Monday 15 June 2009

My affair with Trax Gurkha 4x4 (2007)




It was 2006, that time of my life when I wanted to own a 4 wheeler (not that I hated my beloved Bullet). Got introduced to a CJ3B, did a bit of stunts and loved it to bits. However it was a very impractical vehicle to own and you would definitely wanted a car besides the jeep for your daily / long commute. Owning two vehicles were not an option, and my wife wanted a regular passenger vehicle. She did not care on the looks, all she wanted was a comfortable vehicle with A/C (very practical eh..!)


Bolero ? Safari ?......errr...Trax ?

My quest started with Bolero 4x4. Loved the looks of it (thats all I knew about a 4x4 besides the 4x4 switch and front differential..!!), but hated the new design they launched then which was more plasticky. Nevertheless it still was an option, so headed out to Vijai motors and took a look at the vehicle. Did not test drive, but Aug 2006 was my target. By then new Safari had launched and saw a red one on the street,loved that to bits again. This got me into a dilemma, whether to go for a Safari or Bolero ? Safari was way beyond my budget, but that was not as issue, ask me why? Cos it was before the toxic sub prime era,and pushing your loan amount was so cool, get my point ?



Now then began the research around these two vehicles. How worthy are they offroad, whats the maintenance cost, F/E, after sales service etc etc. Thats when I bumped upon http://www.force4x4.com/, wherein the site owner Ramachandran had some pictures of Bolero getting stuck in what was a silly looking mud trench. His overall experience with Bolero was not all that pleasing and he ended up selling it and buying a Judo 4x4. His web site and the set of pictures kind of inspired me to look towards Force products as an option. Oh..! btw Bolero had vanished from my list by then. After going through the site and understanding more about Trax family, I was introduced to the concept of differential-lock, which all the more swayed me towards them.



The first ever SUV driven by me was a Trax Town & Country. This is owned by one of my good friend in my home town and is actually shared by his brothers, who each run businesses of their own. It's used to transport small amounts of Cement sacks, iron railings after fabrication and attend family functions..!!! I've seen it carry insane amount of loads. The body, interiors are busted, but man, the engine, and the whole mechanicals are unbreakable. What I remember of it now is, being very smooth engine, nice to drive and extremely comfortable where there are more passengers in it. He swears by it even now.



Coming back to my saga, I visited Khivraj in Bangalore to check out if they offer any Force 4x4 with differential locks and the answer was not what I wanted to hear. He did provide me with a Judo brochure and a copy of Overdrive, wherein they had tested the new Gen Gurkha. I must confess I happily read over it several times. Khivraj were not keen on dealing with me when I had my eyes set on something that they couldnot offer easily.



I rung a dealer in Mangalore (my home town) and he was happy to talk in detail and work out the options that are available. So I met Vijay ( a very young entrepreneur ) who owns Mangalore Force and had a detaileddiscussion on what I'm looking for. He said that no products are available off the production line, but insisted that it can be worth a try. He confirmed after verifying Force Motors' order book that similar vehicles(Judo 2750mm with 4x4, diff-locks, AC & PS) are being exported every month. He said he would give his best try to convince Force to manufacture and deliver one to me. In the meantime I got hold of a contact inForce Motors, Akurdi and have been chasing about this. They told me very clearly that manufacturing one vehicle is not an option for Force and they are considering to launch the Gurkha which was test driven by Overdrive, but not sure when. He confirmed that he would be keeping me in loop on any developments.


In the meantime Vijay arranged for a test drive of a Judo 4x4 (no diff locks) in his workshop. The vehicle was very torquey with it's DI (TD2400FT) engine. I could move up a slope in 2nd gear at idle in 2WD mode, wasvery impressed. Vijay even managed to get a quotation from Force and provided me the same so that I can arrange for a bank loan. I must deeply appreciate his endeavour in helping me own this vehicle.



News I was waiting for..




This was in November and while I was about to get into it, I received a fine email from Force Motors informing that a batch of 20 (10 hard top and 10 soft top) Gurkha's will be manufactured for Indian market and will be sold on first come first serve basis. This requires a 2 lakh deposit made directly to Force Motors, payable at Pune. I cannot tell you how excited I was, but it was only short lived. I called up Vijay and he quickly amended my quote from Judo to Gurkha and provided me a new one. I contacted through Vijai and my own contacts all available financiers, but everyone were shocked to hear 'Force' or 'Trax' or 'Gurkha'. I was hitting a dead end as Sundaram, ICICI, HDFC etc were all not willing to provide me an auto loan simply because 'the vehicle was not in their list'..!!!


So close, yet so far..sigh. I made one last ditch attempt knowing that PSU banks are hard nuts to crack, and visited the SBI Personal Finance Bank in Jayanagar 3rd block. As soon as I entered, I was greeted by the Branch Manager. I explained him the situation, i.e I was buying an 'unlisted vehicle' in Mangalore wherein I'm a resident of Bangalore. He was not sure if I should be taking a loan in Bangalore or Mangalore, but did advise me to try as they don't bother what vehicle make / model I purchase. It was a partial relief and I had a sales person from SBI at my doorstep who did the documentation for me. After a good week, he cameback to me saying I would have to apply in Mangalore as the vehicle will be purchased there..:-( So I emailed SBI Personal Banking Branch in Mangalore and I received an instantaneous reply with all the documentation and details I had to provide. I followed the procedure and I was asked, when would I be coming down to collect my cheque..!! Joy Joy..!! thats a bit of surprise isn't it ? SBI did what all other private banking muppets couldn't do.


I wasn't going to pay my booking fee to Force and insisted on paying to my dealer. Dealer wasn't willing to accept it yet as he had not received any confirmation from Force motors. After some intense discussions, Force asked my dealer to accept the cheque and informed me that their commitment to dealer is only by principle. I have no clue what this meant and I did not bother to find out more as I trusted Vijai for further followups.The whole process was finished by december and i was told the vehicle will be delivered by February 15th. I had to send a copy of my payment cheque to Force Motors. I remember someone else from Bangalore had booked directly with Force and after a couple of weeks the payment was returned back, since it had some complications around sales tax. Glad I did it through my dealer.



The long wait......




I took off for a 15 day long motorcycle ride from Delhi, all through Rajasthan and then ride back to Bangalore via Indore, Nagpur & Hyderabad. During one of our lunch stops towards hyderabad, I received a call from Force Pune confirming my booking and the expected delivery date was Feb end, a postponement of 15 days.


Feb end never happened and I kept chasing Force in Pune. All I could understand from them was that there was some trouble with ARAI and they are constantly working on resolving it. Also some components are not being made available by suppliers as it's in such a small number. I wrote a stinking email to high officials in Force Pune about how my money is stuck with them for months and I was not sensing any urgency or concrete commitment from them. I received an indirect response that they are working hardly on it and if I'm impatient I may cancel my order..:-O


In the meantime I had to take up an assignment in the UK and I travelled out of India and one of my friend kept chasing them up. Several months passed and sometime in September Vijai made a trip to Pithampur and informed me that he had queried about my order and the vehicle is being pushed into production line. They are trying hard to release around Diwali. This was the first positive concretely sounding information I had received. Then in November came the good news that my vehicle is being dispatched from Pithampur and will reach Belgaum depot in two days time. Within another day, it will reach Mangalore, I was ecstatic and sad at the same time for not being there.




My friend and my mom received the vehicle and got the Puja done. There were niggling issues around PS belt and fuel guage which was sorted out. My friend did a small off roading, and it passed in flying colours and I needed no more..!




My first impressions...

I visited India in Jan 2008 and got to drive the vehicle first hand. Here are my thoughts

1) Very high seating position (you need to sit in the second row to understand what I'm talking about)

2) Very rough engine, was a bit noisy as well.

3) Very torquey (somehow feel that TD2650 FTI is not as torquey as TD2400 FT, though the figures state otherwise). This maybe due to larger and heavier tyres which were used

4) I was shocked by the vehicle dimensions, looked bigger than I had imagined

5) A/C was super cool and so were long rides (no fatigue)

6) Interiors were bare minimum, but I wasn't expecting anything fancy.

Tried off roading in beach sand (dry) with 8 people in it, and Gurkha just did not sweat. This pleased me very much and realised that this beast is exactly what I wanted. Also my old Trax friend had mentioned to me that engine gets smoother as it is used more and after 20K kms, the engine noise decreases tremendously.
Due to it's IFS setup, it performs very well on tarmac, absorbing deepest of the pot holes with stride. This maybe a disadvantage during off-road due to lack of articulation, but there is diff-lock to negate any loss of traction. There is absolutely no body roll in Gurkha, thanks to anti-roll bars.

During my second visit this April, I realised how true it was, the engine was super smooth and the vehicle felt much better refined. Did some offroading and was pleased with the overall performance.


So here I was, owning a vehicle that is very practical in all circumstances. It did not have great looks inside, but hey the colourful interiors only pleases your eyes and has no purpose. I can offroad without being bothered of any damage in sand, slush, rocks, inclines, dips, water etc. I can go on long drives, use it in city traffic, load more people and haul heavy luggage, all in ONE vehicle..!! This is exactly what I wanted and I'm pretty happy about it.I hope the long term experience turns out to be what I've been told about it so far.



Why so much hassle in dealing with Force Motors ?

I have been strolling through some Internet Forums / automotive community and there is a lot of interest in Gurkha, yet no commitment from prospective buyers. One reason being that Force Motors cannot be trusted and the second being the price. I will try to answer as much as possible here with what I understand after dealing with them for such a long time


1) Consider a nearest & cheapest example of a 4x4 SUV, Bolero. It costs approx 7+ lakhs on road and for a little more you would get a differential lock and much better power train. I know this is arguable, however this is my opinion. I still consider Trax engine to be much better than Mahindra. For the oil cooled piston crown and their reputation to perform like a workhorse "without any failure" make them much better. No surprise that Force offers 3 lakh km or 3 year warranty on their engines. The divorced transfer case and the much renowned G-18/5B gearbox all from original Mercedes design have a proven relability and are known not to fail. (There is an OM616 that is being serviced by my dealer that has run 7 lakh + kms..!!!! The ODO must be tired now.)


2) Judo was the last 4x4 model with diff-lock that was approved to be sold on Indian Market. If they wish to launch another one, it would require ARAI testing and approval, which clearly Force are not willing to do for a small set of orders. People have complained saying 'Why the hell they cannot sell a Gama with 4x4 and diff-lock?' Yes, they cannot, as it's not as easy as selling an existing model with body coloured bumper or new upholstery. Adding a mechanical component requires ARAI testing and approval which as said, they are not willing to take the pain for a short set of customers.


3) Force clearly knows that there is a lot of interest around their products, but hardly any genuine buying ones.


4) They make a lot of International sales in terms of providing a hardcore 4x4 vehicle (trust me I've seen their order book for one particular month), but they failed when they wanted to pitch in the same for Indian Army. I believe cost was the factor here as compared to M&M or Gypsy.Their interest in Indian market is the Toofan / Cruiser segment for Rural market in SUV & Traveller (which is a massive success anyways and there seems to be no competetor). Their business vision seems to be now to expand on heavy vehicle segment which resulted in their collaboration with MAN. All these form a different strategy as compared to M&M and they have no intention to conquer the 4x4 enthusiasts market or eat up the luxury SUV market.


5) Many people claim TD2650FTI is not the same as OM-616. Agreed, however, bar the injection system, the blocks and the underlying cast ingredients are the same as OM-616, so any doubts on how reliable it is can be ruled out.


6) After sales service has been excellent for me. Service engineers at Mangalore Force are excellent and have tackled any issue that I reported bang on. There are experienced mechanics who can handle 4x4 Trax systems and I'm at ease when they are at it.


At the end of the day, Gurkha suited my requirement, i.e one vehicle for all purpose and I ended up buying it. It has satisfied me until now with very limited usage, but I hope the future holds something more sweeter. I was never into"pleasing plastics" vehicle, but wanted a no nonsense performer and I got it. There are many people who look for a curvy dash, body coloured bumper, button position etc etc, but thats not me. I would love to have them but they are not a necessity for me.
There goes the story of my penance to own ehm..hmm the first hard top new Gen Gurkha 4x4 in India..!!!!