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Old 2nd April 2012, 19:49   #2206
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by nitinralli View Post
With Micro Hybrid you mean to say that Start Stop function? If yes, yes that silly feature was present in XUV from day one. I have the first lot hence i know it. Total bakwaas i must say.
What a change in perception! When I test drop the XUV and was considering it, I felt this is a very useful function. If I understand it correct, it will automatically shut down the engine after a few seconds (I am not sure about the exact timing) you shift to neutral. Then once you hit the clutch, it will fire up the engine. Pretty useful while waiting at the traffic signals. Normally while waiting at the traffic signal, you have a confusion whether to kill the engine or not. Micro hybrid take that decision for you

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Old 2nd April 2012, 23:55   #2207
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dockap
From facebook PIC 1 and 2 XUV500 FWD.
PIC 3,4 and 5 from carsales india. PIC 3 new colour brown, PIC 4 and 5 ? W4 base model.
That's me @ Dehradun Great Escape
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Old 3rd April 2012, 00:50   #2208
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

Hey, that so cool. Can you update us on your experience with the xuv during the great escape

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That's me @ Dehradun Great Escape
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Old 3rd April 2012, 10:02   #2209
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

This is a long post, and may sound like a case of "sour grapes" but these are really my feelings about the XUV for now.

I'm one of those people sitting on the fence about the XUV ever since it was launched. Now, looking at the niggles and the number of XUVs on the road, I'm actually glad that I decided to wait this long.

I drive a Palio 1.6 and I, kind of, like the exclusivity of that car. If I meet or see a Palio owner on the road there is always a respect in our eyes for each other and one can be more or less sure that the other person knows about cars.

I've been following the XUV facebook page for a while and, trust me, the kind of people buying the XUV (or thinking about buying it) are not the kind of people you'd want to associate with. People are buying the XUV as if it's a status symbol, not for the joy of driving that the vehicle gives.

I was 100% planning to book the XUV when the next round of bookings open but have decided to wait out even more till this exclusivity and status symbol nonsense dies out. I'd much rather have an intelligent conversation about the driving abilities of the XUV with a like minded owner than a nonsense conversation with someone who thinks it's "kewl" to own the XUV.

Any current XUV owner, please don't take my post the wrong way, you guys aren't the ones I'm talking about. Just because of the fact that you're on tbhp, you're a notch above the rest already

Last edited by sharninder : 3rd April 2012 at 10:04. Reason: typo
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Old 3rd April 2012, 11:10   #2210
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by sharninder View Post
This is a long post, and may sound like a case of "sour grapes" but these are really my feelings about the XUV for now.


Any current XUV owner, please don't take my post the wrong way, you guys aren't the ones I'm talking about. Just because of the fact that you're on tbhp, you're a notch above the rest already

Don't worry Sir - you have full right to post your opinion. However, as far as riding feel & technical aspects: I will be going to HImachal in April twice. First one coming up (a 3-day ride to Mashobra this weekend) & a long 8 day trip to Lahaul-Spiti from 21st - 29th April. I think that will be the first XUV to cover Spiti region, if my plan goes well (its on right track, everything planned as of now). Once done, you can expect LOADS of pictures alongwith some technical report on how the car behaved
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Old 3rd April 2012, 11:13   #2211
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by naveenchhillar View Post
Don't worry Sir - you have full right to post your opinion. However, as far as riding feel & technical aspects: I will be going to HImachal in April twice. First one coming up (a 3-day ride to Mashobra this weekend) & a long 8 day trip to Lahaul-Spiti from 21st - 29th April. I think that will be the first XUV to cover Spiti region, if my plan goes well (its on right track, everything planned as of now). Once done, you can expect LOADS of pictures alongwith some technical report on how the car behaved
Awesome! I'm thinking of a trip to Spiti around that time myself, though nothing planned as yet. I may go in April or maybe sometime in May.
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Old 3rd April 2012, 11:38   #2212
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by sharninder View Post
This is a long post, and may sound like a case of "sour grapes" but these are really my feelings about the XUV for now.

I'm one of those people sitting on the fence about the XUV ever since it was launched. Now, looking at the niggles and the number of XUVs on the road, I'm actually glad that I decided to wait this long.

I drive a Palio 1.6 and I, kind of, like the exclusivity of that car. If I meet or see a Palio owner on the road there is always a respect in our eyes for each other and one can be more or less sure that the other person knows about cars.

I've been following the XUV facebook page for a while and, trust me, the kind of people buying the XUV (or thinking about buying it) are not the kind of people you'd want to associate with. People are buying the XUV as if it's a status symbol, not for the joy of driving that the vehicle gives.

I was 100% planning to book the XUV when the next round of bookings open but have decided to wait out even more till this exclusivity and status symbol nonsense dies out. I'd much rather have an intelligent conversation about the driving abilities of the XUV with a like minded owner than a nonsense conversation with someone who thinks it's "kewl" to own the XUV.

Any current XUV owner, please don't take my post the wrong way, you guys aren't the ones I'm talking about. Just because of the fact that you're on tbhp, you're a notch above the rest already
Sharninder, a well written post! I reflect your option.

I had applied for the last lottery. But I am in two minds about applying for the next one. I am not reconsidering the XUV, neither am I going for another vehicle. With the never-ending niggle stories, I am just not sure that I want to get the XUV right away. In my opinion, another 6 months down, hopefully the majority of the niggles would have been sorted out and I would be willing to jump in at that point of time.
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Old 3rd April 2012, 12:11   #2213
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by SDP View Post
Sharninder, a well written post! I reflect your option.

I had applied for the last lottery. But I am in two minds about applying for the next one. I am not reconsidering the XUV, neither am I going for another vehicle. With the never-ending niggle stories, I am just not sure that I want to get the XUV right away. In my opinion, another 6 months down, hopefully the majority of the niggles would have been sorted out and I would be willing to jump in at that point of time.
Guys, I think your decisions are wise. 6 months down the line, the car should be definitely better. Since prices were hiked twice, there may not be another price hike in the next 6 months or 1 year.

But the challenge is that how long can a Bhpian wait once he has finalized the car, arranged the finances and may be even made plans for the first trip!


It's a head vs heart situation. If I were you, at some point I will say WTH and fill up the booking form.

Btw, I've completed 2400 kms. So far no major problems. In my earlier post I mentioned the mirror while folding used to hit the windows. That's fixed - they replaced the RHS mirror set.
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Old 3rd April 2012, 14:23   #2214
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

Is there any change in the material used on the top of the tissue box which used to reflect badly on the windscreen? Remember that it was one of the highlighted issue / feedback that was given to M&M.
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Old 3rd April 2012, 18:11   #2215
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

Guys, its been a long time since I have updated on my XUV, I have just been extremely busy with work, and was waiting for the car to be sorted out before penning this post.

First the good news, all the niggles is my car are sorted out, the middle bench has been replaced, the left speaker has been replaced, and yes as the workshop last time ended up killing the GPS, they have replaced the silver box. So all in all, all small problems are sorted out.

Coming to the big problem, the punctured main fuel line, M&M was quick to respond to my email quoting the T-BHP post and You Tube videos, and they spent an entire day with the car. The conclusion they arrived was that the accidents occurred due to vandalism, although I still do not agree to this explanation (for the entire story please refer to my previous posts). Needless to say, they went out of their way to rectify this, they changed the fuel pipe FOC both times and to ensure the vandal doesnt get it easy this time, they wrapped the fuel line with the nylon mesh casing (usually found as an encasing on HDMI cables and fat video wires), and then cover the entire thing with plastic lamination, finally taping the entire thing, making it in their view quite difficult for someone to puncture. This again was all expensed by M&M, and as a gesture of goodwill to my inconvenience, they decided to replace my cracked tail lamp (roughly 4k) and detailing the car inside out.

Now comes the sad part, as soon as I took the delivery of my car at 9PM, hardly driving it for a KM, I rammed into a cyclist driving in the middle of the road, leading to a broken headlight cover, scratches on the bumper and bonnet, as a result the very next day I took the car back to the workshop, got the claim cleared (which is in itself an interesting story and I shall write a small write-up on it in a separate thread), I got the car back after a week, and the paint job was shoddy with bubbles and scratches all over the new paint, needless to say, they took the car back again and re-painted, also now painting complementary the right fender, which had a huge scratch mark (from a kid's stone etching ).

So now I have the car back scratch free and niggle free, and driving it again after almost 15 days, it feels all new (and in parts it already is) and I am falling in love with this beast all over again.


So now I have a few out of station trips planned, the car has already clocked 9k, and shall be due for its second service soon.

My experience so far with M&M *** has been a mixed bag. bad in parts, for the sheer number of niggles and time taken on each to rectify, and extremely good on the courtesy and manner in which they conduct themselves and provide solutions.

All in all, as Tachobells puts it, if you can control your heart, you should wait and get a sorted car after 6-12 months, but at the same time the exclusivity of the initial period (heads turning and VIP treatment everywhere you go) and the sheer pleasure of driving this vehicle for all this while is immense.

For me although, I was not planning on a new car it was a simple matter of heart over mind, and I can say hand over heart I do not regret it. One thing is sure as long M&M Customer Care and *** is driven as they are right now, you can be sure that you will not end up with a lemon.
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Old 3rd April 2012, 23:48   #2216
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^^^ My experience with them has been on similar lines. I made a lavish list of 24 jobs to be done at my second service. Not only they did genuine effort to resolve those issues they even went ahead and did what they thought as if it was their own car. For example they replaced my infotainment display just because they thought it was looking scratchy .they changed my mud flaps free of cost without even asking me for a change. I participated in Dehradun Escape and the silencer bushes came off. They replaced it free of cost. They removed the stickers and did a complimentary detailing. They even changed the brake pads again, they were well aware that I got them replaced a month back. When I went to take the delivery the RM spent about 1.5 hours just with me and verified all those points were resolved as per my satisfaction and his too. The most important point that I took home is that the RM concept is actually working very well. The RM does not behave as if he is working for dealer, it looks he is working for me ( the owner ) and is forthcoming and even point out problems / niggles that otherwise would have gone unnoticed by the owner. It feels as if I have left my representative at the dealership to take care of my car !!
I had an issue few days back with one of the tyre developed a budge. I called my RM and he invited me to the workshop and the JK representative was waiting for me. It was already 5 PM. They were not able to inspect the tyre there as most of the staff were already leaving so I was given an address of an outside tyre shop and was told if there is a crack found inside the tyre it would not be covered under warranty. I went to the tyre shop and it was already 6. PM by then. The tyre had a crack and I was disappointed. My RM came to rescue and got the tyre replaced same day. Intact it was 7:30 when I reached JK tyre office to claim my replacement. The warehouse closed at 6 but the JK representative got my tyre issued before hand and handed over the tyre to me.
So all in all I am very pleased by the proactive ness of Mahindra. I know very well that many companies have customer centric policies. But it really satisfying to see all that thought process being implemented fully at the level it matters.
PS: there is version 4.0 out so get it updated once you visit the workshop.
Also to clarify the center console has two parts one is the display and the other is music system. The navigation is embedded in the display and not in the silver box.
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Old 4th April 2012, 00:45   #2217
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by sharninder View Post
This is a long post, and may sound like a case of "sour grapes" but these are really my feelings about the XUV for now.
I expressed similar feelings during the time of last draw, I was just smiling at the jokers posting on XUV 500 FB page. But in a few days, I realized that not all of them are potential buyers, thats just the hype created, most of the people just wanted to write something "kewl!" for the sake of it and there were bunch of them literally begging for it, difficult to understand that bunch, but later I found similar folks / posts on Thar page as well, so I thought its a new trend and didnt bother much about them.
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Old 4th April 2012, 10:16   #2218
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by rohitbagai View Post
So all in all I am very pleased by the proactive ness of Mahindra. I know very well that many companies have customer centric policies. But it really satisfying to see all that thought process being implemented fully at the level it matters.
Thanks for sharing that rohitbagai. It is experiences like these that make or break a relationship. Quite heartening to know that M&M is going that extra mile to keep the customer delighted. Hope this RM concept continues for eternity & the pro-activeness shown by M&M does not fade away as & when the newness of the XUV5OO weans away.
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Old 4th April 2012, 10:19   #2219
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by rohitbagai View Post
^^^
PS: there is version 4.0 out so get it updated once you visit the workshop.
Also to clarify the center console has two parts one is the display and the other is music system. The navigation is embedded in the display and not in the silver box.
Hi Rohit,
Are you sure about the version 4.0. As I went to KONCEPT Noida last weekend & they mentioned that the latest one for W6 is 3.06 & W8 is 3.07 (I guess).

Which one do you have ?
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Old 4th April 2012, 10:36   #2220
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Re: Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

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Originally Posted by rohitbagai View Post
PS: there is version 4.0 out so get it updated once you visit the workshop.
Thanks for that info. Do you know what has changed?

A jump from 3.08 to 4 implies some major changes. In software versioning conventions, this should be some additional features or interface changes than just bug fixes.
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