Team-BHP - Mahindra XUV500 : Test Drive & Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand (Post 2619169)

My argument was and is:
If I had 25 lakhs, i would buy a Premium SUV say for example BMW X1
If I have 15 lakhs, I'll buy a premium hatchback or sedan
But If I have 15 lakhs and want all X1 like features, I should be ready for a trade off for somewhere (In this case the niggles)

Point taken.

What I was saying is that we both know the reality. Mahindra or Tata for that matter vehicles have niggles, especially in electricals and not in mechanicals especially when most of the large mechanical parts, i.e. engine and gearbox etc. (to my limited knowledge) are bought or licensed from other developers who have invested quite a lot of time in development of these. Take the case of multijet/quadrajet/DDIS engines. the engine is a good one. the same engine is given in maruti, fiat, tata. but see where reliability of each of these brand stands.

What I was trying to say is let us, as customers, not take this for granted that we will be short-changed in terms of quality just by some embellishments which are of no or little use. And as someone rightly said, if 50 features don't work then what is the point of giving them at a throwaway price.

novice_alto and all prospective XUV owners

I do agree with your point to some extent. If I were putting my hard-earned 10+ lakh money on something, at least I should be satisfied with the product as per my expectations. If I start having doubts in my mind before even buying the product, then I won't be 100% happy with it later on. You will always be wary about the electricals going kaput today or tomorrow, if you have these concerns beforehand.

So I would say that think about this case loudly. Talk to people, and family members who would be part of the final decision. Set things clear before hand, check out other options in your budget, compare and then hit the nail. Please do not follow all hoopla blindly.

If you ask me, personally I don't mind putting my money on the XUV( it is by far M&M's best product) since it ticks most boxes for me and being a Tata owner, the expectations are very well laid out. And thats what hemant.anand mentioned in his post. But that's just me.

EDIT: When I say 'being a Tata owner' does not mean that all Tata vehicles have niggles for sure. I have been driving my Vista without a single issue till date.

I would tend to agree with Novice_alto here.
It is the overall ownership experience which matters to the consumer and not the initial presence of "N" number of features. On an average, a person would not even use half of them and the rest lie unused. But on safety features like ABS / ESP, there should never be any compromise and if they fail when it is a moment of life and death, it cannot be forgiven.
The fuel leakage issue in Nitin's XUV is very serious and is a major fire hazard. Of course there is a possibility of a stone damaging the fuel line, but the manufacturer should have given the fuel lines adequate protection, especially for a vehicle which claims to be an SUV.
Being an XUV owner, I would have preferred a simpler set of features, but ones which will perform flawlessly when required.
Mahindra still needs to go up the learning curve on this one and let's hope that they don't take too much time else the users and prospective buyers will get turned off very quickly.

Regards,
Behemoth

Quote:

Originally Posted by novice_alto (Post 2619190)

Point taken.

What I was trying to say is let us, as customers, not take this for granted that we will be short-changed in terms of quality just by some embellishments which are of no or little use. And as someone rightly said, if 50 features don't work then what is the point of giving them at a throwaway price.

OR else, the best option would be to wait for 3-4 more months & wait for third lot of bookings to open. Till the time of delivery, the most issues would have been sorted out.
That's what I am doing in my case. Will get to know in coming 6 months if this is my next car or not.

If not - then, some other car would be shortlisted for sure as Auto Expo is just around the corner now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious (Post 2614639)

10K sounds too much to me. Infact, in Kerala every car sells on a temp registration from dealer [free of cost if I am not wrong] and owners need to pay taxes only in 14 days time. We can "flaunt" the temp registration for 13 days & let the world know it's a new car; without any issues! :D

Try and hook up to some agents on the temp registration charges and if you found them cheaper, haggle with dealer to match the rates or go with the agent, if I may suggest.

Auto dealers levy 'illegal' charges; High Court summons Transport Commissioner - The Economic Times

My 2 cents.

I went with the W6, cos i felt most features Im paying for in a W8 were either of no use to me or would be those niggles that Im going to encounter. I went with a recipe less niggles. Result W6 has everything that is working and doesnt have anything that I dont regret having paid additionally for.

But yes be it a Rs 1200 kids tricycle or a 16 lac W8, you need to get exactly everything you paid for ,in the condition you expect it to be in, ie working without any niggles.

I cant be riding a car where im doubtful if the hill decent/climb would work when it needs to or the airbag would inflate when it is supposed to. These are features that should to be taken for granted to be working, and any lapse is life threatening and hence unpardonable.

I see that there has been a quite a debate on the reliability of XUV, specially after my sad incident. Well what i have to say on this is (as already said by few members here), why give "N" number of features when they don't work most of the time. I went for W6 only because it had less electronic features. If they had, lets say W4 with even less features than W6, then i would have gone for that for sure. Point is, even i knew that Mahindra is not know for there electrical parts but for there reliable and powerful engines. However, my only concern is, why a new car tank leaked and window glass came loose in a new car? I dont want cruise control, start stop feature, voice command etc, but i want a car that is safe on road with no issues with tank leakage etc.

I really wanna say sorry to other members for raising this issue of tank leakage here. My intention is not to scare you away from this car. Let me tell you this, XUV drives well for an SUV and has a fantastic engine. I have 3 diesel cars in my garage (with an experience of more than 10 years with diesel cars) and trust me when i say this, XUV's diesel engine is one of the quietest diesel engine i have ever heard. Not to forget the power she holds. Boy this car is in a different league when in any gear above 3rd, 4th being the best one.

I just hope that these major issues dont crop up like this and that too when its needed the most, rest all these gimmicks of voice command,start stop etc can be dammed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitinralli (Post 2619477)

Completely agree with you Nitin! There is absolutely no need to apologize for your stand too. Other TBHP members deserve to know the reality and such a leakage issue is a critical problem and can be a major fire hazard. Why it is so scary is that the leaking fuel if ignited (though Diesel is less flammable than petrol), will take less than 60 secs to burn the whole car down and in this time it may not even be possible to get out of the car in time. I feel that you should take this very seriously up with Mahindra directly, so that they don't compromise on such aspects. A product failure like this may require a mass recall to fix the issue (like Toyota is doing on the Etios)

As a fellow XUV owner, I am also very concerned and worried about this safety hazard. Overall inspite of the great package that the XUV offers, I would never compromise on the safety aspects. A Hazard like this is not acceptable in any car, be it a 1.25 Lac Nano or a 12.5 Lac XUV.

Regards,

Behemoth

I went for the W6 for I didn't have the budget for the W8 and felt I could do without the W8 features. Not to say I had the budget for the W6, but went for it as after all the research the XUV felt almost an 'appreciating' asset with a lot more per rupee. But I'll be irked if I had went for the W8 and found the W8 add ons not working or below par.The fuel and glass pane issues - should be looked into by Mahindra - could well be an oddity.Lets face it all new vehicles have one issue or another but nothing that makes you reconsider whether to go for the XUV or not.Reasonable to expect one or two issues here and there.Hope the glass and fuel tank issues are seemingly ominous issues with something very minor causing it.
Nothing to report for an issue with my W6 except for the infotainment clock that doesn't reset. Hoping things stay niggle free.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitinralli (Post 2619477)

Let me tell you this, XUV drives well for an SUV and has a fantastic engine. I have 3 diesel cars in my garage (with an experience of more than 10 years with diesel cars) and trust me when i say this, XUV's diesel engine is one of the quietest diesel engine i have ever heard. Not to forget the power she holds. Boy this car is in a different league when in any gear above 3rd, 4th being the best one.

I just hope that these major issues dont crop up like this and that too when its needed the most, rest all these gimmicks of voice command,start stop etc can be dammed.

I second this thought. Being the owner of an XUV, I can't help but agree with nitinralli on the engine part. Luckily I haven't had much issues with the XUV except for the ICE (which I believe will be rectified through a software upgrade during 1st service).

But hearing the issues here, I am wondering if there is some heavy lethargy on the Mahindra Quality Control department. How can these vehicles that are assembled by robots in their "state-of-the-art" facility be so different in terms of quality? Something like fuel leakage is totally unforgivable. nitinralli, did you talk to the service engineers about this issue? Where they able to give you an explanation?