[scorpio_fan]

Owning a Scorpio has been a dream from childhood, which was fulfilled in 2010 with my White Scorpio SLE (Ownership thread here). After say 3 years and 8 months, I decided to upgrade my dream with XUV. Current ODO reading is > 5k Kms and I feel now I am equipped to write a good review .

From the day M&M launched XUV, I have taken various test drives and read a lot of reviews and ownership reports in team-bhp. In initial days I was skeptical about niggles, but over a period of time confidence level has increased. The most valuable learning / insight is the way Mahindra Customer Care takes ownership of issues and resolves issues to customer satisfaction. I have experienced this with my Scorpio many times and this has leaded me to the next purchase! Of course the overall design is a bit overdone, I like it very much. The kind of planning and innovation Mahindra has done to come up with such a good vehicle is appreciable. Exterior and interior is stylish and practical.

Even though the decision was made in mind, I wanted to check the other options. The options I considered were

Renault Duster & Nissan Terrano
A refined car and extremely comfortable compared to all crossovers in that segment. But lack of features (like climate controls, steering mounted controls etc.) was not acceptable. Also I felt that price is on the higher side compared to other crossovers in that segment.

Tata Safari Storme
I have to admit that Tata has improved a lot over last few years. STORME is doing really good in terms of comfort, refinement etc. But I did not like the looks to be honest.

Toyota Innova
A champion in MUV segment, peace of mind guaranteed! But I feel it is overpriced compared to other MUVs in that segment. It has an old engine (say > 10 years old 2.5 Liter, still reliable). I have considered Innova when I bought my Scorpio but because of price decided to stay away. With the latest face-lift I did not like the front looks as well.

Mahindra Rexton
I saw this once in a shopping mall and then decided to do a test drive. I got an automatic version for test drive. The interior quality and some features were really good like electric seat coming back once you open the door etc. But the serviceability and availability of spares was a concern to me. The test drive vehicle had done 20k in odometer, but the tyres were already worn out. The sales guy told me it is because the test drives abuse it with off-roading this is happening but not sure. Because of all this decided to drop it from the list.

Skoda Octavia
A fantastic car, any day a value for money in that segment compared to Honda City, Toyota Corolla etc. I would have bought it if the waiting period is acceptable. 6 month waiting period is a kill.

So after comparing the other vehicles I decided to go with XUV 500 W8 AWD.


Finally checking other option, I was convinced that buying the XUV is the right decision. The complete package with mechanics and features is really a value for money.

What I Liked?
The detail planning that has gone in to the minute details of interiors is really good. The space utilization, AC vents in 3rd row, integrated console with Maps, features like tyre-tronics, cruise control etc. were really good. The engine feels silent and refined.
Seats are comfortable, good under thigh support and back support, leg space between seats is also great in 1st and 2nd row.

• Many a times, it was difficult for me to understand if engine is running or not. It is as silent as a petrol car especially from inside.

• Handling and comfort shows great improvement compared to Scorpio. You will never feel that you are are out of control, multiple times on highways, I had to use emergency breaks or maneuver it sharply the vehicle showed great stability

• UV Protect in the glass is helpful to fight heat. Because of the ban on sun film I did not opt for it. But heat that is coming in during sun is low. Additionally the AC is powerful so you do not need a sun film

• No hump in middle row. It’s really flat! This gives passenger in the rear lot of space and comfort. This is one thing that I do not like with european cars.

• Mahindra blue-sense app is great. It shows all information from the console to your mobile. In some cases even more like tyre-tronics where it shows PSI and temperature for each Tyre. This application connects using the blue-tooth and then you can see lot of information on your mobile itself. You can even control the songs (next, previous, pause etc)

• Clutch and gear shift is smooth and comparable to sedans. Mahindra has worked on it very intensively. Scorpio users will be remembering the gear shift becomes smoother once the engine is warm.

• Steering is lighter compared to Scorpio. So it is easy to maneuver compared to Scorpio. Eventhough the turning radius is the same (5.6 m) you will feel XUV has a less turning radius. This is because of the lighter steering.

• Fuel indicator is linear; each box corresponds to 7 liters of fuel. This is really helpful to understand how much is remaining from fuel indicator.

• Interiors, lights, folding mirrors, micro-hybrid, Hill-Decent control etc. are really useful for lazy drivers. Enough of lights in all rows, you will never complain about less light. Folding mirror is a boon for such a big vehicle. You can never handle it from the driver seat otherwise. Also if you have to take the car through a narrow road you can fold it from inside. Micro-hybrid is useful in city traffic where you will wait in signals. Hill Ascent / Decent controls will be useful for new drivers.

• Powerful AC, rear AC is useful to cool the car if it was parked under the sun. I have used it when the vehicle was parked in sun at 40 degree outside. In few minutes the temperature came down.

• Seat belt height adjustment is useful especially for users not so tall (as me).

• Purple club membership - In addition to the premium service and other benefits, they are giving a 3 day stay at any Club Mahindra property. This has to be claimed in the first year.

• Delivery surprise - Gift and a framed delivery photo

• Demo - 2nd / 3rd Day an executive will come to your address and explain all features. This is really useful even though I had gone through the list multiple times.

• Suspension - Ride is really confortable and rear passenger will never complain about ride quality. All XUV models have independent rear suspension. But I felt Duster even though it does not have independent suspension is more comfortable.

• AWD - It gives you confidence to take the car to any place you want to go!

What I did not like? Here is the long list of items!

• Visibility through the back glass is limited, this is a big blind spot if you have person sitting in middle of 2nd row / 3rd row.

• Engine feels under powered (I was using Scorpio ) in 1 / 2 gear if RPM is < say 1700. In Scorpio if the vehicle is moving then 2nd gear is sufficient. But for in XUV if you are at lower speed and in gear 2 the vehicle stalls. I know I have to get used to this. But if you are going on rough patches at say 20 / 30 putting 1st gear is a bit over-kill. I tried putting AWD on and situation was much better because you get a fixed torque in rear wheel as well. This would be a concern in city drives as well. But on highways it will make up for all these issues. Overall the engine is really silent and refined. Power delivery is linear.

• Door does not get locked-up by normal closing. Need to check this with ASC.

• Infotainment system is sub-standard and missing some important features. Below you will see some of the issues.

• Speaker Quality – Pathetic. Mild increase of bass will make the speakers jar. I never understood why Mahindra can give a good quality music system for such a costly car!

• Folder up/down button not present. Generally all head unit has this feature, but unfortunately not here.

• GPS sometimes takes long time to lock. After start, it easily takes few minutes to lock.

• Line-out facility in HU should have made the audio-holic happy! Now if you have to connect an amplifier and speakers, you have to attenuate the audio signal from speaker using some circuits.

• Noise of fan is really disturbing. You can clearly hear it if you are not playing any music. Only option is to play the music louder!

• Tyre-Tronics in console only shows “ok” status. No PSI and Temperature information. But blue sense mobile app shows both. This means the information is available but they do not show it console.

• When the source is changed, the USB starts from track 1. It does not remember the track which it was playing. Some times this is really a pain.

• The position of USB drive is also not good, the space between the port and the door is very small and you have to always keep the door open if you have a normal USB drive. By USB drive already broke off and now I bought a thin USB drive specific for car.

• Even though it can pair with 5 devices, only one active connection can be maintained. If both devices are in range, it does not pair with any devices!

• Dual Zone AC is really big miss for such a long vehicle.

• Electrically adjustable seats would have been a good feature for this car. Really missing it. Rexton has this feature and I found this to be useful.

• Luggage space when all 7 seats are occupied is really “0”. This also gives you a hint that you cannot install a sub-woofer at the rear. It has to be under the seat only.

• Driver side window has auto-down feature. But I am missing auto-up and anti-pinch. If you are driving from toll booths auto up feature would be helpful.

• In auto head lamp mode, high beam never gets engaged. Low beam visibility is minimal and cannot be used for highway commute. So you have to switch to manual mode for high-way use. By the way, low-beam light needs some improvements I would say.

• Front console has too many lights, they could have removed few not so useful ones. Another suggestion will be to use some generic display and show warning as messages or some specific icon. LCD can render any type of image based on need.

• The hand rest is of no use. It never comes to a position comfortable for my use. Storage under hand rest is useful.

• The storage behind the front seats is also very less. You can only put some magazine / paper.

• Keyless entry and start-stop button is one big miss I will say!

• Horn is very mild but still ok. Have to see if an upgrade is really required.

• They could have incorporated a DRL easily instead of LED parking light. This is just a wish!

Why AWD?
I was impressed by Anshuman’s ownership report of AWD. Even though I am not an off-roader by nature, I respect SUV for their added capability. I was always fascinated by 4X4 capabilities of SUVs. So going by heart, decided to go for AWD even though my usage pattern will not need it for 80% of use cases.
I generally commute to office in car and total distance will be approx 25Km per day. But I go for long drives very often and would easily clock between 15 - 20k per year. My old vehicle had clocked 56K in 3.5 years.

Buying Experience
This is my second buy from Sireesh Auto Bangalore; overall I would say it was a nice experience. At once I had to wait for weeks to get the test drive car, finally he comes at 6:30 in the evening when I cannot even see the exteriors because of bad light. This was few months back, but then this time before booking I consulted Bala (Sales Manager) and Pavan (Sales Executive) who gave good support in over-all process.

At the time of booking, they told me that for AWD there is a waiting period of 1 month, so I made a booking 5 weeks before. But the car came within 4 weeks that too with my favorite Bridgestone tyres.

Once the vehicle arrived, I told them that I will like to do a PDI in day light. They arranged the PDI next day in the showroom. I went with the checklist and did the PDI same day. I verified all possible points and gave a green signal to them. After that the payment was released and they immediately went with the registration process. Some snaps from PDI.





Boys with their machines!


After 2 days we did the pooja and then took the delivery of car. Since I can take the delivery only on Monday we decided to do pooja on Saturday so that my family can participate in pooja. My brother (Narayan) and family accompanied me even though he was suffering from eye infection and fever. A big thanks to him, by the way he only purchased my Scorpio. Few snaps from pooja.




Delivery process was very smooth and transparent. I had given a list of accessories to be installed to Mr. Pasha from the accessories division. He had installed everything by the delivery time. It took about 1 hour to finish all the formalities and I was impressed by the little “surprises” that Sireesh auto did during the delivery. They remembered that I have a son and they gave a gift for him, immediately after moving the vehicle, they gave me a framed photo of the delivery. These were really nice, I really enjoyed!

Some snaps from the delivery process.


This is Bala (Balachandra) and Pavan from Sireesh auto, Silk board. Thanks a ton guys!




Discounts
When I booked, I got approximately 30k discount which included cash discount, corporate discount and loyalty discount. But by the time my delivery date came, there was additional cash discount (before budget) and I got a total discount of approximately 50k. On top of it they also gave some accessories. Overall I felt that was a good deal!

Accessories Fitted
Following accessories are already fitted. Some of them were provided by dealer and for few I paid.
1. Under Body Coating
2. Paint Protection (Smart Wax)
3. Night Vision Reverse Camera
4. Floor mats
5. XUV Branded Illuminated Scuff Plate
6. Rain Visor
7. Contoured Body Guard
8. Back Bumper Guard
9. Side Step
10. Chrome (Front grill, Mirrors, Door handle and Back)

Some pictures of accessories fitted.
Front grill chrome, the accessory image will have a picture which is different, but now they are only giving a "straight line" chrome only.


Mirror cover, it gives a premium look and also protects mirror.


Door handle chrome, I initially did not opt for it but it was the advice from the accessory guy that it will look nice.


Side step, I will strongly recommend this. This is really useful for kids and elders.


Tailgate chrome.


Contoured body guard. Even-though it is named as body guard it does not guard the body. It is of no use but just adds a look.


This is a jugad I have to to prevent light coming in during night driving. This is really effective.


This is a scuff-plate which is illuminated. When you unlock this light gets on automatically.


A picture taken after the paint protection. This was done by Shibin who runs the sop at Kundanahalli called Head over Wheels. Thier facebook page can be accessed here.


Benson suggested to remove the rear guard because it affects the looks. I installed it because of the Bangalore traffic and already 2 times two wheeler and one time an auto banged me from back and this guard saved me from painting. This guard is really strong and can withstand good amount of force.

Interiors I would say is average, but not bad at all. The seat covers in W8 has the airbags built in so you do not have an option to change it. The under thigh support is good and it also has lumbar support. The combination of color for purple is black + brown. So it is easy to maintain as well. You will find a lot of space in first 2 rows and easily 3 people can sit in 2nd row lavishly.

Some pictures of interiors.



This is the storage behind the front seats. It can hold some magazines.


Dual tone seat covers.


The roof is stylish, there are some designs but that is not clear in the picture.





You can notice the mat that came with the car. This is a decent quality one.


Plans for Additional Modifications
1. Modification of Music system (Speaker, sub etc). No HU upgrade is possible as it is an integrated console. Only speaker, amp can be installed with a sub.
2. 3D Mat (Still thinking) : The mat they gave for free is good enough. So I will use it for some time, when it needs a replacement, I will think about 3D mats.

[scorpio_fan]

After getting used to the machine, we decided to go for a photo shoot. My friend Arun Sreekumar accompanied me and he clicked some good photos. Hope you will like it .

[scorpio_fan]

In the first 2 weeks, we did not go for any long drives. I was using it for office commute. I tried various features and I got used to all except one Hill-Descend control. To test this I first needed a hill and so decided to visit the famous Nandi Hills. Here you can see some pictures from the trip.














Hill Descend feature worked well but I was not comfortable with the "Nose-Dipping". You can feel the front nose dipping as and when the automatic breaks are applied. It it not smooth and I prefer to control it myself. I am sure I can drive better than this . For people who has just learned driving and they want to try the hill roads this would be useful.

[scorpio_fan]

Now that I am used to the machine wanted to go for a long trip over the week-end. First option was to go to Kerala and visit parents but 2 days is not sufficient. So we were looking for some good place which we have not yet visited. We zeroed down to Masinagudi. One of my friend (Vibin) had already been to Masinagudi multiple times and I took his advice and tried to book the hotels he suggested. These hotels (Bamboo Banks and Jungle Hut) were full and then we decided to select Club Mahindra. We started from Bangalore early morning on Saturday and reached Masinagudi at around 2:00 PM. We roamed around the place for few hours and in the evening we hired a Jeep and went for a drive. We saw lot of animals and the jeep driver knew the places where there is possibility of seeing animals. That was really nice. Next day morning we went to Mudumalai National park at around 6:00 AM and went for a safari. We did not see much animals as compared to the previous day but it was fine. Sunday afternoon we returned to Bangalore. Few snaps from the Masinagudi trip.























We took Mysore road for the journey and it was really busy. On the way back there was a dead dog on the road the car had to go on top of it. No damages at all since it was on the ground, but there were some blood stains. I took it to pressure wash and cleaned it.

[scorpio_fan]

After this we did couple of trips to Kerala one with my brother and next alone. Highway riding is breeze, if you do not watch your odo meter, it will simply go to higher speeds. We got very good mileage (for first trip it was ~15.5 and for the second trip we got 16.5) from Bangalore to Kerala. Return trip always gives lesser mileage 14 and 15 respectively.






On the way back, I had to take a sharp turn at ~ 90 KM/h at 10:00 PM in the night. I was driving sedately to Bangalore through begalur route. There was a swift coming in opposite side with high beam on. I was blind for a second and then I noticed that there is a sharp turn. I had to turn the steering sharply and the vehicle gave some squeak sound. I have to admit the ESP did an amazing job in keeping the car under control.

With this the odo meter has come to 4600 Kms and with additional local commute it reached already 4900. So it is time for the first service.

[scorpio_fan]

First service was due in approximately in 9 weeks. I am not at all happy with M&M service as every time after service there were major issues with my Scorpio. So this time I decided to stay at the service center.

I had the following issues to be reported,

1. Doors not closing properly - this is a known issue
2. Front right window has a sound when pulling it down.
3. Some times when AC is off for longer duration and in between AC is switched on, some bad smell comes
4. Check firmware and map version

The following things were replaced / topped-up / Inspected

1. Engine Oil
2. Engine Oil Filter replacement
3. Independent Rear Drive Axle oil (IRDA)
4. Power Transfer Unit oil (PTU)
5. Break Fluid - Top-up
6. Coolant - Top-up
7. Break pads - inspection

Total bill was 2672 Rs for the consumables. They also attended the power window issue and cleaned the AC filter. Firmware and Map was running already on the latest version. They also connected the computer to check other parameters and did the reset of service reminder.

The lounge for premium customers (XUV / Rexton) is different from the normal customer lounge. Lounge was neat and clean, and it had a window through which you can see the work going on the workshop. But I decided to stay closer to the vehicle and I stayed there next to it. I thought they might not allow that but I was already prepared to fight for it .

This time I made sure that all screws they are removing are put back, and made sure all the activities are performed as per the service manual. It gives me confidence and I know exactly what part was touched. I will continue this approach for next service as well. Even if I have to take a day off I think it is worth the investment.

They also did a cleaning and washing. I had told them not to use any soap / shampoo for washing just use water only. Overall first service was good!

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[mpksuhas]

Congrats on the XUV, happy miles.

Regarding your first service, which dealer did you take the vehicle to?

[aks_karthik]

Congrats for the AWD.
Hopefully i too deliver an AWD by this year.
Enjoy and Drive Safe

[JoseVijay]

Congrats on the new car. Pics from the photo shoot look very beautiful.

Amazing F.E on the highway. How about the F.E in the city traffic?

[benbsb29]

Congrats on the XUV, Vijay! Quite a logical upgrade.
Will take it on a spin the next time i am in Bangalore.

How's the Scorpio holding up?

[wilful]

Congrats on the wonderful new machine! Here's wishing you many happy miles of motoring. Really lovely pics.

[scorpio_fan]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Congrats on the XUV, happy miles.

Regarding your first service, which dealer did you take the vehicle to?

The dealer was Sireesh Auto, I went to thier Marthahalli Branch for service.

Originally Posted by aks_karthik

Congrats for the AWD.
Hopefully i too deliver an AWD by this year.
Enjoy and Drive Safe

Thanks Karthik!

Originally Posted by JoseVijay

Congrats on the new car. Pics from the photo shoot look very beautiful.

Amazing F.E on the highway. How about the F.E in the city traffic?

In city I get approximately 12 Kms mileage.

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Congrats on the XUV, Vijay! Quite a logical upgrade.
Will take it on a spin the next time i am in Bangalore.

How's the Scorpio holding up?

Sure Benny, hopefully we should go for a long drive .

Originally Posted by wilful

Congrats on the wonderful new machine! Here's wishing you many happy miles of motoring. Really lovely pics.

Thanks wilful!

Best regards,
Scorpio Fan

[Akshay1234]

Congrats on the car. Getting the AWD definitely does increase your ability when you are off pakka roads. BTW hill descent as far as I know if for off road only, down very steep descents, and not on a proper road like you used it.

I wish you and your Opulent Purple XUV 500 W8 AWD infinite miles with smiles, scorpio_fan.

Originally Posted by scorpio_fan

For people who has just learned driving and they want to try the hill roads this would be useful.

Recently, I used HDC in HP. While descending towards Chamba, I used HDC for a long time in third gear. I did not use accelerator, clutch or brake. It was a wonderful experience to watch XUV 500 automatically controlling the speed according to the gradient. But, after sometime, we smelt burning rubber. Before I could disengage HDC, it automatically disengaged itself and a warning appeared in the instrument console. Later, the warning vanished by itself. After this incident, I stopped using HDC and used the engine brake while descending the hill.