[aaggoswami]

1) Excellent review. And great photography. I have add that a few images in the Jetta test were wallpaper worthy. Very nice.

2) This is a pleasant surprise from Mahindra. And at cost which can be almost half that of Fortuner yet with better dynamics. And this vehicle is neither low nor small. Key is width which helps the stability IMO. Good dynamics from a vehicle this large and at such a price point = winner. I was actually speechless for a few moments after going through the review.

3) Can you make a direct comparison with Innova w.r.t. handling, ride and overall performance ? Innova is stable even at 140, can take corners at speeds which sedans are capable of. Is XUV 500 equal to Innova, better than Innova or a notch lower ?
Innova costs 14.1 OTR for us ( which has put us Off ), but this vehicle seems more VFM.

[LastActionHero]

Post deleted by the Team-BHP Support : Please do NOT post one-liners that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the overall quality of this forum.

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[mannubhai]

Originally Posted by manson

Other Points:



• Thanks to BHPian Mannubhai for sharing this. Mahindra appears to be making an effort in streamlining the delivery processes, and giving customers a realistic picture of the waiting period. Click here to view Mannubhai's delivery status in Mahindra's online system.

.

Thanks for the quote Manson..

Awesome reviews and very detailed capture of the finer details .

I feel good to have booked beating the gun

My vehicle is expected soon... Should be back with an ownership review very soon ....

[mxx]

Manson, great review. I accidentally rated it 4 star, i intended to give 5. Sorry about that.
I hope the review for AWD comes soon as Mahindra provides very little info about the AWD.

I believe this was probably the most awaited review on teambhp.

If XUV and Aria is a sign of things to come, then the Indian automotive space(wrt Indian manufacturers) has great times ahead as long as they keep the pace.

[deetjohn]

Superb review manson and team. Thank You. And kudos to M&M for giving a very nice vehicle at a great price.

The stellar pricing has shaken everyone, right from the Verna buyer to the Fortuner. Let me tell you about one instance. My FIL is not a car person and is pretty conservative when it comes to spending money on any vehicle. He is very happy with his WagonR. I showed him a white XUV the other day and told him the price. And his exact words were, "That's a lot of car for that kind of money." I would take that as a compliment for M&M.

That said, I have one major compliant. I still can't digest the front end, eventhough I have been seeing the XUV in person on a daily basis. Like Asterix says about Cleopatra, had the grille been a little lower and the front bumper been eh. a bit normal, the whole vehicle would have been stunning. What was M&M thinking? Is it to avoid an evil eye or s'thin?

PS: There aren't any questions to ask, the problem with T-BHP official reviews these days.

[analyse]

After having driven my Scorpio for 7 years (and being very happy with it inspite of some issues here and there), the XUV gave me the same tinge of anticipation and pride that an Indian company has come up with such a game changer.

I remember the Scorpio I bought had a few changes implemented from the new ones that I had seen when choosing the vehicle - that indicated that Mahindra is very quick to incorporate feedback - so I am hoping that this excellent review will help Mahindra incorporate some of the improvements in the glitches being pointed out.

Given that they are looking at increasing their production to 3000 pm, am hoping that the 8000 backog will be cleared off by January and the bookings will open up very soon.

[magikrider]

I think that since mahindra has offered so many features... even if one or two features stop working due to some electrical failure... it might take some time for you to notice it since you might not use them all regularly in real world

also people keep on doubting about mahindra's reliability in car's electronics... take it this way.. since mahindra is offering so much more compared to the competition, it will still have much more features even if one or two stop working


on a more serious note, certain facts that the SA told me:

1) the suspension is so good because it is designed by Lotus.

2) the side muscular looking wheel arches are made of high grade plastics and is apparently easy and inexpensive to replace incase it needs to be replaced. so the point he was trying to make is it might be easy and inexpensive to maintain as all other mahindra cars.

3) the bookings can re-open even after 15 days... mostly should re-open in 15 days infact. which confirms manson's info.

Originally Posted by manson

Keep in touch with your next door Mahindra dealership. A source has just informed me this morning that Mahindra will resume XUV booking in about 15 odd days, albeit without ay formal press release.

but I was really hoping that an AT would be out soon. I don't mind paying a little extra and even waiting 6 months more for it!

I personally am optimistic about this car. in terms of reliability I think it may go on even after 1-1.5 lac kms as mechanically mahindra's have a good strong reputation though not as bullet proof as Toyota.

[Sutripta]

Some disjointed thoughts.

600 cr for dev of completely new car. Including GB and AWD system. Only engine carried over. And that too worked on. And then look at the selling price. This is frugal engineering. Which is different from making cheap products. (Now one really wonders at Thars pricing).

Will we get a Scorpio with the reworked engine?

Not one technical discussion on the GB, and the AWD system?

Wonder whether there is a market research firm telling car companies that Indians (who carry two kitchen sinks) don't need boot space. (Vista, new Swift, XUV, Xylo etc).

Regards
Sutripta

[Tushargohil]

Originally Posted by Silhouette

Thats vinyl sticker to protect chrome...

Thanks for the super cool review and specially awesome pics !

This is first things i am going to change Check out Mahindra XUV500 Accessory for Illuminated scff plates...

[Fauji]

Thanks for an excellent review. I saw in today's TOI an Advt from M&M saying that thay have defferred bookings for now as they are sold out for next four months.

[puchoo]

informative and insightful review , loved reading it through - in one go if i might add. I agree a 100% with respect to the build of the armrest and the total quality feel failure with it.

Thanks for putting it together for us!

[SunilM]

I believe that given some time and exposure, Indian auto manufacturers will soon be up there with the other international companies with 50 or even 100 years of experience. The XUV5OO and Aira prove that point. Hopefully newer vehicles will be even better. The Ssangyong and Jaguar LR ownerships for Mahindra and Tata respectively should give them the much needed edge - hope they have it in them to utilize the expertise to the fullest.

Great review Manson, rated it a well deserved 5 star!

[sridhar-v]

Let us hope & pray they come out with a proper AT model quickly.

As MANSON currectly pointed out there is a huge market @ 13-17 L for AT SUV/MUV that is not tapped currently.

[noopster]

There are some cars that hit the market and you say to yourself, I am going to buy that car.

In my case it's been: the Accent (now sold), the Swift and the Vento. NOTHING in the MUV/SUV space appealed to me.

Till now. The XUV5OO is *it*

There is one small problem. Well it's a big problem.

No space in the garage. Not a square inch. And this baby occupies a helluva lot of those!

Also: as long as Mahindra doesn't sharpen its act on a.s.s by setting up dedicated service stations a la the Aria, it's gonna be tough for me- spoiled silly by Hyundai and MAS you see. Jury's still out on the Veedub.

Also all those electronics are awesome on paper, but some firsthand reports that they actually work well and consistently should seal the deal.

I will probably buy this car in a couple of years. Unless something better comes up by then.

And yeah- fab review!

[Hammer & Anvil]

So this last year we rocked a good 40000Km on my new (second) Scorpio VLX. This has now included a 7700Km round trip to Leh from Mumbai, in via Kargil, out via Rohtang last month. Single driven, all done and clear. No breakdown, no squeak.

Mahindra products and service all over the country has been with a smile, without a frowning forehead and prompt. I worked on my agenda for 3 months, and they enabled me to stay on the schedule for 23 days.

So, what does a loyal person like me do, look forward to the their new product. And here comes a XUV500. Day 1- so we pick up the phone and dial Global and speak to my favourite sales executive and get a booking blocked- number 17 of the day at Global, I was told.

Day 2- then work took me to Panvel, all day long I remembered ‘my new car’ and the 50K I would have to send to Global to book/confirm my ride.

Then at 1500Hrs on Day 2 of XUV’s launch things started to come apart. We reached the spanking new Global showroom @Panvel and saw the XUV500 in the slight drizzle… Boy it was impressive. White, large, shiny.

So now this is my background and mood- all upbeat, till the slab sides of the XUV started to resemble the Mitusbishi Outlander as you approach from the 5’o’clock position. We walked around the front and noticed the extremely aggressive ‘frontage’ and like they say in the retail industry- ‘frontage-frontage-frontage.’ All macho and complete bull in a China shop, and then so-Jeep. SO if you were to read the Road and Track magazine from August and September of 2011, and see the images of the Jeep in the ads…. Ugh.

Then the front three-quarters angle- that was the saddest- How badly do I wanna be an Innova.

This vehicle is nothing but a Xylo in disguise. They replaced the engine with the Scorpio engine, tweaked around and gave it more power&torque. The Interiors continue to be so poorly Indian that it seems that engineers who messed up the Aria are now working their charm at M&M or the Chinese have now beat the Indian suppliers to the flimsy materials in use all around. In another article I wrote elsewhere on the Forum, I had bashed around the design team of M&M- complaining of them being old men, grown old in the system, who didn’t know better than the Maruti 800s for their first cars, and probably now driving City’s or Accents with their promotions. My cure was to grant the Department of Design a 5Crore budget, and within a week arm them with everything from Outlanders, Land Rovers, Range Rovers, Fortuners, Pajeros and the like. And then make them drive every alternate day and write copious notes.

So they don’t come and do some silly stuff like use home furnishing material as roof liners. How sad can that get? Curtain prints on the roof liners? Seat leather combinations from the cheap Toyota…. brown and red? I mean, what is lacking in the design team? I will tell you, sadly its exposure. If you find a single designer coming to work on a bike, move him out, coming by train, shift him to- whatever, but not design, you get the idea?

From my last Scorpio, this being my second Scorpio, (there is a 150K review of my first one somewhere on this forum) a Sumo driver from the Call Center that I worked at at that time, purchased my Stereo head unit for 1500 bucks. Why are we using a company like Nippon Audiotronix? I was so saddened that I didn’t even bother checking who made the head unit on the XUV. Enough XUV- I think that’s whats wrong, The team couldn’t get its act together and get a straightforward name- that all agreed on, or someone powerful enough in the team to bulldoze a name. XUV500- how abandoned a child this car is. How leaderless the vehicle can be that no one person could think of a name to christen it. And it they couldn’t think or really wanted this – then why that poor Cheetahs pictures all over the place.

So after all this, we opened the door and looked inside. Front seating- same as Scorpio, Xylo… so whats new? Aha- they cured the middle seat problem by increasing the leg room. They removed the stupid bar from under the front seats. And you know what, they ‘improvements’ team, didn’t even carry enough weight in the organization to increase the length to go with the boxiness and give decent space to passengers. The complete sarcasm and irony of the last row of seats now down to kindergarten kids use- is such a waste of design. They could have had the guts to just do away with the seats.

This car wanted so bad to be an Innova, that if you step out and look around the car, you will find yourself paying precious money for a wanna-be Innova. The Scorpio should continue in its current format and improve on its ‘chinese fit and feel’ parts, cheap wipers and study why their fabric ‘balls up’ and make a better responsive steering.

SO by then, my driver got a quote of 8.5L for my Scorpio and 7L being the loan outstanding. Therefore, 4L more in payment from my pocket and 10L in Loan…. And what do I get a re-badged XUV and wanna-be Innova.

Engine- The test drive came much later as we were not allowed to drive the vehicle, given the crowd, sensible I thought on the second day after launch. Day 5- the response was- “ Sir the car has had a breakdown and we have sent it to the company for repairs.” Expletives would make poor form for this article, but feel free to insert exclamations of choice.

Then this week, the office dialed them in and at 0900Hrs on a nice bright morning, I got in and felt that I had driven this before… it was all too familiar,, all too. What was it? Then the first thing to strike me was- the engine and gearing- My Scorpio. Then at the first roundabout- the handling- what was familiar? What? I had driven this before, or had I? An Army friend, has purchased a Xylo, that I get to drive when I meet him. This XUV- all jazz and Queens’ English- monocoque and expletives. This is a Xylo in disguise. For those who didn’t feel the difference, I will tell you why.

The tires- the rims are a full 1” larger and the tires are full 10% shorter to compensate for the rim size. So outer dia remaining almost the same, cheap- speedo parts remain the same, the unsprung weight of the tires reduces and the shorter profile of the rubber creates the illusion of a sharper handling vehicle. What gross cheating.

The tweaked engine and shorter profile 17” tires are the illusion of ‘phenomenal’ handling. Nonsense.

I was expecting a Fortuner competitor, an Endeavour beater, and a Outlander-out-handler. I expected a world class product. I expected a 16L startup and 18-19L top end. All wrong. Who advised Anand Mahindra to indulge in this kind of shoddy car making, and then come out with a complete ‘Indica launch’ attitude- screaming- ‘aren’t you surprised at my pricing?’ Who cares about pricing. They had a chance to bury everything that rolled from 15 to 30L by coming in around the 18L bracket with a class product. But here we have a Big Bazaar fitting car. I am just so glad the almost 200 people who follow my abundant travels, rare articles and the precious words of advise brow beat me into ‘tell na’ about this car.

Verdict- I am now fearing that they will laterally shift such design engineers to the Korean company they have purchased and mess that one also up. Cant they see the Yeti, with its glove box lid material, fit and finish selling at 19L?

Someone needs to wake up and shake Mahindra around. I am not kidding, I spoke to my head hunter to get me a job with M&M. I want to be a tyrant there for 6 months, and rake the benefits for 6 years.

I drove one of their cars 186000Km before selling and more than recovering my money, and now in 15 months have driven this one 49886Km (on date.) I am amazed at the product. I hate the ‘knees-up ride’ of the Endeavour, the car like feel of the Outlander, the humming tires of the CRV- and forget all that, I love the grunt of the Scorpio. And am scared witless that I will lose it all if these clowns keep their jobs, have no exposure and turn out trash like this.

The Passat has a 6 month wait list, other ‘launched’ cars wont hit the road for 3-4 months… So the market is there, people will buy a good product. Please make one.

4L for more center row seating space?

I will buy. But I will not be insulted.