Mahindra Scorpio mHawk

Looks

There’s not much to distinguish the mHawk from the earlier Scorpio. It’s essentially the same with only subtle decals making an appearance on the mHawk to make it look different. The front has the same grille section which looks intimidating and the bonnet scoop lends a sense of panache to it. The rakish windscreen accentuates the flared wheel arches, side cladding and the roof-rails that supply copious amount of muscular appeal to the way Scorpio looks. The rear is marked by a flat tailgate section with the vertical tail lamps that gives it a good style statement. In profile, the Scorpio manages to look like a proper SUV which means business from nose to tail. The 235 section tyres sit on 16 inch alloy wheels which I must admit are not in sync with the overall looks of this SUV. We would have liked macho alloys instead of the ones that are offered.

Deviating from the dual-tone treatment that everyone seems to be taking a fancy towards, Mahindra has stuck to the black theme and the cabin looks pretty neat and well laid out, chic too. That pseudo carbon fibre treatment on the centre console looks sporty. The steering wheel has control buttons for the audio system as well as the cruise control. There’s ample storage space in the cabin and the space above the grab handle is particularly useful for keeping lots of small things. You also get decent space to accommodate some cds below the audio system and then there’s the aptly sized slot for your PDA phone. What we did not like was the limitation of the movement of air con knobs that limit the air throw as well. There’re cup holders at the front as well as at the rear but dedicated door pockets on rear doors would have been more helpful than the bottle/cup holder.

Irritating is the placement of power window switches, operating which makes your hand foul with the seat’s side bolstering. It would also have been better to have the air con vents for rear passengers mounted on the roof. This apart, the comfort is rather good and the seats are superbly supportive. The foldable armrests are a boon for long journeys and the middle row seats that are mounted on runners can be moved fore or aft and can be reclined to enhance the experience. The rear-most seats are best suited for children and are good to be seated on only for short drives. You sit with the knees pointing skyward and the lack of under-thigh support is alarming. With all the seats in place, you do not have any luggage space but the third row can be removed to utilize a flat loading bay.

As far as the features are concerned, the Scorpio delivers with a heavy bang. You’ve got ABS (a big help) which is more or less accepted these days, but then there are things that you would be hearing for the first time in a car at this price! There’s something called tyre-tronics which somehow manages to warn you whenever the tyre pressure goes down, then you have rain sensing wipers and automatic headlamps which detect the intensity of light available and if it is low, the headlamps turn themselves on to aid visibility. Smart. Oh yes, you also get parking sensors (rear-view mirror mounted display) and cruise control which can be activated once past 40kmph, but it is pointless really, since you're going to use it seldom or never. All this is great, but one feature that I liked in particular was something that Mahindra likes to call “anti-pinch window”. The window stops its operation when it senses any sort of obstruction in its path.