Quote:
Originally Posted by mooza Congrats grkonweb, your Hexa looks lovely ! Please do post a quick comparo versus your earlier workhorse, the Xylo.
Wishing you many Happy Miles |
Thanks mooza. Since you specifically asked, here’s a quick comparison between my earlier ride Mahindra Xylo D4 and my current one Tata Hexa XTA.
As we all know, these two vehicles are from different categories – one is a MUV and the other is a luxury crossover (SUV + MUV).
From my short ownership so far (it’s just been 48 hours since I took delivery of Hexa), here’s what I can point out (actually nit picking but some points are valid):
1.
Interiors: Hexa’s interiors are plush way ahead of Xylo. The latter was very functional and there was no premium feel.
2.
Features: Xylo especially my D4 variant was very bare bones in features. It just had power steering, power windows, dual A/c to boast of with zero safety kit. To all my friends who were hung up on safety asking whether my Xylo had airbags, ABS, EBD, etc, I used to point to the Ganesh & Durga idols in the dashboard and say they are the safety pack for us!
Whereas Hexa is leaps and bound in terms of features and safety though Traction Control is missing in XTA.
3.
Ride Quality: Hexa is miles ahead in offering a superb ride quality. It gobbles up all the potholes, cuts across roads with aplomb which coming from Xylo is a big upgrade. Simply, Xylo cannot match Hexa in ride quality. Xylo owners can relate to the notorious thud sound from the dashboard every time the car goes over a pothole fast. With Hexa, it’s like driving club class, the same roads around my home and regular route feel very different with Hexa. Shock absorbers & 19 inch wheels make a world of difference.
4.
Seating: Xylo could accommodate 8 people in comfort (even last row can easily host 3 adults with enough leg room) while my Hexa is 7 seater variant. Last row leg room in Hexa isn’t as spacious as in Xylo. No complaints personally from my end as we were rarely full house in Xylo. I’m ok with Hexa being 7 seater.
5.
Centre of Gravity: Xylo due to its tall boy stance had a higher center of gravity meaning it affected its high speed and obviously had body roll felt by 3rd row passengers. Also, I was not confident pushing the car beyond 120 kms in highways (not that I like speeding) and in national highways I never went beyond the 90-110 kms range and had to slow down for curvy turns. Hexa feels planted on the road due to its proportions and body weight. I haven’t taken it for a spin in the highways so far but I’m confident it will perform better.
6.
Missing Features in Hexa vis-ŕ-vis Xylo:
a. Xylo had spectacles case in the roof (front after the internal lamp) which is missing big time in Hexa. The latter has a small case in the driver side roof (where grab handles are supposed to be in other seats) but it is too small to hold my sun glasses. The glasses peep out due to small size of the holder. In Xylo, I could keep two sun glasses (mine + my kid’s) which I miss in Hexa.
b. Ticket holder in driver side sun visor is missing in Hexa unlike Xylo.
c. Coin slot (cubby hole) is missing in Hexa. Where do I keep the loose change?
d. There is no slot for keeping mobile phone unlike Xylo which has slits in the floor console. As of now, I keep the phone in the instrument console in Hexa.
e. The entire floor in Xylo is flat – no transmission hump in 2nd row, cleaning the floor with a brush is easy as there were no lip to stop by near the doors, flat floor in the boot meant easy to haul up luggage in the rear. The Hexa floor is not flat – transmission hump is pronounced in the 2nd row (a little inconvenient for my family members after using Xylo), I found it a bit difficult to clean sweep the dirt from the floor with brush due to the high lip near the doors.
f. Floor mats provided by Mahindra for Xylo was rubber/plastic transparent ones which was easy to clean – just brush it off. While Hexa mats are the normal black color carpet style ones which are big dirt magnets and it takes effort to keep them clean. I’ll soon change them to the rubber/plastic transparent ones like Xylo. Any suggestions on brands/shops in Bangalore?
g. No 3rd fold tumble in last row seats in Hexa. It stops at 2nd fold tumble and also doesn’t go flat…it rests at an incline making it difficult for grocery shopping bags to stay put. These bags slide down to the hatch door making us to be careful while opening. No 3rd fold tumble means unlike Xylo I cannot stack too many luggage or shopping bags. Given the lack of full space in Hexa, I’m a bit concerned on my occasional airport runs when we pile big suitcases and other sundry luggage in the last row like in Xylo.
h. The little space under the 3rd row seat in Xylo offered little room to stuff small airbags which is missing in Hexa.
i. Hexa's A/c is a bit noisy at speeds like 2 or 3 itself. IMHO it's a little quieter in Xylo at such speeds. Only in 4, it got noisy in Xylo.
j. In Hexa, the steering is quite heavy especially in slow speeds and it takes an effort to drive it in bumper to bumper traffic conditions. Whereas in Xylo it was not heavy nor butter smooth either (not to compare with the butter smooth steering of my wife’s Tata Zest).
7.
Turning radius was less in Xylo (especially useful in city) as I could drive in any lane and reverse as I like. With Hexa, I’m a bit hesitant with its huge turning radius.
8.
Bread Box on Wheels vs Patton Tank: Lastly, no offense to Xylo owners/lovers, the car was very basic when compared to Hexa (which ideally shouldn’t be compared at all), Xylo was a bread box on wheels – a very functional car with emphasis on moving 8 people from point A to B. Whereas Hexa is more of a Patton tank – the doors feel heavy when you open/shut them, the vehicle is solid, planted on road, with all the safety features it feels secure. It has a much bigger road presence – the very same roads (lanes) when I drove by yesterday, oncoming traffic behaves differently for the better and no one behaves as if they are blind and drunk to fall on my car :(
Xylo served us very well (it clocked 78600 kms in the odo) since Jan 2013 – Aug 2017 as a daily commute and occasional highway trips. We enjoyed the car and have travelled all over South India – Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Chennai, Pondicherry, Kovalam, Thenmala, Coimbatore, Chennai, Kodaikanal, Yercaud, Yelagiri, Tirupati, Mysore, Coorg, Chikmagalur, Mangalore, Konkan Coast till Murudeshwar, Kodachadri, Udupi, Kollur, Goa, etc. Though I’m a bit nostalgic about Xylo but learning to love Hexa for all the features it offers, plush interiors, ride quality, road presence, etc.
In the end, I realise Xylo isn’t bad at all – it had its time in our lives and we outgrow its utility as we grow older, as our family preferences change, incomes getter fatter (and our ability to take higher loans
), as we change our priorities & values (safety kit is a must in my thinking today), as we aspire to get sophisticated in our lives….we move on to something better, we outgrow our once prized possessions.