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My First Teambhp Post: My Journey to the XUV700

Greetings fellow Teambhp members! I'm excited to share my recent car-buying experience with all of you.

History - I've been a proud owner of a Hyundai i20 Petrol Magna O 2013 model, and it has served me well. However, as I approached the 10-year mark, I felt the urge to consider an upgrade, both emotionally and practically. Initially, I began exploring my options in 2021, but the pandemic and remote work situation led me to postpone the idea itself.

I was seriously considering the Seltos and Creta due to rave reviews from friends and online forums. But then, the XUV700 launch caught my attention. Although I was hesitant about the size, considering my initial usage would be 60% city driving and 40% highway, I couldn't shake off the appeal of the XUV700. Unfortunately, I missed the initial booking offer, and the long waiting period discouraged me from proceeding.

Fast forward to December 2022, I finally exploring and test-driving cars, beginning with the Seltos and Creta. While they were great experience, they didn't feel like a substantial upgrade from my i20. I wanted something more exciting. I turned my attention to the newly launched XUV700 and Safari. The XUV700's test drive was a revelation - the engine's power and overall performance won me over. However, the diesel engine option (both Safari and Xuv700) didn't impress me due to the engine noise and my preference for petrol cars over the years.

As I discussed my options at home, my daughter's wish for a panoramic sunroof narrowed down the choices. After careful consideration, I booked the XUV700 in January 2023, with an initial expected delivery in October 2023.

Months passed, and I got busy with work and other matters. Six months later, when I checked the order status, I was thrilled to find the delivery date showing as December 2022. However, the thought of handling such a big car made me contemplate further. This led me to explore the Skoda Slavia, which seemed like a great deal with its smooth ride, five-year warranty, and a price below 22 lakhs. Despite the attractive features, the second-row seating space didn't quite meet my expectations, and it lacked a panoramic sunroof. So, I had to pass on the Slavia and return to considering the Safari and XUV700.

I took test drive of Safari , Xuv700 , Creta and Seltos - multiple times but ended up with same results, weighing more and more towards Xuv700.

By August 2022, the XUV700's expected delivery was showing as November 2022. This is when my struggle with the dealer, Sireesh Yelahanka, Bangalore began. Their lack of responsiveness and customer service left much to be desired. Despite consistent follow-ups and heated conversations, I kept receiving standard responses, and my delivery date kept getting pushed again and again - Nov to Dec 2022, then to Jan , Feb and finally to March 2023. I was told by the Head of Sales - Sireesh auto that this is due to BS6.2 kicking in, and they have limited deliveries since beginning of the year. Well, This was another tactic to pacify customer and I kept chasing them .

Finally, in April, my XUV700 AT P AX7 was allocated, and I took delivery towards end of April. The dealership experience after car allocation was far superior and to be honest was another level.

Since then, I've had a wonderful experience with the car, having driven around 2,000 KM, including two long drives. I look forward to sharing my ownership review with all of you soon ,alongside accessories and dashcam purchase.

Thank you, Teambhp community, for providing me with a platform to share my journey!

'FOMO' can set in with the market flooded with feature loaded cars and every OEM trying to outdo others. I don't think that one can time the market for a 'perfect car'. My suggestion would be to list down your must and nice to have feautres and also for how long you are willing to wait. Somewhere you have to draw a line and take the plunge because new models and feautres will keep coming but you can't wait forever. Better to have one in the hand than two in the bush :)

Don't solely rely on dealer assurances, especially when it comes to AXUV700 delivery. Dealers often go beyond their limits and make exaggerated commitments just to meet their monthly quotas. Instead, focus on prioritizing the critical aspects like drivability, suspension, gearbox, and engine performance (NVH). Other features should be considered secondary. Create a list of non-negotiable features that you won't compromise on. For me, it was a smooth petrol engine, panoramic sunroof, and long-term ownership. While the XUV700 may lack ventilated seats, it becomes easier to overlook minor drawbacks when you're driving a car you truly love.

If you find yourself still uncertain, consider postponing your delivery dates when the dealer calls for allotment. This way, you'll have more time in case newer models are launched. Just like the mobile industry, new car models with new features will keep coming. Sometimes, even smaller variants may offer better features than the expensive ones. The key is to buy what you genuinely like and ignore the noise surrounding the latest trends.

I know that's why I put 'perfect' in quotes. I understand that I have to choose my compromises. The thing is, it's not just the FOMO contributing to this thought process; I've driven (much cheaper cars) with features that I loved like rearview collision warning (in the ORVM), ventilated seats & tinted glasses (not really an option here) and I feel like while they are not super necessary I'd miss them after I've settled with the car. I think I'll just keep my booking and just wait patiently.

That seems a good advice. I was/am skeptical about the (very confident) assurance from the dealer about the delivery dates. But I guess, I'll keep my booking and wait for some more news, rumors or announcements. Thanks :thumbs up

Just got done with the latest software update for my XUV700. A few updates:

1. The drive mode selection is instant now and the system also seems snappier.
2. As reported by other members, have lost my previous settings but it didn't take time to restore the same manually.
3. The cameras (Front+Rear+Left+Right) are now super responsive and there is little to no lag.
4. With regards to the Mappl update, since I don't use the onboard navigation so not much of a loss there.
5. Will report other observations as I have an 80 km drive back home from Service centre.

So a few days later I got a call from my Service Advisor that both the wiring harnesses had arrived (one of them directly from the factory) and I could now send my car over for the repairs. It took them a day or two extra for the insurance approval and they later sent the car back to me in perfect working order. The total invoice was of 13,797 with a payable amount of around 2422 only. Rest was covered under cashless claim. Later got follow up calls from the SVC, Mahindra Customer Care and even the Customer Care Manager to confirm is everything was in order!

Overall quite satisfied with the experience.


All ready and shining!

In the mean time, I had ordered a few cans of 3M Rodent Repellent and have given the critical areas a generous coating to prevent future attacks. Fingers crossed!

My AX7L Petrol Automatic is sparsely driven. Yesterday, I drove it after 10 days for 35 kms. 3 times during the drive, for 2-3 seconds at low speeds, I experienced loss of power. Has anybody faced a similar problem? Of course, I will take it to the service centre in a few days, and during that time, I will drive it more frequently to see if it recurs.

Hey, my XUV700 is having a dual channel dashcam installed which is powered from the 3rd row 12V socket.

I had bought Thinkware Q800 Pro dual channel dashcam some 4+ years ago, and was using it in my old car Honda Amaze 1st gen. It is a no nonsense dashcam and does its job beautifully. Never had any issues. With the XUV700, instead of buying another one I decided to see if the current wire length would be good or not. Fortunately it turned out that the existing wires were good enough to cover the distance from the 3rd row seat 12V socket to the front windshield and then another wire connecting the rear camera at the back.

I simply hid the wiring in rubber door sils wherever available, and in some places under / behind the plastic panels. Use the prying tools to push the wire safely behind the panels without scratches. No issues whatsoever in the last 2-3 months.

Hope this is helpful.

Is this a 2021 or early 2022 model? They had an issue where petrol was getting into the eval canister. This was fixed later and older cars had a recall to install a 'T block'. For more details, you can lookup for 'canister' in this thread.

October 2022 as per the VIN. Giving it to the service centre today. Will update here

My 20K Car Ownership Journey: A Journey of Memories and Milestones

Sorry for the long gap here, but I'm back and intend to keep coming back. I got busy with a new role in life and just took some time off here. Apologies to everyone.

Introduction:
We booked my XUV on the 2nd day of the booking and received the vehicle on 18th Jul 2022. It’s been a year, and we have completed a milestone that we decided before taking the delivery of the vehicle – the 20K in a year milestone. Mine is an AX7L AWD version with an added weight of stock alloys and Yokohama tyres as the 5th tyre. I replaced my motorbike type 5th spare wheel as soon as I got my spare OEM alloys. Let me delve deeper into the car and the roads we traveled.

Additional info:
I keep all ADAS features on, and I have learned to drive with this. While it took some time, now I can drive with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) even in busy Bengaluru traffic. We have a pet, and we are a family of 4, excluding the pet. This is the max we can travel in the 7-seater car. A little extra space behind the 3rd row would have helped, or some temporary carrier option over the sunroof.

The Initial Attraction:
The ADAS and expected 5-star safety rating (when we booked the car, it had not received the rating) were the primary attractions. As I mentioned, I always kept all safety features ON, and it took some time to learn, but it was worth it. Moving up from a CVT-Baleno to TC-XUV700 took no time to learn things. The additional power punch added to the driving comfort compared to my smaller hatchback. Now, the best part of all the experience and features we got is that it gave enough confidence to my wife, who finally started driving after learning almost 8 years ago in Mumbai. Now she takes the car on all the bad roads of Bengaluru, and I don’t have to worry about them!

Adventures on the Road:
I would like to thank the fuel pumps here, which have washrooms and are cleanly maintained across our trips. Also, Cafe Coffee Day (while they are scarce as we go north), where we get our standard coffee, and pets are generally allowed.

Last year, we took 4 major long drives:

• Bengaluru - Hyderabad - 1300 km: Superb Highway and Nehru Ring Road of Hyderabad is truly amazing out of all roads driven to date. A 120km speed limit and a total length of 155km of this ring road is simply majestic.
• Bengaluru - Rourkela (Via Vishakapatnam) - Hazaribagh - 4200 km: Reached Rourkela in 2 days and drove 1000+ km on day 1 without any fatigue. Traveled through the eastern coastal belt mostly till Berhampur (now Brahmapur, Odisha). Followed by state highways and sometimes forest shortcuts. Throughout the journey, there was just one stretch which had a 100km speed limit.
• Bengaluru - Rourkela (Via Nagpur) - 4750 km: Again reached Rourkela in 2 days and drove 1000+ km on day 1 without any fatigue. Traveled mostly on lonely roads here with little places to stop. Throughout the journey, many stretches had a 100km speed limit.
• Bengaluru - Dhanuhkodi - Kanyakumari - Vagamon - Mysore - 2000 km: This was a fun summer trip where we decided to see the sands, the hill, and the zoo on the same trip.

Maintaining the Beauty:
After the delivery, I had taken my car to https://www.krithicarcare.com/ for a full-body PPF (excluding the top) and an internal ceramic coating. This has helped me maintain the factory look in the best possible way to date. Being a lazy cleaner, I think that’s the best way. On another hand, they suggested using - a Jopasu Car Duster, Sonax High Concentrate Gloss Shampoo along with 1 mug of clean water. A very simple process that turned out to be extremely sufficient to bring back the shine in the case of light-mild dirt.

Two niggles (cricket terminology): I hit a cut tree trunk while reversing, and on another occasion, I had to apply sudden brake and a 2-wheeler behind just did not apply brakes even when he was sufficiently away like almost 30 meters. Sadly, this cracked the ABS rear bumper at the same place, which I fixed with 3 black electrical tape. This has been holding on for a year now, and I think it can go on for more time.

One more silly issue is that the automation of my driver-side window malfunctioned. To fix this, the whole rubber runner and the motor had to be replaced. This was done on 2 separate service center visits. Now I have an occasional rattling sound coming from the driver's door, which I do not intend to fix. I have learned to live with this, apart from many other things, and I truly believe if I can live with it, I will not get it fixed.

Service History:
Total Count of service station visits: 8

1. 250 km: SD Card Installation (this should have been part of the package). Paid labor of 150 INR + 700 for SD card.
2. 1715 km: Had to make an emergency trip to Hyderabad, so the first 1k check was delayed. I kept the service station in the loop while delaying this.
3. 2860 km: TPMS installation for the 5th tyre and new alloy. No additional labor cost.
4. 8518 km: 10K service preponed, as I was going home on a week-long 4k+ km trip. DEF and Engine Oil changes were the major ones. First complaint of car drifting left. The tyres were rotated, and they said it is fixed. I was traveling the next day and hence did not check (my bad). Overall 6.5K paid.
5. 15444 km: The car was locked by traffic cops in a non-parking zone and unknowingly moved ahead to realize we can’t. It broke the inner splash shield and the mudguard of the front RH wheel. Replacement charges 2K plus labor. I got DEF top up done and overall paid 4.3K. The left drift was still there, so the SC rotated the tyres again and reduced pressure to 31 from 33. I was not fully convinced, but the occasional pull was still there. I then started blaming the roads to take my mind off it.
6. 15631 km: Driver-side runner and motor replaced for free. This was done to fix the malfunctioning of the window operation. By this time, I had given up on the left pull as I said I learned to live with it.
7. 18536 km: Got the rear sequential indicator after shouting on Twitter. The whole 4 rear lights got changed.
8. 20323 km: Got 20 K service done. Brake pads are still good for another 5K km. I drive a lot on ACC within the city and the highway. This was a little unexpected as I had read that a lot of folks are complaining about this quick change. Overall paid 4.6K as I changed engine oil again, oil filter, carbon filter and DEF topup. I have got MAPPLS update, which I will talk about separately.

Milestones and Mileage:
With all this, the car gives a happy 12 km per liter in the city and a very satisfying 16 km on the highway. While I have tried various diesel types, the variation in per km drive is not economically better for the premium version of diesel from both HP and Shell. I can't really comment on what happens inside the engine with the premium fuel type.

The car has crossed 20K in its first year, and we hope to reach more in this second year.

Lessons Learned and Habits Developed:

• Since my wife and I started driving, we set the rear mirror in a common position and agreed not to fiddle with it.
• I use my left hand to control the driver door switches as they cannot be reached with the right hand.
• The panoramic sunroof is more used at night for me.
• I’m spoiled by remote ignition; whenever I can, I use it. VI sim capability is still a challenge even in the city.
• My wife and I use different keys and use the profile settings to our needs.
• The accumulation of brake dust is quite high and needs constant cleaning.
• Piano black finish is an overkill. It's extremely difficult to keep it shiny and clean. It now has lot of scratches and doest not look pleasant any more.

Wishlist:

• Drive mode change through Alexa. Or the same button could have been configured to multiple press to select your preferred drive mode. It's not a good experience to press the button near the knee and then go to the touchscreen and change it.
• Alexa should control all windows separately with little more functionality. We open the window at various levels like half open or completely open.
• ORVM (plus the internal RVM, in the future) could have been linked to the profile setting so that one does not have to realign it frequently. Also, it would have been linked to driver seat memory option.
• The UI of ADRENOX could have been designed better to reduce the number of clicks. For example, to reach navigation, you need to touch the screen more than 3 times. Why Mahindra?
• The armrest just slips forward always. Ok, I can live with that, but then the bottle holders are just not reachable anymore.
• The car should have a little more space to accommodate stuff after third row. I have to leave out 1 person always to accommodate on a 7-day trip.
• We had asked Mahindra guys from the very beginning that they should take back the things which we changed from Day 0 - life scuff plate setup and spare tyre. A reverse logistic on this should be designed.
• The quality of 360 camera could have been a little better, faster and crisp.
• The keyless entry should also be present on co-passengar side door. At present it's only on driver side.

The Future Together:
I plan to hold on to my XUV until a good EV or hybrid version becomes available in the market. Additionally, I've been contemplating replacing my Baleno with a car that possesses the body of a Skoda, a hybrid engine like that of Toyota, and features ADAS. My budget for this dream car is 15L. However, it seems that such a car does not yet exist in the market today.

At the end I would like to add that over time, the car brings a sense of safety in you, and the confidence to drive on narrow roads as well grows on you. Upgrading from a Baleno took some time adjusting to the size of the beast, and on a lot of occasions, it felt like now a bike or an auto will scratch, but luckily, it hasn't.

Some Memories:

The first trip to Hyderbad.


Our Ambassador and XUV. My profile pic. Bherikudar, Simdega and Jharkhand.


My Mom's native - Birkera near Rourkela.


Shopping Grocery for Sister's Wedding in Simdega, Jharkhand.


Salangabahal and Sangh River Bridge. Few unchartered roads in an around Rourkela, Odisha.


The best road till date. Look at the mileage with the fully loaded car. Nehru Ring Road, Hyderabad.


Dandiganahalli, North Bengaluru, this is 1.5 hour drive from our place where we regularly go for a PICNIC.


The Masterpiece pic from Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu.


The last place on mainland India - Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu.


One of the highest points in South India - Conquered, Vagamon, Kerala.


The place near the ZOO, Mysore, Karnataka.

@BendO_Rookie: Nice Post. The extra information from an owner's perspective always helps in making an informed choice for the long run.

Buying an expensive SUV, which by the way has a greater purpose to keep us safe and comfortable during long journerys in rough and unexplored terrains and grographical regions, is a daunting task I'd say. The least we can expect is a dependable build quality, fit-finish and reliable after-sales support. Unfortunately, every second review here states one or the other thing about the earlier mentioned parameters that would cause worry.

Mahindra has done a fabulous job in scaling up and I hope the pace only gets expedited as our country's norms about the qualitative aspects of automobile sales keep getting reviewed and reworked time and again.

M&M XUV700 is a terrific beast, happy hunting!
Cheers.

Regarding the car pulling to the left:-

Go to an outside alignment centre, preferably one that has a good reputation.
Be present yourself when they do the alignment. Pay particular attention to the toe-in values and correction. Both the total toe-in and individual rh & lh toe-in figures must be adjusted within specs.
Also note the values for castor and camber.
Also note the similar values for the rear suspension. I think the XUV700 rear suspension also has an adjustment for toe-in. Check your manual.

And if the bloke manages to correct your issue do give him some extra "baksheesh".

Car pulling to the left.

Please get the alignment done outside. I was experiencing same in my XUV 500. Krithi car care also have Hunter machine for alignment. KP has done fabulous job. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the feedback:thumbs up, I have plans to visit the place next month. I will update here post that.

BTW…
When I had gone during initial PPF days they were shifting to a new place and things were being set up. Its a fairly big place with lot of vintage stuff and work going on.