[abirnale]

Saturday we travelled to Sanquelim, our other home. For a change, we started around 10am and took roads taken only once before -



The good thing about this car is, we have last seats always put down making huge space for our luggage. Every damn thing we think about, we carry along with us -



The pandemic time comes with these little fun moments - pull over wherever you feel like and eat your lunch/ snacks!





Driving through the western ghats is bliss - any time of the season. Lovely winding roads with nice trees/ shades all around, beautiful village roads and absolutely zero non-sense of rushing cars/ vehicles that we often see on highways.





We will try to stay here as long as work doesn’t warrant to get back to base… And enjoy the different kind of work from home!

Ciao!

[DieselAddikt]

Thank you for the timely updates on this thread. I was looking for comments/reviews on long term reliability of the XUV and found your thread. It has a lot of information that I wanted. I was thinking about buying a used XUV for my family. Came across a few in olx. Can you let me know the things I should keep in mind while checking them out in person ? And also the expected price I might have to pay for them. Here are a few examples I picked from olx.

https://www.olx.in/item/mahindra-xuv...iid-1634995007

https://www.olx.in/item/mahindra-xuv...iid-1635032150

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by DieselAddikt

Can you let me know the things I should keep in mind while checking them out in person ? And also the expected price I might have to pay for them. Here are a few examples I picked from olx.

Nothing in particular actually - follow all the general rules to validate the car. Things such as history of repairs, service etc. The story will be clearer if you take it to the ASC and check with someone there.

Price - mostly around the IDV on the insurance copy.

[abirnale]

So after 2+ months of the stay in Goa, I am back to Bengaluru. Barring some weekends where we couldn't venture out owing to curfew and restrictions, we enjoyed our time in Goa - the hot + humid weather as well as typical western ghat rains!

Nothing extraordinary to write about other than these pictures to depict our time spent in Goa (in no particular order):



























































The time we spent with my extended family was the best family time we have ever had and that too for so long. Something that was unexpected and thanks to pandemic/ second wave that kept us away from travel and allowed to explore the local villages around. We spotted many birds in our neighbourhood, spent time grilling bbq at home, enjoying the best varieties of mangoes, taking walk and runs almost every morning in our neighbourhood, climbing those hills behind the home and enjoying the "we" time! Every weekend was definitely a fun but so was every day. Away from the crowds, hustle-bustle of the markets, we were living into our own bio-bubble! We got to enjoy the first spell of monsoon in first two weeks of June - something that I always crave for! If given an opportunity, I would love to spend monsoon time there again. The story of our 10 weeks stay in Goa can be summed up in two words - "happily stranded"!

Now back to concrete world and more realties of the life! Ciao until next update.

[abirnale]

The monsoons are here and my son misses the birds he used to sight while we stayed in Goa. So earlier this week, we headed to the nearby lakes and spotted some birds! That was an opportunity to click the car again - so adding few more snaps from namma bengaluru























Now looking forward to a few monsoon drives this season to add some (s)miles

[Dr.AD]

Absolutely fantastic pictures Avinash! Your XUV stories are quite inspirational. Your pictures show how a vehicle should be used to the best of its potential. Lovely stuff. Thanks for sharing.

I noticed that you got rid of some stickers from the front bumper. I am so glad you did that. The car looks so much cleaner from the front now and looks ever better. On that topic, let me congratulate you on how well you have maintained this car as well. For a car that has run more than 1,40,000km, this looks like almost new.

Originally Posted by abirnale

Now looking forward to a few monsoon drives this season to add some (s)miles

I look forward to seeing your pictures from these drives. After having spent two months in lockdown, now we are also looking forward to some monsoon drives. I hope we finally get a chance to shoot the Orange and the Red together this monsoon.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

I noticed that you got rid of some stickers from the front bumper. I am so glad you did that. The car looks so much cleaner from the front now and looks ever better.

Thanks AD. It was your suggestion only - remember the drive we went on to see Robi's M340i

Now just crossing over to 143K Kms, exactly in about 6 years! I hope I can take this closer to 200K mark!

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by abirnale

So after 2+ months of the stay in Goa, I am back to Bengaluru. Barring some weekends where we couldn't venture out owing to curfew and restrictions, we enjoyed our time in Goa - the hot + humid weather as well as typical western ghat rains!

Nothing extraordinary to write about other than these pictures to depict our time spent in Goa (in no particular order):
[

Wow abirnale, fantastic pictures. Mesmerizing. Not only you shoot good pictures, but you also have an eye for good scenes.

I enjoyed these pictures again and again. Felt as if I was present there. Really, when we are alone with calm and beautiful mother nature, it pacifies the mind.

Wish you continued happy times with your Orange Cheetah. You seem to have maintained it in pristine condition.

[abirnale]

Our lake explorations continues - week day mornings to nearby lakes and bird sightings. This is our new routine as we continue to exercise caution and not take any overnight stay trips. It’s been more than 2 years we haven’t taken a trip that involved staying in a hotel.



























Although this is a great fun even when pandemic uncertainty continues, we miss our driving holidays. Hopefully the good times return soon.

By the way, the thought did cross my mind if It’s time to consider the relatively new kid on the block - XUV7OO??? The thing I always wanted to have in orange cheetah is AWD. And this is a chance to do just that. Obviously 185bhp engine and FSD suspension will be icing on the cake! But I guess, it’s still not ready for prime time….!!!

Feel free to comment what you think about this refresh on current car…?

By the way there isn’t any issues on the orange cheetah :-B) It just came back from general checkup in which we detected that sunroof drain pipes have aged and needed to be replaced. So before the water gets blocked and overflows into roof liner, this was timely detection and repair. Thanks to good folks at Chrome Motors again to accommodate such repairs to be done in a routine day’s visit.

Ciao until next update!

[abirnale]

A reader asked to provide more details and hence the update: generally if there is any work involved with dashboard, it takes a minimum of one night work - two days for entire job. But due to proper planning and active support from the MASS (Chrome Motors), this work was done in a day. See the images below - the actual rubber hoses that were replaced. They are fully made with generic rubber. The areas where it takes L turns from the dashboard out into the body for draining out water are pinched due to age and hence the water blocking chance. To replace those two rubber hoses from A pillars, this much dashboard needs to be removed and refitted!





Now yes, this has chances of more rattles but so far all looks fine. Hope it stays like that for longer!

Ciao until next update.

[abirnale]

A planned drive I couldn't make it to - I was able to participate in 25% of it! The travel-log is available here:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...d-driving.html (9 BHPians, 9 Cars and a Weekend of Driving)

Some pictures from the drive:

Two more updates coming up later this week:

• A drive to see Neelkurinji Blooms and a
• Monsoon drive - day drive to Sakhleshpur!

Stay Tuned.

[abirnale]

On Monday 30th August, we decided to drive to Mandalpatti in search of spotting those rare Neelkurinji flowers in full glory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strobilanthes_kunthiana). Knowing the weekend curfew restrictions, we decided to go on a weekday. A nice rainy drive, beautiful weather to accompany, this turned out to be a great trip.

Adding some pictures from the trip:























Here is a quick video of some select few moments from the day:

https://youtu.be/_IHLTkzCxsk

[abirnale]

Last Saturday, An opportunity came up to drive to Sakleshpur with our XUV group - it was another beautiful day drive in the rain. A full day drive for about 600Kms or so with all elements of monsoon drive included was fun - We had rains, we trekked, we drove through great, ok and bad roads. Did some mild off-roading, crossed the river streams and enjoyed the day with friends too!

Let the day be summarised through the pictures:





















And to conclude, the quick video of all the cars crossing the river stream outside River Mist Resort (Search in travelogues - there is a detailed thread by Parag and team on this place!):

https://youtu.be/BqcOSq5U0tg

[abirnale]

As it stands now - the odometer is at 147K kms! While I am hopeful of completing 150K this year and a little more before I really look for a change, the thoughts of changing the car continues to come to mind.

Especially listening to the lot of noise and hype currently in market - would a Red, top end AT AWD Gasoline be all-purpose replacement to continue to perform family duties and some fun drives?



And then in a year or two, have some fast sedan for myself? Every now and then i see myself sitting on the fence! Let's see how far this goes.

[abirnale]

There hasn't been any significant thing happening in past two months or so. The work keeping me busy and just the routine grocery store drives with occasional sunday morning drives for home-made breakfast.

Pictures below:

























And a minor incidence: the right front wheel - brake fluid pipe gave up due to wear and tear. Noticed that in the morning due to spongy feel of brake while starting the car. Immediately checked fluid level, leak under bonnet and figured out the issue. Called our trusted ASC guys at Chrome and they were extremely helpful to replace the hose on-site within an hour. Bled the fluid and filled up new one. Everything perfect - car is doing perfectly fine!



And the Odometer now reads this:



The 6+ years of ownership and such pictures keep coming on my google photos timeline - love the old memories and newer myself



Ciao until next update.