[bejoy]

Congrats Ravi Sir on your upgrade. I am seeing quite a lot of folks moving from Linea to XUV. Good to know that you are enjoying the ride!

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

However, the ground clearance available below the mud-flap is just 160 mm.

This is much better.. If you see a Tata Indica's rear end muffler, it seems to almost touch the ground.. Barely 100mm or so above ground! It got me thinking and realized that unless the rear tyre goes over a step or a deep wedge kind of pot-hole, it does not scrape the ground.

[Columbus_500]

Congrats Ravi on your Purple Cheetah!

Each time I see a Purple XUV, I ask myself why did I not go for that colour instead of the relatively safe Silver Color that I have now. XUV just looks majestic in that color!

Ohh btw, do you mind sharing details on how did you get yourself the plant visit? I would love to visit the birthplace of my Columbus!!

Enjoy your Purple Cheetah!

The central bezel compartment's lid cannot be closed with USB memory stick inserted into the USB port as it protrudes out preventing the closure. Perhaps, the XUV 500 design team intended this as a feature. I have to buy a cable-connector so that I can close the lid.



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Originally Posted by Raps

Congratulations Ravi,

Thanks a lot for the wishes, Raps.

Originally Posted by bejoy

Congrats Ravi Sir on your upgrade.

Thank you so much, bejoy.

Originally Posted by Columbus_500

Congrats Ravi on your Purple Cheetah!

Thank you very much, Columbus_500.

do you mind sharing details on how did you get yourself the plant visit? I would love to visit the birthplace of my Columbus!!

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

First, I wrote to the customer care of Mahindra expressing my wish and requesting for their permission. But, I did not get any response for my emails. Then, I wrote to Mr Anand Mahindra and Mr Pawan Goenka. I received super-fast favourable response from Mr Pawan Goenka. Immediately, Mahindra admin machinery started to work in full swing and it was agreed that we could visit Mahindra Chakan plant on 8 February 2014.

Generally, Saturdays are preferred by Mahindra management for plant visits by various groups.

[dean5545]

Congrats on your ride sir!
Quite an unusual way of welcoming your car I must say,and that Mahindra agreed to your plans tells a lot about Mahindra's customer-centric approach.
Although a small correction :
You have mentioned the distance between Pune and Sai International hotel as 30km which actually is about 200km.Please check if you can correct it.

Originally Posted by dean5545

Congrats on your ride sir!

Thanks, dean5545.

You have mentioned the distance between Pune and Sai International hotel as 30km which actually is about 200km.

I mentioned the following:

We encountered fog at Kolhapur. We took about an hour's break for our morning wash and ablutions and breakfast at Sai Food Court, about 30 km away towards Pune

What I meant was, Sai Food Court is located at 30 km from Kolhapur, while going from Kolhapur to Pune.

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

The central bezel compartment's lid cannot be closed with USB memory stick inserted into the USB port as it protrudes out preventing the closure. Perhaps, the XUV 500 design team intended this as a feature. I have to buy a cable-connector so that I can close the lid.

Congratulations for the ride and nice trip. You can workaround the issue by trying a USB stick which is smaller in size. It is much better than using a clumsy wire extender.

Link : http://www.flipkart.com/sandisk-cz-1...8-6cc96a187276

[MAS]

Congratulations Ravi sir.

After following your Leh trip on your Petrol powered Linea, I can be sure that you would give us another wonderful travelogue to Leh in your purple Cheetah.

Wishing you a million miles of niggle free, safe and enjoyable ownership experience.

I salute the stamina (touch wood) you have at your age to do such long trips, many many times only by yourself and your better half. God bless you!!!

Just a few minutes back, Reuben, XUV500 Experience Executive, India Garage, Chennai, visited our home and delivered the registration certificate [original plus one photo-copy] of my Purple Cheetah. He had called me a few days back, when I was driving to Pillayarpatti.



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Originally Posted by MAS

Congratulations Ravi sir.

Thanks a lot for the compliments, wishes and appreciation, MAS.

After following your Leh trip on your Petrol powered Linea, I can be sure that you would give us another wonderful travelogue to Leh in your purple Cheetah.

I plan to drive my Purple Cheetah to Ladakh in 2014.

Originally Posted by Vasuki

Congratulations for the ride and nice trip.

Thank you so much, Vasuki.

You can workaround the issue by trying a USB stick which is smaller in size. It is much better than using a clumsy wire extender.

Thanks for the suggestion and link. I will buy the tiny pen-drive.

Today, I received 3 Live To Drive key-chains from Team-BHP. Now, my Purple Cheetah has LTD sticker at the back and LTD key-chain at the front.

[guyfrmblr]

Congratulations Ravi Sir on your new acquisition. I have rarely seen XUV in Purple and it looks fantastic. In the first pic of the above post where there are three controls near the key chain (fuel tank lid opener and headlight leveler), it looks like the fuel lid opener is not aligned with the other two buttons. Is it not in the same straight line as that of other two buttons?

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

Congratulations Ravi Sir on your new acquisition.

Thanks a lot, guyfrmblr.

Is it not in the same straight line as that of other two buttons?

It is aligned properly. However, due to curved edges, it looks like it is not.

[A350XWB]

Congratulations on the XUV. I will be keenly following this thread as the XUV AWD is in the race for my next purchase.

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Contrary to popular belief, the ground clearance available from the bottom-most part of stone-guard is 200 mm.

I think the place you measured is wrong. The stone guard's lowest point is approximately inline (below) the front drive shaft and not near the tyre. The vehicle was measured laden, to achieve the required 160mm. Unladen, its around 180mm +/- depending on other factors like tyre pressure.

Originally Posted by A350XWB

Congratulations on the XUV.

Thanks, A350XWB.

I think the place you measured is wrong.

I am aware of that Autocar India's article. That's why, I wanted to check it. The bottom-most line of the stone-guard was of the same level from one end to the other, atleast to my eyes. So, I clicked the photographs near the tyre. Of course, it was unladen. As I mentioned earlier, the lowest point as seen by me was below the mud-flap, measuring 160 mm. Curiously, XUV500 website is silent on ground clearance!

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Curiously, XUV500 website is silent on ground clearance!

Yes Sir, tell me about it. They silently removed the ground clearance from the specification after adding the new stone guard. As I'm also in the hunt for an SUV, I visited the showroom and also checked an XUV in my apartment complex for the clearance. The ground clearance is measured from the lowest point of a permanent fixture on the vehicle and I don't think the mud-flap qualifies for this. As mentioned earlier, the laden vehicle measured 160mm and in your measurement, the unladen vehicle's mudflap was already at 160mm. So, I think they measured the stone guard's lowest point and funnily, it is bent down to make it lower at a certain point (visible in the picture) so that maximum advantage is available to the manufacturer. Talk about funny regulations and equally funny solutions

Today, Purple Cheetah visited India Garage service station at Guindy, Chennai, for resolution of alignment issue as it was dragging towards left. Mr David Charles, RM received my XUV 500, took care of it and got it repaired as we were watching from the customer lounge window. I was not charged for checking and correcting the alignment. After the repairs, I drove XUV 500 on NH 45 for some distance and found that the alignment issue was fully resolved. I gave excellent feedback to the RM and the service team of India Garage.

While waiting in the customer lounge, I was going through the board displaying the costs of important spares and labour charges. Strangely, for some items like brake pads, caliper assembly, replacement of thermostat and coolant, master cylinder overhauling, etc., Rexton's costs less than XUV 500's!