I have the older gen silver XUV500 W6 (2014 model) purchased in Apr 2014. I somehow always end up getting the 4 year itch with my vehicles. My last car a Hyundai i10 was also sold off between it's 4th and 5th year life with about 44k kms on the ODO. My XUV has been driven even lesser (35k on teh ODO currently) because my i10 for 2-3 years was driven in Delhi where average distance between places is higher vs Bangalore where the XUV has been driven apart from highway trips to Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai.
The car is still troublefree. However, a few things are now getting a bit more pronounced - may be because of my 4 year itch to buy a new set of wheels or probably because the car is now showing its age relative to the current crop of crossovers / SUVs. I'll list down a few and may be some of you can suggest ways to overcome it or suggest options that can fulfill the void.
1.) The very unimpressive infotainment. With so many cars coming with Android Auto, I now seriously miss that on my XUV because I can hardly find a phone mount that doesn't starts to wiggle after a few days and I don't trust any other navigation system other than Google Maps or Waze. I don't mind it being a non-touch (in fact I chose W6 especially because I didn't want the lethargic touch system of W8 and the electronic niggles at that time associated with the W8's), but I really need to find a way around that.
2.) The long travel of the clutch padel. I'm now really leaning towards an automatic due to the insane traffic in Bangalore. The long clutch travel of the XUV along with the notchy gearbox coupled with short gearing causing too many upshifts / downshifts in slow moving traffic, humps and potholes, is sucking out the driving pleasure and the comfort offered by the cabin.
3.) Bumpy ride. The XUV was never a plush rider. However, the tossing around of people in the cabin has increased significantly over time. I recently got the front wheels re-torqued and the first suspension struts tightened and it marginally improved the ride quality over bad roads. Still the side by side rolling of the XUV over bad roads and bottoming out of the suspension over sharper potholes (if you try to drive faster over rough patch to avoid that excessive rolling) is becoming bad. The springs and the struts as examined by the service center is still fine for all 4 wheels but the performance has certainly detoriated or may the areas I have to travel by have become worse in the road condition. I'm contemplating Rogerab installation to see if that improves the excessive sharp rolling of the vehicle side by side on rough patches.
4.) The always returning squeaks in the plastic around doorpads and dashboard. I drive my car carefully and keep it well maintained and I just can bear rattles. So if there is any of that I go to the MASS and get it fixed on priority. However they seemingly can't fix the squeaks. And those squeaks come and go on their own. However for whatever duration they stay they absolutely get on my nerves.
What I still love about the XUV is the amazing handling, low end grunt and pulling power and acres of space on 1st 2 rows. However it was time for me to look for alternatives. I have looked at Hexa XTA and Endeavor 2.2 + 3.2 Titanium. But instead of being straight forward they have made things more complicated.
A.)
TATA HEXA experience -
1.) I can't even call the HEXA Infotainment any improvement from my XUV W6 unit. It's small, laggy and misses Android Auto. Sound is fine but after hours of twekaing to find the sweet spot, the XUV sound output from stock setup vs HEXA on bluetooth was only apart by 10%. I'm no audiophile but I have always listened to Bose system so I have an understanding of a balanced sound.
2.) Test drive vehicle was a 6 seater and the family loved the ride quality on both rows of the HEXA. I felt the side by side was almost non existent but pitching (vertical movement) was marginally more than the XUV but only during rough patches and at really high speeds.
3.) Hated driving dynamics and it may be strange vs. in general what the reviews say. Yes straight line stability is fine but still lane departure at triple didgit speeds is something I can't even imagine on the HEXA. XUV I can do it all day long on a highway. I get the monocoque vs ladder frame disparity but since it's a comparison I'm taking the liberty of stating the experience obvious to me. Too much body roll for my liking even by the standards of a big SUV with 200mm ground clearance. Even the steering was more vague for me vs the XUV. I think most XUV owners suffer from steering and wheel alignment issue (I agree that alignment on XUV is not easy) and hence have this perception of a worse steering input. Unless I satisfy myself in the test drives during alignments, I do not leave and that may be the reason for my experience. I have done that all the way since 2014 when I bought the car.
4.) Arm rest is a joke on HEXA for the driver. So is the front storage. Without a capable ICE and any place to store the phone, except the extremely limited space under the weird shaped armrest it makes the connectivity with technology even worse than my XUV.
5.) Interior quality. I do not know how people have percieved the interiors of HEXA to be more premium vs the XUV? There is scratchy hard plastic almost everywhere, ugly looking panel gaps, and extremly poor quality of faux leather used for the seats. It feels so fragile that even a person with longer nails can damage the faux leather seats. In the poorly maintained test drive vehicle (though I also sat in a new one in the showroom too), the driver seat had the bottom plastic come out resulting in a driver seat that would shake and move on rough patchy roads. Even the family concurred other than a few items here and there on the dashboard, everything else in HEXA seemed like ceaper plastic vs the XUV and not so tighly bolted together.
B.) Ford Endeavor experience -
I understood immediately after driving the Endy why does it sit a segment above the XUV and HEXA. It justifies its premium in every way. The Endy ticked almost all the boxes -
1.) Fantastice Sync3 ICE unit with Android Auto & Apple CarPlay
2.) Amazing ride quality. In fact it was significantly better than the HEXA (both me and the family agreed to this). I didn't get to stretch the legs of the Endy either on 2.2 or 3.2 but till 80 kmph it felt very flat in ride comfort. Even body roll was lesser than HEXA even though it's bigger and rides 225mm above the ground. The body roll in XUV is still the lowest I think but it's very close between XUV and Endy on body roll.
3.) What an auto gearbox and steering ! Shifts were quick, and steering was so precise. I love hydralic units like the one on the XUV. This is one of those rare EPS that pasted a smile on my face
4.) Family didn't like the reduced width of the bench on Endy along with a floor hump vs the XUV's wider bench with absolutely flat floor. It was surprising considering the Endy is significantly wider than XUV. Probabaly the effect of being tossed around on the XUV is a result of the rear bench almost rinding on rear wheel vs the Endy or Duster where you ride between the wheels and hence get a better ride comfort. Family didn't get all those technicalities but felt disappointed with 2nd row of a 35-40+ OTR vehicle.
5.) Isn't it expensive to move from C segment to D segment? I can't satisfy the family and even partially myself that whatever extra the Endy offers over XUV is worth the 20L jump over XUV?
I might take a look at the new XUV getting launched tomorrow but I dread the feeling of sittig in almost the same cabin for a decade if I buy the new XUV. The Mahindra Rexton G4 (Y400) or the XUV700 (whatever they may call it) is also something I wish to see. However, all reviews stating that it's too softly sprung along with that horrible manual mode on AT in Rexton like that on the XUV is such a downer already. The soft sprung vehcile with probably lesser performance than the "Cheetah" is kind of deja-vu with what happened with the earlier gen Rexton as well.
My options on which the rest of the BHPians can weigh in could look like -
1.) I need to take a second look at HEXA. I would really be surprised if it is indeed what I want from my SUV but I'll try not to be biased even after my experience and try to absorb the suggestions.
2.) What modifications I can do with my existing XUV so that I can save the relationship?

I still love so many things on the XUV so may be a few problems sorted out or reduced can potentially increase it's longetivity in my garage.
3.) I should just shup and save for the Endy 3.2 or at least the Endy 2.2, period !