Team-BHP - Mahindra TUV300 Plus (2.2L mHawk) : Official Review

Quote:

Originally Posted by locusjag (Post 4462609)

I met a layman who admired my TUV 300 in the outskirts of Chennai once. He lives in a small village further outside of Chennai and he told me with pride that he's buying a TUV 300 Plus. He and I were taking a break at a highway restaurant, and he was back from booking it somewhere at a Mahindra showroom in Chennai. He was the typical earthy type of rural person you can meet outside of cities; and you should have seen the pride in his eyes and the admiration he had for my sub-4m TUV 300.

Rural India is a different ballgame in many matters and this is one of them. He must have been a potential Bolero buyer who got an option to up his game with the TUV 300 Plus. What's so bad about that?

PS: If the higher versions of the Plus had been launched back in February 2018, I would have bought one. I just love the boxy beast and the bigger, the better! However there was just a bare-basic P4 version available for booking back then...

That is really unfortunate locusjag, that M&M launched the Plus with only the bare bones version. I would certainly have looked forward to your ownership experience. I feel that quite a few prospective buyers changed their mind at the time for the same reason.

A TUV 300 Plus WITHOUT the section seats.

WITHOUT the drop in middle row seat legroom. In fact with the middle Row section increased in size in Anand Mahindra custom metallic grey paint job would have appealed to me.

They should add the higher powered engine as a variant even in TUV 300 (Not plus) top variant.

Many want just a 5 seater vehicle but a large robust one at that with more power and the last row seats are just not required.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ACM (Post 4478171)

Many want just a 5 seater vehicle but a large robust one at that with more power and the last row seats are just not required.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheel (Post 4478238)

With a 4X4 tranny and a MLD, that would make it almost complete.

Isnt this exactly what the Scorpio 4x4 offers? :D
Just remove the jump seats but yes the bench seat leg room doesn't seem as good as the TUV 300

Quote:

Originally Posted by shashanka (Post 4478050)

I'm nudging a colleague toward the TUV 300 Plus. I had seen him walking into a different office building with a BRV brochure in hand...I pinged him later and said "hey, i heard you're buying a BRV. They featured your car purchase journey on NDTV money." lol:

So anyway, I showed him my TUV 300. Then he mentioned having a Labrador. He'll need to drive from Chennai to Pondicherry often. He'll get a family crowd over at home often.

As soon as I heard "Labrador", I'd made up my mind to nudge him toward the TUV 300 Plus. I even mentioned you to him (common points being the Labrador, the potential TUV 300 Plus purchase and all), since he does his research on this forum even though he's not a member.

The absence of an automatic variant is the killer for him. He has requested a Hexa AT test drive for Friday where I'll tag along. Let's see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by locusjag (Post 4484233)

I'm nudging a colleague toward the TUV 300 Plus. I had seen him walking into a different office building with a BRV brochure in hand...I pinged him later and said "hey, i heard you're buying a BRV. They featured your car purchase journey on NDTV money." lol:
So anyway, I showed him my TUV 300. Then he mentioned having a Labrador. He'll need to drive from Chennai to Pondicherry often. He'll get a family crowd over at home often.
As soon as I heard "Labrador", I'd made up my mind to nudge him toward the TUV 300 Plus. I even mentioned you to him (common points being the Labrador, the potential TUV 300 Plus purchase and all), since he does his research on this forum even though he's not a member.
The absence of an automatic variant is the killer for him. He has requested a Hexa AT test drive for Friday where I'll tag along. Let's see.

That's great thinking locusjag! I too do my bit (to plug the 300+ and the new TML offerings) among my circle. And I hope M&M have the good sense to include the AMT option in the 300+ line-up soon. And if they offer a 4WD option in the future, that would be the icing on the cake......:D

Anyone got their tank teflon coating? I am confused between teflon and ceramic coating, any advise on which is better? Also cost?

My dad was impressed with Marrazzo and told me to check it out, he was a die hard Innova fan, was planning to buy one from a long time and I was surprised by his words. I then saw the Marrazzo advert on TV and was not at all impressed, I said to myself, "This cannot be competition to Innova, just might have enough punch to take on Ertiga". One fine day I visited Mahindra showroom to check it out. I was really shocked, it was massive and good looking MPV. It is really spacious inside and is very well built. I spoke to SA on customer feedback, he said at that point of time they sold only 3 cars and awaiting their feedback. It is available in 7 seater and 8 seater models.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000 (Post 4485050)

Anyone got their tank teflon coating? I am confused between teflon and ceramic coating, any advise on which is better? Also cost?

My dad was impressed with Marrazzo and told me to check it out, he was a die hard Innova fan, was planning to buy one from a long time and I was surprised by his words. I then saw the Marrazzo advert on TV and was not at all impressed, I said to myself, "This cannot be competition to Innova, just might have enough punch to take on Ertiga". One fine day I visited Mahindra showroom to check it out. I was really shocked, it was massive and good looking MPV. It is really spacious inside and is very well built. I spoke to SA on customer feedback, he said at that point of time they sold only 3 cars and awaiting their feedback. It is available in 7 seater and 8 seater models.

Very true, it is indeed well-built! But for such a massive & good-looking MPV it has that one deal-breaker flaw - it is FWD. And your dad's being a die-hard Innova fan is well founded - it set the bar for all MPVs to follow. None have come close so far and, for me, the principal reason is that the Innova (apart from all its other virtues) is RWD.

This is the reason I scratched the Marazzo from the bucket list for our next car - and added the 300 plus, which (for me!) has it all. That jewel of a 2.2L mHawk, a state-of the-art body-on-chassis structure plus of course RWD. And a good deal easier on the pocket too! The rest is all candy-floss and frills, which the Marazzo is loaded with!

Unfortunately (and I never get tired of repeating this) M&M took the bean-counter's route to give the Marazzo - which, as you say, is otherwise a great car - FWD. And for such a large WB (2760mm), it is tantamount to asking a toddler to pull a loaded wheel-barrow.

I have run a Scorpio for the past 14 years - yes, that's right - and have never regretted my choice, like most other Scorpio owners on the forum. And I feel regret that M&M took this path for the Marazzo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000 (Post 4485050)

Anyone got their tank teflon coating? I am confused between teflon and ceramic coating, any advise on which is better? Also cost?

Does Dupont still provide teflon sprays? Do check as I remember reading that they had stopped providing the product for automobile use. Before you get ceramic/teflon or any other coating, I would suggest you think through the reasons for the same. Ceramic for the tank can cost as much as 35K for the entire car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shashanka (Post 4485401)

one deal-breaker flaw - it is FWD

Agreed - will be interesting to hear how it performs in the hill sections from owners.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramnaresh_2000 (Post 4485816)

just bonnet and top, not the whole body

I have a single layer of ceramic on my bonnet top. Got it done just as a test from a friend where as my entire car has regularly been getting wax + opti seal regularly right from day 1. You can check results on my ownership thread.

The claimed advantage of ceramic is
1. Micron layer added, hence any kind of swirls & contamination will not be directly on clear coat
2. Any kind of paint correction (rubbing, swirl removal etc.) will only impact ceramic layer (hopefully!) and hence your original paint quality remains intact

But ceramic as I mentioned is expensive and also needs to be applied right, else will not be very effective. Even ceramic needs to be topped up once in 18-24 months depending on layers etc.

If your plan is to keep the car for a long term, then investing in ceramic makes sense. If you are thinking max 5 years, then simple wax + sealant will be a lot more effective.

This is going OT. Please use the ceramic thread for any further discussions :thumbs up

Has anyone got any information on the crash worthiness of TUV300 and TUV 300 Plus? Or is this something which is not a criteria for vehicles in this segment ?
In India , manufacturers have been able to just put some metal on wheels and sell these with impunity and there are more than enough takers in the market who buy without considering the safety of the build . Even the Scorpio, for all the beast that it is never broke into the US market due to its poor crash worthiness