Team-BHP > Team-BHP Reviews > Official New Car Reviews


Reply
  Search this Thread
10,961,434 views
Old 27th April 2022, 22:28   #5416
Distinguished - BHPian
 
RavenAvi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Flying Around
Posts: 6,663
Thanked: 47,505 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Brought our newest steed home on 25th April, Monday night.

Christened him "Icarus".

Mahindra XUV700 Review-b9ffbf53def347dc851adb7825f31644.jpeg

Mahindra XUV700 Review-8d552616ff914a8daff10cca5903abcc.jpeg

Mahindra XUV700 Review-e3d1a13e656040e58e48840020b0c19b.jpeg

Mahindra XUV700 Review-8036f401ecdb4e71abf4411da7bb2e1c.jpeg

Mahindra XUV700 Review-2b1f6e24277b4c05b8a0d0aa37e253bd.jpeg

I am in the middle of a wedding ceremony in our close-knit family and will start to put down pen to paper (of the entire story from initial bookings, running around all over India in a desperate 7OO-hunt, and the huge chase finally ending on 25th April night) after it is over. That will also help me to understand Icarus a lot better.

For now, in the short duration that I have experienced my 7OO through a 90-kms, 1 hour highway drive at night from a city across the state border and back, and 2 days of running all around my home city and nearby areas due to the family wedding, I can say this with full confidence - the 7OO is THE car to drive in all the cars present in the 25-lakh-rupee new car segment today.

The silly grin on my face is back ever since I lost it when I had to ditch my 2018 Ford Ecosport with that lovely 1.5L Dragon engine under it's hood due to my recurring back and left leg problems.

Make no mistake - the 7OO is a real hoot to drive!

One thing is decided - I am going to keep Icarus with me till diesel is wiped out off the face of Mother Earth.

Will be back in May with a full-blown and detailed initial ownership report.

Last edited by RavenAvi : 27th April 2022 at 22:35. Reason: added.
RavenAvi is offline   (44) Thanks
Old 28th April 2022, 11:52   #5417
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Delhi
Posts: 59
Thanked: 94 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

For anyone interested in ceramic/graphene coating or PPF on their new XUV700 I would like to give my feedback on the products I have used and their performance so far. I looked around initially for a couple months at different brands/outlets around NCR and was shocked to see the huge difference in costs and options available in the market now.

I had my first experience with ceramic coating almost 8 years back when I got my Red Creta done at AlwaysDry. I have now sold off that car recently but I was really happy to see the condition of the paint after 8 years. That car would always bring a smile to my face admiring the gloss and shine after all these years. What impressed me most was that the even after 8 years the shine was still much better than some of the much newer red cretas I used to see on the road without any coating. I was more than convinced that the Rs.25K I had spent 8 years back was definitely worth it and also helped with the higher resale value. I was really sad to see the Creta go as I was still in love with that car the same as when I first got the car in early 2015. In that time a kid and 2 huge dogs were added to the family and the space in Creta just wasn't enough for long trips.

Now coming to the XUV700 I had to again get the red one to replace my broken heart and I went with the AX 7 petrol auto. I booked on 1st day with dealer and got my car in first week of Jan. I would have liked the car to be coated immediately after delivery but I had still not finalized the detailer and product I would use this time around. The costs and confusion seem to have tripled in the last 8 years as options were available from Rs.8K to over 1L for various ceramic/graphene/PPF products available from various installers doing work in open air markets to highly sophisticated studios.

After a lot of research and debate with myself I decided that more or less most of the products are very similar if considering the USA/EU brands but what's even more important is the craftmanship and experience of the detailer. After visiting many outlets I finally decided on AutoCatalyst in Okhla and spoke to the owner who seemed very knowledgeable and helpful with all my questions and doubts. Finally I decided to go with PPF on front/rear bumpers, all 4 door sills/handles & side mirrors. The brand of self healing TPU recommended was from Suntek which is made in USA and is owned by the parent company of Llumar. On top of this I got the whole car coated with Adam's Graphene as I found this to be more glossy with almost same properties as Ceramic but with much faster curing time.

The PPF and coating for the whole car was done at total cost of 35K and it baffles me to hear some of the costs mentioned here by other members. The bottles of coating do not cost more than $100 and some outlets are charging absurd rates to recoup their operating/marketing costs and earn huge profits on top of that. I am very happy so far with the job done on my car and I would definitely recommend the installer I used who was very professional and quality of work was very good. I will definitely go back to him for future work I have planned such as getting the roof wrapped in black with vinyl, getting all the chrome elements either wrapped or plasti dipped in gloss black, smoked tail lamps. I might also get the bonnet done in PPF as I noticed stone chip markings in couple places.

Overall I highly recommend getting some sort of work done on factory paint to extend its life be it with wax, coating, ppf, etc. But please look around for best deals and options even if it takes a while to finalize before spending hard earned money on a procedures which are aesthetic and non essential to car ownership.
souvik6 is offline   (4) Thanks
Old 28th April 2022, 12:20   #5418
BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 29
Thanked: 43 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by sriku23 View Post
UPDATE - Anant Cars,

Spoke to Mr Arwin of Anant Cars, It seems they had an internal meeting where it was discussed on 5th April that my car was not billed, But the whole team SA, Finance, Sales Manager all of them choose to keep me in the dark hoping that they would be able to get me the car ( tough to believe ), He did admit that it was Anant car's mistake, and he has requested time to give me an update by Monday about the status. by escalating it.

I don't know how or why or when it would happen. Since they told me the car was in transit and I know they don't keep the car beyond 7 days, I went ahead and borrowed a huge sum of money for down payment from a private lender at exorbitant prices. I humbly suggest fellow BHP'ns not to arrange for the money till the PDI is complete.
UPDATE

Wrf to the ongoing saga, seems my post on Teambhp was noticed by the Mahindra team, and they sought an explanation from Anant cars, post which they expedited the order and as per the update received from Anant cars yesterday, The car has been billed and is in transit, Will be getting my Engine and chassis number today, I have printed out the XUV700 PDI checklist from this forum, will post a detailed PDI video once the car reaches Bangalore yard.(in about 5-7 days as informed)
I am Glad if an Indian Company like Mahindra is taking notice of forums and following thru with issues and there is a process set to escalate the findings. It means the companies are aware and getting used to the idea of dynamic feedback. Being a Industrial/ Product designer myself, I understand the work and effort that goes on from an idea to the real world, and unexpected niggles that crop up when you bring a new idea to life. Having said that I hope the next time they also bring in transparency from production to delivery,( these days possible with implementation of Industry 4.0) for real time monitoring.
Will keep you guys posted ! Thank you Team BHP and BHP'ins
sriku23 is offline   (8) Thanks
Old 28th April 2022, 13:06   #5419
BHPian
 
Tanmay007's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2021
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 324
Thanked: 1,203 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Ordered this cool Mahindra merch from m2all for about ₹500. My previous experience from m2all wasn't very good, the XUV700 keyfob was of terrible quality so I wasn't expecting much from this sipper. But I was pleasantly surprised by it's quality, the construction is metallic and feels solid.

https://www.m2all.com/mahindra-merch...al-sipper.html

Some pics:

Mahindra XUV700 Review-img_3394.jpeg

The lip is well rounded for comfortable sipping

Mahindra XUV700 Review-img_3396.jpeg

Bonus is the customisable name tag. I went with XUV700 as I majorly intent to use it in the car.

Mahindra XUV700 Review-img_3395.jpeg
Tanmay007 is offline   (4) Thanks
Old 28th April 2022, 16:11   #5420
BHPian
 
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: Jaipur
Posts: 139
Thanked: 169 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by souvik6 View Post

The PPF and coating for the whole car was done at total cost of 35K and it baffles me to hear some of the costs mentioned here by other members.
Thanks for the information. This is an amazing cost, I have got PPF dona as you have but have added the tailgate. I am still thinking about ceramic coating. My daughter is coming from USA next month, do you advise I get bottles of Ceramic Coat from there and which ones should I go with. Thanks
sudhirjaipur is offline  
Old 28th April 2022, 16:48   #5421
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Delhi
Posts: 59
Thanked: 94 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by sudhirjaipur View Post
Thanks for the information. This is an amazing cost, I have got PPF dona as you have but have added the tailgate. I am still thinking about ceramic coating. My daughter is coming from USA next month, do you advise I get bottles of Ceramic Coat from there and which ones should I go with. Thanks
Ideally if it was any other item I would definitely suggest to get from USA as I always prefer to do the same, esp. hardware components. But if you do decide to get the coating kit from Amazon US, I would advice to ask around dealers in your city first for the complete labor cost of applying the said coating including all the preparation work pre application which should be done in an enclosed space. If the cost quoted seems reasonable for their known service and reputation then only should you decide to procure the bottles separately.

The product I have used locally can also be found on Amazon US and it is quite highly rated as per reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/Adams-Graphen...08CNMTF8M?th=1

The process of application is not very complex but there are specific techniques to it and it is advisable to get it done by a professional.

The SunTek PPF I have installed also has a layer of coating on top which gives equal gloss shine as the graphene coating. The only major difference I can notice so far with PPF vs Graphene is that the PPF seems to retain more dust.
souvik6 is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 29th April 2022, 09:48   #5422
Newbie
 
Join Date: Mar 2022
Location: bangalore
Posts: 12
Thanked: 67 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

So while fiddling with BT connectivity for my phones, suddenly the infotainment system hung for a bit and then recovered. But i realised later that my connected car features/alexa/esim connectivity all died at that point.Putting it into service mode and off didnt seem to restore it either. After a few days of waiting, i ended up disconnecting the visible terminal of the battery and reconnecting after 1-2 mins and that worked. But its kinda insane as a work around!

Does anyone have a better way to fix such crashes? The fuse for the system seems to be in the internal fuse box, thats even harder to do than removing the battery. Is there no way to reboot the system from the infotainment screen or some other buttom combination ? (like pressing home + volume on phones for eg)

Thanks!
rvrmvaishnavi is offline  
Old 29th April 2022, 12:25   #5423
Newbie
 
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 2
Thanked: Once
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Anyone facing the issue of infotainment display getting frozen now and then? I am facing this issue and especially when i try calling from the screen through connected phone the screen just doesnt load and the recent call log is not loaded. It just gets frozen. Then i click home button and come to home screen.
Artillery_XUV is offline  
Old 29th April 2022, 13:06   #5424
BHPian
 
naveenchhillar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Rohtak-Dehradun
Posts: 169
Thanked: 85 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Friends,
Got a few questions about some accessories that I want to get for my AX5.

1. Floor Mats: Any tried & tested brands for Floor Mats ? If yes, please share their prices and where to buy them from online ?
2. Rear Camera: Asked Dealership about it, but they showed me on how it will be installed. Found it very protruding and I believe it won't last long (can't survive the morning Car Cleaner's cloth)

One more thing that I would like to mention it here about Mileage. My car is very new and I have only done around 600 KMs on it (mostly highways). Yesterday's run was around 250 KMs and mileage was above 16 KMPH. Awesome, isn't it ?
I believe it will be a notch better once first service will be done.
Attached Thumbnails
Mahindra XUV700 Review-whatsapp-image-20220429-12.42.05-pm.jpeg  

naveenchhillar is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 29th April 2022, 21:38   #5425
BHPian
 
woodstock3001's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: Delhi
Posts: 130
Thanked: 330 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by naveenchhillar View Post

Yesterday's run was around 250 KMs and mileage was above 16 KMPH. Awesome, isn't it ?
I believe it will be a notch better once first service will be done.
Given 16 KMPH, I'm assuming it's Diesel. However is it Diesel Auto or Manual ?
woodstock3001 is offline  
Old 29th April 2022, 22:19   #5426
Newbie
 
kab_drive's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 3
Thanked: 27 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

I got my XUV 7OO L AT AWD on 4rth April and have driven it around 1500kms. I won’t talk about the things, at least in detail, which have been covered so many times by other members. I am no expert and still getting accustomed to the car. My observations till now –

Ownership & Driving Experience -

1) Moving from XUV 5OO FWD 2012 – XUV 7OO is a very good upgrade and based on my experience with M&M, feels like it will be a lot more peaceful (fewer trips to ASC) when compared. Interiors are much better and ride quality is far superior. The engine and gearbox are gems which was the case even with 5OO. I don’t like front facia but then most of the time I am driving so not a real problem. The cabin is spacious, but my family finds 2nd row has a little less space when compared with 5OO.
2) ADAS – I use cruise control extensively on highways, and after changing the settings Adaptive Cruise Control behaves more to my liking. It took some time for me to get the hang of ACC. I keep lane assist on all the time. I have a habit of using indicators even when there is no other vehicle close by, so have no issues while changing lanes. Smart pilot behaves as expected. Collision mitigation system is also on, both on highways and within city limits. At 1500 kms, the system alerted me 4 times in total. 3 times when I was changing lanes while navigating 2 slow-moving tracks and I was too close to a truck, the system did apply brakes but with slight steering input car behaved as expected. Lesson learned not to try this maneuver like how I could do this in my 5OO. Another time, a motorcyclist was parked on the left side of a right curve and the system thought I might collide, but since I followed the road system didn’t apply brakes, and the car behaved as expected. Within city limits, I haven’t faced any issues even when it is on. Traffic sign detection, is not very accurate, and don’t intend to rely on it as it is more of a distraction than a help. Rather signs on built-in maps are very accurate. High beam assist I haven’t tried it yet, since it auto turns off the high beam when it locates other cars in another lane even on highways. Driver drowsiness detection, not sure if it really works, after certain hours of drive it reduces a lot even if I stay active within the cabin. This is still fine as I feel this will alert me way before I feel tired and lose focus.
Overall, in my opinion, for a driver like me who leaves a lot of margins and most of the time stays within reasonable speed limits this system is a good addition.
3) Sounds – Yes this needs a special mention, and I am not talking about 12 speaker Sony System. There are way too many alerts in the car. When I drove it out of the dealership within 10 mins I was irritated, I have changed a lot of settings but since there is no way for me to mute certain sounds like indicators, etc. I am not happy right now and hopefully, this option can be introduced through software updates. One scary situation I faced while on a highway drive was with my navigation. I had navigation on just to explore the features. I was not following the map since I knew the road. Suddenly next instruction was so loud (at max level and I got a good taste of 12 speaker system) that I literally jumped out of my seat. I have muted the map, I never used audio clues so not a deal-breaker as of now. Speed alert on 80 is non-intrusive and on 120 it becomes continuous but with music on is not disturbing. Some of the sounds are delayed I believe, for instance, I am cruising suddenly a chime will come with no information on the cluster. It becomes tough to understand why that sound came esp. without getting distracted on a highway. If the warning/alert was read that would have helped.
4) Transition from MT to AT – Effortless, fun to drive both in traffic and climbs. Auto-hold and M mode works very well. The First 2 gear changes are at 2200-2400 RPM, in the manual I would have shifted earlier but I believe the gearbox will need some time to settle and this should get better or I will get used to it. I couldn’t get the hang of it on the downhill drive and ended up using brakes a lot more than I would have liked to, hopefully with little practice and reading I will get it right.
5) Efficiency – Most of my drives are with cruise control so kept it around the 90 kmph mark with the occasional burst of speed. I got an average of 18 kmpl, yes you read it right. This number tallies with the tankful method too. My drive is 30% city and 70% highway. The best I have seen is 21.8 kmpl on the cluster. Now I didn’t expect this esp. given it is AT AWD.
6) ESP light blinking – There have been multiple reports of this at least on the AWD model. I got it thrice after the front wheels went over the speed breaker. But on other countless instances on similar speed breakers, I didn’t see this. Once I felt the loss of power not certain was it really the loss of power or my hesitation in accelerating, something I will observe further. Theoretically, as per the user manual, acceleration is modulated by the ESP system to get the car out of the situation because of which ESP kicked in. My experience could be because of it.
7) AWD experience – I haven’t really tried an off-road trail. But I could drive with ease on a mud trail, and loose gravel with confidence. I haven’t seen torque distribution maxing out. And torque steer is no longer the worry like how it was with 5OO.
8) Visit to service center – I had 1 visit i.e. for the first service at 1000km. I was in and out in less than 2 hrs. In comparison, in my first month of ownership of 5OO, I had multiple trips and at times problems persisted even after the visit.
9) Other interesting bits – This car has a lot of features that are not part of the marketing material, things like Brake Disc Wiping (BDW), etc. Though it also needs a lot of time to read through the user manual, it is important to read through that because it talks a lot about when things won’t work.


Buying experience -
I didn’t drive the car before booking and the first time I drove XUV 7OO was when I took delivery of it. I felt good when I sat inside one during the unveiling and since I had XUV 5OO knew what to expect. TD is a very important aspect but the part which also weighs in a lot for me is a reliable service center and how customer-friendly manufacturer policies are. My relationship with preferred ASC (Chrome Motors) continues from 5OO days and I have no complaints. And M&M has been very responsive to all my queries in last 10 yrs.

I really wanted petrol but AWD offering made me change my decision to diesel. I booked AX7 L AT AWD on 8th Oct and I got a price that was applicable on 7th. The booking process was very smooth for me. I was hoping to get the car delivered before my 5OO turns 10. And I got the delivery date which I would have picked myself i.e. March – April. After the wait, the dealer (AMPL Indiranagar) started the process as per the proposed timeline. The delivery experience was very smooth. Never had to hassle for insurance, accessories, etc. and all questions were answered patiently. I had a date and time preference for PDI, registration, and delivery. Everything was followed and they went out of their way at times to ensure the delivery experience was smooth. I did the PDI, made the payment, and got the car with the preferred number and time i.e. on 4rth April.

Based on my 20 days, I will echo the consensus and I find it a worthy replacement of 5OO. To really enjoy the car and all the features I believe one should read and be very well versed with the behavior of the car/features under given circumstances. Infotainment can be more user-friendly e.g. if you want to change ADAS settings, it needs a lot of clicks to navigate to settings. I am sure there is lot more to the car which is yet to be explored.
kab_drive is offline   (20) Thanks
Old 30th April 2022, 13:22   #5427
BHPian
 
naveenchhillar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Rohtak-Dehradun
Posts: 169
Thanked: 85 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Quote:
Originally Posted by woodstock3001 View Post
Given 16 KMPH, I'm assuming it's Diesel. However is it Diesel Auto or Manual ?
It is a Diesel Automatic.
naveenchhillar is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 30th April 2022, 13:38   #5428
Newbie
 
Sunfyre's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: Chennai
Posts: 5
Thanked: 89 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Dear BHPians,

Finally, happy to share the good news of the delivery of our AX7L D AT AWD Midnight Black XUV700 (our Night Fury). I would like to share my delivery experience here, which came with its share of disappointments and even more surprises. This post was long due, delayed due to few personal things that kept me busy. Pardon me for the long post. I hope this will be a light read for other members.

Search for a new Car:

The search for my next car upgrade started in late 2019 when my previous ride (Hyundai Verna) started showing signs of ageing after crossing 100K kms and maintenance expenses started creeping up. MG Hector was the new smart kid on the block at the time and family was excited about the good looks of the car with all the bells n whistles making it a feature rich luxury car yet budget friendly. Rave reviews and the much talked about customer service led to the booking of the car in Sep 2019.

Soon the exhilaration turned to frustration as no update came from MG on the car delivery even after 6 months (this was just before pandemic and chip shortage issues). Trying to get some updates on my booking through some internal sources in MG, I came to know that a car was already allotted to my booking 2 months prior and I may have been a victim of dealership malpractice. Escalating the issue to higher-ups resulted in getting a response from Mr. Rajeev Chaba himself, offering a quick delivery and some reward points to redeem for my negative experience. Then came the pandemic, lockdowns, the indo-Sino border stand-offs – all of which added to initial disappointments, finally resulted in our decision to drop the MG booking and look for another alternative once pandemic settles down.

Most of our long drives and vacations involve larger family including parents. Hence decided to look for a 7-seater. We had to drop Harrier from the list (even though in my opinion it is still the best looking Indian SUV in its class) for this reason. Was excited to know that Tata was coming out with 7-seater version of the Harrier, and being a fan of old gen Safari, was looking forward to the new avatar - Gravitas re-named to Safari. Took a TD immediately after the launch and even though the overall looks and ride quality was impressive, it was a letdown for me when it came to the interiors, unimpressive infotainment unit, lack of features, removal of 4x4 and the almost nil boot space. In a few months, Hyundai came out with Alcazar, which was not at all impressive for our likes.

That is when Mahindra released the ad on the long-rumoured next gen XUV500 being brought in as XUV700, which promised to disrupt the market, setting new benchmarks. From then on it was a long wait, anticipation mounting with the weekly ads boasting the exciting features till Oct 7th when I was lucky to get my booking in the first 25K lot.

Booking & Pre-delivery:

The MG fiasco had taught me to be prepared for all kinds of dealer tactics during bookings. This time I was not ready to be at the mercy of the dealership and later get into confusions of erroneous email id, double bookings or dealer priorities, all that was reported by many buyers in the media. I also heard that Mahindra would be keeping a tight control on Xuv700 booking priorities and deliveries post THAR delivery delays and confusions. I was happy to see that M&M provided an ‘add to cart’ option and decided that I will go for the online booking.

Took a TD of both petrol and diesel variants when the cars reached the showroom and my pick was diesel automatic. Added AX7L D AT to my cart, as M&M had kept the AWD option and Luxury pack mutually exclusive initially. I was happy to see that just a day before bookings opened, M&M added the new variant option of AWD with Luxury pack. Updated the cart and was all set to complete the booking. Oct 7th 10:40 am - Managed to survive the website crashes and book the car with price protection.

I was happy that the delivery algorithm was kind to me when I got the delivery date of Dec 24th. In the subsequent weeks, I made couple of visits to the dealership – AMPL, OMR-Chennai. Purpose was to socialize and build a rapport with the manager & SA. Meanwhile, I was also active in social media voicing opinions and concerns to Mahindra about the illegal practices related to forced insurance and incidental charges, which resulted in M&M customer service and dealership sales teams calling me to discuss on these grievances. I conveyed my expectations for a trouble free delivery experience which the dealership promised to me.

The delivery dates on the website moved to Jan 15th and to Jan 27th. I got a call from dealership on Jan 31st that my car was allotted. I was told that I should be getting my delivery somewhere around Feb 14th, which seemed to be all the more exciting, considering 14th was valentine’s day!

But unfortunately things did not work as planned. There was no news from M&M or dealer on the dispatch of the car from M&M and it was only on Feb 10th that the car was dispatched from the plant.

PDI and Soft-delivery

Finally I got the call from my SA on Feb 13th that the car had reached the dealer yard. Dealership was open to my condition that I will start the payment process after PDI. My SA was very helpful in making arrangements to pick me up and accompany me to the yard, which was about 30 kms from dealership. The PDI went smooth, thanks to the T-bhp checklist. Odometer showed 35 kms. The only observation was the unnatural panel gap between the hood panel and front grill and the slight downward play when pressing down the hood, which was corrected by the PDI serviceperson.

The down-payment for the car was made on same day and the car loan was also processed the next day. As the initial insurance quoted by dealership was very high, I had a taken an external quote for insurance with the preferred insurance provider associated with the dealership (ICICI Lombard). My final quote after applying NCB from previous car was nearly 66K. Dealership matched my quote with all the covers included and also waived off the incidental charges. They even matched the accessory prices very close to the m2all site prices, with very minor difference. Overall I was a very happy customer.

RTO formalities was planned to start in 2 days after the weekend and the delivery of the car was planned to be done on Feb 21st, which happened to be the last auspicious day of the month. 2 days before the delivery, my SA informed me about certain delay in RTO approvals in getting the car, but I was assured that it will be sorted out quickly. He suggested planning a ‘soft-delivery’ and pooja on 21st but I have to drop the car back at dealership till the license plates are ready. Not anticipating further delays, I agreed to this and we had a small pooja and delivery function. We distributed few gifts to share our happiness with the staff and thanked them for their efforts. Attaching few pics from the day.

Mahindra XUV700 Review-.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-e.jpg

The big disappointment and then how it all worked to bring back the RUSH!! – Thanks to M&M and the dealership AMPL:

Keeping a safe 10 days for completing the RTO formalities, accessory fitment and the PPF application, we planned for a drive from Chennai to our hometown in Kerala in first week of March, to visit our parents and give them a surprise in our Night Fury. We booked a vacation to the Club Mahindra resort in Cherai and everyone was looking forward to it.

The day of the soft-delivery, the dealership manager and SA informed about the delay in getting TC approvals for the AWD variant in Tamilnadu, about which I had posted in my previous post here, which was also confirmed by our fellow member Nazeer_Ahamed. It was expected to be resolved in a week. I was still hopeful of taking the delivery of car before the trip. Meanwhile dealership tried to put the blame on government red tape for the delay, but the fact that the AWD variant deliveries had started a month back, and the fact that this whole issue came to light after taking the full payment, didn’t seem to support that. By then it was already 3 weeks since the vehicle reached the dealership. Finally, realizing that I am not going to get the car in time, I made alternate arrangements for my road trip, borrowing my brother’s car. Very much disappointed and unhappy, I shared my feedback about the whole delay in car delivery with M&M leadership and in my social media forums.

I was immediately contacted by M& M senior manager from sales along with dealership head who acknowledged the problem and the resulting delays and promised to address it at the earliest. Hearing about my travel plans, I was offered an alternate vehicle for proceeding with the trip, which I politely declined. The next day evening, as soon as I had reached Kerala, I got calls from both M&M and dealership that the approvals were received from the RTO for registration. As I had already left Chennai and was planning to be in Kerala for the next 6-7 days, I requested if the car can be delivered to me in Kerala. To my surprise, M&M senior manager immediately patched in the dealership MD and made arrangements for the car to be delivered to me.

What happened next was truly an exhilarating experience. The dealership team got into a conference call with me and got the registration forms prepared and sent it via e-mail. I signed forms and couriered it back to Chennai overnight. The car went for registration the next day. Throughout the day my SA coordinated the formalities and the registration was completed in a day. As I had already made arrangements for PPF with Llumar ppf dealer in Chennai - ‘Always-Dry’, I had to get it finished before the car goes on the highway on a long drive. Again on my request, SA coordinated with the PPF dealer and got the car dropped at the detailing center. Always-Dry team immediately got to work and did a very good job and the car was ready by next day evening. AMPL again helped to pick up the car from detailing shop and after fixing the license plates, a very seasoned driver was assigned to drive the car, accompanied by an AMPL staff.

I was constantly checking the Adrenox app and tracking the car, all the way while it was on its way to us from Chennai to Kerala. I was also checking that the driver is not over speeding and sticking to my instruction to maintain 80-100 km speed and not to be too adventurous. While I understand that I was taking a big risk in letting the car driven long distance and had to provide a written approval to let the driver bring my car, the fact that after all the initial disappointments it would still be possible to make the occasion a great experience for our parents and family, made me go ahead.

The car was brought to the Club Mahindra resorts in Cherai in Kerala, where we were staying with family and a small surprise cake cutting and key handover ceremony was organized by the resort management on request. I had brought my family who was unaware of all this developments to the delivery area and on my cue, the car clean, shiny and decorated, was brought to us. It was worth all the trouble to see the confusion, shock, surprise and joy on the faces of my family when they realized that it was our car that is being brought to us and the function was planned for us. The dealership representative handed over the keys to our parents and it became a much cherished moment for all of us.

Attaching few pics:

Mahindra XUV700 Review-g1blur.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-k.jpg

Return trip to Chennai - First drive in our night fury

After delivering the car to me, AMPL had also arranged with the driver to drive back my brother’s car to Chennai, which I had borrowed for the trip, so that I can make my return trip to Chennai and experience the rush driving our Night Fury. As the car had almost touched 1K kms before our return journey, with help of M&M Hamesha team I got connected with the local M&M dealership manager. I was able to book a quick walk-in to the M&M dealership at Thrissur, Kerala - ERAM Motors. Again the service was very quick and professional and the first service was completed while I waited at the service center (AMPL had already flashed all the software updates released till date before the car was sent and it was the minimal service checks, which was completed in about 3 hours).

Next day morning we started our return journey. It was a truly a thrilling experience driving back to Chennai, enjoying the power of the Diesel AT engine and exploring all the features the car has to offer. During the 10 hour drive we did not feel the fatigue creep in and never felt the need to stop for rest, apart for fuel re-filling and refreshments.

Once back in Chennai, we visited the dealership and thanked the staff personally and distributed sweets among them. It would not be fair If I don’t mention the names of Mr. Hari from M&M, Mr. Rajesh and his team from AMPL – Mr.Kinglsey, Naresh, Mr. Maran & others, who were very accommodative and made sure that my buying experience was rewarding.

While there is an element of risk buying a new car in the market which might come with initial niggles and issues, the pride of owning a brand new model from a reliable Indian manufacturer and the initial attention and excitement that we get from driving a car considered a game changer, made it a worthwhile trade-off for me. Looking forward to more motoring adventures with our Night Fury.

Here are some pics from a recent visit to the Kovalam beach, Chennai.

Mahindra XUV700 Review-img_57071blur.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-20220318_1804061blur.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-img_57161blur.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-img_57891blur.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-20220320_1701231blur.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-20220320_1711291blur.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-20220318_1823101blur.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-img_58491blur.jpg
Mahindra XUV700 Review-img_58411blur.jpg
Sunfyre is offline   (75) Thanks
Old 30th April 2022, 13:38   #5429
BHPian
 
Join Date: Oct 2021
Location: Bengaluru
Posts: 563
Thanked: 1,209 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Regarding diesel vs petrol, if these vehicles are used only for long distance, outstation trips, usage will not be high. A petrol will be sufficient. Personally, i dont like driving SUVs in city
PreludeSH is offline  
Old 30th April 2022, 15:42   #5430
BHPian
 
StepUP!'s Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Pune
Posts: 422
Thanked: 1,322 Times
Re: Mahindra XUV700 Review

Just completed 250kms trip in my XUV7OO petrol automatic. It included 45-50 kms of single lane road, highway and ghat. Fuel efficiency shown on MID is 12.5kmpl, while maximum i saw on highway was 13.5kmpl
Not bad at all considering I am into run-in period with odo standing at 700kms
StepUP! is offline   (6) Thanks
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks