[GTO]

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

tell me what new have they done?

Well, since you asked, how about starting with their first MONOCOQUE? This gives the market just what it wants; better road manners. Considering that the monocoque forms the base of the car (quite literally so), no small achievement is it? And the monocoque is matched to an extremely well-tuned suspension.

Out of curiosity, which SUV from the price bracket do you think is superior, and why?

Strange that the PR & marketing machinery you speak of never worked for other heavily marketed cars (Fiats, Xylo, Jazz, Logan, A-Star, Kizashi, Yeti, Aria et al).

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

... tell me what new have they done? They have created a slick advertisement and PR machine and nothing else.

I know one company that creates a slick advertisement and PR machine, to relaunch their "all-new" models. They recently reduced the length of a sedan model and the cost of this exercise was approximately the same of the entire development cost of the XUV.

I'd draw a lot of flak if I mention the name of the company, for they have more than 1000 dealers and huuuge fan following.

[Jo-G]

Originally Posted by GTO

Well, since you asked, how about starting with their first MONOCOQUE? This gives the market just what it wants; better road manners. Considering that the monocoque forms the base of the car (quite literally so), no small achievement is it? And the monocoque is matched to an extremely well-tuned suspension.

Out of curiosity, which SUV from the price bracket do you think is superior, and why?

Strange that the PR & marketing machinery you speak of never worked for other heavily marketed cars (Fiats, Xylo, Jazz, Logan, A-Star, Kizashi, Yeti, Aria et al).

You said it. Some people like to play cricket (or any other game for that matter) in the comfort of their homes watching the zoomed actions, and give expert opinions of what should/should not have been done.

I still believe the XUV is a Fortuner Killer big time, and it will surely and steadily eat into the market shares the T-Forts, Endy's and other Softroaders. It may be a step forward with M&M but it is surely a leap for the Indian Automotive industry in the global arena.

[v-drive]

Originally Posted by timetraveller

Ranga, mxx, SKS Automibiles on Bannerghatta Rd had at least one AWD in white. (or so I was told); That's the one I drove.

timetraveller, SKS on Bannerghatta road doesn't have a AWD. The white one, even i drove the same one for TD and i specifically checked with the Sales Adviser. He confirmed that they do not have an AWD for TD and both white and green are W8 FWD models.
The purple color one is the one which someone mentioned earlier on , has a problem in LHS Front door closing. Incidentally that's the color I have chosen, and on booking date of 8th October, they are estimating 29 weeks of delivery...which takes me into March

[GunMo]

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

Yes.

But am still at work, wait for the mm to mm compare, and forget my ire, tell me what new have they done? They have created a slick advertisement and PR machine and nothing else.
-Rgds.

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

So this last year we rocked a good 40000Km on my new (second) Scorpio VLX... ...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...

...XUV started to resemble the Mitusbishi Outlander as you approach from the 5’o’clock position...

... 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...

...Front seating- same as Scorpio, Xylo…

... 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...

I was about to ask Hammer&Anvil why this bad a M&M bashing - that too from a Scorpio owner, twice! But then looked up at earlier responses and I think I get the answer!!

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

...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...

Well, to each their own!

However, can't believe how the class leading handling that everyone is so praising can be so easily dismissed as below..!!

Originally Posted by Hammer & Anvil

...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 don't think so.

This surely is a 'game-changer' that all of us Indians can be proud of!!

[MAS]

Originally Posted by Jo-G

I still believe the XUV is a Fortuner Killer big time.... and it will surely and steadily eat into the market shares the T-Forts, Endy's and other Softroaders.... It may be a step forward with M&M but it is surely a leap for the Indian Automotive industry in the global arena.

Very well said about "leap for the Indian Auto industry". But, IMHO, it will not be a Fortuner "Killer". I believe that the pricing and the huge number of bookings of the 5OO will make Toyota to raise an eyebrow on their pricing strategy of their new 2WD Fortuner, but Toyota will continue to attract and sell the maximum number of Fortuners it can produce.

[timetraveller]

Originally Posted by v-drive

someone mentioned earlier on , has a problem in LHS Front door closing.

Well, that someone would be me. I was asking if anyone else saw a similar issue, so looks like you did. I was worried if that (and the rumbling from 'somewhere in there' when braking) was an indication of common issues, but based on various reviews that does not seem to be the case. Folks do abuse these test cars.
Lucky you, you have a date. The sales guy hasn't even given me a date yet, nor have I heard from M&M. The waiting is on.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

In the hands of a capable driver it will....

Actually, in the hands of even a 'normal' driver, it should beat the Innova hands down, because of better ground clearance combined with EBD, ESP, disc brakes all around, and more airbags if you were to need them.

I keep saying this, but I wish (and sincerely hope) that all car makers include these features as OEM parts across their lines. Safety shouldn't be 'optional'. Thanks to M&M for putting all this in.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 30 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

Also use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts.

[rohitbagai]

Why is Mahindra in such a booking mess?? I am assuming something.. When mahindra originally thought of developing this platform it wanted to take the 15lk ex-showroom price bracket with all the features that a 20lk+ SUV was providing. It was a good strategy. For that price segment a production capacity of 2000 units a month would have been sufficient. BUT something changed just before the launch. The Aria was launched in the same price bracket and was not even able to sell even a third of what they projected. After investing 4 years into the product Mahindra did not want itself to be in same situation. They lost all the confidence. So with all those features and bells and whistles they positioned themselves just below that segment for about 10lk - 12 lk to be safe. This segment has decent volumes per month and Mahindra's projections of volumes simply fell short hugely. Someone on this thread mentioned that they actually have 27000 bookings. This might be true its just that they are saving their face of mismanaging the whole launch of the product by advertizing they only have about 8000 odd bookings.

Again ... all above are just my assumptions

[Guna]

Must be one of the first full road tests, by zigwheels.
Mahindra XUV 500 : Road Test Page - 1| Zigwheels.com

"the grunty engine accelerates the XUV to 100km/h from standstill in a rapid 13.85 seconds, and the sixth gear allows for a top speed in excess of 180km/h. For a vehicle of its size, those are striking figures. For those who value sense (which would be all of us in these times of unannounced and vulgar fuel price hikes) fuel efficiency numbers are also impressive given that our test car averaged 11 kilometres to a litre of diesel within city limits, and batted out a figure of 16kmpl on the highway."

"A mention of the braking must be made here as well, since the disc brakes on all four corners with ABS and EBD in tow allowed the XUV500’s 1800-odd kilo bulk to halt from 80km/h in a little less than 30 meters, and in a little over 2.5 seconds. There was a disconcerting grind-judder-squeak that had developed in the brakes of our test car though, which is definitely something that Mahindra could look into."

[parsh]

Originally Posted by BunnyPunia

Oh, thats a little strange - i thought the Innova is solid at high speeds.

Just saw this. Just returned from Pune at 8:30PM. My speeds in my Innova today and usually are 120-140 even while cornering and touch upto 160 on the Mumbai Pune Expressway (except for the quirky section of lonavala/khandala ghat, where maintain the speed to max 80) and I never feel unsafe or out of control or least of all body roll and that I would topple over, have not experienced the same confidence in other vehicles of friends and friends also concur on the same.

Had a small TD of XUV earlier last week for my friend's XUV and it too seemed well planted on road with good high speed mannerisms as we could achieve 110-120 in short stretch of Uran Road and expected least body roll, good hard braking et al. I am assuming it will behave quite similar to Innova's mannerisms on this Mumbai Pune Expressway atleast, will know soon once we get the XUV delivered.

[harimakesh]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Tata used to be the "global" brand, the brand which will bring us new things, from seven seas across, with new tech out of its acquired assets. And Mahindra has pulled the rug out of Tata's feet.

This is quite a surprise.

And of course, we can all nitpick, we can find faults, but the fact remains for 10,XX ex showroom Delhi, there is no other vehicle which is more car per car.

If Mahindra can get "reliability" right, it will also hit the Innova along with Fortuner, Endy and the whole clan of CBU SUVs costing 20 lakh.

On seeing the demand XUV 5oo created for modern monocoque type SUV at reasonable price what if CBU SUV like Captiva makes a decision to do it as a CKD with 25-30% price reduction of their Captiva AWD A/T from current 20L to 14.xx L price tag?

Mahindra stirred the SUV market with its XUV 5oo for sure.
I am Happy for Mahindra as an Indian company could do this at the current scale

[GunMo]

Originally Posted by rohitbagai

Why is Mahindra in such a booking mess?? I am assuming something.. When mahindra originally thought of developing this platform it wanted to take the 15lk ex-showroom price bracket with all the features that a 20lk+ SUV was providing. It was a good strategy. For that price segment a production capacity of 2000 units a month would have been sufficient. BUT something changed just before the launch. The Aria was launched in the same price bracket and was not even able to sell even a third of what they projected. After investing 4 years into the product Mahindra did not want itself to be in same situation. They lost all the confidence. So with all those features and bells and whistles they positioned themselves just below that segment for about 10lk - 12 lk to be safe. This segment has decent volumes per month and Mahindra's projections of volumes simply fell short hugely. Someone on this thread mentioned that they actually have 27000 bookings. This might be true its just that they are saving their face of mismanaging the whole launch of the product by advertizing they only have about 8000 odd bookings.

Again ... all above are just my assumptions

Quite possible. But fearing the market and toning down the price from 15L bracket makes a strong case if reduced by a max of 1.5L. Current price cut (assuming) seems 3x of that.

Too much panic? Naaaahh, must be something else. However, can't explain why this phenomenon (i.e., goofed up projection, bungled handling of booking, etc). Well, we'll know in the coming days - hopefully!!

[timetraveller]

Originally Posted by rohitbagai

Why is Mahindra in such a booking mess??

They certainly seem to be in one! But its a good mess to be in. I bet any other manufacturer will be more than happy to trade this mess for a backed up inventory.

Originally Posted by rohitbagai

They lost all the confidence.

Don't know if they did then, but they must have made for all that lost confidence.

Originally Posted by rohitbagai

Someone on this thread mentioned that they actually have 27000 bookings.
This might be true its just that they are saving their face of mismanaging the whole launch of the product by advertizing they only have about 8000 odd bookings.

Its not like corporations don't lie, but it'll be dangerous to fake claims here. In any case, they'll only have more to brag about with better numbers. Maybe that will explain why someone (sorry don't remember who) was quoted a delivery date of March '12! BTW, I still haven't heard from the dealer yet.

Originally Posted by rohitbagai

Again ... all above are just my assumptions

Sure my friend, and there is nothing wrong with that. We are free to discuss here. The problem would only be if you passed of opinions and assumptions as facts, and you aren't doing it.

[Behemoth]

Guys, anyone got delivery of their XUV Yet? Waiting eagerly for the first ownership reviews! The official review is great, but if we get multiple reviews from actual owners we will get a better picture of their consistency of production and reliability.
Request all members who have got delivery to share their initial ownership reviews!
Thanks!

[GTO]

Originally Posted by parsh

I never feel unsafe or out of control or least of all body roll and that I would topple over

+1 to that. The Innova also has extremely good highway / expressway manners and feels very planted. In fact, most people who are normally used to driving sedans adapt very quickly to the Innova.