Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

[noidaboy]

Originally Posted by PPS

Saw a XUV 5oo Sport today. Is this some variant or just an aftermarket badge?? The optional alloys looked good on the car. I keep seeing the odd Xuv's with lots of chrome all around.

Officially i doubt there is any variant called "SPORT" but yes there are a set of accessories that you can have them installed.

[JeepSomeday]

Hi Nitinralli. I too had booked my XUV AWD at Koncept Lajpat Nagar. Horrendous experience so far. I booked on Oct 1, followed up a week later and was told they had 'lost my booking form'. So I had to fill it up again. Then didnt hear anything back from them. So here's what I did - I wrote to Anand Mahindra and marked as many senior people from M&M as I could. Within an hour, I get a mail back from Mr. Vivek Nayar (he heads marketing there), apologising for my bad experience so far and assuring me of sorting these issues out.

So this last weekend, I printed these mails out and met Mr. Santok at the dealership. I narrated my experience, yours (Nitin) and told them i'm also on Team BHP. So my 'demands'

1. I want to get my own insurance done (and I will get my existing 60% NCB transferred). I dont want any hassle that Nitin has earlier faced

2. I want a brand new spotless untampered clean car. No dented/repaired ones, no test drive ones. No hanky panky.

I hope the message has gone through.

Question Nitin - where did you finally get your insurance done from (which company)? Also, any other thing/s I need to ensure/ask for when dealing with these guys?

[manij]

Was wanting to upgrade from my Xylo to the XUV500. From the various comments on this forum, I guess it is better to wait till some of the teething issues are sorted out (My Xylo was from the initial batch).
From my point of view, since the third row of seats are severely compromised, and seem to cause multiple attendant issues, will be better to shift these to "side facing" seats, which will visually give more legroom as well as more luggage space options. With experience of the low luggage space from Xylo (and the compromises this entails), would not want to repeat this experience on XUV500, and will probably wait till they have some such option.

[raj_5004]

Originally Posted by manij

Was wanting to upgrade from my Xylo to the XUV500. From the various comments on this forum, I guess it is better to wait till some of the teething issues are sorted out (My Xylo was from the initial batch).
From my point of view, since the third row of seats are severely compromised, and seem to cause multiple attendant issues, will be better to shift these to "side facing" seats, which will visually give more legroom as well as more luggage space options. With experience of the low luggage space from Xylo (and the compromises this entails), would not want to repeat this experience on XUV500, and will probably wait till they have some such option.

I dont think the XUV will ever have side facing seats. it is not targetted as a people mover, unlike the Xylo.

[naveenchhillar]

Some different benchmarks followed by M&M in deliveries.

I know 2 people who booked on 9th October & their cars are ready to be delivered this week. That means, M&M is now on completion of their deliveries (if they would have followed a first in, first out approach - as bookings were closed on 10th October , I guess).
But, if above comment is true - then, how some customers have been given their delivery dates for March 2012. Strange, isn't it ??

Second, I wish M&M now comes up with options to chose & to upgrade the ICE if someone wants to do it. A guy spending some 13L for a car won't mind another 20-25K for a decent ICE.

[Rossiter]

Took the XUV in to SKS Auto once again for the Nippon guy to look at the faulty navigation issue. In the meantime, SKS checked all the other XUVs with them for the boot lid creaking noise, and found that all the other cars have the same issue. They had not noticed it till I raised the complaint.

Upon further investigation, they have found the noise coming from the actuator in the boot lid, and they have raised the complaint with M&M. Awaiting some communication from the company as to how to rectify this.

Other XUV5OO owners: See if you have the same issue. Press the boot release on the boot lid, and see if you hear a creaking noise within the first few cms of the boot lid coming out.

[mayank123]

hey guys,
its nice to see xuv gainig so much popularity though the reliability is still a question mark. i was also smitten by xuv so booked it on 6th oct.my approximate delivery was 2 january.
today i recieved a mail from the dealership-sterling , stating i need to pay all my balance before 10th dec or my booking will be passed to the next customer in line.they dont have any dates for delivery but say it will be done in december itself.
why should i pay days before my deliver date.(eg i f i get the car on 25 dec but i have to make full and final payment by 10th dec.) the dealer in its letter meant if you want your priority staus in booking line make an early payment.
it seems that dealer is taking advantage of the huge booking line. please share your views on this.

regards
mayank

[tachobells]

Originally Posted by naveenchhillar

Some different benchmarks followed by M&M in deliveries.

I know 2 people who booked on 9th October & their cars are ready to be delivered this week. That means, M&M is now on completion of their deliveries (if they would have followed a first in, first out approach - as bookings were closed on 10th October , I guess).
But, if above comment is true - then, how some customers have been given their delivery dates for March 2012. Strange, isn't it ??

M&M is nowhere close to completion of deliveries. The expected date depends on the color and variant also.

Eg: Someone booked a W6 Grey on Oct 10th may get it before someone who booked a W8 white on Oct 5 and may be much earlier than someone who booked a W8 white AWD.

[naveenchhillar]

Originally Posted by tachobells

M&M is nowhere close to completion of deliveries. The expected date depends on the color and variant also.

Eg: Someone booked a W6 Grey on Oct 10th may get it before someone who booked a W8 white on Oct 5 and may be much earlier than someone who booked a W8 white AWD.

Not sure about your comment. However, in the case I referred - both booked W6 Silver - may be a coincidence or not

[tachobells]

Originally Posted by naveenchhillar

Not sure about your comment. However, in the case I referred - both booked W6 Silver - may be a coincidence or not

Mahindra had sent out emails to customers who booked W8 AWD and those who booked White colored vehicles indicating a delay and asked to change the color and variant preference (AWD/FWD).

If you go through this thread, there are people who booked AWD having the expected date in Feb and March.

I've booked a W8 FWD White on Oct 10 and the expected date is in Feb.

[m_upreti]

Originally Posted by manij

Was wanting to upgrade from my Xylo to the XUV500. From the various comments on this forum, I guess it is better to wait till some of the teething issues are sorted out (My Xylo was from the initial batch).
From my point of view, since the third row of seats are severely compromised, and seem to cause multiple attendant issues, will be better to shift these to "side facing" seats, which will visually give more legroom as well as more luggage space options. With experience of the low luggage space from Xylo (and the compromises this entails), would not want to repeat this experience on XUV500, and will probably wait till they have some such option.

Why would you want side facing seats in a (semi) premium SUV, just fold the third row to get as much space you could ever need. With full passenger load on longer journeys a roof top carrier / box is always the additional option.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by naveenchhillar

I know 2 people who booked on 9th October & their cars are ready to be delivered this week. That means, M&M is now on completion of their deliveries (if they would have followed a first in, first out approach - as bookings were closed on 10th October , I guess).
But, if above comment is true - then, how some customers have been given their delivery dates for March 2012. Strange, isn't it ??

Some colors have more demand [white] and will have more bookings. Some other colors will have lesser bookings and they could be delivered quicker than the one with more bookings.

From what I know, manufacturers paint cars in a lot/batch always and hence if they choose to paint a batch of cars with lesser bookings, those people will get the cars quicker even though they have booked it later.

Originally Posted by naveenchhillar

Second, I wish M&M now comes up with options to chose & to upgrade the ICE if someone wants to do it. A guy spending some 13L for a car won't mind another 20-25K for a decent ICE.

I don't think mass manufacturers will bother about the ICE. Trust me, majority in India still thinks explod is the BEST ICE equipment manufacturers. So for such a mass, the stock ICE mostly suffice.

Originally Posted by mayank123

today i recieved a mail from the dealership-sterling , stating i need to pay all my balance before 10th dec or my booking will be passed to the next customer in line.they dont have any dates for delivery but say it will be done in december itself. it seems that dealer is taking advantage of the huge booking line. please share your views on this.

Ask them to confirm the delivery time and you could make the payment then. Also please mark the reply to the top M&M officials or draft them a separate mail stating this. You could get the contact details from the below bhpian.

Originally Posted by JeepSomeday

So here's what I did - I wrote to Anand Mahindra and marked as many senior people from M&M as I could. Within an hour, I get a mail back from Mr. Vivek Nayar (he heads marketing there), apologising for my bad experience so far and assuring me of sorting these issues out.

That's cool man! I am sure you could help out some of the frustrated souls in this thread with the contact details thru PMs, if they wish.

[ACM]

Originally Posted by manij

Was wanting to upgrade from my Xylo to the XUV500. From the various comments on this forum, I guess it is better to wait till some of the teething issues are sorted out (My Xylo was from the initial batch).
From my point of view, since the third row of seats are severely compromised, and seem to cause multiple attendant issues, will be better to shift these to "side facing" seats, which will visually give more legroom as well as more luggage space options. With experience of the low luggage space from Xylo (and the compromises this entails), would not want to repeat this experience on XUV500, and will probably wait till they have some such option.

Side facing seats on the XUV are unlikely (read never) as it is something that you do need to decide while designing the car itself. Besides from the luggage space point of view one can always fold one seat or both if there are less 6/5 or less persons travelling. For situations where there are 7 persons tavelling they have made arrangements for roof rails there a luggage rack can be fixed. An accessory made available right from the start to exactly that situation.

So yes one can wait for issues to be resolved over the next 6 months but if waiting for side facing seats, it is highly unlikely though one never really knows, but with them sold out with the current layout there would be no reason to change. It is all for sales numbers finally.

[JeepSomeday]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Some colors have more demand [white] and will have more bookings. Some other colors will have lesser bookings and they could be delivered quicker than the one with more bookings.
=================
That's cool man! I am sure you could help out some of the frustrated souls in this thread with the contact details thru PMs, if they wish.

Surething. Anyone who needs contacts for M&M top management - please PM me. From my experience so far, these guys are really responsive and genuinely want to help sort things out...unfortunately, its at the dealership that the slip between the cup and the lip happens

[da MotorHead]

Originally Posted by mayank123

hey guys,
its nice to see xuv gainig so much popularity though the reliability is still a question mark. i was also smitten by xuv so booked it on 6th oct.my approximate delivery was 2 january.
today i recieved a mail from the dealership-sterling , stating i need to pay all my balance before 10th dec or my booking will be passed to the next customer in line.they dont have any dates for delivery but say it will be done in december itself.
why should i pay days before my deliver date.(eg i f i get the car on 25 dec but i have to make full and final payment by 10th dec.) the dealer in its letter meant if you want your priority staus in booking line make an early payment.
it seems that dealer is taking advantage of the huge booking line. please share your views on this.

regards
mayank

Hi Mayank,

Sterling has also sent me an email and letter by post stating that I have to pay the balance within 10 days. I spoke to the sales exec and he clarified that the car will be delivered within the 10 days. I paid the money in the same period but on the day when he had received the car and I took delivery. This was Nov 2.

On a different note:

Get this - Every single car dealership as fas as I know delivers the car on receiving the delivery order (DO) or the release order (RO) from the bank. In my case however, even when only half the amount was financed and I'd paid the margin money, Sterling refused to honour HDFC banks' RO/DO point blank. They said that they would not deliver the car until money is effected in their bank account. They also agreed that this policy was not instated on any other car such as Scorpio or Xylo but only the XUV. Everyone from the bank manager to the auto loans regional head called them, but they didn't move. Meanwhile, I was sitting there for 3 hours with my father taking time off a horribly busy schedule.. Finally the money was effected in their account by 7 pm when we sat in our to leave and they called us back to compete delivery.

I have no complaints from the sales executive and intact he even agreed that this policy was seriously stu... but was out of his hands. This adds one more area where a Mahindra dealership is taking advantage of a great response to a new product and harassing customers. While they did not bother me with getting my own insurance done, they did create this whole new scenario. During this episode all senior guys were glued to their work stations and couldn't give a damn !

Once again a great product and good intent from Mahindra in creating service experience with personal RMs and all .. But without the intent of the dealership, only time will tell ... Hopefully won't create more Silvertone/continental Skoda stories..