannur and had some issue with the vehicle (Santro AT) and found that the L & 2 gear selections on Santro AT was very helpful in the ghats and realized this did not exist on Scorpio AT. I started reading about the MM AT again and found this on auto sensor of inclination. I called MM they put me on to their techie but I was not convinced and he suggest I take another test drive in a hilly place. Attachment 844352 Now I need to really applaud & appreciate the dealer Sireesh & the sales guy Manjunath, they arranged for me to take AT test drive vehicle to Nandi hills (I could not think of any other place!) to test the AT gear functioning especially during down hill drive. I could not see the above in action (at least I could not sense it) however I could get the engine breaking to work both on its own as well as with the double peddle trick that I picked up during one of the readings. Now to the delivery: the initial date given for the delivery was 10th Aug then after two new dates a third one with about a month of delay (discussed on this thread), the delay was due to an issue with the supply of the AT gearbox, but finally got the vehicle. The finance was from company lease (discussed on this thread). Finally the vehicle arrived in Bangalore, and I did PDI (procedure discussed on these threads - one & two): Attachment 844353 Attachment 844354 Attachment 844355 Attachment 844356 Attachment 844357 As some one called it on the team-bhp, the dragon's tail. Attachment 844358 Did not want to leave the vehicle with the dealer (I have seen they remove ODO connection and take it for test drives for other prospects, I have driven one such MT 4x4 - don't ask the dealers name) so, took the deliver very next day. I was quite impressed with the delivery procedure - they almost worked like an assembly line and the process was complete in about 30 min. The delivery in charge explained the essentials then a quick photo shoot and 8 ltrs/500rs of complementary fuel and I headed home with my new ride. Attachment 844359 Attachment 844360 Attachment 844361 Attachment 844362 Attachment 844363 Attachment 844366 Attachment 844364 Before I left I got a gift, half I had asked for it and half was a surprise - yes the Scorpio Coffee table book and a glass/crystal cuboid with Scorpio etched in side!!! Attachment 844350 Attachment 844351 Attached Images

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