22nd March 2025, 23:09
| #11521 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: hyderabad
Posts: 34
Thanked: 39 Times
| Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
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24th March 2025, 11:40
| #11522 |
| Newbie Join Date: May 2020 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 18
Thanked: 3 Times
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24th March 2025, 13:43
| #11523 |
| Newbie Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 21
Thanked: 24 Times
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24th March 2025, 17:00
| #11524 |
| Newbie Join Date: Oct 2023 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 3
Thanked: 27 Times
| It has been a long time since I have been associated as a reader with this wonderful community. When I became a member, I could not post for long with personal exigencies keeping me occupied. I am submitting my post and hope to continue contributing to the ocean of enthusiasts and wonderful Team-BHP members as well as readers. Upgrading with a new car: It would be my second upgrade and 3rd car. The journey so far was from Wagon-R VXi to i20 elite Asta (O), both petrol models. Yes, the buying decisions were influenced by earnings in terms of budget. Family was not supportive of the upgrade immediately, delaying the decision, and things started taking positive shapes once my better half gave a nod to go ahead.  She needed a car that has good space, is comfortable, and has premium interiors. I needed a car for long trips and a better driving experience. The Elite i20 had been wonderful, which I drove 1000+ km in a day on several occasions. Somewhere I would rather not part ways with her (i20), she had been wonderful throughout drives and bankable across 8 years. However, an upgrade was a must now, and we must move on. The sedan was ruled out by my wife, and the pitch was for a small family of 3; our current car serves the purpose. The 11-year-old kid was a surprise element; I caught his interest in cars a few months back, and he started advocating as well. We discussed it, and the SUV segment was common. We finally shortlisted the XUV700 AX7-L, Hyundai Tucson, Jeep Meridian, Innova Crysta, and Toyota Hycross. Again, budget! Wife was adamant on the sub-30 lakhs range while I kept persuading for the sub-40 lakhs range. Test Drives and Dealer Experience: One thing was common across dealers: if you are not booking, let’s talk about price and when you are willing to book. As soon as you tell us we are deciding, the treatment was just for window shopping. Toyota was an exception; Lakozy Toyota at Malad West was really in for professional treatment of customers. I was pleasantly surprised from my entry to exit the showroom, which included a test drive as well. I appreciate it and would give them 10/10 for their handling of potential customers. Rest all dealers, in short, failed! Plain and simple, they seemed disinterested. Hyundai was unexpectedly bad. One Hyundai dealer showed me the Alcazar, as he didn’t have a Tucson available currently, and interestingly, the car was lying in a corner with 1 cm of dust across. I even snapped who shows such a car to customers!  He replied, It will get cleaned; this is going for delivery tomorrow. I was shocked. The other Hyundai showroom was not interested in the Tucson and kept pushing for the Alcazar top variant.Mahindra dealers, I don’t even want to get started. So much so that I shot a complaint to Mahindra's CEO. I was now running out of patience, and the dilemma was once I purchased through them, these dealers couldn’t be trusted with service given the current experience at showrooms. Toyota was suddenly on top of the list. The test drive experience was good. Hycross certainly has a lot of space (10/10) and interiors (7/10), and I am not a fan of the color combinations offered on the ZX(O). As soon as I started the vehicle, I was like, really, pleasantly surprised—NO NOISE, and the vehicle had started in EV mode. The test drive provided a clear picture. It is good for city drives and short drives up to 200 km range but not for long drives given I will be the sole driver. While switching between electric and petrol and vice versa was awesome. I had my doubts about the power demanded by the driver, and also it made a sound as if it were extracting a lot of power from the engine while pressing the accelerator to speed or overtake. Fuel efficiency seemed good, dealer experience was good, reliability of the vehicle and brand was good, and there was lots of space (Mumbaikars love space immediately). Grey areas: tire profile, captain seats in the second row, acceleration and power (important on long drives), and finally 2.7 lakhs of insurance and accessories where the dealer was not ready to move an inch. And did I mention the long waiting period of 8-12 months? It seemed that this deal wouldn’t work now with captain seats and the price tag; it would be hard to convince my better half. The waiting period was something that I was not ready for anyway. So, I dropped it. Hyundai dealers not keen on selling Tucson made me leave with 2 options: XUV700 AX7-L and Jeep Meridian. It might seem like comparing apples to oranges now, and the obnoxious pricing of the Jeep Meridian made things simpler. A difference of 10 lakhs on the ex-showroom price made my arguments too weak, and my wife had her way. XUV700 AX7-L it is. XUV700 test drive: I just walked in NBS Andheri and took a test drive. The sound of the diesel engine (the sound of the engine tells you a lot; it’s like listening to a heartbeat). Release of brake and she rolls, effortlessly. Thanks to Andheri traffic, the test drive was more than fruitful. Other than usual DEF concerns, I could only find all checks on. Powerful engine, smooth drive, premium interiors (I am not elaborating as we have tons of posts here), and steering through traffic and U-turns made it crystal clear. This is the one! The AWD option was preferred; however, I settled for 2WD as it was available, and off-roading was never done, and I am not sure if I will ever do it. 2.2 L engine kept adrenaline rush compared to the current 1.2 L VTVT petrol. The 3rd-row seat is good enough for kids, and we do not need it, so why bother? Buying and BH Series: Which dealer now? Speaking to someone in the office, I found out that NBS Mahindra is a subsidiary of M&M. I made my way to the Kandivali-W showroom; all discussions were smooth, and the quote was issued. I asked for the BH-series number, and discussions went a little out of the way with the demand for 4 transfer letters to be furnished. I told them it is not possible to furnish transfer letters, that too 4 of them. He was adamant, and I told them, Thank you! The BH Series is an interesting topic, and with dealers not much interested in it, I was again looking for a dealer. Office work didn’t help get things moving faster either. I got in touch with NBS Andheri, from where I received a call earlier, and I didn’t visit as it was far (read: because of Mumbai traffic) from home and office. I called upon and the sales executive told me the BH series would be done. I was struggling to understand why the BH series is so difficult when I can furnish documents. The quote was finalized, and I ended up in NBS Andheri-W without informing them. Much better experience and professional 9/10. The test drive is done, and I spoke to the person handling registration and found out that Mumbai and Thane have different ways of handling BH series applications. Then I may need to go personally when called upon at Thane RTO. I agreed. Given I had issues with state registration while I changed states for work and RTO experience, well, less said is better. I needed the BH series. Booking done. Booked the vehicle with 2025 manufacturing, and I told them I would need the VIN. IN. Discussions went fast after they realized I know a few things about cars. Offered the vehicle, and I got the VIN (noted down). Oh, that was fast! They were not having a vehicle, but it appeared, I guess. Things moved faster after, and once DO was issued by the bank, registration was the next thing. Given reactions from different dealers, I had some doubts on the BH series, and somewhere, I was making myself ready to pay for the MH series. More than cash, it was nightmarish experiences at RTOs in a couple of states. I got a call and notice of 2 hours to reach Thane RTO. I was shocked after I found out that RTO is somewhere near the central jail, and more than the distance, I need to cross Mumbai's terrible traffic to reach that area. Pulled out all skills to reach through the metro and taxi combo while collecting Govt. ID en route to RTO. When you have a nightmarish past of n number of visits to RTO, every second was tough waiting for the person to meet me. He meets and walks me down to the RTO officer and makes me stand in queue. More frustration and tests of patience. At least 4 times I was corrected by the peon on how I should stand and why I might be obstructing the view of the RTO officer’s door. I assured him that I won’t barge in without his permission. Once I was in, I faced a barrage of questions, including where I had lived, my permanent address, and my current residence. If I am a tenant here, which documents of address proof? I mentioned the rent agreement, and to my astonishment, he threw documents in front of me and asked if there were no such documents. Again, patience. I explained to him that the dealer had taken a lot of documents and he had kept other documents; I felt like being grilled. Not used to such scrutiny, I waited. He put tick marks on the address proof and one big tick on the cover paper (brown paper cover) and said OK. I was surprised; that’s it. I mean NO signature and just a tick mark. However, I was happy to have gotten the approval. Barring this experience, Thane RTO is super fast. Number issued the same evening, and RC delivered within a week. Wow, relieved! Delivery: We arrived on time, and the car was ready, and they were preparing for the delivery ceremony. Accessories were asked for and fitted from the showroom (side steps, screen guard, 7D mat, and mud flaps) at approx. Rs. 34000. That was ok considering we asked for 11 AM delivery. The BH number plate was fixed, the inspection was done once, and I was happy to see the odometer at 70 km and Bridgestone EP850 235/60 R18 103V tires. I had planned a Michelin upgrade if they would have given MRF (difference Rs. 6500-7500 * 4 tires) as an upgrade cost. With Bridgestone, I skipped the upgrade. Wife did Pooja, we were given a small Ganapati idol, and we handed over sweet packets. I asked them to take all the polythene off the car seats. Got keys, and we drove back. Great feeling and wonderful experience. NBS Andheri is 10/10 rated. Everyone has different experiences, but I would recommend this anytime, irrespective of distance from your residence, for Mumbaikars. Drive to Pune: Other than driving on the coastal road of Mumbai, we went to Pune for darshan and came back. 500+ km done, and automatic driving is bliss. Powerful engine and higher gear shifting make the engine smoother, usually beyond the 30 km/hr mark. Powerful and no lag experienced. No body roll was experienced. And mileage seems good at 16 kmpl on highways (with slow patches near Lonavala taking 30-odd minutes for 1 km). And then, the usual Mahindra stuff popped up: blacked-out screens after I filled the tank up at the fuel pump and started the engine. I slowly rolled out to one corner and switched off the engine. Started after 30 seconds; screens lit up (for years my IT team has been telling me, Restart your laptop). Comfortable and wonderful experience. It was good to have the Start/Stop feature disable option available. Although AC was on when the engine got switched off, I didn’t understand much of this facility (I don’t know if this is even worth it) from repeated off and on. Braking experience was good, and ADAS works well; however, I let control with myself rather than allowing the vehicle to do emergency braking. Service and 1000 KM update: Finally, time for 1000 km service updates. I was waiting for getting service done. Two main reasons: let’s see how the service levels are. I was confident and comfortable with Hyundai (better than Maruti), and now I'm on to my 3rd company experience. I also wanted to get an SD card for video recording fitted in it for video recording. Bought a 32 GB SanDisk card and kept it handy. When I started the app to book service, whoa, there it is! Long waiting. Not used to this, Hyundai used to pull us to get service done. Now, the tables have turned; I need to be in the queue to get service appointments. And, interestingly, it is more than 10 days of wait time for me (NBS Goregaon). A nearby experience with another dealer didn’t go well (I asked them to fit an SD card with a prior appointment). However, when I went there for fitment, I understood we had compatibility issues. Details not mentioned. Went for service with NBS Goregaon and added 4th and 5th year service warranty. Although it burnt a hole in my pocket, I was satisfied with getting some peace with it. Changed scuff plates on 4 doors. Asked him to put in the SD card. All done and car delivered on time. Thanks to Mumbai officials, who have made digging a common sight across, within 100 meters out of the showroom, the car was all dust. I noticed engine rev improved (or am I thinking?). The car was smooth, and I am loving it more. Now, I am more accustomed to a taller driving stance. Although I will confess, I see more gadgets on the infotainment screen than I really need. Thanks for reading the experience. Pictures: A few pictures of (sharing) joy with the team-bhp family.              Last edited by Aditya : 24th March 2025 at 17:02. |
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25th March 2025, 09:26
| #11525 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
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25th March 2025, 12:12
| #11526 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: Panchkula
Posts: 63
Thanked: 183 Times
| Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
Can you please share details on the experience from i20? How much is XUV700 better. I.e. if the cost is like ~4x, is the experience also 4x. I'm specifically looking for comparison on driving fatigue, ride comfort etc. Also feedback on difference in handling and confidence of driving a much bigger vehicle. Did you feel (or missed) that i20 was more chuckable and nimble, or you it wasn't that much? | |
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25th March 2025, 12:21
| #11527 |
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25th March 2025, 12:49
| #11528 | |
| Newbie Join Date: May 2020 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 18
Thanked: 3 Times
| Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
I understand it would not be a flat space. | |
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25th March 2025, 17:10
| #11529 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2022 Location: WB
Posts: 228
Thanked: 229 Times
| Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
If you do decide to go for it, do share your experience. Thanks! | |
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25th March 2025, 17:20
| #11530 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
Apart from that one probable issue is squeaks after seats are fixed back. Personally, feel the risks outweigh the rewards. | |
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25th March 2025, 21:33
| #11531 | ||
| Distinguished - BHPian | Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
Quote:
 The risk/ rewards - it's personal. When folded, it does not form flatbed like in 5OO. The third row seats in 7OO when folded leave a lot of gaps towards second row, corners and they create a bump too - kind of flat but not exactly flat. If you were hoping to sleep peacefully with second and third row folded, you might feel discomfort. if the third row is never in use and always stays folded (like in my case), removing them is a good idea to make car slightly light weight as well as some more space! | ||
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25th March 2025, 21:38
| #11532 | |
| Newbie Join Date: Oct 2023 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 3
Thanked: 27 Times
| Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
We all car enthusiasts are happy with our choices and the car we have. And I was happy; the decision to upgrade came from a few major things. First was manual transmission along with a low-powered engine (read, especially highway drives, and consider a 600+ Samruddhi Mahamarg stretch). i20 was definitely good, and it was power, which was a dampener. When I used to drive at a constant 80–120 range, it was good. However, higher speeds did give slight discomforts (it came without rear disc brakes as well). I always believed that whatever choice of car we make, we must take cars with safety, and that means, if possible, all disc brakes (especially if you are driving long routes) and 6 airbags. Set seatbelts as mandatory before releasing brake pedals. Space was comfortable considering 3 members. I would say for family of 4 consider this very comfortable and 3rd row folded with luggage packed for long trips. I won’t take credits away from i20.  However, the XUV700 is much better and beats the i20 in all checkboxes. It’s bigger, and the space is good enough for 2 adults to relax in the second row. Ride quality is excellent, and you drive the XUV700 just like that—it’s effortless and comfortable handling it (automatic variant). I drove this through the Lonavala ghats, Mumbai traffic, and sea links, and averaging 120 km/h on expressways, it never lets you down. The engine pumps enough power to make this heavy car look lighter, and the controls are very good. Handling curves and ghats (with free-moving traffic) was a confidence booster for both passengers and the driver. I asked my wife after crossing the ghat; did she feel as we went through ghats and corners? Her response was encouraging. She was comfortable and told that she didn’t feel body roll. And I am mentioning this as in I20, she would immediately prompt to slow down and take extra precautions. High on confidence driving the XUV700, you also get better road presence with surprising ease of handling in traffic. No drive fatigue experienced, and you feel like a pilot in the cabin (driver seat). Also, I never felt that Mahindra had cut engine output power or in other words this should have got 2.8 ltrs engine (bigger one). It fits perfectly. 120 kmph is maximum we are allowed anyway  I miss I20, as I was attached for 8 long years, and then you live only once. The car is a second home, and an upgrade is mandatory. Hope this response helps with my version and take on the XUV700 upgrade from the i20. Thanks. Last edited by bblost : 25th March 2025 at 22:26. Reason: removed the third smiley. | |
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26th March 2025, 13:04
| #11533 | |
| Newbie Join Date: Oct 2023 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 3
Thanked: 27 Times
| Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
I would suggest you set a budget (upper limit) and see if this 3% actually breaches that threshold limit. For clarity budget here is nothing but willingness to spend on particular product (here, XUV700). If you are willing to wait for the launch will be one of important factors as well. | |
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26th March 2025, 15:01
| #11534 | |
| Newbie Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 21
Thanked: 24 Times
| Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
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26th March 2025, 15:38
| #11535 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2020 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,475
Thanked: 1,933 Times
| Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review Quote:
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