REVIEW: Souped-up Mahindra Scorpio hauls hay bales or tourists

With its open-air seats, chunky off-road tyres and aggressive bull bar, the Mahindra Scorpio Pik Up arrived on our doorstep looking ready to trek across Africa on safari.

If you’re into shooting wildlife (with a camera or rifle, your choice) the seats and rails fitted to the load bed are called a hunting frame and are available as a R45,000 accessory from Mahindra’s catalogue.

The souped-up Scorpio was fresh from its outing at the recent Nampo agricultural expo in Bothaville, Free State, and displayed some of the vehicle-enhancing geegaws available from Mahindra dealers and the new Adventure Zone stores to be established at some outlets. The Adventure Zones will offer a selection of lifestyle gear, apparel and adventure equipment with the first stores to open soon at Mahindra’s Bloemfontein and Nelspruit dealers.

Since its launch in SA in 2004, Mahindra has steadily grown its footprint and product offering, and was SA’s fastest growing automotive brand in 2022. The Scorpio Pik Up was its best seller with 8,044 units, making it the country’s fourth most popular one tonner behind the ruling triumvirate of Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max.

The kitted-out Scorpio is the 2.2 CRDE 4x4 S6, the top of the range single cab in Mahindra’s Pik Up Range which sells for R370,999 standard, with the accessories adding R155,000.

The optional 265/75 R16 Bridgestone Dueler M/T tyres are made for hard-core off-road driving with their chunky tread, and their high profile makes the bakkie glide more comfortably over rough turf or damaged roads. The ride quality is unusually smooth for a single cab workhorse, without the usual teeth-chattering bouncing, and I particularly enjoyed being able to glide through potholes instead of having to swerve around them.

Also fitted was a suspension kit with heavy duty shock absorbers and a 35mm raised ground clearance, further enhancing the donga-duelling abilities of the Mahindra bakkie which comes standard with selectable four-wheel drive, a rear diff lock and low range.

There are no tweaks to the standard 103kW/320Nm 2.2 turbodiesel mHawk engine, a smooth and willing unit that is a pleasure to drive, made more so by a six-speed manual gearbox which shifts with slick precision. Light steering makes it easy work to pilot the large bakkie, and seat armrests enhance comfort on a long ride.

Less impressive is the crude stop-start system which shuts down with a judder and restarts the engine with similar enthusiasm to a 1990s PC booting up. The stop-start system is the first thing I switched off on every journey.

Also, the ventilation recirculate function comes on by default and you have to hold down a button for a few seconds to disable it. But these quirks aren’t deal breakers, especially at the sub R400,000 price. You’d have to spend more than R500,000 on a similarly powered and equipped bakkie from the big three.

The range-topping Pik Up S6 has essentials such as aircon, electric windows, remote central locking, cruise control and an infotainment system with Android Auto, though it curiously has no trip computer to work out fuel consumption (Mahindra claims a figure of 7.9l/100km). ABS and dual front airbags provide the safety.

The cloth seats are comfortable and room inside the single cab is spacious enough for two adults, though taller folk might prefer the ability to move the seats back more.

The cabin displays some budget origins by being coated in hard plastics instead of the more classy soft-touch surfaces, but it’s neatly put together and has no rattles.

Overall the Mahindra bakkie feels solid and robust, equally ready for a hard day’s work carting hay bales or camera-toting tourists.

Mahindra Scorpio Pik Up 2.2 CRDE single cab 4x4 S6

Price —  R370,999

ACCESSORIES FITTED

Hunting Frame —  R45,000

Front Bumper — R32,600

Rear Bumper — R20,500

Wheel Arches — R4,500

Rims and Tyres — R5,950 x 4

Suspension Kit — R28,500

* Accessory prices exclude VAT