BHPian kushgandhi recently shared this with other enthusiasts:Scorpio N 65,000 KM reviewIt has been a while since I posted on this thread but I feel its time now to share more experiences and adventures I have had with the scorpio N. The car turns 3 Years old next month, I was one of the first customers to get the delivery of the vehicle in Delhi NCR and it has been an adventure to own this vehicle. I wont be talking about the features or any other aspects that have been covered by multiple people online, I will be sticking to my experiences purely as a driver. I have covered a huge chunk of our beautiful country in these 3 years in my N and created memories of a lifetime. Driving to the top of the world at Umling La, Dune bashing in the Thar desert, covering the salt flats in Kutch, reaching China border in Arunachal Pradesh on my North East drive and tackling a snow packed Hampta pass, this car has seen it all without breaking a sweat.Driving experienceI have the first lot N 4X4 Manual Z8L and one word for to describe the driving experience of the car is ROBUST. It feels like a tank on the road, be it road presence or the capability to handle bad roads. Talking from my experience, taking shortcuts towards Umling La with complete off road patches or the national highways full of potholes in West Bengal, this car has been a comfortable cruiser and I doubt any other car in this price range could have provided me with a better experience. I am a light footed driver and usually cruise around the 90 kmph mark which is the sweet spot for this vehicle. These speeds are best for comfort and mileage. I have the manual transmission and the 6th gear ratio is such it revs at 2000 rpm at 90 kmph (higher revs when compared to the torque converter auto) this might be considered as my first complaint when it comes to the driving experience as I feel its a short 6th gear for highway cruising 2000 rpm at 100-105 kmph would have been better considering the New expressways our country is getting. Driving at the speed limits of 120 kmph on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway doesn’t feel comfortable and the aerodynamics of the car combined with the high rpm at these speeds returns terrible fuel economy. I prefer to drive it at 90-100 for best comfort and relaxed RPMs. I upgraded the tyres from the stock Apollos to 265/65R17 Yokohama Geolanders ATs, tyre upgrades is something I recommend every user who does long haul driving as the conditions of the stock tyres after 35k kms can be seen below. This was after my north east trip and I replaced them immediately after seeing the condition. Coming to the fuel efficiency post tyres upgrade I have been getting a decent fuel economy of 14.5-15.5 kmpl on the highways with my driving style. Its a drop from the 16-17 I was getting in the stock tyres but I feel the trade off is totally worth it. One more aspect of driving new age BS6 diesel engines is DEF. I feel the DEF tank is more than adequate in size, I have never fallen below 35% DEF level, and I get it topped up during the 10k Service. Never found the need to get it topped up before that. This gives me peace of mind on long drives. The longest I have driven this car is from Siliguri to Delhi covering a distance of 1500 kms with a mix of bad roads and smooth expressways. Driven multiple times from Delhi to Ahmedabad non stop without any fatigue. These experiences have made me fall in love with the vehicle as a highway cruiser. Coming to the off road aspect of the vehicle, let me be clear it is not a hardcore off roader in any sense but it will take you out of tricky situations, that no other 2WD SUV can handle, with just a press of a button. I have driven in snow and in the desert the car is really capable to tackle mild off roading situations with ease. Overall strictly talking about the driving experience it has been great so far, I am a Mahindra user for the last 11 years driving the XUV 500(first gen) then upgrading to the Scorpio N I had no doubts about the Mhawk in my mind and it has delivered what I expected.Niggles and Service ExperienceOwning a Mahindra IMO is like getting the opportunity to do a crash course in automobile engineering in my opinion. You face niggles that are so unheard of that if you are really interested in knowing their origin you are bound to learn so much about how cars and engines work. I have read multiple issues faced by users on this forum that it made me learn so much about the vehicle. Thankfully I have not faced any major niggles and multiple recalls from Mahindra for the first batch of the vehicle maybe saved me from getting stranded in the middle of nowhere. I wont be talking about small electronic issues like black out of the infotainment or the MID, this is something I have been used to being a Mahindra owner I will tell more about the major niggles I faced. I have had my slave cylinder replaced during a recall in the initial few days of the vehicle and have had no issues with the clutch. There was another recall regarding the steering rack as multiple users complained about vibrations but I never faced this issue so I never got it replaced. The one major issue I faced was with the oil pump. I was getting the check engine light for a few seconds when the engine was cold in the RPM range of 1500-2100. When diagnosed it showed Oil Pressure High. I had multiple visits to the service centre for this issue. PCJ valve was replaced as the first step but after 3000 kms the issue popped up again, then the engine oil pump was replaced under warranty and it has been 15k Kms no signs of the issue again. Overall in my experience Mahindra has been very responsive when it comes to the niggles and have handled these issues very professionally. I have had no DPF related issues either. I have had to force regen my vehicle during my Ladakh drive and a couple of other situations where the engine was running at low speeds for a long time, but this is something BS6 diesel owners have to live with and the regeneration process is very simple if you dont ignore the warnings the vehicle gives you. One area of concern for me that almost every 4X4 user experiences, specially who have upsized the tyres, is that the outer edge of the front two tyres gets worn out much quicker. Multiple alignment and balancing have been done both in and out of Mahindra still people face this issue. You can feel the tyres dragging during full steering turns and it is inevitable. The best practice for this is to rotate tyres religiously. Coming to the regular maintenance of the vehicle the average service cost has been around 10-12k and I make sure to change oils not just based on kms but as per my driving style additionally I have changed differential oils and gear oils based on my personal knowledge as a car owner rather than just following the user manual.The car is still running on original front brake pads the rear ones although have been replaced once. Mahindra service centres have always catered to my demands without any question. This has been my 65,000Km review as a person who just loves to drive. I would rate this vehicle highly when it comes to the robustness, suspension setup, driving dynamics, engine tuning and comfort, keeping in mind it is a body on frame vehicle. The peace of mind that a proper 4X4 gives makes you want to explore the off beat paths. Scorpio N provides a sweet combination of reliability, comfort and capability that no other vehicle provides in the sub 30 Lakh category.Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
