[rakesh_raja]

A few pixels of the Invictus - during a recent Wayanad trail...

The handling and the ride quality was quite excellent throughout the 1200 kms that we did in the last 6 days of 2012 (Trivandrum-Palakkad-Manjeri-Kalpetta-Nilambur-Palakkad-Kochi-Trivandrum). This was a fully loaded trip with 6 adults, 1 kid and 3-4 bags. It took the ghat roads, the bad patches as well as a couple of off-roads with ease and comfort - and also got a chance to step on the gas real hard in a few good stretches between Kochi and Trichur.

The Invictus got a solid Thumbs up from everyone in the family - right from a 7 yr old to a 70+ yr young member !!!

(PS: the only niggle faced is the very slight veering towards the left, which I am OK to live with until the first service)

[SDP]

As has been reported earlier by Zappo, the infotainment system now has an upgrade that adds a "Help" function to the menu. The help opens a menu of XUV features and there is a video file explaining each feature.

I got my car's infortainment system upgraded over the weekend to the latest version. The touchscreen infotainment system, although quite impressive, does miss a few things. "Attention to detail" is not the phrase that comes to my mind when I think of the system. So somehow I was pretty sure that Mahindras/Nippon would have missed testing for the test-case "When the car is in motion, the help videos should not play".

I tested the new help while driving today and was pleasantly surprised when I got a proper error message "Can not play videos while the car is in motion" !!

Good Job, Mahindras!

[Heavy Horse]

The Lonavala trip finally happened this morning, about a week later than originally scheduled. Anyway the Big Cat was ready to stretch its muscles and what a good ride it was. By and large no complaints at all. Cruise control was great.... worked exactly as promised. Really enjoyed it but did'nt push it beyond 110kmph. The Big Cat hardly worked up a sweat. After a dozen and more years of driving automatics, it's taking a while to get used to the manual gearbox. The lower gears were easy but 5 & 6 needs some getting used to. On the return I Reset the FE and as long as we were on the Expressway it touched 17kmpl. Once you hit the city and particularly Chembur / Sion, phew does it take a toll. By the time I reached home it had dropped to 14.5
The other big disappointment was MMI. Maybe I did't do it right. I plugged in destination as Lonavala and that American babe kept telling me to take a U-turn every 10 metres !! Drove my wife and I up the wall, I tell you . Finally my wife found a speaker icon on the screen and clicked on it to cut the babe off. After that it was nirvana.....
Next long trip after about 10 days will be Mumbai - Pune - Shirdi - Mumbai which should give a better read overall, since it's gonna be around 650 kms.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Heavy Horse

The Lonavala trip finally happened this morning, about a week later than originally scheduled. Anyway the Big Cat was ready to stretch its muscles and what a good ride it was. By and large no complaints at all. Cruise control was great.... worked exactly as promised. Really enjoyed it but did'nt push it beyond 110kmph. The Big Cat hardly worked up a sweat. After a dozen and more years of driving automatics, it's taking a while to get used to the manual gearbox. The lower gears were easy but 5 & 6 needs some getting used to. On the return I Reset the FE and as long as we were on the Expressway it touched 17kmpl. Once you hit the city and particularly Chembur / Sion, phew does it take a toll. By the time I reached home it had dropped to 14.5
The other big disappointment was MMI. Maybe I did't do it right. I plugged in destination as Lonavala and that American babe kept telling me to take a U-turn every 10 metres !! Drove my wife and I up the wall, I tell you . Finally my wife found a speaker icon on the screen and clicked on it to cut the babe off. After that it was nirvana.....
Next long trip after about 10 days will be Mumbai - Pune - Shirdi - Mumbai which should give a better read overall, since it's gonna be around 650 kms.

Glad to read a crisp report!

About the MMI, that's weird. Please check it again in the city.
BTW, you can configure the MMI to hear the announcements in the voice of a Hindi kudi or a Marathi kaka as well. Try it, good fun, if the volume is low.

[swiftnfurious]

Finally got to TD the car.

My Impressions:

Likes:

Features
Peppy engine
SPACIOUS middle row
Comfy front seats
Handling

Dislikes:

Bouncy on uneven roads
Spongy brakes
Middle row under thigh support
Dash color + materials

Suggestions:

A sliding middle row will make a better 3rd row. Keep 3rd row sliding as well for better luggage space.

My friend managed to do a second gear wheel spin! Bad part -- The TD car wheels locked multiple times under hard braking. Felt that I should NOT put my cash on a vehicle like that. Probably testing another car will reveal whether that was a problem with the TD car. Felt it's too bouncy for my taste.

[avimal]

Agree on likes and dislikes. It is bouncy on very uneven / bad road where one has to be in 1st gear. But if you can drive little faster in 2nd gear or above (b/c road is not that bad) then it absorbs it very nicely.

I am not sure of wheel spin and locking as I have not experienced it in my brief ownership of 2 months.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by avimal

...It is bouncy on very uneven / bad road where one has to be in 1st gear. But if you can drive little faster in 2nd gear or above (b/c road is not that bad) then it absorbs it very nicely...

I was on 3rd/4th gear and at 60 kmph or so. The car still was bouncy. And I am not talking about pot hole roads. Tarmac which was uneven. Potholed roads definitely had issues on similar grounds too.

[Enveee]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Finally got to TD the car.

My Impressions:

Likes:

Features
Peppy engine
SPACIOUS middle row
Comfy front seats
Handling

Dislikes:

Bouncy on uneven roads
Spongy brakes
Middle row under thigh support
Dash color + materials

Suggestions:

A sliding middle row will make a better 3rd row. Keep 3rd row sliding as well for better luggage space.

My friend managed to do a second gear wheel spin! Bad part -- The TD car wheels locked multiple times under hard braking. Felt that I should NOT put my cash on a vehicle like that. Probably testing another car will reveal whether that was a problem with the TD car. Felt it's too bouncy for my taste.

Hi

I have owned the XUV for more than an year now. And believe me that no test drive can do it justice....

Agreed, it does have more than its share of niggles and faults but take this car on a long haul drive, believe me you forgive it for all of that and more. Its simply one of the best cruiser SUVs i have driven. Amongst many others, i have driven a Landcruiser more than a 1000kms on amazing highways. Its as good as it. But its even better than this icon, when shown a curve on the road at 150kmph. That's when it's better than the best in the business.

It simply doesn't behave like other SUVs may be owing to the monocoque chassis. More like a sedan.

I drove my XUV directly from the delhi showroom to my home place indore, almost a 1000kms. By the time i reached home i got what those stupid cheetah ads on tv really meant.

Also, the cabin comfort levels are really high which results in the miles passing by in winks. Travelled to Mumbai with family and reached really quick with the kids freshness defying the 600kms travelled.

I m sure you got your hands on a massively abused td vehicle with brakes locking up. And its indeed bouncy on bad roads. Too bad if your place has a lot of those roads. But otherwise just find a good TD vehicle and take it for a long, hard and real fast spin (if the guy allows )

Waiting to hear from you if and when you do it.....


Ar. Naved

[avimal]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

I was on 3rd/4th gear and at 60 kmph or so. The car still was bouncy. And I am not talking about pot hole roads. Tarmac which was uneven. Potholed roads definitely had issues on similar grounds too.

I am sure you had got bad TD car. It is butter smooth on high speed (> 40).
Take one more TD with different car.

My first TD vehicle had high turbo whistle which was very annoying and I almost canceled my booking but I found no such issue in second TD and in my XUV after I bought it. I don't know why dealers can't keep TD cars in good shape. It is just going to harm their sales.

[Heavy Horse]

Originally Posted by Enveee

And its indeed bouncy on bad roads.
Ar. Naved

I agree. That's one thing that's surprising. I think Tictactoe also tried to highlight this, but was misunderstood since he labelled it as "body roll on a straight stretch". Naved, how many kms has your vehicle done? I was attributing it to the fact that my car is brand new (400 kms) and the suspension might be a little stiff, and will settle down with time.

[fundagenie]

Originally Posted by Heavy Horse

I agree. That's one thing that's surprising. I think Tictactoe also tried to highlight this, but was misunderstood since he labelled it as "body roll on a straight stretch". Naved, how many kms has your vehicle done? I was attributing it to the fact that my car is brand new (400 kms) and the suspension might be a little stiff, and will settle down with time.

The suspension is something that will settle down. Initially I also had the issue. Both myself and wife really felt it as a real pain with people and things getting thrown around. But after 5 months, I dont feel the same. Its far far better. Two things could account for this - the suspension settling down with use and myself learning to drive the beast at the right speed / gear depending on the hump or pothole. Still there are times when you fail to see a pothole or gauge its depth and you land with a thud. But this I think would be applicable to any car as such.

FundaG

[Enveee]

Mod Note : Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD! To know how to multi-quote, click here.

Originally Posted by Heavy Horse

I agree. That's one thing that's surprising. I think Tictactoe also tried to highlight this, but was misunderstood since he labelled it as "body roll on a straight stretch". Naved, how many kms has your vehicle done? I was attributing it to the fact that my car is brand new (400 kms) and the suspension might be a little stiff, and will settle down with time.

I have done more than 15000 kms on my XUV. Theres no denying the fact that its bouncy on bad roads. Not the jumpy kind of bouncy. Rather the extremely-over-inflated-tyres kind of bouncy.

I read somewhere on the forum that keeping a stiffer suspension helps better handling at high speed. Its a compromise which i think is well justified....

Regards.

Originally Posted by fundagenie

The suspension is something that will settle down. Initially I also had the issue. Both myself and wife really felt it as a real pain with people and things getting thrown around. But after 5 months, I dont feel the same. Its far far better. Two things could account for this - the suspension settling down with use and myself learning to drive the beast at the right speed / gear depending on the hump or pothole. Still there are times when you fail to see a pothole or gauge its depth and you land with a thud. But this I think would be applicable to any car as such.

FundaG

True...

The suspension does settle down a bit. And you get used to it a bit over a period of time.

I deal with it by speeding up as reported by many others. Not an issue for me at all.

I guess the stiff suspension can be a deal breaker only for people who intend to use it regularly on off road/bad road conditions.

For them theres always the Thar CRDe/AC. Win-win for Mahindra


Rgds...

[ultimatechamp]

These are my opinions after driving the XUV:

1) Sitting is comfortable and surrounding view is very commanding. But the head-rest angle is lousy to say the least and gives a sore neck after traveling for a long distance. It should have been a lot more backwards-tilted than what it is.

2) Power delivery is awesome but not linear

3) Braking is not very predictable as well

4) In a 4500 kms run SUV, the bone-jarring effect of rough,potholed tarmac is very pronounced and a major deal-breaker,atleast for me.

5) Feature list and gizmos are outstanding and would make one-self proud to show, but how long they will last ?

[SDP]

As per the new video help file, the infotainment system shows "Hi customer_name" when powering on and "Bye customer_name" when powering off.

Mine shows "Hi ..." and "Bye ...".

Tried various menu options, but could not figure it out. Any idea, how to input the customer-name?

[Sheel]

Does the W6 have cornering lamps? Confused between W6 & VLX. Running exceeds 4,000kms a month. 75% chauffeur driven.