[fusionbang]

Quick Update on HID:

Had been to Hot tracks, Bangalore to see if the XS performance HID kit solves the shadow problem. Unfortunately the shadow was still there with the new bulbs and it has to do something with the Projector setup. Was very disappointed and to add to that the unskilled electrician who was boasting about having been done installation on No of XUV's could not put the pin back properly and took almost an hour to do the same. He dropped the pin inside couple of times and used a magnet to take it out.

Also the bulbs has been put in the reverse direction and the throw-put is almost NIL on the right hand side.

On the other hand the shop owner was more interested in selling me 3D Kagu mats rather than solving my issue which I actually went for

I have almost decided to revert to stock as this is leading to nowhere and solving this issue is becoming almost impossible.

[fusionbang]

Revert HID's to Stock:

After lot of confusions & deliberation, there was no end to the Shadow problem on my low beam projectors

Had been to Mahindra Service Center to revert the bulbs to stock and remove HID kit completely. While doing alignment of the beams, noticed a strange behaviour in the cut offs from my car's projector and from the earlier batch of cars (say before March 2015). The cut off's are not sharp and the throw of the beams are more in the newer cars, which is the main reason for the shadow's to appear as shown below,



Below image shows the different beam patterns from the old car and my car. Left is the older car and right is mine.



If observed carefully the bottom line on the older car is much above then my car's. Ideally all car's will have shadow but because of this cut off the shadow's are not visible whereas in my car & new age cars, it is visible.

Also with the halogen's in Projector there is a dot like shadow visible on the projector lenses as shown below,



PC: Avinash(abirnale)

Service center was ready to replace my headlight assembly but I was skeptical about it because they have changed the lenses for all the cars post March 2015 and it would be the same even after replacement.

Finally there is no light for me, but still I am a happy owner with stock headlights and some peace of mind. But one wuestion in my mind which is still running is how are they working in couple of cars which are new age, I have written an email to customer care and should wait and see what they respond with.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

But one question in my mind which is still running is how are they working in couple of cars which are new age

I doubt this Sunay. I have actually not seen any new age vehicles with HID setup so far. I have been in touch with at least 20 odd XUV owners and none of them claim to have HIDs setup. Unless I see a picture or in flesh myself with new age (around our time frame of buy) with HIDs and no shadow, I would assume that all cars have the same problem.

And if any of our readers do, appeal them to send their pictures and observations to us via TBHP support/ feedback page mentioning this or my ownership thread. We would be glad to take this up again to see that there is "enough" light


By the way, whats your ODO reading now? Seems like you overtook me a week ago

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by abirnale

We would be glad to take this up again to see that there is "enough" light

Yes Avinash, we would be very glad to do that if anybody confirms its working fine in a new age XUV.

Originally Posted by abirnale

By the way, whats your ODO reading now? Seems like you overtook me a week ago

Currently ODO is at 18300 Avinash Actually this weekend I had a chance to clock another 600 odd kms but have given rest to cheetah as I was travelling alone and come to my wife's native in bus

[abirnale]

Yay! You must have crossed 20K now. Service completed? Whats the update? I am still farther from that milestone but eagerly looking to hear from your about how things are?

[fusionbang]

Silver cougar crossed the 20K mark earlier than expected and I think I am doing justice to this diesel mill



Last Sunday had been to attend my cousin's engagement and achieved this milestone of 20K en route. Couple of pictures on how the cheetah waded through the unexpected fog in the morning near Hassan.



While returning noticed that the rear left grab handle had come out of its place, after my aunt used it to get down from the 3rd row and pulled it hard.



Yesterday decided to get the car serviced and below are the list of issues I had noted down to be rectified,

1. Speedometer cowl vibration
2. Driver side door makes a creaking sound while closing.
3. Driver side door when pulled to close does not lock in place
4. Rear Left grab handle fix
5. Whining sound when applied brakes (like a locomotive applying brake) - Brake pads are good for another 4-5K kms.

Apart from the above it was just the regular service updates.

Left the car in the morning around 9.15AM at Sireesh Auto Rajajinagar and got it back by 4PM and the total service cost came upto Rs. 5794/-. Due to weekday the service was pretty quick, but still I am not happy that the cleaning was not up to the mark with interior not being cleaned at all apart from blowing air.

Also had not informed to carry out any engine coating or A/C cleaning, but still it was carried out and billed even though it was not mentioned on the job card. Had to pay for the same as there was no point arguing on that and the engine bay looks as good as new after this coating.



After service out of the above issues, No 3 & 5 still exists and will have to visit again to get it checked which should happen next week as I am travelling this weekend.

HID Update: Still waiting for Mahindra to get back on the issue analysis. Also it is difficult to drive with the stock halogens and if nothing materialize then I might put the P8 HID's back and live with the shadow effect. Wish I get an Osram HID kit to test on my car and if it works fine will go ahead and procure it.

Originally Posted by abirnale

Yay! You must have crossed 20K now. Service completed? Whats the update? I am still farther from that milestone but eagerly looking to hear from your about how things are?

Hey Avinash, wish you an early break from your work and get back on the cheetah to munch some miles. And not to forget on the AUX light you have planned.

[fusionbang]

Update from Mahindra:

Got an email today morning from customer care on the queries I had posted to them and looks like we have to live with the shadow or only chance is to try OSRAM and if it works fine then all is good.

Email extract from customer care on my queries:

1. Were the projector lenses changed post 2015, because I see a lot of difference in the cars before 2015 and my car. The beam cut off is completely different and the sharpness is not there in my car. Right beam is from my car and the left is from another car. This was tested at one of your service centers.

CC - The size of projector is increased as a part of continuous improvement. The reduction in cut-off sharpness is design intent and this is to give better visual transition from bright to dark zones while driving in motorways.

2. Are the projector's not suitable for HID conversion kits? If suitable, why there is a shadow from the beams. I understand it is from the HID bulb which is been displayed on the road as shadow, but which should not be the case in a projector setup. Whereas the HID's have worked in earlier cars and one of the new age XUV as well.

CC - M&M does not recommend the use of HID bulbs on projector lamps.

3. Can I know the reason for the shadow with the halogens as well?

CC - The shadow is because the bulb has an anti-glare cap to avoid glare and as per regulation. Hence, this is absolutely normal and nothing to be concerned about.

If I get a chance to try on OSRAM HID will buy them, else I might go ahead and install the HID's back again and live with the shadows. Thinking under process

[madhu33]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

If I get a chance to try on OSRAM HID will buy them, else I might go ahead and install the HID's back again and live with the shadows. Thinking under process

What if you try to remove the cap covering the bulb and install the HID?
Is it possible to install the HID bulb without the cap? Have you already tried it ?
If already tried ? Did the shadow problem still persist?

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by madhu33

What if you try to remove the cap covering the bulb and install the HID?
Is it possible to install the HID bulb without the cap? Have you already tried it ?
If already tried ? Did the shadow problem still persist?

There is no cap in the HID bulbs for H7 bulbs, the cap comes only for H4 HID bulbs. I have tried 3 different brand HID kits and all the 3 had this shadow issue, so it has to do with the projector lenses.

One of the bhpian checked with Osram and they said OSRAM HID kit should work fine on XUV as they are the OEM providers of halogen bulbs to XUV. I am not sure to what extent this is true because all HID's are similar except for the brand and how much difference does it make.

So will have to live with this shadow problem and get more light than stock bulbs.

[fusionbang]

Finally got some time to update my thread. The beast is munching miles at a pace which was never expected and it makes me more eager to drive the car every morning. Currently the ODO stands at 24400 within 1 year of ownership.

Recently had been to my native(Coorg) for a quick visit and the cheetah performed flawlessly with 7 people on board. It had to go through some off road and it climbed steep slippery inclines without much effort. I made sure to turn off the ESP before climbing the slippery road and the beast pulled off without any effort. I did not miss the AWD at any point of time. But yes, AWD would suffice with extreme off road conditions.

Some pictures from the drive,







Also met Avinash(abirnale) for dinner drive on 7th April and we had a quick run to Swathi Delicacy on Mangalore Highway. I have started living with the shadows of the HID's and the more light from these bulbs has spoiled me more. Me and Avinash discussed few things about the cars and also got the OBD2 device from him as the one I bought was not connecting in my car.



Updates Planned:
1. 3M CR70 sunfilm for front windshield
2. Noodle mat for the boot when last rows are folded.

[fusionbang]

After completing 1 year in May 2016, my cougar has not got much of a chance to share an update here. Somehow it was able to limp to 30K as there is no much running, except for the daily runs of around 15Kms.

I was always skeptical about a good anniversary gift to the beast, but till date could not gift one :(. I have kept it on hold for sometime and for the time being, changed the front number plate as it had small dents and was uneven. And as per my previous post, I had planned for couple of updates, which I have kept on hold as it is of not much importance.

So with a sad face my car went into 30K service yesterday with ODO at 29720 and came out neat and tidy after a good spa treatment which was gifted by Purple Club, Mahindra. Since it was holiday yesterday for most of the companies, there were not much cars in the service station and more attention to detail was given to my car.

The spa treatment was done up to the mark after expressing some harsh feelings for this department and my RM obliged to my complaints and got the work done to almost perfection.

This service included AC filter change only and normal check ups. Still I am confused why this service is scheduled from Mahindra as nothing much to do here, except to pay for the labor as paid service charge (2062/-). Instead they can charge a penny just for the AC filter change.

The total bill came up to 3829/-, out of which the service labor is 2062/- and AC filters cost 1100/-

Few pictures after the service,





Old AC Filter:


Cougar will be on a commemoration drive this weekend to Ooty with the fellow T-Bhpians.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/team-b...ly-2016-a.html

Ciao until next update.

[Rudra Sen]

Mode note: Thread moved to Long-Term Ownership Reviews.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by fusionbang

Cougar will be on a commemoration drive this weekend to Ooty with the fellow T-Bhpians.

Dude, you need to update those nice pictures you clicked on the trip And no word on the new thing you are doing with your Silver Cougar? I am waiting for the details

[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Dude, you need to update those nice pictures you clicked on the trip And no word on the new thing you are doing with your Silver Cougar? I am waiting for the details

Yeah Avinash, I will be updating the thread today with the pictures from Ooty Trip.

And on the new thing I am giving some time to have a perfect setup and then I will update here

[fusionbang]

Wonderful Experience in TeamBHP meet at Ooty on 9th & 10th July,2016:

I was always wanting to join the over night meets organized by Team BHP group here in Bangalore, and every time it was organized I could only do it till the breakfast point due to one or the other commitments.

This time I was able to make it for the meet and man it was one of the amazing outing I have been till date with my beloved steed. I got to meet some new BHpians as well as the regular group and took home some nice memories.

It was fun driving with the superbly managed convoy of 14 cars through the hair pin bends and the beautiful twistier roads all the way till Ooty. And yes this drive has made my mind decide to be part of this meets on a regular basis.

Few photos from the meet,

The Group



Breakfast point at Nijaguna Residency, Chamarajnagar





Lunch stop at Oasis Restaurant, Mettupalyam



Quick Regroup before ascending the hair pins



Regroup Point











Arriving Ooty



Chamaraj Tea Center



LoveDale Railway Station for a quick photo opp



Arrived at Hotel Gem Park, Ooty



Breathtaking View from the Hotel room



Cougar at the parking overlooking beautiful hills of Ooty









It was absolute fun discussing cars, places, truck driving experience and much more during the stay and had to leave hotel by 2PM post lunch as per the itinerary.



Could not click pics on the way back and we regrouped at JLR, Bandipur to say bye's for the memorable drive and until the next time.

Few BHPians regrouped at Nijaguna for a dinner break and continued later, whereas couple of us carried on to reach home early.

Drive Onward:



Return Drive:



Currently the ODO stands at 30800Km, which is really some miles munching by the cheetah.

Coming up: New upgrade to the cougar to roar loud and clear