[Sheel]

Thanks for this wonderful log. I too am in the same shoes as yours & I too might change because of this http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...ml#post2929862 It nails it for me.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

What mattered to me was a vehicle that could run from dawn to dusk, and from dusk to dawn again, without falling apart or complaining.

SS-T: Brilliant summing up of what has obviously been an enjoyable 3 year ride for you. The quoted lines say it all!

A few more common gremlins that I [and other Scorpio owners] have encountered, though these don't affect the actual running of the car:
1. Rubber hoses covering the power window wires go to pieces quite soon. Quality check needed by M&M!
2. Every door has a small cylindrical rubber stopper [with threads] at the bottom corner. These can come loose and fall off [typically after a wash and wipe], thereby mis-aligning the door setting.
3. The power windows tend to have a mind of their own if they are not operated once a while.
4. Fogging up of headlights even though there's no obvious damage or crack to it.

Wish you many more miles of distance munching with the Hawk!

Cheers,
Vikram

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

SS-T: Brilliant summing up of what has obviously been an enjoyable 3 year ride for you. The quoted lines say it all!

Thanks.

Regarding the points raised by you:
1. Rubber hoses covering the power window wires go to pieces quite soon. Quality check needed by M&M!
True. Even mine are shot. Quick fix is to wrap electrical insulation tape over it, since replacing them is a long task involving removal of door pads.

2. Every door has a small cylindrical rubber stopper [with threads] at the bottom corner. These can come loose and fall off [typically after a wash and wipe], thereby mis-aligning the door setting.
Those fell off a long time ago, but mercifully I've not had door misalignment or rattles till now. Easily replaceable, but ASCs don't stock it. You've got to take a sample and search at the spares shops.

3. The power windows tend to have a mind of their own if they are not operated once a while.
Nothing happened yet, touch wood.

4. Fogging up of headlights even though there's no obvious damage or crack to it.
Not the headlights, but I've had my foglights changed once due to fogging (rather ironical, isn't it? ). I think it was an issue with an older batch of lights.

One more irritant that I just remembered - the proneness of the extended hub caps (covering the ALH) to hit kerbs and crack. I've managed to do this 3 times in 3 years despite all care (the third time was this morning! )

[csateesh]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Another irritant is a little rubber button on the brake pedal, that engages the brake light switch. The rubber self-destructs in a few thousand km, leaving the brake lights glowing and the cruise control out of action. That's easy to fix - with a bit of hard plastic and a couple of drops of Fevi Kwik. The last time I did that was over 20,000 km ago, and I haven't had the brake lights come on unnecessarily till the time of writing this.

Excellent summary and wishing you miles of continued happiness Sham

This used to be a major irritant for me too with my Accent CRDi too. And this is what I did. Cut a small piece of plastic from any contain stick a double sided tape and check this every 20k kms

The rubbers just cannot take the braking in our conditions I guess

[anandpadhye]

Nice review and thoughts.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Service and other miscellaneous costs (this includes oil changes at half the recommended interval of 15k km, as well as accessories for pleasure - perfumes, door visors, tools, and spares that have not been used, etc.): Rs.23,954

• Accumulated average costs per km (including fuel and service costs): Rs.5.04/km.

Did you account for the cost of annual insurance premium and toll charges?

BTW, tyres are 77000km old? How many years?
You may be already doing this - but just a friendly suggestion: do check the softness of the rubber even if tread is intact. From my experience, I see that they loose the grip after around 3 to 4 years irrespective of the wear, I think the rubber hardens. When I changed the ones on my Tucson, they looked good for another 10/20 K KMs, but only I knew that the Tucson had started skidding and screeching on what was regular braking couple of years ago...

Yes, Cruise Control should be very useful, those who use public transport for long distance trips raise all sorts of doubts...He he he.

Cheers!

[SS-Traveller]

[quote=anandpadhye;2930541]Did you account for the cost of annual insurance premium and toll charges?[quote]
Insurance accounted for (50% NCB comprehensive), but not toll charges. That might run the costs into Merc league.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

BTW, tyres are 77000km old? How many years?
You may be already doing this - but just a friendly suggestion: do check the softness of the rubber even if tread is intact.

Tyres are as old as the car. Rubber is still good, grip etc. is fine. Yes, I am aware that tyres do deteriorate with age, but I would start worrying at the 5 year mark if I haven't changed them till then!

[Off Roadie]

The stock Bridgestones in my 4.5 year old CRDe were still good and grippy when sold @ the 75k mark, so I wouldn't worry. The JK's in my Swift went hard after 4 years and started screeching like hell, I was kind of enjoying it until a tyre blew up on the expressway. Fortunately no injuries, no accident, everything was under control....... whew. Got those changed shortly after.

[akp]

Hi SS,
have you compared your odo readings with a gps? Mine is giving a figure that is about 4.5% above the gps figure. As far as the speed counter goes, I think all manufacturers do this by design, and I am not too worried about that; but the mhawk is overestimating the distance also, which should not be the case.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by akp

Hi SS,
have you compared your odo readings with a gps?
...the mhawk is overestimating the distance also, which should not be the case.

Odo does read about 1% long, speedo reads about 4% long. Can live with it.

[akp]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Odo does read about 1% long, speedo reads about 4% long. Can live with it.

Sure. In fact I would rather have this than some crucial component malfunction. All I need to do is apply the required correction factor while computing distance/FE etc. But I am curious why manufacturers do this. Speedo, I can understand, but odo? why? And going by what I saw in other threads, Mahindra is not the only manufacturer that does this.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by akp

...but odo? why?

A matter of tradition perhaps? Tyre sizes, maybe? The HiAce I was driving in Thailand, read 4% long on speedo, and about 1% short on odo, compared to GPS.

Having a long odo might help prove a better FE...something we in this country are obsessed about!

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Another irritant is a little rubber button on the brake pedal, that engages the brake light switch. The rubber self-destructs in a few thousand km, leaving the brake lights glowing and the cruise control out of action. That's easy to fix - with a bit of hard plastic and a couple of drops of Fevi Kwik.

Thanks a lot for this tip. I have the same issue with my Scorpio where the brake light stays on. It can be quite a pain for the vehicle following as he may think that I am trying to stop. I happened to use the old discontinued 25 paisa coin which as the same diamter as the rubber button on the brake pedal. Hopefully this will be a permanent solution. Do you know if the rubber piece is a replacable part. Knowing Mahindra, it wouldn't surprise me it it has to bought with the pedal assembly.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Thanks a lot for this tip.
I happened to use the old discontinued 25 paisa coin which as the same diamter as the rubber button on the brake pedal. Hopefully this will be a permanent solution. Do you know if the rubber piece is a replacable part. Knowing Mahindra, it wouldn't surprise me it it has to bought with the pedal assembly.

The 25-paise coin will wear out the plastic tip of the switch itself. Use a hard plastic or rubber instead.

The rubber button is available as such, Rs.7 per piece at my ASC. I found that my jugaad has held on longer than the OE bit.

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

The 25-paise coin will wear out the plastic tip of the switch itself. Use a hard plastic or rubber instead.

Okay. Now that it is stuck, I can't remove the coin. I guess the rubber will eventually fall off and I will go with a plastic piece next time around.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by akp

As far as the speed counter goes, I think all manufacturers do this by design, and I am not too worried about that; but the mhawk is overestimating the distance also, which should not be the case.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if speedo overreads, odo will also overread, isn't it? After all, there is only 1 sensor - for speed, and distance is a derived quantity. The percentage of error should also be the same for both! Unless the tampering is at the dial-level? I am just thinking aloud here...