[TheIndian]

The XUV500 continues to run like a charm, a real workhorse, touch-wood

No update is a good update

Will try to revisit earlier road trips in some time.

PS: Got the Wheel Alignment, Balancing, rotation done yesterday from Straight Line, Santacruz. Stock Bridgestone is still going strong at 54,000 kms. The alignment guys says they are still very good. Guess it'll last till minimum 70,000 kms

[TheIndian]

Did a 2000 kms Road Trip to Saurashtra, Gujarat. XUV500 was absolutely comfortable as always.

Since this time, we were 4 adults and 4 children (2 teens), I had to fit a rooftop carrier. Bought it from Ajanta Distributor from Opera House from whom I bought Side-steps when I bought XUV.

On the way back, a flying stone on highway resulted in a small crack on the windshield. Got it replaced at Global Gallarie, Thane.

58,000 kms and the cheetah runs like a charm 60,000 kms service looks to be only a month away.

[TheIndian]

It has been almost 1.5 years since I updated my ownership report !!

So many updates.

So many long drives/ road trips.

Another Ladakh road trip.

Shall update in a while.

[TheIndian]

Before launching into details, let me start with my 90k kms ownership snapshot:

So, what does a customer look for from a car / SUV/ (soft roader in automotive forums language)?

• As for me who doesn't keep a back up car, downtime was and is very important. Downtime means how many days the car remains in the workshop overnight !! - Ticked, super-ticked in fact. In 42 months that I have my XUV, it remained in the workshop overnight only 4 times - thrice due to accidental repairs (once windshield replacement due to flying stone on a highway drive, and 2 more times due to accidental denting and painting, only once it remained overnight at workshop for non accidental work was AC compressor replacement). All scheduled services were morning - evening affairs. ALL without any exceptions.
• Driving comfort - Well, I've had quite a few long drives in it (details posted earlier plus shall post now). I've even single handedly driven it for over 1100 kms in a day from Mumbai to Krishnagiri without any fatique whatsoever.
• Frequency of Service station visits: 2 Ladkakh trips, 2 Rajasthan trips, quite a few Gujarat trips, quite a few Goa trips, so on and so forth - it still goes on and on. 19 visits to service station in 42 months.
• Driving dynamics - Ride and Handling: In it's class, its one of the better ones. My earlier cars were Ford Ikon & Fiat Linea - noth kings of dynamics, very important to me. XUV has not disappointed me inspite of being an "SUV".
• In 90,000 kms and on numerous serious road trips, never stranded on the road due to break down. The only time once XUV was off was in my office parking when the clutch failed and needed replacement.

On my part too, I've remained patient. Did not have to change any spares/ parts except for the clutch and usual wear and tear ones nor did I hurry up changing every a,b,c parts under warranty digging the forums with extra knowledge. Did it in my earlier car and dug it's own grave - changed almost entire car (except engine) under warranty, the car (Fiat Linea) never remained the same again, TASS spoiled a lovely car). So, learnt a lesson, and it paid off this time.

[TheIndian]

In Oct 2015, got the 60,000 kms done. Nothing major as usual. Except the Front Brake pad got replaced.

Front Brake Pad cost - Rs. 4785/- incl taxes
Labour - Rs. 220 + 30 taxes = Rs. 250

Overall service cost was Rs. 14,815

Just to reiterate, even though Mahindra recommends Engine oil change at every 20k kms service, I've always changed engine oil and oil filter at every 10K kms. Multiple reasons - I believe in an old school thought process of changing oil more frequently & secondly, Mahindra MaxiMile Feo is a very cost effective oil - Rs. 330 per Litre (incl taxes)

Just 2 weeks after the 60k kms service, someone broke down my car in the night. Rear left quarter panel glass was broken to get into the car. Luckily, the thief didn't see Dashcam or any valuable, nothing was stolen. Got it repaired at Global Gallarie as usual.

The glass cost was Rs. 835 only.
Glass Sealant Loctite cost was Rs. 1250

[TheIndian]

Few Pics of Cheetah from May 2015 Road Trip to Rajasthan: Mumbai - Nathdwara - Mount Abu - Mumbai

[TheIndian]

September 2015, Lonavala Pawna dam...Few pics & dashcam clip:

[TheIndian]

https://youtu.be/4Z_RQTvVy2o

[TheIndian]

Originally Posted by TheIndian

In Oct 2015, got the 60,000 kms done. Nothing major as usual. Except the Front Brake pad got replaced.

Front Brake Pad cost - Rs. 4785/- incl taxes
Labour - Rs. 220 + 30 taxes = Rs. 250

Overall service cost was Rs. 14,815

Just to reiterate, even though Mahindra recommends Engine oil change at every 20k kms service, I've always changed engine oil and oil filter at every 10K kms. Multiple reasons - I believe in an old school thought process of changing oil more frequently & secondly, Mahindra MaxiMile Feo is a very cost effective oil - Rs. 330 per Litre (incl taxes)

Just 2 weeks after the 60k kms service, someone broke down my car in the night. Rear left quarter panel glass was broken to get into the car. Luckily, the thief didn't see Dashcam or any valuable, nothing was stolen. Got it repaired at Global Gallarie as usual.

The glass cost was Rs. 835 only.
Glass Sealant Loctite cost was Rs. 1250

Here are the details....

[TheIndian]

End of December 2015:

In Mumbai's B2B traffic, a truck rear ended my XUV damaging rear right Fender, tail gate, rear right tail light and rear bumper. Had to repair it under insurance at Global Gallarie Thane



Had 2 road trips to Gujarat for college friends reunion - Mumbai to Bodeli in Jan 2016 and to Mahal in Feb 2016

April 2016:

At 68,500 kms, encountered the 1st break down of XUV. From my office parking, my driver called me that the Clutch stuck to the floor and became free-moving. 4-5 days before that, MID shown a message "Low pressure brake fluid", so after consulting with Mahindra RM I topped up the Brake/ Clutch fluid. At clutch failure, my office parking floor was full of oil, so my doubt was that Clutch Slave Cylinder gave way.

Through Mahindra RSA, towed the car to NBS International which i nearest to my office(I would have preferred to take it to Global Gallerie but RSA Towing takes it to nearest service station only). They diagnosed and called me to inform that clutch needs to be replaced. I tried to argue that it could be due to Clutch Slave Cylinder and hence needs to be covered under warranty but they insisted that the clutch has worn out. Also, I had a Ladakh trip coming up in 2 months, so I didn't argue and got the clutch replaced as a precaution and considered it as a blessing in disguise for in Ladakh trip, you need clutch in top condition.

[TheIndian]

After June 2014 Ladakh Roadtrip, there has always been an itch to revisit that awesome region. Suddenly the opporunity presented itself in 2016. Our family holidays plan got cancelled and I grabbed this opportunity to drive to Ladakh again in Last week of June-1st half of July 2016.

Like me, it was 2nd road trip to Ladakh for my XUV as well. Ladakh road trip means the car needs to be treated as a companion, checked duly & prepared for the worst.

From my long list of items to carry/ checklist, following are the items related to Car:

[TheIndian]

Replaced Battery & Tyres at 3 years 71,000 kms as a precuation for Ladakh road trip. Both had quite a few months / kms life still left. But I wanted both new during this 2nd Ladakh trip, didn't want to rely on Battery & Tyres which are at their fag ends of life.

Went to a neighbourhood Tyre shop and replaced the battery - same as stock one - Amaron AAM GO 105D31R (85 Ah). Then got into some discussions on online forums and few people mentioned that XUV W8 stock battery is Amaron AAM GO 135D31R (90 Ah). Checked manual, it says 12v, 90 Ah (though I had earlier found specs written in manual are not absolutely correct/ updated, Headlight bulbs specs in manual are not correct/ updated). So, asked the shop guy that I want the same battery as the stock one - Amaron AAM GO 135D31R (90 Ah). He insisted that the battery replaced in my car is the same as stock one only. Went to his shop, checked my old battery still lying there. It was 105D31R (85 Ah) !! Called Amaron customer care number, they had no clue and said there is currently no model like 135D31R (90 Ah). Called Amaron Distributor in Mumbai who also confirmed that the model 135D31R (90 Ah) is not operational and 105D31R (85 Ah) is the right battery for XUV W8. Enough digging, so stayed with 105D31R (85 Ah) finally as I faced no issue in 3 years 71,000 kms.

[TheIndian]

It's now the turn of the tyres to get replaced.

Bridgestone Dueller has served me with aplomb for 3 years 71,000 kms and were still going strong with about 10-20,000 kms life still left. Till that time I had never gone with flashy premium tyres like Michelin and others with softer side walls. But that time, just got into the mood of indulgence/ "luxury" !!!

Changed all 5 tyres (including stepney) to Michelin Lattitude HP Tour. Later after Ladakh trip, I repented not to persist with the good old Bridgestone Dueller. I felt that Michelin's skids in situations with slight sand on the road or small rocks in the water stream or wet soil road. Atleast felt it a few times during Ladakh trip. Even saw it when I was directing/ navigating the car from the outside. Except that no issues with Michelin's. However, never encountered such skidding from the humble Bridgestone's even during 1st Ladakh road trip in 2014.

Neverthless, changed all 5 tyres to Michelin from my Wheel Alignment guy - Trevor at Straight Line, Santacruz. With my standing instructions not to over-tighten the wheel nuts with the machine but to tighten them manually.

As soon as I drove the car on the next Sunday (driver never complained during working days), I was shocked to feel the dreaded "left-pull" issue. The steering was a bit off-centre and the car was pulling to the left. I'm very sensitive to the car pulling to one side as it starts playing in my mind irritating me to no end. Sent the car back to Straight Line to solve it. Unfortunately, Trevor was travelling abroad. His next in line supervisor tried his best but couln't completely remove left pulling and told me that he needs "approval" from his boss Trevor to adjust camber and/ or sheath/ file some nut inside.

When I consulted my favourite Mahindra RM at Global Gallarie, he iimediately said. "arey sir, kyu Michelin daala aur Bidgestone continue nahi kiya?" He sighed as according to him, it's not easy at all now (almost impossible thats how he sounded) to solve this issue. My heart sank & I cursed Michelin's.

Anyways, later when I sent the car to him to remove the 3rd last row of seats, asked him to check and work on this left-pulling issue. The humble guy as usual did wonders and somehow reduced the lef-pulling, it didn't completely vanish immediately but reduced considerably. After a couple of thousands kms, even that slight very slight pulling/ tug disappeared.

Most of the car related stuff was bought in earlier Ladakh trips so not much efforts were required on that count.

[supertinu]

Originally Posted by TheIndian

It's now the turn of the tyres to get replaced.

Bridgestone Dueller has served me with aplomb for 3 years 71,000 kms and were still going strong with about 10-20,000 kms life still left. Till that time I had never gone with flashy premium tyres like Michelin and others with softer side walls. But that time, just got into the mood of indulgence/ "luxury" !!!

Leaving the offroad issues aside, how are Michelin in terms of high way road noise?

[TheIndian]

Originally Posted by supertinu

Leaving the offroad issues aside, how are Michelin in terms of high way road noise?

Not bad. But at the same time it's okayish comparatively. Not super great as compared to Bridgestone. May be that's me only as people praises its quietness and all.