Review of New Mahindra Scorpio vls 2.2 mHawk

I drove a brand new Mahindra Scorpio v-series (Vls) powered by mHawk engine for about 900 kms in 3 days recently. I took this beauty cum beast on self drive rental from Hertz Bangalore (details). This post is a review of this vehicle, based on my experience of driving this vehicle in these 3 days.

I got the delivery from Hertz representative Mr. Anil on 20th Sep morning 5.30 AM at Bangalore city railway station. He explained me the key controls and handed over the keys after rental formalities. This gray coloured Scorpio Vls in which we toured Wayanad during next 2 days, was registered on 15th September and had less than 600 kms on the odometer. It was so new, Hertz people didn’t even had time to attach their sticker on the car. It was as supplied from showroom condition, with plastic seat covers still intact. The green ribbon on the bonnet ensured that almost everyone turned their head when they spotted this vehicle cruising by.

Soon I picked up my team mates from their homes/nearest pickup points and we were on Mysore road, cruising towards Mysore. It gives a great masculine feeling to drive this SUV. Other vehicles willingly give space if they see a Scorpio (or Safari or other SUV) speeding. But I couldn’t go beyond 150 kmph in this-not sure if it is a limitation of the 2.2 liter engine or something else. In June this year I’d pushed a 1.9 litre Skoda Octavia to much higher speeds (upto 170 kmph) on the same stretch in Mysore road.

Breaking, turn radius, maneuverability and sturdiness is superb. Absolutely no reasons to complain. ( I haven’t driven Safari or other SUVs- so can’t give a comparison or rating). Nearly 20 kms of the road I drove was in very bad condition-From the moment we entered Karnataka border near Nagarahole forest till HD Kote. This stretch of road would have been very hard to near impossible for normal cars but Scorpio’s off-roading abilities ensured that we could clear any kind of road with ease. Engine was smooth and silent, though we could hear some kind of minor odd noise during first gear and reverse hear- I guess it is due to levers/pedals touching the frame

This is the most powerful (well, I know there’re more powerful cars around-I’ll drive them too, one day) and sophisticated car I’d driven so far. So many sensors-warns you to release hand-break fully or wear your seat belt as applicable. But this sensor can be cheated-keep the seatbelt hooked to its buckle and this sensor won’t know that you’re cheating. Also seat belt sensor is only for driver-not for other passengers (if vehicle moves forward it assumes driver has to be there-it doesn’t seem to have a way of detecting if other passengers exist)

By evening, the dashboard stopped displaying odometer and started showing time in that place. I didn’t try to reset or fix it as I was fine with time being displayed there and trip meter was there for distance calculation. Follow me home lamps were another new thing-in the night, when you park and lock the car, it keeps headlamp on for some 30 seconds (so that you can have some light to get inside your home). I’d parked it in Woodlands hotel Kalpetta, security guard called me back asking me to switch off the headlight. I said it will go off on its own and he was surprised. But there’s no sensor that can guide during parking or other activities (Skoda Laura has it). Also it didn’t say ‘Good Morning’ to me when I entered for the first time in a day. Could have been a simple implementation.

How to turn on 4 wheel drive?
There was a marking “4WD” on the console, but I couldn’t figure out how to turn on four wheel drive. Didn’t find any controls for this-guess this option might have been disabled intentionally or this particular variant doesn’t have it. Carzonrent (Hertz India licensee) didn’t give me owner’s manual of the vehicle, so I couldn’t help much. Missed one great opportunity…

Looks, as you know, is very impressive. I found the mHawk body graphics missing-Has Mahindra & Mahindra stopped it? (Or may be that is exclusive to vlx variant) Also 2.2 is not mentioned anywhere on the body (earlier variants used to display 2.6) The air scoop on the bonnet is dummy-just a show piece. We were able to catch a FM radio station of Mysore city (92.7 MHz) almost all places in Wayanad district. Strong antenna? The sun pad (not sure of the exact name- the pad near windshield which can be tilted to cover sun beams hitting on your face) couldn’t be tilted side wards. Glove box compartment was not locking smoothly and needed 2-3 attempts. Headlamp was powerful enough to light up the road, even inside a dark NagarhoLe jungle. No indicators embedded in rear view mirrors-most auto makers are giving this fancy feature in their high end offerings- M&M yet to incorporate it in its flagship Scorpio.

What I didn’t like-
1. Cheap plastic for the dashboard looks depressing. Interiors could have been better. Console appeared conventional-other cars in similar price band come with much better interiors and sporty console. The provision to keep water bottles in the door were not big enough to accommodate a big bottle, say 2 litre can. It can take only small bottles.

2. Gear shift was rough (or shall I say not smooth enough?). I had to put substantial energy compared to Skoda I’d driven sometimes back, which was much smoother. Scorpio was only marginally better than Mahindra Utility and Pickup jeeps I'd driven earlier. Should a rugged vehicle always have a rough gearbox? Would have been better if this could be improved. My left shoulder still recovering from pain, after changing gears some few thousand times during the 900 km drive…

Haven't checked the top end vlx variant -which has several extra options like 6 speed Automatic transmission, technology to prevent engine from stalling, better interiors, cruise control, on steering audio controls, many more sensors and more.

Fuel economy:
I drove about 900 kms in 3 days- More than 50% on highways, some 20% on ghat and mountain roads, rest on city and village roads. AC was used only for say 20% of the journey. I had to fill a total of 71 litres to return the car full tank to Hertz- That makes an average mileage of 12.67 kmpl (I'd wrongly mentioned as 11.85 earlier-it was 71 litres not 76. Sorry for the error- a calculation mistake on my part)
This particular model is relatively new in market, so I am not sure if this mileage is above or below average. I feel it is decent. The car was brand new and hadn’t undergone any servicing yet. So may be after few services the fuel economy might improve a bit.

Over all, it is a pretty good car-pros outweigh cons. Scorpio has evolved over time, but still few improvements possible, to take it near perfection.

Returned the car to Hertz in one piece without any dents or scratches on 22nd night- It was a big responsibility to rent a new 10 lakh worth SUV for long drives, be responsible for lives of my passengers, drive the car safely in superfast highways, curvy mountains, bad roads and congested cities and finally return it safe and sound. I enjoyed every bit of it. This Wayanad trip was my 2nd self drive expedition (Chennai Mysore in a Skoda was the first). More about the places we visited and the trip will come up in different posts. Please standby. Those who were doubtful of my driving abilities now seem to have gained confidence in me and have expressed desire to join for next mission. Already receiving enquiries like "which car you're taking next/ where r u going next..."… let me see.

Scorpio official website * Review of Maruti Suzuki A-Star * is i10 car of the year? * Chennai police get Hyundai Accent * Fiat Linea review * Mahindra Xylo review

May 2009 update: This vehicle of Hertz Bangalore seems to be in a very high demand. Always I get to hear from them that it is already booked. I accidentally spotted this vehicle again in Ooty last week