Jul 27, 2011 06:33 PM
41958 Views
(Updated Aug 05, 2012 11:41 AM)
"Fuzzy”: Vague or Imprecise, Not Clear or Unfocussed.
I am very used to the adjective mentioned above. I have been crowned as the undisputed champion of fuzziness on numerous occasions by the near, dear & possibly everyone acquainted to me. Needs are on the rise due to constant up-gradation in lifestyle & are purchased at a cost. Great deal of time is invested in identifying the object that meets the requirement. Investments are made with the expectation of gain.
Sometime early this year need for an SUV surfaced. This time I wanted to give the Indian Auto makers a chance & my preference was a diesel vehicle with automatic transmission. What were the available options? OPTION divorced its plural & was single. It’s very similar to our citizens settling for a state run telephony service 2 decades ago. Anyway the present scene is not all that bad as there are plenty of resources available to make a well informed decision. 3 months of extensive research fueled my confidence & I was all set to buy.
I was mentally prepared to stomach the presale/sale experience as~90% of online reviews had nothing positive to say about SKS, Srireesh & India Garage. Phone interaction with India Garage was not all that convincing to move forward. The sales man at SKS was extremely unprofessional & failed to meet test drive appointments twice. Even Amit, the Sales Manager did not show interest in meeting me in person or talk to me over the phone as he was engaged in meetings for nearly 2 weeks. Sireesh on the other hand made the best use of this opportunity & delivered the vehicle as promised. Fog lamps were not functional during delivery & the same were fixed within a few hours.
Scorpio offers generous space & decent driving comfort. Stability at higher speeds is definitely a highlight & easy to maneuver. Responsive automatic transmission adds luxury to city & highway driving. Narrow curves/bends/U Turns are not a problem at all. Fuel economy stands at 9.74 kmpl within city & 14.94 kmpl on highways. Have no fear of bad roads anymore as this machine is built to negotiate with sophistication. Engine is noisy on lower speeds, but gets smooth as I accelerate. Add-on lights are a must for highway driving because the standard head lights are not so bright. Fuel indicator malfunctioned right on day one & throws false alarms. The reserve fuel alarm goes on at the 37th liter instead of the 50th liter. None of the service professionals at Sireesh or SKS could identify the root cause. Rupesh at Sireesh Auto said these things happen & it could be a loose connection somewhere. But he did not have the competency to fix it. One time he went to the extent of educating me that issues like rattling & incorrect fuel indication are standard features of Scorpio.SKS Auto replaced the float as suggested by M&M’s R&D. Leaving the vehicle at the service station on 3 Saturdays(8 hours each) was a complete waste of my time & effort. Escalating the issue to Bijith from M&M offered no relief. He did not bother to honor his commitment of checking my vehicle in person.
Products can fail & manufactures have little or no control over it. But owning the failures with honesty & working out a fix for even the smallest of failures elevates “just another product” to a world class product. There is a big difference between seeking perfection & seeking a fix for something I acquired at INR 14.2 L.
I know what the problem is & I could clearly explain it to anybody & everybody at M&M. Am I being Fuzzy? Where is my gain? Do I deserve to subject myself to this drama for not offering business to the Europeans, Japanese & the Americans? Would I ever buy another M&M Vehicle again? Let me not bother explaining the obvious :)
