The fuel economy while doing city runs has been quite low, however, it climbs up when I get a chance to stretch its legs.
BHPian vivekgk recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
It’s been almost 9 months since I got the Beast, and I have just crossed 5000 kms. I have been meaning to update the thread for months, but just couldn’t get down to it. I’ve been writing this in bits when I can find a bit of free time, and 5000 kms sounds like a nice round number to post an update, so here goes.
Getting used to the Beast:
With the exception of three out-of-town journeys to Munnar, Aluva, and Thodupuzha, the majority of my driving has been in and around the city, with the occasional weekend jaunt of 100–150 km. I’ll be posting a separate write-up for the Munnar trip, as it was quite special.
A snap from the Munnar trip in February, taken at a cardamom estate on the way to Munnar.
The Beast has been serving as my daily commute, and it has happily—if slightly gluttonously—performed its duty. The one-finger-light steering is a boon, enabling effortless “Zip”-ping through traffic. ZIP is better suited for a very leisurely commute because it has less power than the other two modes, plus the steering is light, almost too light. Acceleration happens gradually, and the throttle response is somewhat muffled. It resembles driving a Suzuki K15+AT, in my opinion. Furthermore, it’s the perfect mode if you’re handing the car over to someone who hasn’t operated a vehicle this powerful or large.
I have to avoid narrow gullys as it is easy to get stuck. Unfortunately, the way to my home is through such a narrow road, with there being barely enough room for the Beast and a 2-wheeler to pass. Thankfully, it is a rather short road and I got stuck only a couple of times, when somebody had left their vehicle parked unattended, or if a 2-wheeler was a bit lavishly parked too far out into the road.
Fuel Efficiency:
The FE for these city runs has been quite low, hovering around 7-9 kpl. This was not unexpected though, as my commute is barely 4 kms and through dense traffic. I’ve had to do the DPF regen once, at about 3500 kms. It came up again recently for a second or so but then disappeared. If you give it a chance to stretch its legs, the FE immediately climbs to above 12 after just a few kms, and rises further with longer trips. Best I’ve gotten is 14.7 kpl on a Tvm-Aluva trip. The return journey was through MC road’s heavy traffic, which resulted in a lower overall figure.
The first big scratch
This happened in January, while I was still getting used to the size of the Beast. I was a bit careless while reversing and swiped a parked auto rickshaw. It was in a narrow lane near my home, and I had moved to the extreme left to let him pass comfortably. Since there was an electric post right in front, I needed to reverse a bit to get moving again. I assumed, wrongly, that the auto had moved on, but he stopped to pick up a phone call. I backed into him, and got a long scratch on the right side bumper and fender. Despite this, the auto driver did not create a scene. I suspect that the contraption didn’t have any papers and neither did the driver…
As I didn’t want to claim insurance for the small scratch and the ASC was all the way across town, I opted to get it touched up at a FNG that I knew. Took two visits to clear it up properly, and I’m still not fully satisfied. Never going back to that place again.
Modifications Done So Far:
LED Lighting:
I made the decision to change the headlamps to LED before leaving for the Munnar excursion. I had learned a lot from my trials and errors with the Ecosport, so this time I was better prepared. With the Scorpio-N, I could upgrade the low and high beams separately because they come with separate beams. Both beams had a nice beam pattern, with the high beams having good reach and the low beams having nearly no dark areas. I’d say that the factory-fitted 55W halogens were adequate.
The only options available while I was upgrading the Ecosport bulbs were obscenely expensive branded options like Philips Ultinon or unbranded Chinese items from AliExpress or accessories stores. This time around, accessible branded alternatives were available online. After a few weeks of consideration, I decided to go for Osram 25W LEDriving lamps from Amazon which cost me around Rs. 3600/- per pair. These came with a separate driver unit, which meant that the heat dissipation from the actual LEDs would not affect the driver unit and damage it. Since they were only 25W and came with a fan, the heat would be less of an issue. The Chinese units that I had on the Ecosport got so hot that I was forced to take off the rear dust caps from the headlamp housing. I faced no issues here, even after continuous night drives.
I had Car Park, Tvpm fit them on the Beast. Despite the fact that I had bought them online, they readily agreed to fit them and charged a very fair rate, IMHO. For the parking lamps, I got a pair of Osram T10 LEDs from them. The LED headlamps deliver excellent performance and are an improvement in practically every aspect. We drove at night a lot on our Munnar+Vattavada tour, and the LEDs lighted up the road like day. What I did miss, though, were some fog lamps to highlight the sides as I navigated several steep, tight twisties.
I also upgraded the reverse lamps (PY21W spec) to really bright LEDs. The right one was easy to replace and I did it myself, but the left one was obstructed by a humongous DPF/Adblue unit that completely obstructs it. Again, the Car Park guys came to the rescue and got it fitted somehow without removing the bumper.
Here’s how the LEDs look like at night
Coming to the negatives of the LEDs, I would have liked a slightly lower 4300-5000K color temp, as the 6000K is pure white and has scattering issues in heavy rain. But then, it is the same case or worse with every LED-equipped car. At least these are powerful enough that some light penetrates the rain and lights up the road. I also feel that the beam is now higher than the original, so I need to set the beam adjustment from 0 to 1 or 2 to lower it a bit.
Silver Accents:
Initially, I had considered going for a full-on “Mafia-Black” look, but decided that it wasn’t for me. I opted for the “Tasteful chrome/silver accents” look, but you guys be the judge on how tasteful it turned out…
At the time of re-touching the scratched bumper, I also opted to get the front and rear skid plates, and the lower door claddings painted silver to match the top variants. I forgot about the roof rails though, so they’re still black.
Re-painting the skid plates and sides cost me about Rs. 2000/-. The silver skid plate accessories would have cost me twice as much on m2all.com, and I’d still have to get the sides painted.
One unintentional benefit was how well the silver finish on the door trim matched up with the aluminium footsteps.
I also decided to switch back to the OEM wheel caps at this point. They are quite durable and held on through the Munnar trip even without the zip ties. The ones I bought off Amazon did not survive a pressure wash unscathed. The paint finishing was not up to the mark and ended up getting peeled off in places. That was a waste of 1700 bucks, as the looks lasted just about 2 months.
By this time, the side window chrome garnish that I had ordered was also delivered (after about 2 months). Local Accessory stores were unwilling to fit them for me because these replaced the original beading and were a screw-in replacement rather than a taped-on affair. The chrome trim for the rear quarter glass was a simpler taped-on bit. This means that the finish doesn’t quite match up between the two. The door trims have a satiny finish while the rear quarter glass trim is glossy chrome. The only way to match it up is to replace the whole rear quarter glass with the one from Z8. Thankfully, it doesn’t show unless you’re closely inspecting them.
Around this point, CBC Mahindra opened their service centre just about 2 kms from my home, and they got it fitted for me for a very nominal fee. They forgot to return the original beadings to me though, and I didn’t realise it until much later. By then, they were unable to locate them. I didn’t follow up further and let it go.
Keyword: 5,000 km Scorpio N Z4 AT ownership experience: Fuel efficiency & mods