[kARTIK IYER]

Originally Posted by Zappo

Mahindra started it's story well and of course started succeeding as well. However, their dealers try all kinds of stunts to get them down.

Hi,

Its true that M&M is not efficient enough to crack its dealers. It not only does not have a customer service or experience strategy but lacks basic accountability and control over lack of professionalism of dealership or staff. I suggest you write to Mr Pavan Goenka, trust you would get some response. I continue believe a good make needs a good team to enhance experience.

Mod Note : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Thanks!

[scopriobharath]

Originally Posted by Zappo

They say most cars are made by their dealers. Probably it is true to a good extent. We have seen how competent cars were killed either by their dealers alone or the company and dealers together through their bad responses towards customers and their queries and issues. Skoda bore the brunt, so did Fiat.

Please post this link / content in Twitter to Anand Mahindra. I am sure you would get a brand new Rexton at your door step for Test drive. I was just considering Mahindra as my next vehicle upgrade, but incidents like this are not able to anchor the faith like the Japanese companies.

I totally agree that this should not be the approach, but unfortnately in India, nothing works without a top down escalation, however small the issue is.

[TaureanBull]

Originally Posted by Vandal

TaureanBull, thank you as well sir.

Some clarifications -

1) The camera display that can be installed (as an extra) is different from infotainment display?
2) If I get W6 and camera installed, infotainment system display is used for display of the rear camera feed? So I needn't buy another display, right?
3) If I get the W6 (which I am trying hard to), then will the GPS be integrated into the infotainment system?

On a different note, spoke to 2 XUV owners, they own a W6 and W8. W6 clocked 6k kms, W8 clocked 40k kms.
W6 person says service cost is about 10k every 5-10k kms, which is costlier than say a VW Vento.
W8 guy says amazingly low service cost, 20k totally, for last 40k kms, avg cost 3-5k per service.

Not sure who to believe. I would be clocking anywhere between 1500~2200 kms per month, maybe 3-4k kms. pm for the 1st couple of months so would like to know about this aspect. Any comments?

1. Yes the camera display need to be separate. Camera can be integrated only in W8.

2. Wrong. For W4 and W6 you need a separate display.

3. No. I dont really understand what you meant. GPS comes with display. W6 does not have GPS. How you plan to install the GPS device which does not have display is not understood.

4. AFAIK only additional integration in infotainment system can be rear camera and that too in W8 which in my opinion should have been factory fitted and supplied as standard accessory in W8.

5. I can not comment on the service aspect as I am yet to get my first servicing done. However, the cost of 3-5k is what I am expecting as per the other feedbacks on the forum. You may contact other users who have gone through several services.

[kARTIK IYER]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

I totally agree that this should not be the approach, but unfortnately in India, nothing works without a top down escalation, however small the issue is.

I would strongly recommend Mahindra from a overall vehicle perspective. I have owned 2 scorpio's and now a XUV. The experience has been good. There would be poor and good experiences with all brands. This may not mean that the build quality is bad. In my opinion most of the issues are attributed to staff and dealer's servive orientation. I have read numerous issues faced by people for German or Japanese brands in India.

[vinucv]

Originally Posted by Vandal

On a different note, spoke to 2 XUV owners, they own a W6 and W8. W6 clocked 6k kms, W8 clocked 40k kms.
W6 person says service cost is about 10k every 5-10k kms, which is costlier than say a VW Vento.
W8 guy says amazingly low service cost, 20k totally, for last 40k kms, avg cost 3-5k per service.

Not sure who to believe. I would be clocking anywhere between 1500~2200 kms per month, maybe 3-4k kms. pm for the 1st couple of months so would like to know about this aspect. Any comments?

I had done 3 services on my W8 and here is the cost

1st service @ 4641 KMs - Rs 2807
Follow up service @ 6754 KMs- Rs Nil
2nd service @ 9943 KMs - Rs 1331

I had used pickup and drop facility in all instances and as you all know, it comes free of charge

Hope this helps

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Please post this link / content in Twitter to Anand Mahindra. I am sure you would get a brand new Rexton at your door step for Test drive. I was just considering Mahindra as my next vehicle upgrade, but incidents like this are not able to anchor the faith like the Japanese companies.

I totally agree that this should not be the approach, but unfortnately in India, nothing works without a top down escalation, however small the issue is.

You know what? I know this route well. And a couple of them more. I have used them to effect when I needed to. But thats when I really needed to. Here I have absolutely nothing to gain. If M&M is so silly that they can't understand their own good why should I really chase them? I am getting them good business in these lean periods... promising to pick up 2 vehicles in a swoop and they are not even willing to send me a quote! They have shown the same behaviour last time as well. If they are so lazy as to not even being able to revert back on a solid lead I don't think they deserve my effort to give them my good business. Isn't it?

As my friend was telling me yesterday, Deb, Toyota is just as good. lets go and close that as they are willing to come more than half way to meet us.

Originally Posted by kARTIK IYER

There would be poor and good experiences with all brands. This may not mean that the build quality is bad... I have read numerous issues faced by people for German or Japanese brands in India.

Absolutely right. And by no means will I ever say the quality has anything to do with it. If anything I am super impressed that for a Mahindra that is now 2 years old (almost) and has run close to 30k on the clock my car remains just as silent as it was on day1, does not creak or screetch and also has remained relatively glitch free (remember, mine is a W8 and people tried to frightened me out of my skin in the initial days about all those electricals and M&M as a combo). So... no ways will I say the quality is bad even by a long shot.

It's the attitude of being the invincibles that kills the best of them. When the XUV was launched M&M was extremely humble. People loved it. I lapped it up. And used that so many times as an illustration for what a good organization has gotta be. I followed up my purchase with multiple iterations for so many of my colleagues. Look at it now since last 1 year or so! They are almost trying to play catch up with the more infamous of their colleagues at places which are swatting flies nowadays. Probably, they envy those guys who get to kill their time the whole day... Why work, really?!!

[carvoyeur]

Folks,

Here is an ask for help/suggestions.

Context:After a lot of wait, I have decided to take the plunge and buy an XUV 500 W8 FWD (it means no savings for 3 years but what do I want to save for any way)

Important to note: This is my first car. Our family owns a 10 year old Santro and intends to keep it for a while. I am taking this on a 3 year company lease which includes full maintenance and insurance during the lease period.

I need your help in deciding three things:

-The color of the exterior - as much a personal choice it is, I still can not make up my mind. I am confused between arctic blue, tuscan red and volcano black. Any positives/negatives/opinions are welcome.
Does color of interior depend on exteriors or I can choose any of the two available? Is there noticeable difference in heating up of the car because of the color? Is some colour extremely difficult to maintain?

-Accessories I should get pre-fitted before taking the delivery, including
- Are there any good brands for side steps
- Is it possible/has anyone upgraded the speaker system in the XUV
- Any other accessories which make a difference in look & experience

- Like the old days, does a diesel engine (read XUV's engine) still require a minimum distance to be travelled per month - I ask because I am in a job with frequent travel and I will get to drive the car only on weekends

Any other quick tips before buying are also welcome. I need to decide the colour by Monday and will place the order the same week.

Many Thanks,
Carvoyeur

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by carvoyeur

...I need your help in deciding three things:

-The color of the exterior - as much a personal choice it is, I still can not make up my mind. I am confused between arctic blue, tuscan red and volcano black. Any positives/negatives/opinions are welcome....Is some colour extremely difficult to maintain?

Out of this, my preference is

1. Black
2. Red
3. Arctic Blue.

Hard colors will be slightly tougher to maintain, but a waxing every 6 months will take care of it (in case of open parking) and 1 year (for covered parking).

Originally Posted by carvoyeur

...I need your help in deciding three things:...

Does color of interior depend on exteriors or I can choose any of the two available? Is there noticeable difference in heating up of the car because of the color?...

You can NOT have a choice. Mahindra lists what is the interior color for each exterior color. Black will be slightly hotter than the rest; but the A/C is quite efficient from what I read.

Originally Posted by carvoyeur

...-Accessories I should get pre-fitted before taking the delivery, including
- Are there any good brands for side steps...

Read that side steps are not really required and will bring down the usage GC of the XUV.

Originally Posted by carvoyeur

...- Is it possible/has anyone upgraded the speaker system in the XUV..

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/sound...v500-iced.html

Originally Posted by carvoyeur

...- Like the old days, does a diesel engine (read XUV's engine) still require a minimum distance to be travelled per month - I ask because I am in a job with frequent travel and I will get to drive the car only on weekends...

The diesel / kms travel per year is more from an economics perspective. Modern diesels can easily be grounded for 2 weeks without even be cranked and will still run fine. In case of longer durations, you just need to disconnect to batter to prevent draining; nothing to check from the mechanicals perspective.

[balan]

Originally Posted by kARTIK IYER

I would strongly recommend Mahindra from a overall vehicle perspective. I have owned 2 scorpio's and now a XUV. The experience has been good. There would be poor and good experiences with all brands. This may not mean that the build quality is bad. In my opinion most of the issues are attributed to staff and dealer's servive orientation. I have read numerous issues faced by people for German or Japanese brands in India.

Basically it is the dealer / service center which spoils your experience. With 4 dealers now in Bangalore the pressure on them to sell is more. Not sure how many dealers are there now in Hyderabad where Zappo is facing the purchase arrogance.

One main reason I shifted from MM after 4 years and 1.6 lakh km to Toyota was the pathetic minimum knowledge of problems by the service personnel at Bangalore. Different service centers I used were like this. But the CAI service center in Ooty (not a full fledged service center but a stop gap arrangement to service the boleros running in Ooty) service guys had more knowledge about the vehicle than the bangalore guys as the usually the problem faced by the hill driving vehicles are different to the city driven ones. (I usually drive between hills and plains) But with my Innova never had a service center issue. But the purchase experience at Toyota was real bad. The arrogance of the sales staff just blew me off. And last month at Honda was a totally horrible experience. During the same time frame, buying XUV was real smooth with the sales guys bending over their back to close the deal.
In Bangalore, the Sireesh guys are very willing to get a TD vehicle at the drop of a hint.

PS> After record decline in sales, now Toyota dealers have come in line.

[balan]

Originally Posted by vinucv

I had done 3 services on my W8 and here is the cost

1st service @ 4641 KMs - Rs 2807
Follow up service @ 6754 KMs- Rs Nil
2nd service @ 9943 KMs - Rs 1331

I had used pickup and drop facility in all instances and as you all know, it comes free of charge

Hope this helps

Just curious. Why did you need a followup service?
Old timers with XUV: Any idea how much it costs for the 20K, 40K and 80K service?

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by carvoyeur

Context:After a lot of wait, I have decided to take the plunge and buy an XUV 500 W8 FWD (it means no savings for 3 years but what do I want to save for any way)

Congratulations... You have made a very good choice. One of the most well rounded cars in its class thats a charm to own. And while it may now appear a little steep (and no savings etc.), after a couple of years you won't think so any more. Trust me on that.

You though may need to survive some really indifferent dealers with sab-chalta-hai mentality. But that's an altogether different challenge which is fixable with some proddings from M&M.

Originally Posted by carvoyeur

-The color of the exterior - as much a personal choice it is, I still can not make up my mind. I am confused between arctic blue, tuscan red and volcano black. Any positives/negatives/opinions are welcome.
Does color of interior depend on exteriors or I can choose any of the two available? Is there noticeable difference in heating up of the car because of the color? Is some colour extremely difficult to maintain?

If you ask me then,
* if the only choices are from amongst the ones you have mentioned I will take the black. However, you have to be ready for a maintainance nightmare. If you typically, have a chauffer who keeps mopping the surface with a soft cloth whenever it is parked anywhere you are good. Else, you will drive out in a freshly cleaned car from home and when you stop at the next halt within 30 mins you will see a fine mist spray of dust all over the body.

* My personal likings are the white and the silver colors. Both are easy to maintain in comparison and look extremely good. In fact most big cars look very good and stately in White. If you connect white, big SUVs with neta log then of course silver is another good color to look at.

The interiors aree tied to the external color of the car. The white and the black colored cars get a beige and chocolate colored interiors which I like a lot. Makes the car feel light and airy. All other colors come with a black and chocolate interiors.

Originally Posted by carvoyeur

-Accessories I should get pre-fitted before taking the delivery, including
- Are there any good brands for side steps
- Is it possible/has anyone upgraded the speaker system in the XUV
- Any other accessories which make a difference in look & experience

The W8 hardly needs too many accessories. I have the interior floor mats (the square block printed Original XUV mats), the reverse cam and the XUV door sill lights. Besides these I have a few chrome garnishes at certain places only (not the entire garnish set).

A side step can be considered if you have elderly people at home who will find it tough to climb the height. Otherwise I think the car looks the best without it. You get these steps outside at around 8k to 10 and thats much cheaper than what M&M dealers sell you the same for.

Originally Posted by carvoyeur

- Like the old days, does a diesel engine (read XUV's engine) still require a minimum distance to be travelled per month - I ask because I am in a job with frequent travel and I will get to drive the car only on weekends

I don't think there is any such requirements really. Only thing to remember is that the batteries may loose charge over a period of time if they dont get enough time to recharge themselves.

[carvoyeur]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Out of this, my preference is

Read that side steps are not really required and will bring down the usage GC of the XUV.



https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/sound...v500-iced.html

The diesel / kms travel per year is more from an economics perspective. Modern diesels can easily be grounded for 2 weeks without even be cranked and will still run fine. In case of longer durations, you just need to disconnect to batter to prevent draining; nothing to check from the mechanicals perspective.

Thanks for the link to the ICE thread - that was very helpful. I think i wont keep it idle for more than 3-4 days in a go - in which case from what I understand I will be fine.

Originally Posted by Zappo

Congratulations... You have made a very good choice. One of the most well rounded cars in its class thats a charm to own. And while it may now appear a little steep (and no savings etc.), after a couple of years you won't think so any more. Trust me on that.

You though may need to survive some really indifferent dealers with sab-chalta-hai mentality. But that's an altogether different challenge which is fixable with some proddings from M&M.

If you ask me then,
* if the only choices are from amongst the ones you have mentioned I will take the black. However, you have to be ready for a maintainance nightmare. If you typically, have a chauffer who keeps mopping the surface with a soft cloth whenever it is parked anywhere you are good. Else, you will drive out in a freshly cleaned car from home and when you stop at the next halt within 30 mins you will see a fine mist spray of dust all over the body.

* My personal likings are the white and the silver colors. Both are easy to maintain in comparison and look extremely good. In fact most big cars look very good and stately in White. If you connect white, big SUVs with neta log then of course silver is another good color to look at.

The interiors aree tied to the external color of the car. The white and the black colored cars get a beige and chocolate colored interiors which I like a lot. Makes the car feel light and airy. All other colors come with a black and chocolate interiors.

Thanks Zappo for the prompt reply, your encouragement to go for it and not be worried too much about savings and also your suggestion about the additional colours.

I have not kept silver in my choices because the only car I have ever driven (santro) is silver - the black, red and blue seemed to me like fresh, young colors.

I had not kept white in my choice because of two reasons - one like you mentioned (neta association) and two, Satin white did not appeal to me as much as Diamond white on scorpio. However, I did make a plan to go to the showroom today and take a test drive and have a re-look at the colors.

Dealership I should be ok with because it is all maintenance covered for 3 years, but I will keep your advice in mind ofcourse. Do you drive a white XUV?

Originally Posted by Zappo

The W8 hardly needs too many accessories. I have the interior floor mats (the square block printed Original XUV mats), the reverse cam and the XUV door sill lights. Besides these I have a few chrome garnishes at certain places only (not the entire garnish set).

A side step can be considered if you have elderly people at home who will find it tough to climb the height. Otherwise I think the car looks the best without it. You get these steps outside at around 8k to 10 and thats much cheaper than what M&M dealers sell you the same for.

I do need it for my mom and grandmother as they might find it difficult - I am taking them for a test drive today though

I will be back with more detailed questions on accessories/additional fittings once I am closer to the delivery.

[zoom2_ash]

Last month, I bought XUV 500 W8 in purple color. Decision was not easy after reading all the niggles and issues people have reported and especially after driving trouble free Honda City ZX for 8 years. But, i was always very fond of XUV and listened to my heart over head. I am glad, I took the plunge and bought it. I am loving every bit of it.
Driven it for about 1000 KMs so far and will try to come up with my ownership thread soon.

I want to thank every XUV owner on this forum, their honest feedback really helped me in taking this decision.

[Vandal]

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

1. Yes the camera display need to be separate. Camera can be integrated only in W8.

2. Wrong. For W4 and W6 you need a separate display.

3. No. I dont really understand what you meant. GPS comes with display. W6 does not have GPS. How you plan to install the GPS device which does not have display is not understood.

4. AFAIK only additional integration in infotainment system can be rear camera and that too in W8 which in my opinion should have been factory fitted and supplied as standard accessory in W8.

5. I can not comment on the service aspect as I am yet to get my first servicing done. However, the cost of 3-5k is what I am expecting as per the other feedbacks on the forum. You may contact other users who have gone through several services.

If I may ask, other than a very large display to show what track is playing, what else does the monochrome display of the W6 serve as? Now since camera feed cannot be directed to it, that aspect is practically useless.

I had assumed a GPS unit could be hooked up to the monochrome display somehow, I see I was wrong there. If I may ask, what functionality other than larger size, does the display of the W6 provide over the W4?

[TaureanBull]

Originally Posted by Vandal

If I may ask, other than a very large display to show what track is playing, what else does the monochrome display of the W6 serve as? Now since camera feed cannot be directed to it, that aspect is practically useless.

I had assumed a GPS unit could be hooked up to the monochrome display somehow, I see I was wrong there. If I may ask, what functionality other than larger size, does the display of the W6 provide over the W4?

Firstly the monochrome display of W6 is not touchscreen.

Secondly the following info is displayed:-

1. AM/FM tuner.
2. Audio & Aux inputs.
3. Bluetooth : Phone book and Music streaming.
4. VR details.
5. Veh info : HVAC status, alerts.
6. Rear park assist system.