My Scorpio-N Story: Got home the Petrol RWD Z8 Select AT variant

No matter what I do and what happens in future, I will always be known as the Scorpio man. And that is not a bad tag to have.

BHPian scorpi0N recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Scorpio-N Petrol AT RWD: Summary

Likes

• In terms of looks, the car is just an absolute stunner!
• The powerful 2L mStallion TGDi engine is a pure smile-inducer, and a genuine delight to drive. Its also extremely refined and one of the smoothest in the market today.
• The 6-speed torque converter gearbox is tuned for performance.
• Given its size, maneuvering the car is superb, aided by excellent electric steering and a turning radius that is lower than expected.
• The overall handling of the vehicle is very confidence inspiring. I have to say I have never felt this kind of confidence to tackle bad roads and highways before!
• The rich coffee-black leatherette interior has a classy feel associated with it and it looks really beautiful!
• The ergonomics are well-designed. The driving position is excellent, with useful armrest and good lumbar support.
• Scorpio is spacious with comfortable seating in both front and second rows.
• NVH inside the cabin is well managed.
• The car is solidly built and engineered with safety in mind, achieving a 5-star rating in the latest round of Global NCAP safety tests.
• The AC is quite powerful.
• Service centre experience has been good!
• The Scorpio nameplate! The Scorpio-N is a faithful evolution of the iconic Scorpio brand. Like its predecessors, the Scorpio-N features a rugged, body-on-frame RWD architecture, delivering power and unmissable road presence. Mahindra has taken care to ensure that some classic lines such as... a car in which you walk into, and not crawl into, which defined the original Scorpio... continue to ring true with the Scorpio-N!

Dislikes/Limitations

• The biggest limitation for petrol variants of Scorpio is that they are not available with 4x4.
• Performance has come at the cost of fuel efficiency. I get somewhere around 6-7 KMPL in medium-to-high Mumbai traffic, while on highways expect something in the range of 12-14 KMPL.
• The large car size doesn’t make it an ideal city cruiser. Its also a high CoG vehicle and have to be accept certain limitations associated with it viz. turning/sharply changing lanes at very high speeds is not recommended!
• Now, there is body roll and there is no way of getting around it. Just want to add that it is relatively well controlled.
• Getting in and out of this car is not the easiest. Good of Mahindra to have installed the sidesteps by default.
• Lack of a telescopic adjust in the steering.
• Although, the third row is better than what I had expected, its only meant for occasional seating. Have to accept, that its not your everyday 7-seater MPV!
• Audio quality is just average (with wireless android auto).
• There is a slight, very minimal but noticeable, lag between pressing the horn button and when it buzzes.
• There are software niggles, for instance sometimes the instrument cluster or the infotainment will go blank when the car starts up.
• While the car has received 5-star rating for adult occupant, it gets only 3-star rating in child occupant tests.
• There have been reports on vehicle assembly taking a considerable damage even in minor to medium impact crashes.
• Similar to other cars of today, which rely heavily on electronics, it is increasingly difficult for your regular garage folks to diagnose and fix issues with the Scorpio. So in cases of breakdown, one will have to necessarily get it towed to the nearest service centre only.

I. Can a Car Change Your Life?

Once, there was a legendary TV advertisement for the Tata Safari, which had the tagline.. Reclaim your life!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pMIkREluMQThe inherent message was that Safari can change your life. It was an extremely powerful message!

But, can a car truly change your life?

During the launch event of the Scorpio-N, Mahindra mentioned that their SUVs are more than just people movers from point A to point B. They cited instances of some real people who were Mahindra (Thar and XUV700) customers, and how their SUVs had changed their lives. One striking experience shared was that of a cancer survivor, who had been using her Thar for off-roading and adventures, and how it had transformed her life!

What about me?

I have had bouts of enthusiasm as a car driver over the last decade or so, but nothing which has really sustained! When I started college, I felt it was time to learn driving and got myself enrolled into a driving school in 2010. It didn’t end well, however, and after a minor incident on road in our Maruti 800, I gave up.

Few years later, I planned a small trip with my college friends in a rented car. During the trip, I first hand experienced the freedom driving can bring. Motivated by this, I really pushed myself to start driving our new Ford Figo. This phase continued for a few years, where I did a few road trips in Figo as well as some other cars, before gradually coming to an end in 2014.

The enthusiasm again started when we were in the market for a new car in 2019/2020, and I got a good idea of how far the market had evolved. We eventually purchased Kia Seltos for my parents, and brought their Ford Figo to Mumbai. Another phase of enthusiasm started and after many years of staying away from driving, I slowly started taking Figo around in Mumbai and to nearby places such as Pune, Lonavala, Matheran, Durshet, Karjat, etc. But, it was still just daily office commutes and very occasional weekend trips. I didn’t actively want to go out just to drive....

Ever since the Scorpio-N has arrived, however, I have undertaken more long drives and road trips (and not just in the Scorpio, but also in Figo and Seltos), than what I have done in the last three years combined. Instead of planning for trips abroad, as I was doing during the last years, I actively plan on going on longer road trips across the country. For the first time, we’ve been thinking about going to Bangalore to visit our relatives or to Goa for a vacation, as soon as we get a chance, in our car, instead of taking flight.

When I get bored on weekends these days, I have developed a tendency of taking my Scorpio to impromptu long drives. During these drives, I have driven on good roads and bad and some no-road terrain also, spent time roaming around and doing random photography! I never thought that I can spend complete days with just my car!

In March 2024, after booking the Scorpio-N, I somehow found the motivation to apply for a team-bhp membership, after years of being a passive reader of the forum. I have tried my best to document my experiences with a genuine desire to add value to this gem of a community.

I seem to have developed a reasonably good understanding of cars, their engines, transmission, handling etc. than I ever had before. Recently, for the first time when my Figo’s battery died, I showed real interest in its replacement, and understanding in detail other aspects of the car which may require repair, instead of just leaving it at the discretion of service centre people!

Love for car and the enthusiasm to become part of the motoring world, has emerged as a serious passion over the last few months, which has given me a satisfaction as I’ve never found before!

Is this really the Scorpio effect. If so, why? What is different this time? Lets start with....

II. ... Why Scorpio?

We were quite happy with our Figo. However, after the car entered its fourteenth year, we considered getting a new car. There was also the anxiety of future servicing after the exit of Ford from India, and we did have a bad experience with Figo’s servicing earlier this year.

We started the search for a new car in the middle of 2023. Had Ford been in India, it would have been very simple... an Endeavour would have been a truly worthy upgrade! But given the situation we started exploring other options. My wife and I both felt that EVs were the future. But, after assessing the EVs and the overall infrastructure, we were not comfortable with buying an EV at that point of time.

As a compromise between EVs and ICE, we also started exploring hybrids. There were only two good options in our budget – Toyota Innova Hycross and Hyryder. We were both impressed with the Hycross, with its light and quick steering, excellent manoeuvrability despite the size, comfortable seating in all rows (even the rear one) and the fuel economy. We contacted Wasan Toyota, Chembur for Hycross and booked one. We booked the vehicle in August, 2023 and were promised delivery around January, 2024.

After booking the car, we started having second thoughts. I, for one, started noticing the relatively small wheels of the Hycross, which didn’t suit its overall stance. We also felt that a premium of about ₹7-8 lakhs for hybrid over petrol variant of Hycross; was not financially making sense for us when our running was lower than 10k KMs per year. Further, within only a few months of launch more than half the Hycross which I was seeing on roads were with yellow number plates, substantiating the Innova’s reputation as a solid people mover, but not necessarily the best driver’s car. Due to these reasons, we slowly became disinterested.

When Wasan called us in October conveying that the vehicle had been allocated and that if we were interested we could take delivery in November, I discussed with my wife, and we felt that maybe we should wait more. The same was conveyed to Wasan. I think Wasan sales executive sensed that we might not be interested.

Therein, went to the drain, the entire process of purchasing a car with logical reasoning and the matter moved, from the head, to the heart! And it took me straight back in time!

Like many others Indians from the 80s/90s, growing up, there were two cars, both brands in themselves outshining their makers, which have very deeply appealed to my heart – the Safari and the Scorpio. Albeit, I had never thought of owning one of these some day.

Ever since, I have seen these, both these SUVs have had an element of character – the homegrown lifestyle car married with the go-anywhere capabilities. I had closely followed the evolution of the Tata Safari to Dicor and then to Storme. Similarly, I had tracked the evolution of the Scorpio.
When the new Safari was launched in 2021, I was silently and very deeply disheartened when Gravitas was rechristened as a Safari!

It was totally out of the blue. Only a few months back, Harrier with one more row was being called as Gravitas. And then, suddenly it was Safari! It was completely mind-boggling!

My feelings were very similar to what @vigneshkumar31 said in his fabulous report:

I felt that the Safari, an iconic brand, which I had really liked and admired all those years, deserved more respect and better treatment from Tata!

What about the next generation Scorpio? It was being called as Scorpio-N, where N meant infinity. Anand Mahindra had no problem in it being called the Scorpion also!

I first saw the Scorpio-N one day on the street. Its design also seemed an evolution from the past model. Did Mahindra also compromise with the next generation Scorpio? No it seems, they haven’t!

They have kept the body-on-frame RWD architecture with 4x4 variants also available. But, its not just about the BoF vs monocoque debate. Yes, a BoF construction makes it more abuse friendly. But, even the new Defender has a monocoque body now. There are many other things, which were unique to Scorpio and which continue to remain true with the Scorpio-N!

First & foremost, Scorpio has always been synonymous with power. And the current Mahindra engines (both the mHawk and mStallion) are among the best out there in terms of performance!

Similar to the original Scoprio, Scorpio-N has an unmissable road presence!

Mahindra has taken care to ensure that some iconic lines such as.. a car in which you walk into, and not crawl into, which defined the original Scorpio... continue to ring true with the Scorpio-N!

Some people have not liked the rear of Scorpion, but its Mahindra’s way of remaining faithful to the erstwhile Scorpio. The sideways opening tailgate and stacked tailamps are, as Pratap Bose mentions, characteristic design elements of Scorpio and they have carried it forward from there!

Now, I am no off-roader, and I wasn’t looking for a hard core 4x4 vehicle. My use case is much more simple. However, it was just my sheer love for these two cars, which guided me. And Scorpio-N is a car which, I feel, has remained much more faithful to its roots! Mahindra have really tried to do justice to the Scorpio brand and treated it with a respect that it deserved. It was easier to accept the Scorpio-N as the SUV which is sincerely carrying forward the legacy of a brand which I had closely admired! No less was expected also, considering Scorpio was the car which had changed Mahindra’s fortunes.

My choice was sealed...the Scorpio-N as.. Nothing Else Will Do!

Here, I feel lies the answer to the question I raised in the previous section. I think a car can change your life if its a choice made purely from the heart. I chose a car that has appealed deeply to emotions, and that seems to have made all the difference in the world!

Why not the Scorpio Classic then, you ask. I really admire and did think about the Classic also! But, the Scorpio Classic’s design is broadly the same for over two decades now, and while still imposing it feels slightly dated! The Classic didn’t also have a petrol (deal beaker for me) or an AT (non-negotiable for my wife) variant. Also the erstwhile Scorpio has become more synonymous with a
government vehicle (RTO and BMC fleets in Mumbai along with the Navy cars are mostly Scorpio), and hence we weren't too comfortable in going for it.

Continue reading BHPian scorpi0N's post for more insights and information.