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Regarding swapping the spare wheel, what you say makes sense. But I have already driven about 5,000 km with the spare and am not sure whether I'll get a decent exchange price for it. I'll still try.

Hello Everyone.

Quick, short 350 KM update. I can't comment on a lot of things, since I'm babying the vehicle during the first 1500 KMs or so during the run-in period. However, here is a quick one.

Pros:

• She's an absolute pleasure to drive around within the city as well as on the highway.
• The air conditioner is a chiller. I have had to reduce fan speed every time because I was almost freezing (even in 46 degree Delhi heat).
• Insides are extremely plush and premium.
• Electrical seat adjustment adds to the premium feel and is very handy to help you find the perfect driving position.
• The noise insulation is mind blowing. Cabin is just quiet and that adds to the premium feel.
• Daughter loves the sun roof and is after me to let her poke her head out and I've so far succeeded in stopping her.
• Family is always telling me that it was worth over spending to buy this car since Crysta, Compass, Hexa all pale in comparison when it comes to refinement levels of the mighty Endeavour.

Cons:

• Yes, the automatic transmission probably holds on to the lower gears for a tad bit longer than needed and makes some engine noise. But, this is easy to get used to.
• As mentioned before, the P-R-N-D gear shift amber light has been deleted by some mindless Ford finance guy (this can't be a design decision) to pinch pennies on a 40 lakh+ car.
• I'm struggling with the inbuilt TPMS a bit and have not been able to find resources that provide instructions on usage. It showed tires to be severely over inflated to 39-40 PSI right out of the showroom. However, even after reducing pressure at the petrol bunk, the reading on the TPMS continues to say 39-40 psi. I've reset it, but the reading won't change. I don't know whats wrong with it.

I'll post more updates as I get familiar with the car and also once I'm able to drive it a little more freely post the run-in period.

Oh, and by the way, there are no over speeding warning chimes at above 80 kmph.


Couple of shots (excuse the phone quality pictures)


1. Getting final touches of the Max Protect UNC-R coating.



2. Poor thing parked in the blazing Delhi sun.

While I have not experienced this first hand but could it be an irritant during those long night drives? One is used to illuminations on the instrument cluster and center console but maybe not around the gear lever! Folks with pre-facelift version can confirm.

I am unable to figure out any possible rationale behind this! Did you try checking Australian Everest forums on this?

Please accept my congratulations - the Endeavour looks smashing in black! Are you missing the manual shift in this beast? I, for one, sincerely wish that Ford had the 3.2 lit 4WD version with manual transmission on offer!

My 2016 3.2 Titanium AT has this gear indicator light. It is not a distraction or a eye sore at all and it will be sorely missed.

This one is very silly among the many bad recent decisions being taken by Ford India.

I do hope they have at least left the secondary display of P-R-N-D-S just below the speedo alone. In my vehicle, the letters next to the gear shifter glow and the ones under the speedo turn Amber for the active setting.


That's a big relief.

Off topic: On that note, I am quite baffled in how our judiciary thinks - my personal opinion is that as a collective nation, we need to become more responsible. There will always be morons on the road, but a blanket ban or deterrent is not going to resolve the issue and make roads safer. And the icing on the cake - the judges demand a separate lane for them at tolls. Its about time their lordships also experienced what we commoners face.

That was must have feature and usually when we shift gear, our mind/eyes move towards the stick to see the change.

Congrats Ford, you save the cost of 5 LEDs and probably some wires

Thank you cool_dube. No, the small LED indicators down next to the gear lever were certainly not an irritant during night time drive since they are far away from field of vision.

It's silly beyond belief and can only be attributed to a brain fade someone suffered at Ford. I believe all it saved Ford was 1 (one) single small bulb. Considering they recently hiked prices not once but twice in quick succession, its difficult to understand this move even from a cost perspective.

Yes, that ones still there, thank god! But its not nearly as convenient or intuitive to use because its hidden behind the steering wheel and one needs to really make an effort to see it.

Spot on GKG4.

Attaching Ford's official confirmation of the feature deletion below.

One other example which comes to mind is the Etios Liva; I remember test driving it back in 2011 quite eagerly. Cost cutting was so evident in it, but what jumped out at me was the single reversing lamp bulb within the tail-light casings at the rear. Sure, the Liva has casings on two sides but the one on the left is a dummy. All the driver needs is the one on the right to see where he's headed to when driving in reverse at night.

But you'd be surprised at how much gets saved by small moves like these. My uncle who is a 35+ year veteran in TVS used to tell me of regular annual cost engineering efforts whereby removing a single spoke from motorcycles would save the company crores in a year while making no discernible difference to the safety of the purchasing customers.

I think that this move by Ford is not such a bad or perceptible move at all, based on these points of parity. "Everyone else is doing, why can't we?" doesn't sound good, I admit to that. But I don't think the purchasing crowd would even notice the missing lamps in the new Endeavour at least where I come from (I'm thinking of those white-and-white clad political businessmen in my state who'd purchase these behemoths in cash, put a party flag on the bonnet and kill a few pedestrians on the road, rack up 100,000 Km in 3 years and then sell it off). Only on Team BHP will every vehicle get dissected at a nanometre's resolution by us. Does it truly matter to the lay customer or will they even know?

I suspect they will. You're probably not being able to understand the importance of this visual indicator.

Personally, for me, coming from a manual where there is a set pattern in which the gear shift lever travels to slot the car into different gears, the auto gear's linear pattern transmission lever is "new". I am not used to the auto transmission gear shift lever yet and it is one thing my brain is still learning. Therefore, while I slot the gear up and down in a linear pattern, absent any visual indicator, I do not know what gear I'm in (i.e. "click", oh did I just slot into neutral? Or did I put the gear in park mode? Let me try to find it behind the steering wheel while the guy behind me at the signal honks at me for being 5 micro seconds late. :Frustrati ) One has to really look behind the steering wheel to locate the indicator in the display, where it is one item the eye/brain needs to interpret among tens of other messages/indicators etc.

May not be a big deal for users who are already used to it or the politicians who are chauffeured around, but to all others who make the move from manual to auto transmission, this is a big deal.

Anyhow. Nothing we can do to change it. If Ford sees it as an inconvenience to users, they will address it.

Maybe a large group of users writing in about the same issue could possibly change their mind. But that said, once again, a very stupid omission by Ford. Kinda makes me feel that the customer is no longer the king.

Completely with you on this, as I shuffle b/w manual and auto on a regular basis.

Very surprising indeed. I am sure it is not a cost cutting measure given the segment that the car is placed in. What else could it be?!

Might be they want that driver should not look down to check which select position he is into and rather check in the MID screen which is safer. Just a thought but I for one don't look down while selecting gears. I prefer the MID which is clearly visible from my driving position. But given the feedback there was no need to remove it.

Same here, and quite rarely, I shift gear from Drive to Reverse instead of Neutral, now if car is Moving then shifting to Reverse accidentally could be fatal.

I do understand on large scale a bike spook can save Crores to TVS, but then it comes to number of sales as well.

Saving 5 LED bulbs, when your monthly sales is somewhere around 1000 vehicle, I believe Ford is hardly saving anything annually. And if it helps, I am more than happy to pay for 5 LEDs which is around Rs 5, or may be Rs 50 as we are talking about Luxury, extra. All Ford need to do is ask.

Why would you change gears in an automatic while it is moving?
Why would you change it from drive to neutral (which is what you wanted to in first place) while it is moving?

So I guess this whole discussion about having lights or not is not about when the vehicle is moving.

The only time it would be and should be required is when the vehicle is stationary and it is dark and you want to move the gear lever and know what is its actual position. That is what I infer.
Other than that I find no other reason for its use.
At the same time I also feel that these kinds of small cost cuttings and that too in a low volume luxury vehicle should not be done.

And yes rovingeye: You've got a brilliant truck there in a smashing colour. Forget what was there earlier and what is there now. Enjoy your drives. Thats what ultimately all these vehicles are for. For you to enjoy your drives and smile!

Well, its a first for me to know that I am only person doing this. I do this all the time, usually on Expressway, when I see a toll ahead, may be around 1.5km, I simply put the Endeavour to Neutral and let it float till there.

Its kind of fun for me to see how smooth Endeavour at this point, and how silent it. :)