Mahindra XUV700 Review

Dev_GT · 7th October 2022, 15:57

I recieved call from my dealer (Randhawa Motors, Dombivali, Mumbai) that a car has been allocated to me (AX7L AWD White). But they are unwilling to let me do a PDI

Do we have any legal provisions to mandate PDI before invoicing the car under my name?

Smartomotive · 7th October 2022, 21:15

Fellow BHPians,

I got a call today from someone regarding RSA. True Caller shows Fraud Mahindra and it was very surprising how they got so much data.

So the call goes like this, some lady calls up and tells my full name and that I own XUV700, then informs me she is calling to explain about the RSA benefits for the 4th and 5th year and that total 5 years we are getting and to confirm the address to send the RSA card and then goes on to tell my complete address (all of the data was correct btw) and then tells me to activate the card, I need to pay some 3000+ rupees as the activation charges.

At first, I thought this was an official call from Mahindra due to the data she already had and the fact that I had purchased the 4th and 5th year RSA at the time of vehicle delivery but when she said I need to pay the activation charges, it ringed my bell and I questioned why I have to pay when it was already paid to which she said she is calling from a private agency that provides RSA service and if I already have one, then it's fine and disconnected the call.

I'm actually concerned about where so much data with addresses is being leaked. Ever since I purchased this vehicle, it has become a routine, every week I get one or the other calls from either fake travel agencies for bogus dinner invites to sell packages or something else. All of them specifically mention the name and vehicle.

So far I haven't fallen for any of these tricks but I wonder how many innocent people have fallen for these scam calls when they end up thinking it's from Mahindra and so on. So annoying!

Sheel · 7th October 2022, 21:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dev_GT

I recieved call from my dealer (Randhawa Motors, Dombivali, Mumbai) that a car has been allocated to me (AX7L AWD White). But they are unwilling to let me do a PDI

Do we have any legal provisions to mandate PDI before invoicing the car under my name?

Please shoot an email to Mahindra customer support. A tweet to people at Mahindra may help as well.

If there is anything wrong / defective with the vehicle, what is the dealer going to do about it / handle it? Who is going to live with the vehicle post sale letter is issued and a product turns out to be defective / lemon.

Sandegov · 8th October 2022, 07:08

Summary:
Model : Mahindra XUV 700 AX7 AWD
Colour : Midnight Black
Booking : 08 Oct 2021 (With Price Protection)
Delivery : 15 Jul 2022
Current Odo : 2250 Km
Avg (tank full method):

9-10 km/l with regular short school drop off trips of ~15kms or peak Bangalore traffic.

10-12 km/l with regular office commute of ~50kms (non peak hrs)

14-14.5 km/l on Highways

Background:
We were a family of three with our second one on its way, at the time of booking, and I was looking for a car that would be a comfortable highway cruiser for our outstation trips and also do the city duties when needed mainly for school drops and office commutes without being too much of a hassle to drive in Bangalore traffic.

Used or New?
A big fan of used cars and I have first hand experienced the tremendous value that an almost new ~1 year old certified luxury car offers, but this was outside India and it was pretty clear early on in my search this time that buying a used car in India was very different and came with its own challenges and I was just not ready to risk it. Decided it had to be a new car.

SUV/MUV or Sedan?
I have mostly owned/driven sedans and always loved driving them over the occasional rental SUVs/Vans overseas. The cargo space was good enough for the three of us and it easily took in the kids stroller + couple of bags and in those few rare extended trips we would have that extra bag that would spillover to the back seat area. Now with the addition of a new member to the family it was pretty clear that we would need a bigger cargo space + ours being a joint family meant a 7 seater would be an added bonus for occasional full family commute within city limits. A 7 seater SUV/MUV was a no brainer.

Budget:
I was on a bit of a flexible budget with 30L being the preferred sweet spot and an absolute max of 45-50L for the right car, but I was clear in my mind that anything above 35L had to have a strong USP for my use and absolutely justified its price. I am a little old school and budget conscious when it comes to money matters and rarely go overboard with most of my spends.

Requirements (In the order of priority):

Safety - NCAP ratings, AWD, ESP, Airbags etc ranked very high on my list.

Automatic - Having driven manual and auto in the past I have come to really appreciate the convenience that an auto box offers.

Space and comfort - Had to be a full size SUV/MUV, good comfortable seats, not a very stiff ride, minimal body roll.

Maintainability - Availability of spares on time and an option of multiple service centers to choose from.

Diesel - No experience here, but preferred a Diesel considering the weight of the vehicle and passenger capacity.

Comfort features - I was ok if the car got its basics well covered and features like sunroof, connected tech, voice commands, touch screens, ambient lighting, high end audio etc were only on my good to have list and dint matter much.

Options considered:
Having owned an E90 for an extended time it was natural for me to start off my search by looking at the entry level options from the three luxury brands, it ended pretty quick as all of them were either now out of my budget or watered down variants that dint appeal.

Kia Carnival :
Having used a mini van overseas for a brief period and experiencing the benefits it offered as a family vehicle, this was right at the top of my list and I was offered a mouth watering 3.75L discount straight away during the test drive on day one. But the below points made me take a hard second look and I had to let it go with a heavy heart and to the disappointment of all the kids at home. We had it over at home for a TD and it was a huge hit with my parents, kids and wife.

Too long a car for city use.

This was a one generation+2/3 year older car.

Being a CKD the spares availability and cost was going to be a challenge.

Long term ownership of this car dint look easy.

Toyota Fortuner :
There's a Fortuner in the family at my in laws place - unanimous feedback was it was rock solid and reliable but they just hated the ride and were pretty vocal about it. I was not going to be putting in anything more than 10-12k kms annually however I used it - I have a typical office commute + few planned outstation trips and being from Bangalore there was no frequent hometown trips as well. I could not justify the extra spend on a Fortuner with such low mileage and had to drop it.

Hyundai Tucson:
Again an old gen model + CKD and a suspect NCAP rating for older model on sale in India. There were lots of rumors/news about new gen being introduced anytime, I was very keen on this new model. Did not take a TD of old gen and decided to wait on the release of new gen while I was on the wait list of Mahindra. Eventually my XUV700 delivery date came and the new Tucson was still not released.

Tata Safari:
Absolutely loved the exterior looks, specially darker shades and dropped by the showroom to check it out. The inside of the SUV was a different story altogether - the big blank flat panel on the dash was a put off for me and what was even bigger issue for me was the driving ergonomics, I kept fouling my left knee and I felt the steering was too hard for comfortable city driving. By this time I had already test driven the XUV700 and I was way more comfortable and at home in its driving seat than in Safari. An unknown safety rating did not help matters as well.

XUV700:
The feature list announced and initial reviews looked very impressive and had my requirements very well covered with ADAS being a surprise cherry on the cake, I was fully convinced to go ahead with the booking on the opening day. I had my variant - AX7 AWD Midnight Black all ready in the cart on 7th but was unable to check out and complete the booking, I left it after a few unsuccessful attempts. To my surprise I got a call from the dealer later in the day that they were reaching out to customers who had cars in cart and were unable to check out and offered to book on my behalf with day1 pricing and price protection. The only condition was the variant and colour would have to be same as what was in my cart and could not be changed. I went ahead with the payment after taking assurances in writing and the dealer keyed in the booking on the next day. I was all set with my booking and the only thing left was to get test drives.

I dropped in the dealership when test drive vehicles were made available and my first TD was in a petrol AX7L on a dealer fixed route - I was left completely impressed with power, refinement levels and the ease of driving this SUV in city traffic. Followed up and got a second TD of diesel variant at home after few days and though the refinement levels were not same as petrol but the TD left me impressed and the family liked it too. I decided to stay with my current variant and booking and bring my car hunt to a close.

Post booking to delivery experience - An absolute joke of an experience with the dealer and Mahindra, without getting into details I would just mention that April 2022 was my promised delivery date and I got my delivery on Jul 15th with a nightmarish experience all along. I was a day away from cancelling my booking and going with a Fortuner. I have mentally checked out this whole dealership and delivery experience and have moved on from it.

Accessories Installed:
I went with the following accessories from dealer at the time of delivery and would definitely recommend them to anyone looking to buy.

Screen Protector (mainly for a clean fingerprint free screen, so far its been excellent in avoiding fingerprints)

Illuminated scuff plates

Side steps

3D mats (ask your dealer to stick velcro pieces at the bottom of the mat for a good fit)

Mud Flaps

I was finally able to get the delivery of my XUV700 with above accessories and have logged 2250kms so far and here are my likes and dislikes so far:

Likes

5 Star Safety Rated

Safety features - 6 airbags with curtain airbag opening all the way till third row, Latest ESP with electronic brake prefill, brake disc wiping etc

AWD lock - ability to lock the AWD upto 80km/h when needed, this will come in handy for sure and my previous AWD did not have this manual override.

ADAS - Works flawlessly.

Comfort - Driving ergonomics, minimal body roll, comfy seats.

Effortless driving in city traffic

Smooth Auto Box

Power on tap

Headlights

Electronic parking brake with auto hold works like a charm

Dislikes

Football in the boot - there is a constant rolling thud thud noise from the boot area. The service team during first service had no fix and mentioned they were waiting on recall from company.

Noise from fuel tank - the service center mentions its related to above football in the boot issue and awaiting recall/fix from company.

In zap mode - The auto box tends to hold the revs and make noise before shifting into 3rd gear from 2nd, gets worse on inclines.

No light in the boot

No 12v port in the front

No auto dimming IRVM

Fit and finish - not consistent and many rough edges

Inconsistent Vodafone network

Niggles faced so far:

Wiper noise from day 1 - raised and fixed during first service. Wiper assembly was removed and refixed, root cause per service advisor was it wasn't tightened during pdi.

Range/DTE not showing from day 1 - raised and fixed during first service. The software upgrade during first service mostly fixed it.

Football in the boot from day 1 - its getting extremely frustrating to live with this noise and I hope Mahindra comes out with a fix for it soon, everybody who has sat in my car has asked about it and it takes all the fun out driving this car specially in city driving at lower speeds. Planning to get this checked with another service center.

Repeated Activating profile, started after about 1000kms - this is a recent issue, never had it before. Need to get it checked.

ESC error with power loss, started after about 1000kms - happens occasionally for about 2-3 seconds when I go over a few road humps. Need to get it checked.

Fuel Avg calculation is buggy - has a mind of its own, has reset suddenly 1-2 times, recently after a highway trip it dropped from 14 to 8-9 and then back to 15 over a distance of few kms. Not planning to raise this with service center.

Hill hold error, first time at 2250kms - got this when I started the car after a quick break during morning , did not observe any difference in drivability or power when this message flashed and it went away after I stopped and restarted the car. Will keep an eye for this in coming days.

Additional information on AX7 AWD variant:
The AX7 AWD comes with a key additional feature that is not available on the AX7 2WD variant, this is not documented well and most of the sales rep are unaware as well. AX7 AWD variant comes with Electronic Parking Brake EPB with Auto Hold which according to feature list is available only on luxury pack. EPB is also a necessity for your stop and go feature on adaptive cruise and going by this there is a very good chance that AX7 AWD variant may have stop and go feature as well - there is no document to confirm on this though and the only way to know for sure is to test it out

Other upgrades/addons:

Tire Upgrade:
I had initially planned and budgeted to replace my spare tire with a full size alloy and tire at the time of delivery and had no plans to change/upgrade my tires. But then when I started looking at potential alternatives for my tires it made sense for me to let go of the full sized spare and instead use that money to upgrade the tires to better ones. My XUV came with MRF tires and I went ahead and got them changed next day after delivery to Michelin Primacy SUV+ same size at Madhus. Wanted a grippier softer compound with silent highway drives and better braking, they are on the pricier side but am extremely happy with the plush ride and the performance and they seem to be worth the price.

Tire Inflator:
XUV700 comes with a single 12v socket and that too in the boot and its rated at max 120w, this meant that the heavy duty inflators which are usually rated 150+ watts were out of consideration. With a basement parking at home and easy access to power points I was also exploring for any options that would let me run the inflator directly from my power point when I would use it at home. I came across one such inflator from Agaro - its rated at 120w and can run both on 220v power point and the 12v car socket, its a generic chinese one with Agaro branding, and I decided to give it a try. Have used it a few times and its worked pretty well so far - the auto cut off works as expected + worked well on both 12V and 220V+ the 12V cable is long enough to reach all tires without issues + heating seems to be in control.

PPF/Ceramic & Maintenance routine:
Got a 3M wash and wax within a week of delivery, will not be going for ppf/ceramic and other treatments. All our cars have held up pretty well without them and a covered parking at home and office also helps. Made use of the Ayudha pooja occasion to strip wash the car and apply the Turtle Wax seal and shine and toped it off with Sonax BSD, I plan to use jopasu duster + proklear raw extreme cx waterless wash, when needed, as a regular maintenance along with monthly/periodic washes with Sonax ph neutral shampoo and Sonax BSD as drying aid.

Initial verdict after 2000kms usage:
Personally, for me this vehicle and variant has been an out and out VFM package with the day 1 pricing and price protection that I got - a comfortable full size SUV with a powerful engine, AWD, ADAS, an effortless city drive and an excellent highway manners and an added EPB feature for my variant and all this came in at a price point that was well under my budget. Heck, I was even able to get all my accessories, max extended warranty, tire upgrade, tire inflator etc etc and still keep it under budget, makes me enjoy this car completely guilt free

. The only disappointment, and a major one for me - I was mentally prepared for the initial software/sensor related niggles but expected a mechanically sound vehicle, I was not ready for this constant thud-thud football in the boot sound from the rear and it has been a bit of a dampener to my otherwise excellent ownership experience so far.

I plan to keep this thread updated regularly with my ownership & service experience, hopefully it will be of help to other prospective & current owners of XUV700.

A few pics of my Xuv700:

On the delivery day:

After 3M wash and wax:

After the Turtle wax seal and shine + Sonax BSD treatment:

Added aftermarket AWD badge:

Mahindra XUV700 Review-20220924_144239.jpg

ramradcliff · 8th October 2022, 10:25

Congratulations on your purchase!

We both picked our cars on same date and I got mine from Hebbal PPS showroom.

Regarding fuel avg calculation, I noticed that the fuel avg gets reset and then the mileage is extremely low than what we are used to seeing. Found this 3-4 times in my 6700 kms covered so far. The most recent one is during dusshera break where I was very conservative in the way I drove and traffic was significantly on the lower end. The MID was showing 22+ kmpl most of the time for 3 days straight (attached for reference). While returning on third day, the mileage got reset and it wasn't going up above 12 during my entire 25km trip. Note that the traffic was the lowest that day but still got this number. This is up to 17 now. My guess is that the DEF/regen is working during this time but with no basis.

ESC/Hill hold errors came up a couple of times and went away after a restart. Regarding the football, I made my peace with it. Keep us posted if you find something...

Sandegov · 8th October 2022, 12:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramradcliff

The MID was showing 22+ kmpl most of the time for 3 days straight

Congrats to you too, your avg figures are mind boggling!!

17,22 etc - how do you manage to get these numbers? Could you please share some tips.

Dark water · 8th October 2022, 14:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smartomotive

Fellow BHPians,

I got a call today from someone regarding RSA. True Caller shows Fraud Mahindra and it was very surprising how they got so much data.
!

Even I got multiple calls from these scavengers, what I do is I ask them to send the card and then decline to accept the delivery, I guess they would have borne the delivery charges for the failed delivery, its has been three times now, if we do it on a mass scale we might scam the scammers

Transmission · 8th October 2022, 16:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandegov

[b]
Avg (tank full method):

9-10 km/l with regular short school drop off trips of ~15kms or peak Bangalore traffic.

10-12 km/l with regular office commute of ~50kms (non peak hrs)

14-14.5 km/l on Highways

Post booking to delivery experience - An absolute joke of an experience with the dealer and Mahindra, without getting into details I would just mention that April 2022 was my promised delivery date and I got my delivery on Jul 15th with a nightmarish experience all along.

Dislikes

No auto dimming IRVM

Fit and finish - not consistent and many rough edges

Niggles faced so far:[indent][list][*]Repeated Activating profile, started after about 1000kms - this is a recent issue, never had it before. Need to get it checked.

Tire Upgrade:
I had initially planned and budgeted to replace my spare tire with a full size alloy and tire at the time of delivery and had no plans to change/upgrade my tires. But then when I started looking at potential alternatives for my tires it made sense for me to let go of the full sized spare and instead use that money to upgrade the tires to better ones. My XUV came with MRF tires and I went ahead and got them changed next day after delivery to Michelin Primacy SUV+ same size at Madhus. Wanted a grippier softer compound with silent highway drives and better braking, they are on the pricier side but am extremely happy with the plush ride and the performance and they seem to be worth the price.

Congratulations on your purchase. Hope you have many years of enjoyable use of the car

Can you comment on the following aspects - sorry I have a number of questions as a potential buyer (booked an AWD L and waiting):
1. Which dealer in Bangalore was this?
2. Mileage: Are you a sedate driver for the numbers you shared?
3. A pic or two of the illuminated scuff plates

4. Fit and finish - not consistent and many rough edges: Any specific details for a possible buyer to look out for (say during PDI)
5. What do you mean by the repeated activating profile issue?
6. Re: Dropping the full size spare tyre for a new tyres - cost issue? I'm not sure I understood what you were implying there...

Yeah, the sole 12V socket is in the boot and there are just 3 USB ports (1 USB A type in the front and 2 USB C-type in the rear) - which is too few imo for a car of this price range.

I do have a solution of sorts for your IRVM issue. I got myself a Wolfbox G900 IRVM mounted dashcam and use its rear cam as the auto-dimming IRVM.
Since its just an LCD screen, the glare is never unbearable. I consider this issue fixed when I'll receive my XUV 700. Its pricy, and there is a few milliseconds of lag visible between the camera feed and the real-life, but on the flip side you get much, much wider view than is available from the IRVM and at night, it works worlds better.
The default feed is out-of-the box at the illumination levels as visible to a naked human eye and even you have some idiot with a high beam behind you it no longer makes you squint and so you can actually still see more than whats possible than with the naked eye (and it comes with brightness control - both exposure as well LCD brightness control).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark water

Even I got multiple calls from these scavengers, what I do is I ask them to send the card and then decline to accept the delivery, I guess they would have borne the delivery charges for the failed delivery, its has been three times now, if we do it on a mass scale we might scam the scammers

Thats an excellent idea. While there isn't much, one can do when the source of the leaks aren't known (is it the dealership, is it some person from inside Mahindra's tech team etc), its something to fight back with.

ramradcliff · 8th October 2022, 17:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandegov

Congrats to you too, your avg figures are mind boggling!!

17,22 etc - how do you manage to get these numbers? Could you please share some tips.

3 things:

1. I start at 6.45 to office in HSR layout from Hennur and start back at 3.30 trying to avoid traffic as much as possible

2. I am light footed in the city and heavy footed on the highways. So my mileage in both conditions hover around 17-18

3. Probably more relevant to XUV, I use custom mode religiously with engine and steering in Zoom, ac in eco and brakes in zap. Given that my car is a manual, I tend to maintain low rpm & higher gear combo in the city. Having the power in zoom helps significantly over here as the car can pick up at ~40kmph in 5th and I stay in 4th/5th most of the time.

Solo84 · 8th October 2022, 17:37

I have been plunged into a pathetic experience through the buying process of XUV 700. I made a booking for ax7 automatic diesel luxury pack with Shree Automotive Kolkata. I was allocated chasis number on 21st Sept 2022 and asked to make a full payment of Rs.25.5 lacs within 30th September 2022, which I did immediately. Now the dealer isn't responding to calls, messages or mails. I was told that the vehicle would be available by 8th October's 2022, however as of now I am left in complete darkness with no further communication from the dealer.

I would be very grateful if any of you can share the details of someone from Mahindra to escalate this issue with all the payment details and allocation document. Thank you.

Sandegov · 8th October 2022, 19:04

Quote: