[nitinralli]

Dont you guys feel that the front plastic cover under the front bumper is too low for comfort. I always had doubt and felt uncomfortable seeing it so low. And last night my fear came alive. While returning from office late at night on NH8, which is known for traffic jams, i always do little bit of off roading in order to beat the traffic, however last night, i went little too far i guess. There was this little elevated bump that i took from left wheel and BANG i hit the lower part of that plastic cover. So i pulled up my XUV and got down to see that the left side of the plastic cover has completely come off and was hanging in air, almost touching the ground. I did take a picture but not able to upload since its more than so called limit.
Finaly i got that replaced today for 2160 bucks. Whats the point of having 200 mm of ground clearance when the approach angel is so low. Infact when i went to service station, there was another chap with same issue.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

...So i pulled up my XUV and got down to see that the left side of the plastic cover has completely come off and was hanging in air, almost touching the ground. I did take a picture but not able to upload since its more than so called limit.

Sad event. Probably this is to ensure that people do not take it far in the name of off-roading. Is it the same for AWD variants as well?

OT:: To bring down the size of the pic, you just need to open the pic in "mspaint" and do a "Save As" in jpg format (to another location / folder).

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Sad event. Probably this is to ensure that people do not take it far in the name of off-roading. Is it the same for AWD variants as well?

OT:: To bring down the size of the pic, you just need to open the pic in "mspaint" and do a "Save As" in jpg format (to another location / folder).

Yes its same with AWD, and yes i think they did it on purpose. Infact i forgot to mention, i was following a Innova with 5-6 people on board and it went smoothly. Thats the reason i tried and failed.

Thanks for the advice on the Pic, i am bad in this. Here it is.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Thanks for the advice on the Pic, i am bad in this. Here it is.

Attachment 1058781

You can also upload the pic directly using our team-BHP app for ios/android. From your phone it will resize the pic automatically.

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

You can also upload the pic directly using our team-BHP app for ios/android. From your phone it will resize the pic automatically.

Can i?? WOW thats great. Thanks for letting me know.

[mdsaif92]

On the w8, can the electrically operated ORVMs be opened/closed manually as well?

[superbhikari]

Originally Posted by mdsaif92

On the w8, can the electrically operated ORVMs be opened/closed manually as well?

Yes you can do it from outside but advisable to operate electrically.

[superbhikari]

Breaking News -
Just saw on Zee Business - M&M to replace fluid hose, power window assembly and left wiper blade of 2011-12 manufactured XUV 5OO.

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by superbhikari

Breaking News -
Just saw on Zee Business - M&M to replace fluid hose, power window assembly and left wiper blade of 2011-12 manufactured XUV 5OO.

And heres the link to check if your XUV is part of this recall. Mine is.

http://www.mahindraxuv500.com/service-action/

[debuda]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Dont you guys feel that the front plastic cover under the front bumper is too low for comfort.

That plastic cover is supposed to protect the engine sump and other engine parts low down in the engine compartment from damage. It also helps to keep the bottom of the engine clean. I too feel that the engine guard in the XUV is rather low.

Specified ground clearance (200 MM) is supposed to be the MINIMUM clearance from any part of the car's bottom. I just measured the clearance of the plastic cover from the ground and found it to be around 160 MM. Considering that this measurement was done with the car completely unladen, this discovery comes to me as a surprise. I need to have this clarified from M&M. I would also like to know whether the specified GC is supposed to be in unladen or fully loaded condition.

In some other SUVs this bottom guard is made of metal and serves a more useful purpose. The XUV bottom guard, being made of plastic, can only protect the engine bottom from getting dirty. Its ability to protect the sump from damage would be very limited.

My XUV's bottom cover has several scratches, as one can see from the picture below. I took this picture recently when the cover was removed during Second Free Service (10,000 KM). Another design flaw is that there are 2 securing bolts towards the front of this plastic cover where the bolt heads are sticking out. In my XUV, one of these bolts got sheared off on two occasions.

Originally Posted by nitinralli

And heres the link to check if your XUV is part of this recall. Mine is.

http://www.mahindraxuv500.com/service-action/

My XUV, being an Oct 2012 model, does not require any of these 3 modifications. However, I got my theft alarm system siren replaced under warranty during the recent 10,000 KM service. I shall post some pics of the siren replacement work soon at my ownership thread.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by debuda

...Specified ground clearance (200 MM) is supposed to be the MINIMUM clearance from any part of the car's bottom. I just measured the clearance of the plastic cover from the ground and found it to be around 160 MM...

Now that brings XUV in the range of Hatch backs / sedans!! If the portion below the engine has only 160 mm GC, then this be better driven sedate especially in bad road conditions. Doesn't help the purpose of the vehicle at all.

Originally Posted by debuda

..In some other SUVs this bottom guard is made of metal and serves a more useful purpose. The XUV bottom guard, being made of plastic, can only protect the engine bottom from getting dirty. Its ability to protect the sump from damage would be very limited.

My XUV's bottom cover has several scratches, as one can see from the picture below....

Now to think loud, can a metal sheet be fabricated based on the plastic ones? That would help add better protection right? Any road side garages with the right tools should be able to do it right? Since the plastic portion is already designed the right way in terms of measurements, that would save considerable efforts and time in fabricating a metal one.

Additional questions:

1. What metal should be used to create a guard?
2. What should be the thickness of the metal plate?
3. Any additional points to be checked while designing this?

[sandeepmdas]

XUV 500 Trivandrum pricelist, post-budget, as of 08-03-13.

W6 ex-showroom:12,22,193 | Insurance B2B: 42,776 | RT: 122,219 | On road: 13,87,188

W8 FWD: 13,82,088 | 47,879 | 138,209 | 15,68,176

W8 AWD: 14,92,544 | 51,405 | 149,254 | 16,93,203

The pre-budget On-road price for the W8 FWD was 15,23,428. I missed the deadline and now stand to lose a whopping (for me) 44,748 rupees.

What's more TVS is not even offering a mat as freebie...

Originally Posted by debuda

Specified ground clearance (200 MM) is supposed to be the MINIMUM clearance from any part of the car's bottom. I just measured the clearance of the plastic cover from the ground and found it to be around 160 MM.

That's indeed shocking. The Punto's GC is 165 IIRC and it employs one of the toughest engine protection guards in India. It has suffered numerous thuds but still going super-strong.

[nitinralli]

Heres the closeup pic of front gaurd. You can see the plastic so close








Now the question is WHY. Ofcourse we can make metal sheet instead of plastic one but still the GC remains so low.

[mkumar79]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

And heres the link to check if your XUV is part of this recall. Mine is.

http://www.mahindraxuv500.com/service-action/

My Jan 2012 model XUV is not part of the recall.

[debuda]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Now that brings XUV in the range of Hatch backs / sedans!! If the portion below the engine has only 160 mm GC, then this be better driven sedate especially in bad road conditions. Doesn't help the purpose of the vehicle at all.

Now to think loud, can a metal sheet be fabricated based on the plastic ones? That would help add better protection right? Any road side garages with the right tools should be able to do it right? Since the plastic portion is already designed the right way in terms of measurements, that would save considerable efforts and time in fabricating a metal one.

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Now the question is WHY. Ofcourse we can make metal sheet instead of plastic one but still the GC remains so low.

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

The Punto's GC is 165 IIRC and it employs one of the toughest engine protection guards in India. It has suffered numerous thuds but still going super-strong.

I think I am beginning to understand M&M's con game regarding Ground Clearance. In all probability, GC is calculated from the lowest solid (read metallic) point of a car, as per Indian regulations. So, apparently, the flimsy plastic engine guard is completely non-existent as far as GC calculations are concerned.

Now you know why this engine guard was not made out of steel!

In response to Swiftnfurious I'd like to say that any sheet metal workshop can easily (and cheaply) fabricate a metal bottom guard for the XUV using the plastic one as template. Off-roaders and rally drivers routinely get such modifications done.

Finally, in all fairness to XUV, I must concede that from my personal experience of driving my XUV on some horribly bad and broken roads I found the GC to be much better than my Swift which has an official GC of 170 mm.