After test driving the Tata Safari facelift, Mahindra Scorpio and XUV700, we also test drove the Force Cruiser.
BHPian anupam00 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Dear BHPians,
Sharing the story of my recent buying of a truck or should I say, a bus. Yes, probably the first Citiline on Team-BHP – ownership review.
Well, my association with Team-BHP and cars has been really long – from a collection of small bay toys to a huge garage of cars from Indian brands to Italians and Germans. I have cars which were always for enthusiasts. I have a good collection of cars and would start a thread on the same very soon.
Coming back to the decision-making process for the Citiline. It all started with Tata Safari ageing and the need for a people carrier and also some time back, my son – he is currently in class 10th – started his own brand of cold drink manufacturing i.e. Wild Drink. We thought it was time we built a car for him and that is how we started our search. The cars that were considered were the new Tata Safari, Scorpio-N and XUV700. At the same time, we needed space to carry people and also enough space to have a fridge installed and carry loads of stuff like cold drink bottles.
Took a test drive of the Cruiser after a test drive of the new Safari, Scorpio and XUV700. The preference was the following because we have big Germans already in the garage.
- Engine – Rugged
- Maintenance- Easy
- Electronics – Bare minimum
- Space – Huge
- Road Presence – Extraordinary
Since we would be doing badging of “Wild Drink Drive”, it should be smooth.
So the decision of a Force Cruiser-type car was made. At the same time, the Force Cruiser came with bench seats at the last row and it came to my notice that Force has launched the Citiline. Also, read the thread of the Citiline on Team-BHP in which our GTO said – I can’t be the only one out here thinking this extended MUV has the potential to look handsome. Well, the decision was made and we decided to book one and the same was done with Rohit Force in Delhi. The day of delivery came when I actually saw how this truck looked.
There were no surprises here. Our visualization and the actual were the same. We took the delivery of the Citline and asked the dealership to install the following:
- Roof Rails
- Windshield protection bars
- Red Grill Horn (plan to install roots as well)
The delivery day
There were some troubles which were later addressed by the dealership well and the delivery was taken at 10 in the night, thanks to them. It was Dhanteras, so we wanted a new car at home. The car was driven some 1400 kms as per the odometer. We were told that their cars are driven from plant to dealership. Hence the km reading.
Coming to the car’s look and feel, well, I was not very happy with the way the car was cleaned. Maybe they had an extra workload that day. So no worries. I took the car later to World of Service and got it washed.
The front looks similar to the Mercedes G-Wagon or should I say, it’s inspired by the Mercedes G-Wagon
Coming back to the list of things that I plan to do:
- Audio installation choices in consideration – Pioneer or Blaupunkt music system
- Speakers – Rockford Fosgate
- Component speakers
- Custom wooden box for rear speaker installation
- Pods
- 4 channel amplifiers – maybe two of them
- Bucket seat covers
- 7D mats
- Roof carrier besides roof rails
- Alloy wheels
- GPS and central locking
- TPMS
- 360 degree camera
- Rear parking camera
- Projector headlights
- Projector fog lamps
- Indicator fitting – like Gurkha
- Roots horn with Hella horn
- Battery cut off switch
- Wild Drink badging
- Snorkel
- Remapping shall be done by World of Service
- Cold air intake
- Fridge in the rear
- Rear windshield mirror
- Changing of gear oil to fully synthetic and adding additive
- Steering cover
- Body cover – to get it built / buy
- Interior lights
- Engine bay light
- Rear ladder
Any suggestions you all have are most welcome. I am sorry the wish list is quite a huge one. The company has left us to do a lot of things. The second way was that they could have done all that themselves. But anyway, I like doing things on my car. I’m happy to get it done myself.
The road presence is truly amazing and the space it has is simply awesome. Loads and loads can be carried comfortably
The rear stance of Citiline
More updates shall be coming as soon as I complete things.
I have driven the car 400+ km post delivery and am happy with the performance. ABS has a loose connection that we sorted out today during washing at World of Service Greater Noida. Rest of the updates are coming soon. Do let me know what all accessories you propose.
Thanks to Rupam & Naveen Sir from the Gurkha group for their suggestions and support towards making my decision of buying a Force Citiline.
The rear camera comes as stock in the Citiline
What I like
- The space and the road presence
- People carrier that can ferry 10 people comfortably
- Body-on-frame construction
- Build quality and steel used
- Turning radius considering the size of the vehicle
- Good lower end torque
- Modification options are quite exhaustive
- Ground clearance is acceptable
- Good A/C. Rear A/C is also very effective
- Although this vehicle is a 4X2, it’s still effective on bad roads
The tall, commanding driving position makes you feel nice and also helps to manoeuvre the vehicle well. The purpose for which it is bought, it shall serve well and that is people carrier / goods carrier / Wild Drink vehicle. Above all, one thing that is huge is space, space and space!
Loads and loads of space – something that is missed in most vehicles including luxury wagons
What I hate
- The power out of the car is less. It needs a bigger intercooler and definitely remapping. That I plan to get done in the next 30 days or so
- The basic audio etc is missing. So one area which the company should look at improving
- The oil and lubricants used should be of better quality – fully synthetic oil of German brand makes the vehicle smoother
- A 6-speed transmission is required in the vehicle
- The dashboard could have been better
- Airbags should have been there. This feature is missing for sure
- The engine mountings should have been hydraulic or better quality to reduce vibrations
- 4X4 option should be given by the company
- The features / add-ons which are present in the Gurkha could have been provided by default in the Citiline
- The service support is something they definitely need to improve upon. If you need to sell cars in India, learn from Maruti – which is to date best example of how to products in India
- The part quality could have been better. The cooling coil – a few Gurkha owners faced failure. That too within 3 years.
Reasons why I bought the Citiline
- Space that the vehicle has is huge
- No other alternative to the Citiline for the purpose that it’s been bought
- The price at which it comes
- The road presence
- Ability to carry loads if required. It shall be used as a Wild Drink vehicle – my son’s venture which is of herbal soft drink
Currently on the stock tyres and rims. Plan to upgrade to Gurkha alloys
Things/Modifications done so far
- Audio installation choices in consideration were Pioneer or Blaupunkt music system. Installed two systems – a single DIN system for audio and the second as a screen system for the 360 degree camera and GPS
- Speakers: Rockford Fosgate. Went ahead with Pioneer
- Component speakers – Rockford Fosgate
- Custom wooden box for rear speaker installation – did not get installed
- 4 channel amplifiers – maybe two of them – went ahead with a Pioneer amp
- Bucket seat covers – got the same done. At a few places where I feel some more foaming shall be required, I shall get redone
- GPS and central locking – Central locking of RD company installed
- 360 degree camera – installed the same
- Rear parking camera – installed the same
- Projector headlights – after installing projector fog lamps, I am now not planning to install projector headlights
- Projector fog lamps – installed the same and yes, they work well
- Indicator Fit – like Gurkha – installed the same and yes, it works well
- Roots horn with Hella horn – installed the same and yes, they work well
- Rear windshield mirror – not required now since I have a 360 degree camera in place
- Changing of gear oil to fully synthetic and adding additive – done
The famous FM 2.6 engine – the same is used in almost all Force cars / buses
Things yet to be done
- Pods- yet to be done
- Bucket seat covers – got the same done. A few places where I feel some more foaming shall be required, I shall get redone
- 7D mats – yet to be done
- Roof carrier besides roof rails – this is a little tricky. I shall get it done this week
- Alloy wheels – got alloys of the Gurkha thanks to Naveen Sir. I’m in a dilemma about whether to install them or not
- TPMS – yet to be done
- Battery cut off switch – yet to be done
- Wild Drink Badging – yet to be done
- Snorkel – ordered the same. looks like it will be delayed since it’s not in stock and it’s dependent on the factory which is busy making the new Gurkha
- Remapping shall be done by World of Service – to be done
- Cold air intake – to be done
- Fridge in the rear – to be done
- Rear windshield mirror – not required now since I have a 360 degree camera in place
- Steering cover – to be done
- Body cover – to get it built / buy – to be done
- Interior lights – to be done
- Engine bay light – to be done
- Rear ladder – to be installed. Got the one used in the Gurkha
- Rear foot-step – to be installed
Any suggestions you all have are most welcome.
A few pictures of the vehicle
The front gaps of the bumper – but that is okay. We knew what we were buying and why
The left view
The right view
Your suggestions are most welcome for modifications and upgrades.
I shall update the thread with the latest pictures of the Citiline with the accessories installed and once I get the remapping done, I will give an update on the performance.
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