Meet Mr. HVK who has spent Rs. 60 lakhs for driving his Mahindra Scorpio

Mr. HVK or Mr. HV Kumar, who is also known as Mr. HiVayKing has covered more than 6 lakh kilometres on his 2005 Mahindra Scorpio. More importantly, he has spent Rs. 60 lakhs doing this. This cost includes various expenses such as fuel, tolls, tyres and maintenance. The Scorpio that we are talking about is a DI Turbo model which used to come before the CRDe model. After CRDe, mHawk was launched and now a new Scorpio is around the horizon. The CRDe model was going to launch soon and HV Kumar knew this. But the DI Turbo model was on heavy discounts and the work project he was involved in required him to get moving immediately. So, he settled for the 2005 Scorpio DI Turbo model and it seems like he does not regret this decision.

It is not like the vehicle did not have any problems during this life span. He has been facing braking issues since he got the vehicle. His shock absorber failed at 1.5 lakh kilometres. Then at 4.2 lakh kilometres, the timing chain tensioner failed which caused a major head and valve damage. Due to this, it had to be rebuild. However, the bore and the rest of the engine was still in a good shape. While doing this HVK found out that the turbocharger was missing/damaged blades and the bearing had taken heavy wear and tear. There was also a lot of carbon residue.

Still, HV Kumar did not replace the turbocharged instead they rebuilt it. When the SUV hit 4.3 lakh kilometres, the rocker arm snapped and caused so much damage to the engine that he had to rebuild the engine again. He has also changed the steering rack and nearly all the components of the air conditioning have been replaced because the AC components are not really made to last so long. Once we have a look at the repairs, it seems fair where some of Rs. 60 lakhs might have been spent.

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He covered two lakh kilometres before heading out for Kashmir and Ladakh. His first drive was with a variety of different Scorpios from all generations. So, there were DI Turbo, CRDe and even some mHawks. Interestingly, it was his DI Turbo that performed the best on steep inclines even after being a two-wheel-drive vehicle. His Scorpio that he purchased in 2005 was unstoppable even at an altitude of 5000 metres. He says that one of the reasons for this impeccable performance was the Geolandar tires that he installed from Yokohama. These tyres offered immense grip on loose surfaces where it was becoming difficult to find traction.

The current Scorpio is powered by a 2.2-litre diesel engine that produces 140 PS of max power and a peak torque output of 320 Nm. It is only offered with a 6-speed manual gearbox. The Scorpio now starts from Rs. 12.42 lakhs ex-showroom and goes all the way up to Rs. 16.27 lakhs ex-showroom. Mahindra is also working on all-new Scorpio that will be launched sometime this year. It has already been spied quite a few times. It will be based on a reworked ladder-frame chassis and will be powered by a new set of engines that we have seen on the 2020 Thar.

Images courtesy HVKForum/Gurushankar Subramanian

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