[ssh1979]

@siddeshb, I read your tips as well as your Ajanta travelogue. Thanks for the tips! I was waiting to respond AFTER I took delivery of my Endeavour I took delivery of my vehicle today. We have christened him Rocky! I didn't get the rear watcher or the fridge (they didn't have it anyway). I have asked them for the bull bar and the navigator maps. Unfortunately, the delivery took place not at the workshop or the dealer's but in a different yard, so there weren't any engineers to answer my questions immediately, but they have assured me they will get back. BTW, did you check this for MMI updates: MapmyIndia Navigator Map updates For GPS Devices In India | GPS Navigation. Anyone tried this?

I went around the city a bit, filled the tank, then made a 30km trip to a temple and again a trip within the city for dinner. I have to say I was not prepared for the ease with which I got used to driving this beast in city traffic. It's too hard to believe. Will write my intial ownership review after a some more kms.

Congrats on 1 year, @Paco. Will go through your thread tomorrow.

[siddheshb]

Hey @ssh1979, hearty congrats on your acquisition! I know the thrill, still haven't got over it, more than 14 months and 25000 kms later. Do post some pics of Rocky, Samara wants to see him too

Checked your link - pretty interesting, should try this out. Especially the augmented reality stuff - I am still unsure where the SD card on my Endeavour is, will check with the service guys next time I drop in there.

[HillBilly]

Originally Posted by Paco

I can't wait to take a look at the Black Box. Where did you download the 4.0 version from?

the Mapmyindia upgrade was provided to me by Nippon, the dealers for Kenwood. I visited their HQ in Noida. From what I notice, they have branches all over India and you could get in touch with them for this. But please remember to backup your saved Points of Interest when they remove the card. This is necessary as the MMI card is replaced at the time of the upgrade and you lose all your saved places. I took an SD card reader and a laptop along with me to Nippon's service center. It's a copy and paste operation, as all the POIs are saved in one particular folder.

[siddheshb]

Just back from an awesome Goa trip in the heavy Konkan rains...

We left early Wed morning, and when we pulled into Sai International for our much-awaited breakfast of tea and misal pav, I noticed a black Scorpio with Team BHP stickers on it. It was fellow BHPian @CasperRider, and after breakfast, we drove most of the way down to Goa together after running into each other again near Azara. Amboli, even at 11 in the morning, was cloaked in dense fog restricting visibility to less than 5 meters at times. The waterfalls dotting the ghat were in full glory, and we stopped for some pictures with the monkeys too. We loved the drive from Dandeli to Banda through the short cut (highly recommended to all - cuts at least 30 min from your trip time, bypassing Sawantwadi and the busy, narrow S'wadi-Banda ghat road), and @CasperRider has promised to share some of the videos and pictures he took of Samara along the way!

Today, it was time to head back. And the drive was even more exciting. First, a quick drive through the flooded river on the shortcut. Slightly scary, but a lot of fun! Then, we got stuck for half an hour on the ghat due to a landslide, and had a happy walk up and down while the earthmover went about its job.





Was very clear to me today why an SUV will always beat a Sedan in any road trip. While the sedans crawled and groaned their way through the frequent patches of potholes and non-existent tarmac, Samara simply glided over them leaving speechless sedan owners gawking in disbelief and the only trace of the SUV that had roared past was the spray of muddy brown water on their windshields!

Home by 500, and life's beautiful again! At least my cat thinks so! She can finally go back to snuggling against warm human bodies while the AC cranks up the chill!

[ssh1979]

Congrats on yet another trip, @siddheshb!!!

Originally Posted by siddheshb

Was very clear to me today why an SUV will always beat a Sedan in any road trip. While the sedans crawled and groaned their way through the frequent patches of potholes and non-existent tarmac, Samara simply glided over them leaving speechless sedan owners gawking in disbelief and the only trace of the SUV that had roared past was the spray of muddy brown water on their windshields!

I completely agree, though this will invite debate from HC, Skoda, Accord etc. owners alike

My view is, being completely utilitarian and sturdily built, the SUV beats a sedan on a long-trip, anyday!

PS: I finally posted my review, though it is in private view, with the moderators for publishing.

[ACM]

Originally Posted by siddheshb

Was very clear to me today why an SUV will always beat a Sedan in any road trip. While the sedans crawled and groaned their way through the frequent patches of potholes and non-existent tarmac, Samara simply glided over them leaving speechless sedan owners gawking in disbelief and the only trace of the SUV that had roared past was the spray of muddy brown water on their windshields!

You would have convinced some of the sedans owners with muddy spray on their windshields to buy an SUV next time round in the process.

From a drivers point of view a spray/splash of filthy mud on ones screen - especially when driving a decent pace can be quite dangerous till the screen gets cleared out by the wipers as one gets completely disoriented and at higher speeds that shot period can even mean 50-100 mtrs. in the blind.

[btirthankar]

Originally Posted by absynthguzzler

That video is of our very own Tirthankar Basu from Team-bhp.

Thanks for posting the video. i made it on a celebrity who owns two Ford Endeavors. The video is created on MS Powerpoint.

[siddheshb]

Samara has logged ~35K and I was eager to get rid of my stock 245 MRFs and get some new rubber, and the proposed Rajmachi trip on 11th March provided just the excuse I was looking for. Based on the encouragement and guidance by Monaro and Throttleking, and a great deal brokered by Guderian, I got her a set of sexy 255/65 R16 Yoko Geolanders from Prabhat Tires (opp the Pune Corporation building) - got a hefty discount, free alignment/balancing, and a set of comfort pillows, as the package. Great guy at the shop too - Sairaj - had a nice conversation with me about what exactly we do to "Live to Drive"!

Some pics to oggle at...











Oh, and yes, the LTD sticker I added!

[nanduchitnis]

Originally Posted by siddheshb

Up the stairs...

Attachment 423962

Jesus u actually did this? God !!!

Reading this thread front to back ! Excellent read this far !!

[siddheshb]

Originally Posted by nanduchitnis

Jesus u actually did this? God !!!

Reading this thread front to back ! Excellent read this far !!

Was a lot of fun... but a word of caution to others trying it. Stairs are not necessarily built to take the weight of an Endy. These particular stairs and almost carved into the hill, and I was fairly confident they would hold. But it was a stupid thing to do.. imagine if they had come crashing down.

[nanduchitnis]

Well well well been here three hours of awesome fun ....keep this thread alive !!

[ssh1979]

Siddesh, immaculately maintained Ford out there, kudos!!! But I'm slightly dissapointed you went in for a smaller tyre than stock. The AT tread was a good decision though.

Note to self: for Pete's sake, update ownership thread.

[siddheshb]

Originally Posted by ssh1979

Siddesh, immaculately maintained Ford out there, kudos!!! But I'm slightly dissapointed you went in for a smaller tyre than stock. The AT tread was a good decision though.

Note to self: for Pete's sake, update ownership thread.

Hey, no, actually, my stock tyres were 245/60 R16, upgraded to 255/60 R16. Could have gone to 265/65 or so, but didnt want to stretch it too much... was worried tires might scrape on tight turns, and she is already a guzzler.

[ssh1979]

Originally Posted by siddheshb

Hey, no, actually, my stock tyres were 245/60 R16, upgraded to 255/60 R16. Could have gone to 265/65 or so, but didnt want to stretch it too much... was worried tires might scrape on tight turns, and she is already a guzzler.

Actually Siddhesh, I was referring to overall diameter when I said "smaller" (by not much anyway). See below:



I had considered this size but rejected it as I didn't want to reduce GC and finally went in for a 31x10.5x15LT Bridgestone HT.

Important thing is you're happy with it and that's what really matters. Fellow member Endeavour333 also had this size (and make as well) for quite sometime and did several OTRs with this; it performed very well offroad and onroad. (He's going for 32" btw, as he delves more into offroading).

[4x4addict]

Originally Posted by ssh1979

I had considered this size but rejected it as I didn't want to reduce GC and finally went in for a 31x10.5x15LT Bridgestone HT.

I guess you had to change the OEM alloys since your new tires are 15 inch.