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I somehow tend to agree with @lifebuoy's post! May be the words he used garnered so much attention from the owners, but I guess all of those who responded is safely forgetting the "niggles" thread on XUV. We all know how frustrated the initial set of owners were and how frequent some of them visited the A$$ with brand new vehicles. (the number of vehicles which hit the classified sections also show how quick people wanted to dispose the vehicle after the initial euphoria)

On the other hand, Aria have had a lot of issues too, some of them very serious than XUV. That's exactly where XUV managed to dump Aria.

1. It was priced well during the introduction
2. They were very welcome with acknowledging issues
3. Superb customer service
4. Very easy on warranty replacements
5. No baggage of past "horror" experiences.
6. Continuous improvement / refinement of the product
7. No problems reported on the engine / transmission etc!

All of these worked perfectly well for XUV & people were happy to look beyond the issues. From that perspective, XUV looked far more "liveable" than Aria. The experiences of some Aria owners were very unfortunate with TATA team NOT bothering to step up and live up to the expectations of a 15L product - and this is going to hurt them for a long long time to come!

Personally, I prefer a car with lesser gizmos which work well than a host of features of which some works and some don't! If someone can give a host of features & all of them working as it should be, I would NOT mind paying a bit of premium too!

Edit:: If I have to pick one between Aria / XUV, I will pick a XUV W6 owing to lesser features.

Oh am i in a wrong thread or what :Shockked: Lets not go OT guys.

Coming back to XUV, today i got my XUV tank full after a long long time and noticed that the ride became little better than what it used to be. I know this sounds strange but i did feel the difference when riding with half or less tank full. I generally fill diesel for 1500 bucks as it last my entire week (just to keep a track of fuel bills) and never fill it up completely. But today when i came to know that diesel price would be increased this weekend hence thought of getting it filled to the top. Immediately i felt the difference in ride. It was more planted and took potholes more comfortably.

Can a weight of a tankfull tank result in better ride quality or is it that i am going bonkers :D

Nah, I guess the load was lesser because your wallet became lighter than usual! lol:

Otherwise, I have heard some suspension behave better at higher speeds than low speeds and some with more load and less load. But don't think that many litres can make a change!

I experienced something very similar to what nitinralli did but instead of the fuel load, it was due to less tyre pressure in 3 tyres (lazy me). The bumpiness of ride was surely reduced.

Someone frequenting bad roads could actually try reducing the tyre pressure by 4-5 psi and make the XUV "learn" it using the trip button....

Cheers!

Ar. Naved

Well my XUV is August 2011 mfg. unit and I have driven it 30000 KM. I use all the 'features' on daily basis (except the voice control). Each one of them work as intended and I have never faced any issues with them. Dont know what the fuss is all about.
The new break pads are perfect and there is no sound while applying them.
There may be some loose ends here and there but that does not hamper the overall ownership exp. The support that we get from Mahindras and their dealership is unmatched if I compare it with what Maruti, Hyundai, Toyota, Chevy, Ford provide.
For me its good to stick with a product that sells volumes and may be few niggles, rather than a product that sells 1/10th of it with patchy after sales support.

What about bringing all these features at about 3 Lacs lesser than the Aria's price? Without considering the discounts, the top end XUV still competes with the Aria Prestige which does not have all these features.

The XUV has traction control while the Aria has EPS.

Its not that the Aria has had a very smooth ride till now. Missed the Aria's issues thread? Aleast M&M is far more proactive in solving issues as compared to Tata.

I have a August 2012 manufactured XUV and it has run 10000 kms till now, and there is not even a single issue, touch wood.

Enveee, I understood the lowering the PSI for better ride bit. But, what's the purpose of "make the XUV 'learn' it using the trip button"?

With just 4-5 psi less than the recommended pressure, the TPMS won't really show any warnings. I believe TPMS shows low pressure warning around 20 psi and high-pressure warning around 45psi. As per my understanding, the TPMS re-"learning" is needed when you rotate the tyres.

What is your understanding?

Rohit, excellent thoughts and very good perspective. I fully agree with your balanced view. My XUV has done just 2500Kms, but so far apart from a hard suspension, I really have no complaints.

I am not sure that reducing tyre pressure is a good idea. You may get a softer ride, but will pay the price with a lower FE for sure. The suspension is hard, but when the vehicle is loaded, it gives a better ride. I'm just waiting for some more time before I take up this issue with M&M.

All those , including me, that are complaining of a hard suspension may like to take cognisance of the following quote :
"SUVs are designed for carrying heavier loads than passenger cars. Their suspensions are built to accommodate the heavier weight. That includes heavier springs and tighter shocks. In light load situations the suspension is not working and ride is rougher. An SUV that is loaded a bit will ride better than one with just few passengers." The above quote is from the link http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...3195944AAMTV95

Makes sense to me. It's usually me and my wife that ride, but whenever I've had a full house, the suspension seemed much better. Comments welcome.

Dear swiftnfurious,

Let me give some free advice. :)

Here are the differences between W6 and W8:

Gadgets and Electronics
6 INCH touch screen display color
GPS
DVD player
ESP
Hill hold and descent control
Tiretronics
Power foldable ORVM


Non-Gadgets
Side airbags
Alloys
Leather seats
Telescopic steering


The underlined 3 items are known to have given headaches for some owners.

But,

* With Software version 4.0 and above, most of the infotainment issues are fixed on W8. I'm not very familiar with W6's infotainment system. Was it bug free to start with?
* Tiretronics - I've not had any issues. There were problems in 2011 vehicles. Of late, I've not heard about any problems here. Even if it gets screwed up, so be it. You'll get a warning. What else?
* Power foldable ORVM - I got them replaced under warranty. Wish there was no auto-folding. There is no need to fold every time you park the car in a covered parking space.

Other than these, most of the gadgets and gizmos are common across W6 and W8.

My humble suggestion is that don't go by the perception that W6 has less features so that's better. Pick a variant based on what you need, what you don't need and what can be fitted aftermarket.

Why dont you take up the issue of the suspension with the service centre. I was facing the same issue till around a month back. When the car went for running repairs I mentioned it to the RM that I felt the suspension was a bit hard and bouncy. Wasnt expecting anything would be done on this, but the car I got back has a far better suspension. I even did a 1500km trip to Goa and the suspension is still good.

Maybe some change in the bushes or some sort of lubrication did the trick, but it sure worked.

FundaG

Thanks. I do NOT go by perceptions.:) I think most of these are mentioned on the forum. I know a lot of these have been improved upon and are fine now (biggest advantage of XUV over Aria, if you ask me). But a 100% confidence will be re-instated in the product once I come across 2 or 3 ownership reports with ABSOLUTELY NO issues from day 1, on every front. I believe that's a fair enough deal considering we pay 15L for the car.

I really need peace of mind when I own a car, even a simple pseudo alarm / warning can spoil my day. So I can live with a lesser number of fancy gadgets, but reliability is top priority. :)

FG, I will take it up with the SS at the time of first service. Also you may like to see Debuda's insightful comment on the XUV suspension here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...shedpur-9.html

Uploading an image from my mobile clicked this evening of my XUV enjoying wilderness