The fuel efficiency of the SUV on a recent road trip came out to be 11.3 km/l.
BHPian vivekgk recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
First Free Service and 1300 km update
The Beast has now completed 1300 km, had the First Service done and took us on a 300km trip to Kottayam.
Kottayam trip
On a Friday, Dad called me and asks if I’d be interested in visiting my aunt’s place at Kottayam, as he hasn’t seen her in a long time. I was thrilled to have an opportunity for a longer drive than the usual city commute, so of course I said yes. My wife and kid weren’t coming as my kid had a bad cold and needed rest.
So, on a fine Saturday morning, me, Dad and my Sis set out on this 300km round trip, mostly on MC Road. Since it was a Saturday, there was less traffic than usual, but it was still chaotic, and we took 5 hours to cover just 150 km.
Apart from the frustration of the slow pace, the trip was comfortable for the most part. The Beast’s low-speed ride is a bit “Busy”, but it is still so easy to drive, especially once you put it in the ZIP mode and enjoy the low steering effort and smoother performance. Though people say that harder seats are better for longer trips, I think that these Scorpio-N seats could use a bit more cushioning. Maybe the leather seats on the top versions are softer, I’ll have to check again.
I did an FE check, using both the indicated FE figures on the trip computer, as well as the tankfull to tankfull method, and both showed 11.3 kms over 243 kms. I was not trying in any way for mileage and used the ZOOM mode many times to quickly zoom past others. And it is a big heavy SUV being driven on busy roads. Also, it is good to know that the FE figure on the display is very accurate. I was expecting it to be optimistic as is often the case with most cars.
I slightly modified my driving style and drove a bit more sedately for the remaining 60-odd kms and the FE improved to 13.4 kpl, despite the heavy evening traffic. I’m happy with this, as my expectations were lower. In the city traffic, I have been getting 7.5 to 8.5 kpl in stop and go traffic, and it improves dramatically by 20-30% when the traffic clears even a bit and I can take it above 40 kph.
First Service – 1200 km
I took the car in for the first service at the SS Mahindra, Peroorkada, the same place from where I bought the car. The service centre is located at the same premise, behind the showroom itself.
As it was just the first service, there was not much to be done, other than checking the car over, and topping up the fluids. In my case, there were a couple of issues regarding the accessories. As I had mentioned, I had opted for underbody coating and mudflaps from the dealer. The mudflaps were fitted with steel screws, which started rusting in just a week. Also, there was overspray of a black, gummy, underbody coating material all over the engine bay. I requested them to correct these issues.
However, the overspray issue was not attended to, and the car was also delivered very late, in a rather poor condition as the washing was not properly done. I gave scathing feedback and a 1-star review on their customer feedback sheet and escalated the matter to their GM of Service.
Their team responded very well and assured me that the issue would be resolved without delay. The vehicle was picked up from my office the next day and returned with the issues mostly resolved and the vehicle got a proper cleaning inside and out. There is still a bit of the overspray in the engine bay, but most of it is gone, though you can spot some of it if you look closely.
“Official” Rain Visors
I also had the MGA Rain visors fitted during the service. This cost about 3800/- and IMO it is not worth it. They look too small for the vehicle. I wish I had waited a bit longer, for better models to start hitting the accessory market. They cost about half as much on Amazon, and local accessory stores here don’t have them in stock yet. I feel it’d be better to buy them from Amazon. They look easy enough to fit yourself.
Oh, and as several folks here have commented on the wheel caps, I decided to take them off for a while at least. And here’s what the Beast looks like without them, and the new door visors. Personally, I like how it looks, but some have told me that it looks very bare. I think that a centre hub cap would improve it a bit, and I am also tempted to paint the wheels a creamy white, like the Thar AX. Please post your thought and suggestions on this.
First Puncture
A couple of days ago, as I was dropping off my wife and kid at the Kindergarten, she pointed out that the left front tyre was looking odd. I checked it out, and yep, the tyre was almost flat. As it was not fully deflated, I drove the half km to my home and tried to re-inflate the tyre with a foot pump.
Fortunately, the tyre was filling up which meant that the leak was a slow one. I inflated it and drove to the nearest tyre shop. The guy there found a black 1-inch-long screw fully driven into the tyre. Something like this…
He repaired it immediately with a puncture kit, but had a hard time, as the tyre was new and resisted his efforts to push in the rubber strip and the tool. I asked him to deflate the other tyres and fill them with Nitrogen.
So that’s it so far. I have some slight modifications planned, details of which will be posted soon. Cheers!
Keyword: First free service of my Mahindra Scorpio N and other few updates