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-   -   The "Duma" comes home - Our Tuscan Red Mahindra XUV 5OO W8 - EDIT - 10 years and 1.12 Lakh kms (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/123190-duma-comes-home-our-tuscan-red-mahindra-xuv-5oo-w8-edit-10-years-1-12-lakh-kms-13.html)

Let me clarify something guys. When they say idle your car for at least 30 seconds before a cold start it has little to do with engine temperature reaching the optimal levels. Anyway that takes a little driving to reach there. Moreover, in an XUV kind of scenario you can't figure out the temperature as it is always in tall blue zone unless the engine heats up.

The reason you are advised to idle before starting off from a cold start is because after a prolonged stop, all the oil drains out from the engine and accumulates into the sump. It takes a while for it to again run through the veins (so to say) to lubricate the engine back. Those initial 20-30 seconds your engine is the most vulnerable. So its advisable that one does not put any further strain immediately by making the engine pull the weight of the car. After 30 seconds you can roll out of your parking slot gradually.

Hope that helps.

Oh! I never figured there is "yet" another fan in the infotainment system! So an AC fan, the radiator fan and an Infosystem fan? Are there more that I am unaware of? Suddenly I am not so sure anymore as to whether this is the turbo or something else that keeps whirring after the engine shuts off.

Unless the road is very unsettling, in which case the XUV just tosses you around, you can be certain this is the car to take on long drives. I drove non-stop for almost 1200 kms with at least one lady for whom it could have been very uncomforting but who merrily travelled and later complimented the vehicle. Only fly in the ointment is that the roads on this journey/route are a little too good all the way and can't be called the norm for all of India.

Could I ask for a comparo between the ride comfort of XUV 500 & Fortuner on the same bad roads [good roads should not be a problem for both I guess] on tossing around the people [especially in the middle row]. If you could compare both the rides in a scale of 10, that would give me [us] a better idea as to how they fare against each other.

I know both the vehicles belong to different genres, but this is purely for a on-road ride comparison NOT withstanding any parameters [like ladder-frame/monocoque, AWD / FWD etc]! :)

Fortuner is far more unsettling than the XUV, road for road... In fact even in city at relatively lower speed you feel the firm suspensions. XUV is much more pliant if you ask me.

At higher speeds, the Fortuner just goes over things without much of an issue. Potholes, bumps and aberrations. Sort of beats things into submission. Go over a bad bump at 120kmph, nothing happens (perhaps minor suspension alignment required after you finish your trip). Great peace of mind on unknown roads.

At lower speeds and over 10 kmph, ride is very firm and lots of jolting and pitching are there. Even when going diagonally over a highish bump, it feels as if one is riding a camel. A compromise one has to live with.

Middle seat can be uncomfortable on twisty roads. My daughter has thrown up a couple of times when traveling in her child seat on twisty and/or bumpy roads.

Thanks for sharing an owner's honest opinion.

The camel story is applicable for XUV also. XUV does okay if you approach a hump straight. If you do it diagonally, you get a massive jolt. Anybody who has learned to approach humps diagonally (aka sedan driver) has to unlearn it.

Also, I've seen that while crossing a pothole, if both the tyres are inside it, the jolt can be avoided. One tyre in and one tyre out is a recipe for 'disaster'..

If you under inflate the tyres a bit, things are a bit better (at the cost of fuel efficiency and tyre life)

So many new learnings.. :)

Absolutely. It's just degrees that differ. As for the Camel story, yes, you really can't avoid it. If you get into the water you will get wet. SUVs can not (should not!) be as softly sprung as say a sedan. Else you will have a rocking/bobbing boat that can turn turtle at the slightest of opportunity (handling will go for a toss).

Actually the purposes for which these two genres are meant to be used are entirely different. And an immediate corrolary to that is an unsettling jerk and jolts inside the cabin if the speed is low and the vehicle is going over some rough termac.

Well, that point raised one basic question. What is the ideal tyre pressure that M&M suggests for XUV ?
I think it is 35, correct ?
Atleast, I have been maintaining it since 6 months now.

It's 30 for rear and 32 for front wheels

Since we are at this topic, why doesnt W8 fair better on uneven highway roads since it does have ESP?? If i am correct, everyone here owns a W8 and still this situation. I thought i was the poor soul who had to deal with this since i had W6-ESP:)

Nitin,its supposed to help you when you barge into a sharp curve too fast. Can anyone of the w8 owners give an insight into such an experience?

ESP has nothing to do with ride quality. ESP is a safety system. If you do a quick change of direction(s), it helps you to keep the vehicle on the course you want it to be.


Not sure if the driver will ever know when ESP is at work. My understanding is that it's transparent to the driver.
Does someone has an experience?

Just like when the ABS kicks in, you get a glowing indicator in the dash when ESP takes over. Not seen it though yet.

On the official review thread, there is a youtube video of TBHPian BunnyPunia participating in the Torque-Day event at Budh. In that video, when he is taking sharp turns with XUV5OO on the Budh circuit, the ESP indicator does come on regularly.
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BTW, I did a 1 day 600KMs trip to Kaas yesterday and the XUV5OO behaved perfectly. The return journey was around 5.5 hours and we stopped only twice - a 10 minute break for filling up diesel and another 5 minute bio-break.

Setting the cruise even for 2-3 minutes at a stretch on the Mumbai-Pune expressway allowed me to rest the legs while still driving.

ESP is a safety mechanism that helps the car stay its intended course. It can't help if your car rocks or bobs because of the stiffness of its suspension setup (actually ESP is calibrated so as not to over-react to such small movements as rocking as a part of the normal vehicle movement).

tachobells, you can definitely experience the ESP kicking in. I have done so on a few occassions. More often you will only get a visual experience but at times it can be more.

Try accelerating the W8 from a standstill with a heavy right foot input, and possibly with a very light hold on the steering (I would desist from suggesting to not hold the steering at all for safety reasons). You will experience exhilerating speed and the fantastic capabilities of the engine. Now switch off that ESP button (essentially converting it into a W6). I did that while doing a TD. Now try the same stunt but be careful. You will have your heart in your mouth for a while. Depending on how violent the acceleration is you may find the steering almost developing a mind of its own. In my case the vehicle tried to take an almost left U turn. The showroom guy jumped up and even lost his cool momentarily as he thought I was trying some stunt with the new vehicle. What happened was that the Torque Steer took over the moment the ESP was switched off.

On another couple of occassions when I experienced ESP at work, and initially blamed faulty M&M electronics and sensors (how mind gets biased), was in my regular driving at some regular city speeds of 40-50 kmph when I suddenly felt the vehicle decelerating a bit. It was a strange feeling, almost like my wheels suddenly were 100 kgs heavier, the way it feels if the hand brake is not fully disengaged and you try to drive off. Unfortunately for me, I have experienced the Hill-Hold quite a few times before I switched that feature off for good. The feeling was exactly the same, as if the brakes were getting applied. And I cursed under my breathe thinking that the faulty sensors are acting off although I am on a plain ground and the Hill-Hold is off.

It is only on the second occassion I realized after a brief while (initial feeling was again the same... curse the painful electronics) that I was running pretty swiftly and probably tried a quick overtaking manoeuver wherein I suddenly pulled out from behind a slow moving rick overtook and tucked myself back inline with the rick in a split second to avoid hitting the vehicle in front which was on the middle lane (imaginary lane) and was on comparable speed. This kind of quick manoeuver would have unsettled the vehicle (you do those easily with hatches and sedans but desist from in case of large vehicles) and brought in the ESP into action which would have applied the brakes on one wheel to get the vehicle back in line. So it was actually the ESP in action which I initially mistook for a misfiring Hill-Hold.

Otherwise also, if you go into a vast open area and do a good few left and immediate right and then again an immediate left kind of quick steering moves at some speed you will see the ESP sign flicker on the speedo console. Those are visual signs of the ESP kicking in.

Zappo, You are quite courageous to actually try and test the ESP! I doubt, I would ever test it. With Mahindra's electronics, who knows, it might not even engage and the vehicle might lose control.

In fact, I want to test the ABS as one needs to experience how ABS feels and not get surprised by it when it actually kicks in during emergency braking. Haven't gathered enough courage yet to do even that. :)


Couple of views here:
1. Woudln't ESP apply brake to just one wheel and that too for a brief second or a fraction of it? Would one really feel the 'drag' of that one wheel?
2. Hill-Hold-Control (HHC) is automatic and can not be switched off. On the other hand, Hill-Descent-Control (HDC) has a switch for on/off. As you are aware, its used for crawling down a steep slope. Have not tested it yet on level ground whether it disengages with throttle input.

When I TD a vehicle I generally try to understand the features well enough. With XUV the reason to do it well was more so because at that point I knew it may become my next steed. Wanted to understand the W8-W6 differentiators well enough. By the way where I tried this thing (on the Nehru Outer Ring Road) you can align and land a Boeing without much sweat. Wide 5 lanes on each direction with nary a traffic. And ideal testing ground for new vehicles I guess.

There is nothing much to test in ABS. Just clamp down on your brakes at high speeds. You should not have locked wheels, smoking tires. Generally the feelings vary based on calibration of the ABS but I have even had cases where I could feel the pulsating/bobbing of the brake pedal when the ABS engaged. Whereas in manyt other cases I have not felt anything at all. In the end as long as it does its job I guess I can live with it.

ESP may apply brakes on one or even two wheels etc depending on how the onboard comp reads your situation and how best it feels it can get the vehicle back in line. Even if it is for a short duration if it does that firmly enough you can immediately feel it. I did. And to you it will still feel like a momentary drag.

Ok... I was not getting so much into hair splitting. I used Hill-Hold as a generic word that basically was meant to refer the feature that controls the movement of your vehicle on steep gradients. But yes, to be very accurate, the term I meant here was HDC.

Not sure what you meant by "disengages with throttle input". It remains disengaged all the time except when it reads two simultaneous, positive parameters. 1. The vehicle is at a gradient 2. The speed is beyond what it feels it should be for that gear

Now I am not sure what happens if you are flying down a steep hill on 4th or 5th gear! May be the HDC will never engage; afterall it's supposed to support the driver in descending down a hill not intervene on the intentions of a suicidal person. :D Honestly, thats an angle I never tried to test. Generally on 2nd and 3rd gear I have seen the vehicle reduces to a crawl.