[psinide]

Hi,

I am a 33 year old IT professional living in Bangalore. Thank you mods, for approving my membership!

I began digging through this forum while making a decision to purchase a new car. I'm not a petrol head, or very knowledgeable about cars, but I like to be an educated buyer and do my due diligence before any big purchases. This led me to one your most infamous threads - Mahindra XUV500 niggles & solutions. Strangely enough, going through all 289 pages of the thread kind of reinforced my decision (call me a glutton for punishment, or someone who likes to tempt fate) I got the overall impression that Mahindra is actively taking part in customer satisfaction. I will elaborate on this journey with an ownership thread soon (hopefully - delivery date is 21st June)

My 1st car was our 1999 Honda City 1.5 ltrs, the keys to which were handed over to me on my 18th birthday. It was an absolute riot, I loved that car to bits. I drove it for almost 3 years before moving to the UK for education. It served the family loyally till 2010, which was when I returned and became a member of the tax paying community of India. I purchased the Skoda Rapid 1.6 Diesel in 2010. I was happy with the pseudo-German make of the car, built like a tank and delivered power fairly evenly. Unfortunately (fortunately for my younger brother) I moved to Bangalore not long after and had to leave the car behind with my parents.
In Bangalore, I didn't feel the need for a vehicle for the 1st 2 years, as I had company transport for work, and most of social outings involved drinking. I recently purchased a pre-owned Hyundai i10 which seemed like a practical city car. It is mostly driven by the Mrs, and I was happy to be chauffeured around.

With the launch of the Jeep Compass, I got interested in the car scene, and started following new launches. I always liked the XUV500 as we have 2 of them in our extended family and the new face-lift took my fancy. We test drove it a few times and both of us fell in love with it. It was complete package, and we booked it just 2 days ago.

Apart from traveling and road trips, I primarily spend my time either on the PS4 (PSN id is same as TBHP handle in case any one wants a game of Fifa), reading or tinkering about with IoT and home-automation.

Well, that about sums it up! I look forward to contributing to this community (hopefully not in the niggles thread ), as all of you have helped me a lot with one of my biggest purchases so far!

[GTO]

Welcome to your new online home, psinide!

Originally Posted by psinide

Strangely enough, going through all 289 pages of the thread kind of reinforced my decision (call me a glutton for punishment, or someone who likes to tempt fate) I got the overall impression that Mahindra is actively taking part in customer satisfaction.

The XUV500 is now overall reliable. At the most, you'll have some minor niggles here & there, but Mahindra has ironed out nearly all its issues over the last 6 - 7 years. That said, I will recommend two things:

1. If you have the budget for the Compass and don't need 3 seat rows, go for the Jeep. I've driven both extensively and can tell you the Compass is the superior.

2. If you still decide to go with the XUV500, pick the AT. It's brilliantly mated to that beautiful mHawk engine.

My 1st car was our 1999 Honda City 1.5 ltrs, the keys to which were handed over to me on my 18th birthday. It was an absolute riot, I loved that car to bits.

That Honda City generation was truly iconic. I owned a City Vtec, then a Civic....still miss the City Vtec more.

[psinide]

Originally Posted by GTO

Welcome to your new online home, psinide!

Thanks! I look forward to being an active member here!

Originally Posted by GTO

1. If you have the budget for the Compass and don't need 3 seat rows, go for the Jeep. I've driven both extensively and can tell you the Compass is the superior.

2. If you still decide to go with the XUV500, pick the AT. It's brilliantly mated to that beautiful mHawk engine.

Were were very much inclined towards the Compass, and honestly, we don't really need the 3rd of seats apart from maybe 1 or 2 road trips, but even there, there are more cars in the family who can accommodate the passengers.

Our rationale behind the XUV is:
1. The cabin felt incredibly premium compared to the Compass. The Mrs didn't like the white leather on the top-end and the fabrics on the Longitude

2. We thought that for a car that costs 20lacs+ there were a lot of things missing. Minimal storage, power adjustable seats, lounge lighting, sunroof - all though I don't put much importance on these things, the Mrs argued that we would be doing most of our driving in the city, and the car should provide as many creature comforts as possible. Couldn't argue with that logic

3. We really wanted an AT, after driving the Longitude, the Compass petrol AT just didn't feel right. We decided to wait for the diesel AT, then later this year the showroom called to let us know that bookings were open for the diesel AT - Compass Trailhawk - which is in overkill for predominant city driving (and also about 8-10 lacs over budget as we were told it would cost between 30-32 lacs on-raod).

That's why we booked the the XUV500 W11 AT

Originally Posted by GTO

That Honda City generation was truly iconic. I owned a City Vtec, then a Civic....still miss the City Vtec more.

I know! I sold it to a friend so I could still drive it once in a while. But then he went and committed blasphemy, he put a CNG kit on it!!!

[GTO]

Originally Posted by psinide

We really wanted an AT, after driving the Longitude, the Compass petrol AT just didn't feel right.

As things stand today, yes, if Diesel + AT = XUV500. Jeep missed out on a big segment of the market by not (yet) launching the Diesel AT. I found its Petrol AT to be very unsorted.