[fusionbang]

Originally Posted by procrj

On the way back from work today, this happened

Sad to know about the incident Ravinder. But happy to know that the tank needs more force to be impacted, also I was wondering what if you had hit the sunny from back, his bumper would have completely dislodged.

[procrj]

The tank has been steadily munching miles and this weekend I got a chance to do ~730km in a day as a part of the Bangalore Hyderabad mega meet. As usual the tank rumbled along at 110-120 kmph while the mercs, beemers and VAG cars raced away on the relatively empty Bangalore – Hyderabad highway. The tank returned an FE of 14.29 kmpl which I think is pretty decent given the speeds and 100% AC usage.

Found some time to look at the usage stats today and here is a quick summary of my driving distances and FE over the weeks of ownership.


Note: I use free version of Fuelio app to track all automobile spends

Points to note:

• As expected, the average distance covered in the first few weeks of ownership is significantly higher (avg. of 802 km every week in the first 6 weeks) than the recent past even though I have been on quite a few road trips over the last 6-8 weeks (avg of 572 kms every week in last 6 weeks)
• The average FE is also seeing a declining trend. In the first 6 weeks, the avg. FE was 14.47 KMPL where as the FE in the last 6 weeks is 13.85 KMPL. My assumption is that this drop is a function of the avg speeds that the tank has been doing in the recent past (110+ kmph typically as compared to 80-90 kmph in the first weeks)
• The average cost per km (only Fuel cost) works out to be Rs 3.81 which again has increased (from Rs 3.33 in the first 6 weeks to Rs 4.1 in the last 6 weeks) thanks to the increase in Diesel price as well as the decrease in FE
• The average cost per km (including fuel + service + other maintenance like wash, paint protection etc.) is Rs 7.31. This basically means that I spend about Rs 3.5 per km maintaining my car. Over the long run, I expect this cost to come down as I did invest a significant amount in my car upfront at 3M. Without the 3M cost, the Cost per km drops to Rs 5.2, which means I spend Rs 1.36 per km on car maintenance.
• Looking at the Total Cost of Ownership from a different perspective – 26% of my total spends till date after the purchase of the car (excluding 3M) has been on maintaining the car while 74% has been on Fuel. Going forward I expect this cost to go up and I think 35% would be a more realistic maintenance estimate. Would be interesting to know what this ratio is for Maruti or Hyundai cars.

Other Ownership notes:

• Coolant level has dropped by 2 cms from the max level even though I have driven 6k km since the last service
• Engine note has a gruff tone and does not feel very smooth during the daily office commute. Plan to change engine oil this week and move to Shell Rimula R4 or Helix HX5 CH4
• Slight drop in brake response (not sure if I am just imagining it) but there have been a couple of instances while approaching speed breakers where I had to step on the brakes to drop speed
• Battery charging indicator came on for a few seconds during the drive to Kurnool last Sunday. This happened 2 times and both times I had just braked hard to avoid cattle or vehicle driving on the wrong side. Not sure what the problem is & don’t want to raise with MASS for I am not sure what they will ruin trying to repair this issue
• Drive is comfortable and the front seats are the best place to be in. Did not feel a lot of fatigue even after driving for 700+ kms in a day (did take a lot of breaks)
• Really miss a 6th gear. That would transform the tank into a real mile muncher and might even result in better FE with the engine ticking over at 2K RPM
• If you want to cruise in Neutral when doing high speeds and you shift from 5 – N, then the gear display on the dash shows N but do the same from 4-N and the gear display will show 5
• Headlights need to be aligned and need to upgrade to a 90/100 setup. Don’t plan on night driving but when forced to, headlights are just not enough when it comes to highway driving.
• Music system stops for a few seconds when you unbuckle driver seat belt and the engine is still on. Observed this a few times during the last few drives. Can other owners check and confirm if they observe similar behaviour?
• Quality of the roof metal sheet is not great. Even though it is ribbed, it flexes a lot when I clean and every time I drive the car in the sun, I can hear a couple of pop sounds from the roof. Sounds like the air between the roof liner and the metal expanding in the heat and pushign the metal sheet out
• Rear spray does not reach the top of the window and hence rear wipers are not very effective
• Blackened D pillar has a lot of swirls and hence planning to get the same wrapped
• Even after 16K kms, AC is quiet chilling when the thermostat is set a few notches above max cold and I rarely have to move fan speed to 2. ACC would still have been a great creature comfort to have
• Beige centre console is little hard to keep clean. Planning to plasti dip or use rust-oleum to get a darker shade
• Brake dust on silver alloys are an eyesore. Again plan to plasti dip the alloys to gun metal or satin black. And while I am at it, I might as well get myself a black front grill. More inspiration here

On the whole pretty happy with my tank and itching to take it out on a longer run sometime soon.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by procrj

The tank has been steadily munching miles and this weekend I got a chance to do ~730km in a day as a part of the Bangalore Hyderabad mega meet.

Went through that thread, all of the Bang-Hyd TBHPians seemed to have a gala time.

As usual the tank rumbled along at 110-120 kmph while the mercs, beemers and VAG cars raced away on the relatively empty Bangalore – Hyderabad highway. The tank returned an FE of 14.29 kmpl which I think is pretty decent given the speeds and 100% AC usage.

Very good FE there.

The average cost per km (including fuel + service + other maintenance like wash, paint protection etc.) is Rs 7.31. This basically means that I spend about Rs 3.5 per km maintaining my car. Over the long run, I expect this cost to come down as I did invest a significant amount in my car upfront at 3M. Without the 3M cost, the Cost per km drops to Rs 5.2, which means I spend Rs 1.36 per km on car maintenance.

Its good that you are calculating the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), however considering the costs involved in paint protection or other 3M accessories/processes under maintenance, will give a wrong picture of the maintenance costs. Ideally these should be considered under one-time (or one off) expenses and not under routine/regular maintenance.

Coolant level has dropped by 2 cms from the max level even though I have driven 6k km since the last service

Has your car undergone the recall for radiator return hose replacement? In my case even though the recall part has been replaced the level has dropped by 5-6mm over the last 1.5K kms

Engine note has a gruff tone and does not feel very smooth during the daily office commute.

Nothing to worry about that. This is a peculiar behavior of most diesels. Once the engine warms up and reaches the optimum temperature it settles to a decent note.

Plan to change engine oil this week and move to Shell Rimula R4 or Helix HX5 CH4

You can give it a try but I don't think there would be perceptible difference and it could be a waste of money

Slight drop in brake response (not sure if I am just imagining it) but there have been a couple of instances while approaching speed breakers where I had to step on the brakes to drop speed

Did this happen on long drive, after prolonged running, when the brakes would be red hot? Also what was the load in the car? Brakes can behave differently when the car is fully loaded.

Battery charging indicator came on for a few seconds during the drive to Kurnool last Sunday. This happened 2 times and both times I had just braked hard to avoid cattle or vehicle driving on the wrong side. Not sure what the problem is & don’t want to raise with MASS for I am not sure what they will ruin trying to repair this issue

Never came across such a type of issue

Drive is comfortable and the front seats are the best place to be in. Did not feel a lot of fatigue even after driving for 700+ kms in a day (did take a lot of breaks)

, front seats with lumbar support are the best. The other day I sat on the driver's seat in my friend's Duster and did not find it that comfortable

Really miss a 6th gear. That would transform the tank into a real mile muncher and might even result in better FE with the engine ticking over at 2K RPM

So true. Probably Mahindra thought that this car would never be used as a highway cruiser and would be mostly found driven on rural or ghat roads roads, hence they skipped on the 6th gear, neither made the 5th any taller.

Headlights need to be aligned and need to upgrade to a 90/100 setup. Don’t plan on night driving but when forced to, headlights are just not enough when it comes to highway driving.

I don't quite agree with that. I have found the TUV's headlight set-up to be one of the best OEM set-up after that for Vista/Manza duo. The reflector design of the TUV is very good and lights up the road very well. Once I traveled for 4 hours on NH9 (Hyderabad-Pune) highway and found the OEM set-up (headlamps with fog lamps) quite sufficient. Probably you need to get your alignment/leveling to the optimum.

Music system stops for a few seconds when you unbuckle driver seat belt and the engine is still on. Observed this a few times during the last few drives. Can other owners check and confirm if they observe similar behaviour?

I will definitely check this. If the car is moving on 2nd or higher gear and if you unbuckle, the voice messaging system cuts off the music and warns you about buckling yourself. This does not happen if you are on 1st gear, but if this is happening when you are at standstill, then it surely is a bug.

Quality of the roof metal sheet is not great. Even though it is ribbed, it flexes a lot when I clean and every time I drive the car in the sun, I can hear a couple of pop sounds from the roof. Sounds like the air between the roof liner and the metal expanding in the heat and pushign the metal sheet out

Need to keep a watch on this.

Rear spray does not reach the top of the window and hence rear wipers are not very effective

Agreed, this is not the best design. Ideally the spray should have been placed at the top. Since it is spraying from bottom, it has to work against gravity, which is not very effective.

Blackened D pillar has a lot of swirls and hence planning to get the same wrapped

Same observation here, but it is visible only when you have a close look at it. Even from one feet distance you can't make out the marks.

On the whole pretty happy with my tank and itching to take it out on a longer run sometime soon.

Even I am very happy with my tank, it is serving the purpose well for what I had brought it home. Only grievance is that I am not able to take it outstation so frequently as I had expected.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Ideally these should be considered under one-time (or one off) expenses and not under routine/regular maintenance.

Agreed hence looking at the absolute total and also the actual cost of ownership if all the other "non necessary" costs are ignored. BTW I think paint protection is important and it becomes a recurring cost as you need to keep getting it done at regular intervals.

Has your car undergone the recall for radiator return hose replacement? In my case even though the recall part has been replaced the level has dropped by 5-6mm over the last 1.5K kms

Typo - I meant 1-2 mm. I haven't got it done yet as I was worried that they will do a shoddy job and I will have to suffer like Airbus. Plan to get the following fixes over the next weekend:
1. Radiator return hose
2. Seat belt replacement
3. Rear step
4. Front driver window rattle

Nothing to worry about that. This is a peculiar behavior of most diesels. Once the engine warms up and reaches the optimum temperature it settles to a decent note.

My office drive is 30 kms oneway and it doesnt settle even after that. I am guessing that Mahindra Maximile Feo engine oil is a mineral oil and hence typical change cycle should be about 8k kms. But given the increased city driving and stop start conditions, I think a 6.5-7K interval is necessary. How often did you change engine oil in your Indica?

You can give it a try but I don't think there would be perceptible difference and it could be a waste of money

Will try and see what happens. Also the Mahindra engine oil costs ~1900 for 6 liters but the Shell Rimula R4 costs ~1500 for 6 liters. Hence we might actually be paying more for a similar/lower quality oil.

Did this happen on long drive, after prolonged running, when the brakes would be red hot? Also what was the load in the car? Brakes can behave differently when the car is fully loaded.

Yes was after prolonged running and the load was 3 adults + kid. Do understand the point you make

So true. Probably Mahindra thought that this car would never be used as a highway cruiser and would be mostly found driven on rural or ghat roads roads, hence they skipped on the 6th gear, neither made the 5th any taller.

Should correct this and offer a T10 variant with 6 gears, ACC and Cruise control.

I don't quite agree with that. I have found the TUV's headlight set-up to be one of the best OEM set-up

Check the video link below. My issue is that the High beam is just all over the place with the left beam stronger than the right & low beam spread is not very good. While the total power in lumens might be sufficient but still need to direct the same, which is not being done right now. If you look at Mod Ajmat's jetta in front in the low beam section of the video, you can see how good the spread is and the clearly defined boundary of the lights.

https://youtu.be/HtDachL8njQ

this is happening when you are at standstill, then it surely is a bug.

Yep this is at standstill.

Also wanted add that this was the second time I pushed the tank to 2 fuel bars on the return journey from Kurnool and I half expected it to sputter and stall in the middle of the road (fdm issues maybe?) but it did not. But having that constant fear in the back of your head got the better of me and I stopped for fuel after 60-70 kms of driving on 2 bars else I am pretty sure I could have reached home and refueled at my usual place. Pretty confident that my tank has a 780-840 km range when cruising at 110 kmph for extended periods of time with 100% AC on AC eco mode.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by procrj

My office drive is 30 kms oneway and it doesnt settle even after that. I am guessing that Mahindra Maximile Feo engine oil is a mineral oil and hence typical change cycle should be about 8k kms. But given the increased city driving and stop start conditions, I think a 6.5-7K interval is necessary. How often did you change engine oil in your Indica?

Engine should warm-up after first 4-5 kms. So your 30 kms one way drive is long enough for the engine note to settle. If possible try driving other TUVs and check if there is any difference. In my Indica only on two occasions I had changed the engine oil at 5K intervals, else I would stick to the 10K oil change schedule. With my Indica daily office commute would be 60K kms, but now with TUV it has reduced to 40K kms. Even though Maximile Feo engine oil is a mineral oil, the engine uses 6 litres of oil, which is far on the higher side for a 1.5 litre, 3 cylinder engine. Fiat's multijet engine, which is 1.248 litre capacity uses only 3.1 litres engine oil (but guess now they use synthetic) and change interval is also 15K kms. The point I want to make is that the 6 litres mineral oil should last 10K kms without any issues & no need to shorten the change interval.

Check the video link below. My issue is that the High beam is just all over the place with the left beam stronger than the right & low beam spread is not very good. While the total power in lumens might be sufficient but still need to direct the same, which is not being done right now. If you look at Mod Ajmat's jetta in front in the low beam section of the video, you can see how good the spread is and the clearly defined boundary of the lights.

I agree, your high beam is not at all good. It definitely needs alignment. Also were you driving with your fog lamps off? Because on low beams I could see a dark patch right in front of your car.

[procrj]

Over the weekend the dwarf got a small makeover



Those silver alloys were a little hard to keep clean and someone had posted a pic of their tank with black alloys on FB an it looked smashing. I did not have the budget to upgrade alloys and hence decided to plastidip the alloys to a matte black.





Big shout out to Ullas from Flaunt Ur Kuler who painstakingly cleaned the alloys and spent almost 3 hours prepping & spraying the alloys.

Broad outline of process:
1. Wash wheels - done at a car wash nearby
2. Cover calipers and brake drum using canvas & paper cutouts
3. Spray 3 coats of palstidip & leave it for 30 minutes
4. Rotate tires by 180deg and then spray 3 more coats
5. Wait for 30 minutes to dry
6. Ready to roll

Total time taken from start to finish is almost 4 hours

Details:
Cost: 4.8K for all 4 wheels inclusive of everything
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/pKuP6y8Vsr22
Contact Ullas - 97319 43666

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by procrj

Over the weekend the dwarf got a small makeover

The Red Dwarf is looking more rugged now. You can also bring in the fifth tyre (with steel rim) into tyre rotation without compromising much on the looks. Now cleaning the alloy wheels would be a thing of the past. Just today I spent 1.5 hrs cleaning my Orange Tank, out of which 0.5 hrs were spent only on cleaning the alloys.

Now for the Red Dwarf blackening of the "C" pillar and the roof would complete the makeover. In my opinion this would go very well with the black alloys.

[chetans]

Originally Posted by procrj

Those silver alloys were a little hard to keep clean and someone had posted a pic of their tank with black alloys on FB an it looked smashing. I did not have the budget to upgrade alloys and hence decided to plastidip the alloys to a matte black.

Excellent work!
Planning to get it done on my orange tank.
Any pointers for pune will be helpfull.

[COLOR=#FFFFFF]Save[/COLOR]

[ezee]

Awesome looking. Get Your roof blackened with C pillar, tank will become sexy.

This plasti dip can also be applied over dull black plastic parts like cladding as well.

[procrj]

Shortlist

I am not an audiophile but I do like my music to sound almost right if not absolutely perfect and hence speaker upgrades have been on my to do list for a while now. A lot of folks had posted about speaker updates on the official review thread but Ezee's thread on TUVclub was what got me thinking about DIY over the last few weeks. Started searching for the right set of Coaxial speakers as I was not really keen on shelling out a lot on component speakers, which might now be utilized to its full potential by the stock HU. I had very basic JBL coaxial in my WagonR which even after 6 years were doing a very neat job.

Went through a whole lot of videos, reviews and also spoke to a couple of custom ICE installers who are currently doing mid to high end ICE installs in bangalore and most were of the opinion that a front coaxial + rear component setup would be the best bet with the stock HU. Even in this config, the total cost of the setup was coming up to ~ 18-19K, which was almost double the budget that I set for this upgrade. Decided not to go with a custom setup and hence reached out to Ezee for feedback on Kicker CS 674 that he had installed on his tank. For the price of 7.5K, these seemed like real VFM and hence after a couple of message exchanges with Ezee, decided to check out Kicker speakers. The reviews on youtube were pretty clear on what these basic set of speakers can do and hence I was quiet convinced that these would be a perfect fit for my daily use. Quick search on amazon & I realized that a pair of Kicker CS 674's today cost 9.5K


Installation

Decided to try my luck with a couple of relatively well known car mod shops in bangalore and I got lucky when Car Shringar - Mission road confirmed that he has 2 pairs of CS 674's coaxial speakers which he can let me have for 10K. Tried haggling a little but he was adamant on the price and hence decided to go and pick up the same. Now that I was picking up the speakers from an auto shop, I checked regarding install and he said they can complete the same within an hour.

Drove to Car Shringar and checked out the speakers. These were imported in May 2016 by Sai Supertek Global, who is the only authorized distributor for Kicker in India. Hence gave the go ahead to install the same and the complete exercise was completed in about 45 minutes. To say that these guys are pros is an understatement for they really do know what they are doing. I would have liked them to be a little more gentle when handling the door panels but I dont think they know what that means. They pulled out the connectors from the old speakers and wired the same to the new speakers. After the install, I realized that Kicker has provided heat shrink tubes which could have been used to connect the wires instead of good old insulation tape. I did ensure that the insulation tape was generous and did not leave anything exposed. On the whole I would rate the experience with Car Shringar a 4/5 and the total cost of the upgrade worked out to be 10.6K (Additonal 600 for a set of 4 spacers which were used instead of the OEM plastic casing which was used to house old speakers)

Experience

Kicker coaxials are totally worth their money and for ~10K INR, they do a very good job of improving your sensory experience. I mostly listen to carnatic classical, traditional rock & metal that I grew up listening to (flyod, metallica etc.), Indian fusion (agam, thaikkudam bridge etc.), some jazz/blues and AR Rehman. The stock HU has some preset EQ modes, most of which is nothing great. 'Rock' & 'Retro' were the most used modes in my case on the stock speakers and there was not a lot of difference then between the two. Now after the upgrade, there is quiet a bit of difference - bass & treble have improved and even clarity of vocals are much much better. 'Retro' seems to have become my standard mode for any kind of western music and 'Rock' is my standard preset for carnatic vocals. A few samples which were recorded using the phone audio recorder at different volume levels. Tried to keep everything else the same to try and ensure that the tracks are comparable.

Music: Lets get this party started
Artist: Pink
V1 - EQ setting - Retro, Volume - 10
https://clyp.it/ci2mid30#
V1 - EQ setting - Rock, Volume - 10
https://clyp.it/dkhpedj5

Music: Memory Remains
Artist: Metallica
V1 - EQ setting - Retro, Volume - 18
https://clyp.it/n3i2tbls
V2 - EQ setting - Rock, Volume - 18
https://clyp.it/pmq5cpn1

Music: Smooth
Artist: Santana (Ft. Rob Thomas)
V1 - EQ setting - Retro, Volume - 12
https://clyp.it/vyihpzmf
V2 - EQ setting - Rock, Volume - 12
https://clyp.it/lutnvmip

Music: Paddy McCarthy
Artist: The Corrs
V1 - EQ setting - Retro, Volume - 15
https://clyp.it/v2wsl120
V2 - EQ setting - Rock, Volume - 15
https://clyp.it/mhckx4pr

Next set of mods/upgrades that I am considering:

1. Headlights - upgrade to 90/100 Philips with relay
2. Front grill - plastidip or vinyl wrap
3. LED Fog lamps - have been thinking about this and found a few on Aliexpress that look good

[procrj]

Lights Upgraded to 90/100 Philips with Philips relay

Last week I upgraded the headlights to H4 Philips 90/100 with Philips relay. Had been using the same combination on my WagonR as well and worked very well. Here is a small video of how the low beams look.

https://youtu.be/fKhNG7Z_pa8

What I had observed during various drives is that the beam intensity and spread in low beam was more on the left headlight as compared to the right. Decided to check this and here is a snapshot of various lights after an attempt to level the same.

Note: Its easy to change the main headlamps as there is absolutely no obstruction and its a very clean process. Also the headlamp assembly has 2 nuts which can be used to level high and low beams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9sQFA5BybY

Fog lamps - not much to say when it comes to a cutoff. Thinking of upgrading the same to LEDs but its hard to find square fog lamps


Low beam - Can see that the intensity is much higher in the left beam when compared to the right. Not a bulb problem as I swapped bulbs and its still the same. Could it be a voltage issue as the intensity & spread in high beam seems to be similar for both lights. Not sure what the issue is.


Fog lamps + Low beam - concentration is center & left of center and not much on right. This becomes a problem when taking a curve.


High beam - After a lot of trial, I managed to level both beams and right now its all concentrated in the center, which I think is the right thing. Increased distance will ensure that focus is on the road and not all over the place.


************************************************** ************************************************** ****************

Had been awhile since I cleaned the car and hence decided to apply some elbow grease and spiff up the tank for the festival. Spent 3 1/2 hours cleaning the car inside out and here is how it looks



Looks like the 3M paint protection wax & polish layer has not been exposed to the sun/rains due to the coat of Optimum opti seal over it. My typical process:
1. Rinse off all the dust and dirt with a bucket of water
2. Wash and wipe down with Optimum no rinse
3. 1-2 coats of Optimum opti seal applied using an applicator pad. Its a wipe on walk away nano coating and it seems to be working very well for the tank
4. Usually wipe down interior plastics with a dilute solution of ONR and then use 3M dashboard dresser

First time cleaning the plasti dipped alloys and hence was extra careful. After a wash & wipe, decided to try the dashboard dresser on them as Ullas from Flaunt ur Kuler had mentioned that you can use vinyl & plastic dressers on plasti dip. 3M dashboard dresser gave the alloys a wet look.


Some more pics

[fusionbang]

Much required update on the dwarf Ravinder And after the wash the tank looks as good as new.

Originally Posted by procrj

[b]Can see that the intensity is much higher in the left beam when compared to the right. Not a bulb problem as I swapped bulbs and its still the same. Could it be a voltage issue as the intensity & spread in high beam seems to be similar for both lights. Not sure what the issue is.

This is how it is designed, so that the right side beam is not projected on to oncoming vehicles. Even in my Xuv, the left beam has more intensity and throw compared to right one, I got to know this when I checked in the service center. So this should not be an issue, get it checked at the service center once for the alignment.

[procrj]

The dwarf has been sitting quiet in the parking for the last few weeks as I have stopped driving to work. On the spur of the moment, decided to visit the lesser known Hoysala temples on Saturday and ended up having a super time both on the road and off it.

Drove 520+ kms and the tank was just singing along. There were times when I was surprised to see the speedo at 120 kmph as the new speakers seem to be working fine at masking noise - volume level remains the same. It could also be because of the Helix HX5 which is keeping the engine ticking over without a hicup. All in all the tank is running super smooth and I was more than happy to drive all day & some parts of the night yesterday.

Some pics from the drive. Detailed Tlog posted here

Parking lot - Arkere temple


Tank with Doddagaddavali temple in the background


Tank at Ishvara temple, Arsikere


With 19.7K Km on the Odo, I plan to get 3rd service done on Christmas eve. I have been having an interesting discussion with the M&M service lead for India Garage-Bangalore. Will post the details of the same once I have a reply from him to the latest mail that I sent.

[procrj]

11 Months - 20K Kms on the Odo

It has been 11 months of relatively peaceful ownership and the Odo stands at just over 20K kms. The dwarf has been cruising along just fine and has not had any major problems apart from the alternator failure (for which I blame India Garage and not M&M). 3rd service is due and I shall be visiting MASS this weekend to get the car serviced. Apart from seatbelt replacement, nothing else needs to be really fixed and hence I am hoping for a relatively quick service.

I was going over the points I had made when I started this ownership thread and here is how I would summarize the car if someone asks me for my opinion:

Should you buy the car?

• 10L budget and you need a new car that performs well in city driving and some sedate highway driving. Sedate being the operative word when it comes to highway drives.
• You need space for 4- 5 adults onboard on most of your drives and willing to live with an FE of 14-15 kmpl
• Don’t mind the size & weight of the car
  • Harder to drive through narrow lanes and squeeze through B2B traffic. Needs a lot of patience to drive
  • Steering is also a little heavy in city driving, especially while parking
• Don’t mind the slightly bouncy ride and SUVish body roll when taking corners
• Bad roads are part of your daily/weekly drive plan - the car just soaks up all the broken patches, stone/gravel strewn mud lanes
• Don’t mind the iffy service and spare parts availability

If the answer is Yes to 3/4 of the above and the top 3 are a firm Yes, then this is the car to own. Having said that I should reiterate that this is not a real SUV in the traditional sense (Old endeavor, Pajero etc.) of the word and hence this falls right is the pseudo SUV/CUV category.

The plastics and interiors are holding together well and I haven’t heard a rattle or squeak from any parts inside the car. Parts of the dashboard and center console with piano black finish have a lot of minor scratches but nothing much I can do about it. Might just cover these with black vinyl.

Smaller but still significant points:

• Lumbar support – really good to have as it provides a lot of comfort during the 8-10 hour drives. Big big plus is that the passenger also gets the same
• Turn radius – on paper its 5.3 M but I have made sharp U turns on an incline which a duster & S cross were unable to without backing up
• Lots of space in the foot well – I wear size 10/11 footwear and even then there is enough space for me to comfortably rest my feet. Would have loved to have a dead pedal but even without it, it’s not uncomfortable
• NVH – apart from the vibrating gear level, you don’t see/hear much in the cabin when you have some light music turned on. I very rarely cross 3000 RPM and it’s only then that the wind + engine noise seeps into the cabin.
• Moderately light clutch – quiet easy to use and does not strain your feet. Added advantage is the oodles of torque which reduces the amount of gear shifting required in city speeds
• Steering reach – I push back the driver seat completely and have set the height adjustment to the max height. Even then the steering is quiet easy to reach and doesn’t strain your hands
• ESS + Auto door lock – doors locks do not open when the engine switches off when ESS is on. I rarely use ESS and when I do, I am very happy that the doors don’t unlock.
• Reverse parking sensors – do their job well and helps a lot when it comes to parallel parking in tight spots. Only once have I backed up onto a stone/obstruction but that was when the stone and even then the rear foot plate took the impact
• Tyres + Ground Clearance – The Apollo Apterras do make quite a bit of noise when driving on cement roads or roads with old/worn out surface but the grip when wet and ride quality is very good. GC is more than enough to tackle Bangalore’s potholes and muddy ruts. The under body protection + tall sidewalls + ladder frame soak up bad roads when you are at decent speeds and you only feel the bounce when you are driving over bad patches at 20 kmph.
• Paint quality – on metal panels is quiet good and 3M paint protection + 45 days Opti seal top-up is working well to keep the car looking good and minimizing the small nicks that tend to show up
• Wipers – Front OEM wipers + spray do a good job of keeping the front windshield clean and having driven a lot in the monsoon, I must say that I am more than happy with them. Planning to replace them with Bosch Eco conventional wipers which I have ordered from Flipkart

If I were a product manager at M&M, here is what I would do to make TUV a better car:

• Fix niggles - resonator/modulator, coolant drop, FDM issues etc.
• 6th gear and cruise control - would make this a real highway mile muncher and with the engine ticking over at 2K RPM at 100/110 kmph, FE might increase
• Fix the rear suspension to reduce wheel spin issues - and while you are at it, might as well throw in a limited slip differential as an optional/on order variant: D
• Better set of speakers (something like the Kickers that I installed, which again does not cost much at all – about $100 for 4 coaxial and it sounds good!) and a HU with sat nav included
• Maybe get the 1.99L engine - engine bay has enough space to accommodate the same and this could make the TUV a very versatile CUV

Wait a minute, what if all of the above is actually included in the TUV 500 or whatever it is that M&M is going to call the Xylo replacement.

There was a time when I was questioning myself on the purchase (especially when it was raining FDM & AMT issues) but right now I must say that I am very happy with the tank and If I was in the market right now purchasing a car in the 10L budget, I would in all probability purchase the 100 BHP TUV.

Over the last few months, my city driving has drastically reduced as I am using public transportation to get to work and hence the TUV will only be used for occasionally weekend drives in the city and for the most part will be used on long distance drives.

Hopping to add another 2-3K on the odo before the 1st anniversary. A few pics of the car from various drives.

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[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by procrj

11 Months - 20K Kms on the Odo

Vow, let me be the first one to congratulate you on reaching that milestone

Thanks for sharing the detailed report. Now heading to office. Will go through it in details once I reach office.