[NIP]

Originally Posted by Stribog

I really wonder why this aversion to "gizmos"....

You just took the words out of my mouth !! I have owned Scorpio since 2004 to 2012 and I right now drive a 2012 XUV 500 W8 and see the XUV 700 as a natural upgrade !!

Coming to features and issues, I absolutely loved my XUV for its features, which cars even now don't feature !! It was a total bang for my buck and now after 1.2L on the Odo, my XUV runs like a gem !!! Small issues here and there over the years, but nothing much to complain !! I love it to bits !!

I am EXPECTING the XUV 700 to blow away the competition as it did with the XUV 500 launch back in the day...I'm expecting nothing less !!! Just price it right and you can have my money Mahindra !!!

[pandabear]

Originally Posted by Axe77

First Safari, and now 7OO.

I don’t understand why they’re all pushing white seats. Hope they have some more realistic tan, black or beige options too.

Black or brown please (the one on the harrier is simply mind blowing).

White seats are impractical in India, black seats turn brown over time

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by Stribog

I really wonder why this aversion to "gizmos".

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. My bad. I love gizmos, so much so that I've installed a few bits in my Brezza.

So why this general resistance to what I see as positive change.

I've no resistance to these positive changes. These are great things that are coming to cars these days.

Not being confrontational here, and would genuinely like to hear your / other counter point of views so please dont mistake me.

No man, you're not a all getting confrontational. A healthy discussion is always welcome . Well, let me try to explain what I feel. If the same tech is present in a Volvo or a BMW, I wouldn't mind but with umpteen cases of Mahindra and Tata electronics failing, I would prefer a non gizmo car from them. Expecting the same tech from Maruti is a huge optimism which may remain a dream forever, although they've these techs in their cars manufactured in India and sold elsewhere. I've seen a very few instances of electronic failure in them, percentage of which is miniscule due to their huge sales.

The question is of TRUST. I would trust Mahindra engines and mechanicals but can't say the same for its electronics. Mahindra needs to win trust of many like me when it comes to this aspect. I will not be happy to run every few days to a service center with some glitch in the gizmos. The first lot of a new Mahindra car is almost always riddled with niggles. This is what I don't want.

[Coyote]

The Driver Alert System video got me thinking - the vehicle will naturally keep track of when the alert has been triggered. This information may even be available through the connected mobile app that will undoubtedly exist.

Given that our regulatory environment vis-à-vis personal data is in a state of flux, what are the chances this data will be used by insurance companies to deny a claim? What if the driver was drowsy at a particular moment but was completely in control of his/her faculties at the time of the collision? Even worse, what if the alert was triggered erroneously?

To take my thought further, will we have driver safety scores similar to credit scores, based off the tech in the car, that determines the insurance premium you pay?

Don't get me wrong, I am happy to use the tech available in my car right now, and it is only a matter of time before every single thing we do in the car is analysed and scored. I am however, uncertain of where I stand on the trade-off. We already see early versions of this in the form of 'feedback' in connected apps such as maximum speed, average speed, number of times heavy breaking was involved, driving behaviour, etc.

I understand the hesitation some may have towards the advanced tech this vehicle will come with, from a functionality perspective, a quality perspective, or even a privacy perspective. It is, in my humble opinion, a losing battle as time marches on.

[krishnakumar]

Originally Posted by Coyote

I am however, uncertain of where I stand on the trade-off. We already see early versions of this in the form of 'feedback' in connected apps such as maximum speed, average speed, number of times heavy breaking was involved, driving behaviour, etc.

Without some form of standardization to these, the scores from manufacturer could never be compared to another. Hence making it ineffective from a common stakeholder like an insurer or RTO let's say. That is, it could be very well argued in court that a score like that cannot be held as conclusive evidence.

I'd say we are very far from such systems to even get in place. And by the time they do come, I'm sure the rest of the systems would have changed enough to accommodate those.

[H Karter]

Originally Posted by rpmmachine

No official announcement doubts me. Wake up Mahindra,15th Aug isn't so far. Make it official.

After the obssession with 'O's comes a new trend (or superstition) with unveil/launch date : 15 August!
But remember Mahindra, Thar name didn't ended with 'O'.

I think they should focus on product development with respect to design(Bolero Neo), configuration(Marazzo), limiting multiple engines (mhawk 100) and platforms (4m SUVs) rather than following 'O's and dates.

With regards to niggles that arise in a freshly baked Mahindra product which many in this forum have rightly pointed out, I wonder why nobody in the engineering department of Mahindra/Tata works on a particular design with respect to safety factor.

Safety factor is the multiple of threshold value at which a particular component fails. Normally in Electrical Power systems its above 10 for porcelian insulators and so on. That is, it requires a minimum ten times the amount of threshold value to cause failure of that component.

Recently I came across a video on why the Toyota 2JZ engine from Supra is so reliable. They have designed the engine block such that it can withstand the stresses arising from thrice the amount of output than the stock one. Why not take a leaf out of Toyota rule book or Kaizen philosophy.

Mahindra with the new XUV700 should set a benchmark in reliability as its pitching against a price bracket of the mighty Innova.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by JoshMachine

Pitching XUV 700’s price below the Safari (one of its key 7-seater competitors) will never happen.

The Safari AT starts around 17.xx and goes up to 21.xx.
Mahindra will want to, at the very least, price it just above the Safari - being mindful of the new-tech positioning it will try to create.

Undercutting the competition is what the first gen XUV did. I believe Mahindra will still manage the same.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by Coyote

The Driver Alert System video got me thinking - the vehicle will naturally keep track of when the alert has been triggered. This information may even be available through the connected mobile app that will undoubtedly exist.

Given that our regulatory environment vis-à-vis personal data is in a state of flux, what are the chances this data will be used by insurance companies to deny a claim? What if the driver was drowsy at a particular moment but was completely in control of his/her faculties at the time of the collision? Even worse, what if the alert was triggered erroneously?

To take my thought further, will we have driver safety scores similar to credit scores, based off the tech in the car, that determines the insurance premium you pay?

This will definitely happen. Just a matter of time. Even today in the commercial vehicle space, there are driver scoring systems based on the telematics data collected by GPS systems which are now standard in any commercial vehicle. Several of the self drive fleets like Zoomcar, Revv etc are also experimenting with driver scoring based on telematics and safety parameters collected.

The natural extension would be to tie it in to insurance. Again, here also we have had products related to usage based insurance. So the next step would be to customize products based on safety scores also.

Having said that, the initial goal would be to reward good behavior as opposed to penalizing bad behaviour. Something like the No Claim Bonus today. Using data for accident analysis will also happen. If the data is there, it will have to be used.

Specific to driver drowsiness systems, it is a little tricky as there is a strong human element involved and I am sure the drowsiness aspect will greatly vary for different people. So will be interesting to see how it works in the real world.

[IntoTheStorm]

Mahindra had to bring these gizmos to stand out in the segment, so there is no point in talking about too much gizmos or tech stuff. Regarding the drowsiness sensor, i heard horror stories about (from my friends) dozing off while driving ( including one guy dozing of at at 2.00 pm ) - luckily all of them escaped without much issues, so I am willing to pay a few extra bucks for that life saving feature.

Originally Posted by H Karter

Recently I came across a video on why the Toyota 2JZ engine from Supra is so reliable. They have designed the engine block such that it can withstand the stresses arising from thrice the amount of output than the stock one. Why not take a leaf out of Toyota rule book or Kaizen philosophy.
.

Coming from Automotive PD background - I can partially answer your question, when you add factor of safety or multiple layers of fail safe systems - it also adds to the cost and weight factor, which OEM try to avoid at any cost. Also its about trade-of calls and coming up with the right balance.. in that some are good and some are OK. Coming to Toyota Supra engine - it was pre-designed for a niche segment, to be mod-friendly - means you can eek out 100s of hp more before the engine starts to complain, but thats not the case with segments in which players like Mahindra/Tata/Marutis are operating

[Guna]

As per a thread on a FB group, a gentleman who claims to have spent 30 minutes with a production spec model:

• No ventilated seats (this is what was suspected looking at the seats)
• No powered tail gate
• Improved luggage space
• Reclinable 3rd row

[krishnakumar]

Originally Posted by Guna

As per a thread on a FB group, a gentleman who claims to have spent 30 minutes with a production spec model:

• No ventilated seats (this is what was suspected looking at the seats)

Oh man. I really hope it was a variant without the ventilated seats. This is such an important feature in the Indian climate. Don't understand why all of these manufacturers don't think twice about adding a MASSIVE sunroof but skimp out on stuff like ventilated seats and auto up/down windows.

The sunroof novelty will quickly wear off and someone is only going to use it for those occasional scenic drives. Rest all of the time, features like the ventilated seats and those auto up/down windows is what comes handy.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by krishnakumar

Oh man. I really hope it was a variant without the ventilated seats. This is such an important feature in the Indian climate.

He has mentioned that the model had ADAS, so it must have been the top end variant.
But this is something we all suspected as none of the spy shots showed any perforations on the front seats.

[Moto_Bear]

Originally Posted by Guna

As per a thread on a FB group, a gentleman who claims to have spent 30 minutes with a production spec model:

• No ventilated seats (this is what was suspected looking at the seats)
• No powered tail gate
• Improved luggage space
• Reclinable 3rd row

Taking the information with a pinch of salt here as the interweb is filled with a ton of rumors and misinformation, albeit if it is true, saddens me a bit.

1. Originally Posted by Moto_Bear

   Okay so a few points to note:
   
   1. The sunroof is enormous. I used to believe Hector had the biggest(I've driven that a lot, my sister owns one). But this looks even bigger than that. I wonder what effect it would have on the overall safety rating with such thin sides to the roof panel.
   
   2. The interiors look great, especially that beautiful Merc-inspired single screen setup. Everything looks to be in the proper place and it looks well proportionate ergonomically and aesthetically. Also, the seats do not seem to have perforations(or did I fail to notice them?), So no Ventilated Seats then?

2. Whereas a lot of members including me, had noticed a lack of perforations on the seats, I believed that where Mahindra is boasting segment first features such as the Flush door handles and ADAS, a feature such as ventilated seats would be there(given it is getting fairly common in cars now).
3. Secondly, given how bulkier Tata and Mahindra cars are in general, you would expect them to give two basic things- Hydraulic Struts for the bonnet and a powered tailgate. Having powered tailgate feature in both the Fortuner and Hector that I use frequently, the heavy door on my XUV5OO always bothers me. Whereas it is a breeze on the former two, the latter gives me a full fledged thunderstorm to operate. People owning Harrier have it even worse than me due to lack of a grab handle to operate the boot.( You have to use the logo area as a handle to operate it)
4. Hearing about the improved luggage, I couldn't be more thankful to Mahindra as a lack of boot space in Tata Safari was the deal breaker for me when I have to go on trips with my family(4 of Us and our two pet dogs)

Having driven Hector for the past few months, Ventilated seats as well as a powered tailgate become necessary as they're some of the most practical features in a car. They are some quality of life changes when you do get to use them everyday.
Flush door handles, Skyroof and Personalized safety alerts are not as practical in my opinion as the aforementioned two and would become more of a party trick than anything else.

One other thing which bothers me is that having a Sunroof on the Hector, it lets in a lot of heat through that massive glass area and MG has put in both the Ventilated seats as well as a powerful AC to counter the heat. And although Fortuner doesn't have Ventilated seats, it doesn't get that additional heat transfer because it lacks a Sunroof. Mahindra has gone a step ahead than the competition with their Skyroof. With a lack of cooling equipment(I have no doubt about the AC capabilities), I wonder how hot it would get in Summers with this year's temperatures reaching 43+ degree Celsius in India.

Stating here again that we should take this information with a pinch of salt and if Mahindra hasn't put in even the Ventilated seats, I'll be disappointed for sure.

[car_monarch]

Originally Posted by Guna

He has mentioned that the model had ADAS, so it must have been the top end variant.

One car reviewer on YouTube mentioned that XUV7OO won't have ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System), but will have ADAS which is being referred to Advanced Drowsiness Alert System. Not sure how true it is!

[cloudno19]

Being a recent past XUV 5OO owner, I am assured that XUV 7OO would definitely offer loads of segment first and next segment features. In 2016, while hunting for my next car, feature to feature it almost matched what a 30 lac CRV was offering at that point, the only challenge here was the quality, finish and performance lacked.

That being said, with all the segment first features especially the active safety features my guess is Mahindra would price this product anywhere between Safari and Compass where the top of the line variant would cost just under INR 30lacs. Hence, my vote for an ex showroom price of 18-20lacs.