Team-BHP - Mahindra TUV300 : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by AutoIndian (Post 4119105)

Having used a pre-worshipped Innova for a year, I had made up my mind that my next car has to be a RWD or AWD configuration car. I always travel with my family of 6 or even more. I love to drive at remote/ secluded places, where ghats, rough roads/ no roads are a given. Given this set of requirements I wanted a car with good low end torque, RWD configuration, ample ground clearance, robust build, high seating position etc. The Ertiga, Lodgy and even the XUV though very competent and capable cars were all front wheel drives. The Scorpio and Safari were RWD, but too big for my compact parking. These were also too bulky for my daily use. The Innova was at the end of its lifecycle. The TUV fitted my bill perfectly well. Initially I was very apprehensive about the 3 cylinder engine, undue vibrations, poor driveability, but all those vanished after the first test drive.

I still remember having a long debate with Parag about TUV's poor top end performance. I had to agree with him on that, but I could easily live with it as I rarely do long, interstate drives like him. In the last 14 months of TUV ownership, I have not even once cross the state border, but ghats, jungles, off-roads/ no roads, I have done them a plenty and after each trip I want to do more. I think I have chosen the right car for my requirements, haven't I?:D

Yes, definitely the right choice for the usage described:thumbs up.
I test drove the TUV and Scorpio in city limits. I was almost terrified with the surge provided by the mhawk 2.2 in the Scorpio. Coming from a series of under powered cars, the Scorpio overwhelmed me. The TUV was much tamer. The additional bulk of the Scorpio was also on my mind. It's something else that I was already sold on the TUV well before the test drives. Using the TUV on the highway though, I sometimes wish it had the 2.2 instead. But I do like it for what it is, a comfortable cruiser with terrific bad road ability and immense value.

Quote:

Originally Posted by paragsachania (Post 4119121)

Certainly not the case with Khambhatki for sure when it comes to cars.

I have driven a Tavera on the Pune - Mahabaleswar - Dapoli route in 2012. Assuming the Khambhatki Ghats to be similar terrain, my cars of choice for the route would be a Punto/Figo/Swift. The gradients are gentle to moderate at most places and the road surface was reasonably good. Ahh, that was a memorable trip.

Happy new year folks! May 2017 bring you more time behind the wheel exploring the by-lanes of our awesome country :D

Just back from a 950 km trip to Sagar - Shimoga over the last 3 days and I had absolutely no issues with the tank. The drive was super fun thanks to the new air filter as the tank just kept pulling. I had forgotten about the amount of torque it can deliver and I had a wide smile plastered on my face all the time. Feels like driving a new car.

300 of the 950 kms was mostly 2 lane, curvy, sometimes broken (very few kms of unpaved) roads and the rest were are fast roads where my average speed varied from 80 - 120 kmph. The tank returned an FE of 15.35 kmpl, which is probably the best figures I have seen in a long long time. clap:

Hence a humble request to all you TUV owners, clean/change the air filter often as the 40K kms benchmark prescribed by M&M is just BS. Pics of the air filter posted in my ownership thread.

Mahindra TUV300 : Official Review-1_1.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by procrj (Post 4119552)

Happy new year folks! May 2017 bring you more time behind the wheel exploring the by-lanes of our awesome country :D

Same to you and all other TUV owners. I have made up my mind not to loose a single opportunity of venturing out in 2017:D

Quote:

Just back from a 950 km trip to Sagar - Shimoga over the last 3 days and I had absolutely no issues with the tank.

Wonderful, was it for some personal purpose or liesure/ site seeing trip?

Quote:

The tank returned an FE of 15.35 kmpl, which is probably the best figures I have seen in a long long time. clap:

Superb, I can attribute that to the new air filter. Definitely the new air filter must have enabled your tank to breathe easily and reward you with those fantastic FE figures.

Quote:

Hence a humble request to all you TUV owners, clean/change the air filter often as the 40K kms benchmark prescribed by M&M is just BS. Pics of the air filter posted in my ownership thread.

Ohh dammit :Frustrati, I missed the chance of cleaning air filter today, when I spent three hours washing and polishing my tank. Maybe next week end I will give it a try. That said fitting a new air filter is already on top of my priority list during my 20K service, which should come up in another 2-3 months time.

Just one word of caution if any of you are attempting to clean the air-filters of TUV. Please do find out if your air-filter is gel based or the conventional, foam based. Foam based filter can be cleaned somewhat. But, if you attempt to clean the gel type air-filter, it may actually have some bad effects as the gel based filter is in layers, so say over 20,000 kms if all [supposed] 4/5 layers get exhausted, then the air-filter which you are trying to clean at 10,000 kms and is dirty till 2 layers may actually penetrate to further [clean] layers.

M&M does advise the air-filter to be changed at 40,000 kms interval in both the TUV and Scorpio but I always change it at the scheduled service [along with all other filters] which in my case is at every 10,000 kms. No point in abusing that oil & filters in our trying driving conditions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by procrj (Post 4119599)

Sight seeing and chasing hoysala architecture. I have updated this thread with some pics. Will post more over the week and maybe even put together a travelogue.

Wonderful pictures there clap:. Please come up with a separate travelogue thread, these masterpieces definitely deserve a separate one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheel (Post 4119602)

Thanks Sheel for the information. From the pictures shared by procrj in his TUV ownership thread, I believe the TUVs air filter is foam based. Changing air filter at 10K intervals seems to be very conservative, 20K interval looks OK. However it is individual's choice & I believe you must be taking extreme care of your car.

After my recent Konkan trip of 875 kms, my TUV was lying idle in my garage for 3 days. Today when I drove my TUV I observed that the steering has become very smooth & light. Earlier at crawling speeds I had to put in some effort to turn the steering wheel, but now it is turning very easily, as if it has freed up. Could this be because during my recent trip my steering was working round the clock to negotiate the twists and turns & ghat roads of Konkan area? Would that have resulted in the steering becoming light now. I preferred the earlier one though, when it was bit stiff.

(Mods: Please merger this post with the above one as it was outside the 30 mins window)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AutoIndian (Post 4119659)

Could this be because during my recent trip my steering was working round the clock to negotiate the twists and turns & ghat roads of Konkan area? Would that have resulted in the steering becoming light now. I preferred the earlier one though, when it was bit stiff.

I doubt that a transformation of that sort would happen, especially the Steering. A new set of suspension bushes or Ball joints or other suspension components will make the steering more lighter (when you have complaints of it going hard over time/age & usage).

A Rack-Pinion set-up, Hydraulic Steering Pump, Steering ball Joint ends: These elements make up the complete set in a Hydraulic set-up along with Speed and Torque Sensor.

I can only think of 2 reasons for this:

That your shoulders and hands are now completely got used to the weight of the steering and with the recent driving in ghats, using the steering at parking speeds has become easier to manage
Or it could be due to higher air pressure than your usual setting which may have resulted in this

You can wait and watch for couple of more days and ascertain if this is indeed the case. Well, best would be to test the steering of another TUV and you will be able to know that instantly.

Even better - Don't drive your TUV for another 3-4 days and then take it out for a spin and you will be able to relate it better :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by paragsachania (Post 4119696)

I can only think of 2 reasons for this:

That your shoulders and hands are now completely got used to the weight of the steering and with the recent driving in ghats, using the steering at parking speeds has become easier to manage
Or it could be due to higher air pressure than your usual setting which may have resulted in this

Thanks Parag for your response. Regarding tyre pressure, I did maintain 2 psi over and above the recommended 33 psi in all tyres

Quote:

I think the gap of 3 days in between might have resulted in this perception. But agree: driving another TUV would definitely help me make a more concrete conclusion. Any TUV owners in Pune opting for exchange in rides:D?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AutoIndian (Post 4119647)

Wonderful pictures there clap:. Please come up with a separate travelogue thread, these masterpieces definitely deserve a separate one.

Done. Thread posted

Quote:

Changing air filter at 10K intervals seems to be very conservative

Simple economics dictates that 10K might be better. Assuming a 1 kmpl increase in FE, you might end up saving around 45 liters of fuel in 10K kms. That works out to saving of Rs 2700 (Assuming Diesel price at Rs 60 per liter) as compared to Rs 600 as cost of air filter. ROI of 3.5x :D Even with a worst case scenario of 0.5 kmpl increase in FE, the ROI turns out to be 1.4x, which is not bad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AutoIndian (Post 4119659)

I observed that the steering has become very smooth & light

Never experienced this. Do check over the next few days and share feedback.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaurusAl (Post 4122044)

Sorry for the late reply. Strangely that field has been left blank.

Quote:

Originally Posted by procrj (Post 4122234)

Does this mean that you were not given the 20% NCB discount? Did you claim insurance?

It looks you haven't been given the 20% discount NCB as all my insurance documents have a number mentioned against the NCB field.

If you notice the image,

The Net Premium (16367/-) + Tax (2456/-) add up to the total premium of 18823/-

The Own Damage Premium (OD Premium) mentioned on left is 13830/-.

Hence, he has been given the NCB of 20%.

The final premium is OD Premium + TP Premium which is 16367/-

I have a strong feeling that the actual NCB on OD Premium was applied here and hence the 20% displayed clearly.

For the 2nd year:

Ex-Show room price - Depreciation @ X Percentage (usually 20) = IDV for the next Policy Year.

Here the IDV = 785400/-

Own Damage Premium = 1.97% of IDV (785400 * 2.2% =17286.65/-)

NCB of 20% on the OD Premium = 17826.65 X 0.80 = 13829.32/-

(Please check with your service provider as the math and typical policy numbers are almost matching here)