[A350XWB]

Anshuman, great pictures and ownership thread. This is one of the threads which convinced me that my decision to go for the XUV 500 AWD is right. And after a month and 2000 kms and many more long trips queued up, I don't have any regrets regarding my decision. I owe a - "Thank You"

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Oh as usual, lovely pictures there Anshuman. Reading your good feedback for the XUV has made me respect the car more too.

CHEERS!!

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by A350XWB

Anshuman, great pictures and ownership thread. This is one of the threads which convinced me that my decision to go for the XUV 500 AWD is right. And after a month and 2000 kms and many more long trips queued up, I don't have any regrets regarding my decision. I owe a - "Thank You"

I am glad you found my thread useful. In terms of "BANG for BUCK" nothing else comes close.

Did you face any niggles so far? I suppose newer batch cars are comparatively niggle free. Touch wood! Once past initial set of niggles, my car has settled down now. Zero issues since last one year/23000 kms.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Second instance of fused bulb in my XUV-500, but i have seen a lot of XUV's on road running fused low beam bulbs, is it really an issue or just a case of ignorant owners?

Was it RHS bulb in both the instances?
There was a post in XUV niggles thread about Mahindra coming up with a fix for this bulb fusing issue, as per that the issue was diagonized as due to problematic wiring harness. The new harness is present in post oct 13 XUV's. However in the same thread there were news of seeing this year's XUV's with one eye. So guess fix is still some time away.

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

I am glad you found my thread useful. In terms of "BANG for BUCK" nothing else comes close.
Did you face any niggles so far? I suppose newer batch cars are comparatively niggle free. Touch wood! Once past initial set of niggles, my car has settled down now. Zero issues since last one year/23000 kms.

Thanks Anshuman, I was following this thread all through and then I made the firm decision of buying the car. Yes, for the price you pay, nothing else comes close.
Mine is a March '14 car and till now, I have not faced any issue, touchwood
Initially, I was apprehensive about buying a Mahindra and I had prepared myself for any surprises. But threads from you, debuda, sathya and J.Ravi helped me to have better faith in the car. And today, I don't have any complaints. I was more concerned about the reliability of the mechanical components than the electrical ones, but am happy to say that till now, it has been a niggle free relationship.

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Was it RHS bulb in both the instances?

No, last time it was LHS bulb.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

No, last time it was LHS bulb.

Ok, just asked since I too have seen many XUV's with their RHS side bulbs not working. So thought the issue is with only RHS wiring. Anyways, this issue was discussed on niggles thread here.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Last evening i realized the RHS low beam bulb has conked off. A fused bulb is not much of an irritant in mot cars but replacing the bulb is quite a task in XUV-500. My car is due of 40k service this week, ill get the bulb changed at dealership.

Second instance of fused bulb in my XUV-500, but i have seen a lot of XUV's on road running fused low beam bulbs, is it really an issue or just a case of ignorant owners?

Higher than normal voltage can cause this. Put a multimeter and see if your alternator is crossing 14.4V
If it is, then it could be a blown regulator

[TaureanBull]

Wonderful update. Undoubtedly, your thread is inspiring for all XUV enthusiasts. This is one vehicle which continues to give confidence as the odometer reading goes northwards. I am falling in love over and again with my XUV in one months of ownership!

BTW, I liked the placement of 'Live to Drive' sticker on front shield.

[pillaian]

Excellent update , I am also in the process of owning an XUV, your post inspires and gives confidence to go in for an AWD to explore length and breadth of India, excellent pictures too, like someone else suggested earlier, please watermark them.

[shashank.nk]

I've been a silent follower of this thread and thanks to your updates on its performance and reliability, the XUV is now in contention to replace the existing Octavia mk1 1.9 tdi at home.

I'm choosing between 2 cars catering to different needs,but if find they both fit our needs quite well
2011 L&K Laura with 30k on the odo and in very good condition with owner asking 16.5 for it,not sure if warranty is available on this car, forgot to ask.
or
Drive out a brand new XUV 5OO W8 FWD from a showrrom for the same amount. I can't stretch my budget to get a Jetta or Octavia presently.

This car will be used by my dad who's chauffeur driven on 6 days a week with him driving only on sundays,to weddings etc or whenever driver takes leave. So a split of 70% city and 30% highway overall.

XUV
Pros- offers better seating for 5,that additional GC means no more worrying about road conditions, wider after sales network,brand new with warranty,can keep it for 5-6 years without staring at big bills hopefully,more abuse friendly too and in general a reliable machine after all the recent improvements.
Cons-Mahindra A.S.S,too large to drive around within city when driver takes leave,somehow feels like a downgrade from Skoda in terms of sheer quality and finesse

Laura on the other hand is a great upgrade for someone coming from a Octavia and offers
Pros-countless features, better product in terms of quality, convenience of an automatic,less bulky to drive around in the city,known service folks,may be delivers better FE too not very sure of this,better dynamics, assuming its also more stable at higher speeds.
Cons-Not too sure if DSG+careless driver is good,extra features means something may go wrong sooner or later so questionable reliability, used car so no warranty,already discontinued so may have troubles sourcing parts later on, asking price is too high though this can be negotiated.

Since you have both cars, could you please share your opinion on which is a better car given the above requirements.

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

I've been a silent follower of this thread and thanks to your updates on its performance and reliability, the XUV is now in contention to replace the existing Octavia mk1 1.9 tdi at home.

Thanks. I am glad you found this thread useful.

Since you have both cars, could you please share your opinion on which is a better car given the above requirements.

I am extremely happy with both the cars in garage right now. Choosing one car out of these two is difficult- Laura is more refined, polished and fun to drive. XUV on the other end is more rugged, spacious, abuse friendly, can take me to difficult places, still has sorted on road dynamics, loaded with all the bells and whistles especially the safety equipment.. Both cars are excellent value for money.

The only thing i miss in XUV at times is a good Automatic Transmission, the DSG in Laura is brilliant.

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Last evening i realized the RHS low beam bulb has conked off. A fused bulb is not much of an irritant in mot cars but replacing the bulb is quite a task in XUV-500. My car is due of 40k service this week, ill get the bulb changed at dealership.

Second instance of fused bulb in my XUV-500, but i have seen a lot of XUV's on road running fused low beam bulbs, is it really an issue or just a case of ignorant owners?

Oh yes Anshuman this is a BIG issue with XUV. My XUV have had atleast 10/12 bulbs replaced in this 2 and half year ownership. Infact yesterday only i got my car back from A.S.S. after keeping it for 2 days in order to "Investigate" the issue, but they found nothing. Wiring had been changed few months back, their so called Long lasting bulbs have been added and fused all this while. So at the end they just add new bulbs and said to me that you had old version bulbs so we have added "New" ones now. And i was like

Every day ( i mean everyday) i see atleast one or two XUV's with one eye blind. Either those XUV guys are stocking me or its a real issue which Mahindra has no clue about. To top it all, even more frustrating is that you cant change these bulbs on your own as it requires other things to be removed first. Thats why owners keep there cars running like this till the time they have to sent it for service or any other major issue.

[.anshuman]

XUV went for the scheduled 40k kms service last week to Sri Durga Auto, Mayapuri, New Delhi. No Major issues were reported except the failed windshield washer.



Service experience was good, vehicle was delivered back on time but i am not happy with the negligence at the workshop, here is why-

I never get Alignment and Wheel Balancing done at Authorised Service stations, if you have gone through my ownership threads you will know why. This time i agreed for Alignment and Wheel Balancing because the ASM at the dealership promised me of good quality of work and told me that they frequently get updated values from Mahindra, I agreed! i also asked for tire rotation(4 tires, cross rotation, specifically requested and confirmed twice) and tires side change(because outer side of all the tires was slightly more worn out than the inner side).

They charged me close to 2000 bucks for all this but never changed the side(charged 400 for this), and tires were not rotated in cross pattern, just the front wheels were moved to back on the same side. Clear case of charging for what was not done to my car, despite clear instructions and mention on Job card.

Two days later,The RM called back for feedback, when i pointed out this he first clearly denied it without any knowledge of real facts, when i mentioned i keep my tires marked and i have evidence, he promised me a call back within 15 minutes and vanished for good!

This morning, i felt the low end of rev range to be weak. Despite tall gearing XUV has good amount of grunt low down and for slow overtaking i never have to drop gears. Gradually the engine started losing power, there was no engine warning light, the car was not in safe mode either as it was comfortably revving to redline. Over next few kilometers the XUV became so weak that i was struggling to keep up with traffic. I pulled over to a safe place, opened the bonnet and saw this!



The hose connecting Intercooler to Airfilter had slipped off. The hose was not connected properly at the time of service. Though it was a two minute job to fix it back on my own, it clearly shows the quality of workmanship at the service station. I called up Mr. Inderpal, my RM(the RM keeps changing at every service) he clearly denied any possibility of negligence. I asked him what's the status on the update he promised to provide on the tire rotation issue, he had no clue! I have all his calls recorded.

In the early phase of XUV ownership the struggle to get the front stabiliser bar bushes fixed was not only time consuming but also a big irritant. When the new improved design was introduced and fitted to my car i was optimistic that this reoccurring issue was fixed for good. But at the time of this service, i got a call from RM to inform the bushes have worn out again and this time i will have to pay for it. I insisted on the part to be covered under warranty since it was a major design defect, the RM denied it, later the part was covered under warranty when i told them i am going to ask for explanation on this from Mahindra Customer care.

Later i was told, my vehicle did not have the updated design, shocking since the RM last time told me they are fitting the latest updated design, i am not sure whom to trust on this. The scary part is the Stabiliser Bar issue seems to still exist and may haunt most of my future ownership experience, more so after the warranty expires. My car till 40k kilometers has worn out around 5-6(i dont remember the exact) pairs by now.

The rear brake pads had worn out, got new ones for ~4k plus taxes and Labour. A link rod for rear suspension has a rubber boot cut, got new one for Rs.958 plus taxes and Labour.

The RM and ASM say the low beam fusing issue is due to bulbs, both bulbs have been changed to Osram Rs.262++ each. I have been using the same Philips Bluevision since 3.5 years in my Laura, which were standard on my XUV and are now being blamed. The fault clearly lies somewhere else.

The Software for Infotainment system was updated and now has slightly less lag. The camera i had got installed from this same service center has over the time started to display at very blurred image on the screen, at the time of install it was as crisp and sharp the camera in my friend's Rexton. The service center has no fix for this, they say they have applied thinner and it has fixed the issue but i see no change.

I also specifically requested twice for wiper blades to be replaced, the RM did not mention it in job card.

@fellow XUV-500 owners: Please suggest any other good Mahindra Service Station in South Delhi.

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

In the early phase of XUV ownership the struggle to get the front stabiliser bar bushes fixed was not only time consuming but also a big irritant. When the new improved design was introduced and fitted to my car i was optimistic that this reoccurring issue was fixed for good. But at the time of this service, i got a call from RM to inform the bushes have worn out again and this time i will have to pay for it. I insisted on the part to be covered under warranty since it was a major design defect, the RM denied it, later the part was covered under warranty when i told them i am going to ask for explanation on this from Mahindra Customer care.

Later i was told, my vehicle did not have the updated design, shocking since the RM last time told me they are fitting the latest updated design, i am not sure whom to trust on this. The scary part is the Stabiliser Bar issue seems to still exist and may haunt most of my future ownership experience, more so after the warranty expires. My car till 40k kilometers has worn out around 5-6(i dont remember the exact) pairs by now.

The RM and ASM say the low beam fusing issue is due to bulbs, both bulbs have been changed to Osram Rs.262++ each. I have been using the same Philips Bluevision since 3.5 years in my Laura, which were standard on my XUV and are now being blamed. The fault clearly lies somewhere else.

@fellow XUV-500 owners: Please suggest any other good Mahindra Service Station in South Delhi.

Well it seems the mahindra service attitiude is same everywhere. Sorry but I couldn't stop laughing at your RM's response on bulbs. Sounds so familiar:-D

Anyways I wouldn't say its better but you can try koncept mahindra at okhla. My RM since day one is Santosh. Nice young chap. If you want I can give his number to you.