[JeepSomeday]

Originally Posted by sidwadia

Basis your spelled out requirements (rating scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best):
XUV Innova
Comfort 7 8
Safety 8 6 (ESP/4 extra airbags makes the difference)
Reliability 6 8 (XUV is untested long term, but Mahindra
has relatively poorer scores Vs Toyota)
Power 8 6
--- ---
29 28
What tilts the scale in my opinion :
Looks 7 5
Personalilty 8 6 (I wouldnt be caught dead driving an
Innova,no offence - but my choice)
Gizmos 8 5
--- ---
23 16

Total 42 34

Your call completly buddy !
cheers
Sid

Mr. Wadia knows I was in the same dilemma a month before XUV was launched. Infact, I was even contemplating the Sumo Grande (yes yes, I know...).

But the XUV, and Mr. Wadia's gentle yet forceful recommendation did it.

I saw someone place the after sales service for the XUV as a negative. Well I've just had my first experience and trust me, it was superlative. You are treated like you just bought a very premium product, and so is your car. I'm horrified at the prospects, on the other hand, of dealing with the same folks (customer facing and mechanics) that deal with taxi owners of all shapes, sizes and smells that come with the turf with an Innova (no disrespect to individual owners please).

My vote is with the XUV...specially the minute you put the heart (in addition to the mind) into the equation

[sidwadia]

Originally Posted by JeepSomeday

I saw someone place the after sales service for the XUV as a negative. Well I've just had my first experience and trust me, it was superlative. You are treated like you just bought a very premium product, and so is your car.
My vote is with the XUV...specially the minute you put the heart (in addition to the mind) into the equation

My two cents (without offence to anyone) :
- People who havent owned the XUV seem to know more about the lack of reliability and/or long term quality
- Niggles are a part of every newly launched Vehicle (barring a few) : as long as they are not life threatening & can be rectified (free of cost), I dont see a concern
- Service set up : My little exposure is with Suzuki, Honda, Toyota and Tata. My initial interaction with Mahindra , its trying its level best to match up with Toyota (most certainly better than Tata, Suzuki & Honda). Was delighted to see my RM run around to get everything sorted for me.
- Gizmos : I havent faced any issues with the electronics yet
- Braking : Yes, as I touched 2k kms, there was a grinding noise which is being corrected as i type.
- Courtesy & Ethics : Top notch customer service experience.

Folks, My Altis AT has done 60k kms without a fuss & have been very happy with the journey so far. It gave me immense satisfaction to know that I made the right choice of having a car which goes on & on without a fuss !!!!
I am dead sure, the Innova too would give a similar satisfaction (hate the looks though).

BUT..... I dont just want satisfaction anymore, I WANT A SMILE ON MY FACE everytime I look at it, everytime I drive it/floor it & everytime I take it out on the Highway to zip around with confidence..... Voila : XUV fits the bill at this price !!!

Its all about the emotional high you get from driving around in the city or the Highway and NOT getting transported from Point A to point B without a fuss.

In summary, Its not just a battle of the Heart Vs Mind, its really a question of whats your underlying reason for buying a car/SUV.
cheers

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Paras,

Go with the innova. The facelift is here as well. Reliable. Easy to fix if it does breakdown, since it's been around for a while and local mechanics should have worked on it. And resale will always be good. Plus you can claim toyota loyalty discount as well.

If you are being driven around, get the one with captain seats in the back. Nothing to beat that. Plus your 3.5L friend has done some good mods on some innovas as well!

[prmd_cochin]

The only thing going for the Innova is the reliability, rest all factors favour XUV. So this should be a very easy decision to make.

[rrsteer]

Till not so long ago, I was among the worst critics of Toyotas. I was just aghast at the premium they are charging. But a trip to Dalhousie last week gave me some insights on what makes a lot of people swear by Toyotas.

I and my family were on a 3 year old, over a hundred thousand km run, pampered and maintained to be a very well running Tata Safari. And my in-laws were in their first generation Toyota Qualis - 8 years old, 1,80,000 on the odo, maintained but not pampered.

And...to cut the long story short once we reached our common destination in Dalhousie through separate ways, I didn't touch the Safari for the next three days. I just wanted to drive the Qualis. And so smitten I am with Toyota now, -and to the utter disbelief of my family- that, my new year resolution is that my next MUV/SUV will be a Toyota.

So I will advise you to go with Innova. Because it is manufactured by Toyota.

[mempheS.D]

I'd go in for the facelifted fully-loaded Innova. It's tried and tested. And there ain't no better proved workhorse for our roads than the Innova itself.

The XUV is in a league of it's own. A wonderful product from Mahindra indeed and should ideally be compared against the Yeti or so.

With respect to reliability and quality, I'd still bet on the Innova.

[mxx]

Innova is a good vehicle and reliable, but it is very boring to drive. I have driven innova a lot, and I did not feel anything great about it driving it. There is nothing wrong with dynamics, it is a no nonsense vehicle and just like everything it does, it is utilitarian.
I have test driven xuv and I find it much better to drive. the engine, handling etc are way better than innova.
Now, I have only covered the drivers point of view here, because that is one area where I concentrate on when deciding a vehicle.
One obvious drawback in xuv is the third row seats. There is almost no space for luggage if the third row seats are up.

[mjumrani]

XUZ looks brilliant and is feature loaded no doubt, but I have been hearing the horror stories about the car from my friends.
One's turning head laps never came back to the default position after turning. Another's OS keeps crashing and the last one's electricals have failed twice now.

Mahindra seems to have used everything from China's low cost market thus everything is just falling apart and the A.S.S. is having a hard time dealing with the problems. If only they would have had tested the car properly before launching.
Typical Indian mentality, "Abhi kar dete hain launch, baki baad mein dekhenge" (Lets launch it now, we'll look into whichever issues arise later).

On the other hand, Innova is old, aged design. No doubt better when it comes to A.S.S., quality of the material used and comfort, but I for one have, have never been in favour of buying cars which have a major chunk of their sales in the Taxi Department.
Though one could always jazz the car up to their liking after they buy it. XUV would not fall in that category because you never know when it might fail you.

When has the sensible option been as good as the risky one anyways (Typical Heart vs Mind fight)?!

If you are in love with XUV then buy that car because you will never be happy otherwise, i.e., if you buy an Innova in that case, you would always look at an XUV on the road and think "Why the hell did I not buy that car, it looks so awesome :( "

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by JeepSomeday

Well I've just had my first experience and trust me, it was superlative. You are treated like you just bought a very premium product, and so is your car. I'm horrified at the prospects, on the other hand, of dealing with the same folks (customer facing and mechanics) that deal with taxi owners of all shapes, sizes and smells that come with the turf with an Innova (no disrespect to individual owners please).

Just to clear your misconception mate. I have crossed 83k on my Innova in the last 5 years. Recently bought a Altis. Without getting into the pros and cons let me clear your misconception about rubbing shoulders with Taxi operators because you can't be more far away from the truth. Toyota After sales ROCKS. I have never had even the remotest of issues with them so far. They take the least possible time to take in my car, deliver it on time and I have till date never found any dirt/grease marks or anything else wrong with my vehicle on delivery. Once pointed out a small dirt mark on the car while taking delivery and the SA was prompt to straight away offer to give it another wash there and then. No trying to reason with me or blaming it on something else. So let me assure you there is no feeling of dealing with amateur/crude people who are fit to handle only Taxis. BTW I don't think most Taxi Innovas come to toyota for there after sales since it always works out cheaper outside. Thats true for all taxis regardless of the brand.

[rohi_rao]

I have no usage exposure to XUV500 but I can tell you something about being a M&M customer. I am a satisfied Scorpio owner because before I purchased I poured day and night over T-BHP for all things Scorpio/M&M A.S.S. So when we booked and got ours we were "prepared". So when the niggles did start (note that this was 9th year of Scorpio evolution) it never bothered us. What bothered is it took 3 service periods to fix small issues (power windows, door rattle, door switch)
If reliability is high on your list then please choose Innova (my take on Innova is based on my cousin's experience). If reliability is third as it is now on your list then go for XUV500. Not that every thing is right with Innova. While coming from Mysore to Bangalore the AC is on with re-circualtion and when we approach Kengeri falls (Bangalore sewage) the stink gets in When we say reliability I am covering the entire vehicle. If you buy XUV500 after tasting Toyota experience please don't regret you were not sufficiently warned. If you were contemplating between Xylo and Innova the price difference would have been a major factor as well. With XUV500 you are in the same price range
But if I my coffers get filled up, I will give XUV500 an year to sort out all major issues and I will definitely buy one!!

[parsh]

Paras, would you really like a cruiser and cruiser alone. Earlier I said Innova is no less of a cruiser inspite of its low specs. That is still true and to a extent that it does go all the way upto 140 effortlessly and there starts the upward push to get it to 150 and hardly is possible to get it to touch 160, though have done it couple of times.

Now a days, I am taming the Cheetah as it is under my hands for a limited amount of time. And may I say "What A Machine!", yup, a re-assuring well engineered machine, leave aside all the gizmos and frills with it, I am no fan of it. But the machine at its core, man what a gem it is. Would you be satisfied to hear about a effortless, non-wobbly utterly stable runup on Mumbai-Pune Expressway at 180-185 kph and that too at 3500 rpm without the powerhorse puffing, 140/150 seem just peanuts for this powerhorse. I just dont have enough words to express that thrill. Can Innova do that? Impossible. HOWEVER, I do wish M&M take a lesson out of Toyota to make it utmost reliable and provide prompt service.

[sidwadia]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Just to clear your misconception mate. I have crossed 83k on my Innova in the last 5 years. Recently bought a Altis. Without getting into the pros and cons let me clear your misconception about rubbing shoulders with Taxi operators because you can't be more far away from the truth. Toyota After sales ROCKS. I have never had even the remotest of issues with them so far. They take the least possible time to take in my car, deliver it on time and I have till date never found any dirt/grease marks or anything else wrong with my vehicle on delivery. Once pointed out a small dirt mark on the car while taking delivery and the SA was prompt to straight away offer to give it another wash there and then. No trying to reason with me or blaming it on something else. So let me assure you there is no feeling of dealing with amateur/crude people who are fit to handle only Taxis. BTW I don't think most Taxi Innovas come to toyota for there after sales since it always works out cheaper outside. Thats true for all taxis regardless of the brand.

My exprience in the last 2 years :
while Cab Drivers are ALWAYS present at the service station at MGF toyota (Gurgaon), I agree that the service staff at Toyota is faily well trained & courteous to take care of all sorts of customers.

During the second service of my Altis, there was a scratch that the service advisor tried passing off as a minor "scrape" , however upon raising some noise, the senior advisor accepted the fault & offered to re-paint the door. I am happy that they offered to repaint the door , but nonethless wasnt exicited about the fact that they scraped it in the first place.
All I am trying to arrive at - No set-up is perfect, Toyota also has its share of issues, however relatively speaking , its far ahead of others.

Would love to have the Toyota reliability in Mahindra, but would hate to have an uninspiring/insipid driving machine like a toyota Innova (just my personal preference).
cheers

[silverado]

Originally Posted by paras211

In the market for a long distance workhorse.

In the market for a long distance workhorse.
Comfort - Genuine 7 Seater , Captain seat version is Outstanding
Safety - Proven
Reliability - Outstanding, nothing beats Innova here
Power-Should cruise at 140 - With just 200Nm on Tap, cruising will be down to 120.

INNOVA it has to be Paras, nothing like it, take a Poll and INNOVA should win hands down.

My uncle who has been using a INNOVA for last 6 years cant think of buying any other product other than TOYOTA.
Interiors are still good after 6 years and 95K.

XUV is full of Gizmos and feels attractive, but INNOVA is worth every penny since you pay for reliability as you have done for Qualis and Corrolla.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by sidwadia

My exprience in the last 2 years :
while Cab Drivers are ALWAYS present at the service station at MGF toyota (Gurgaon), I agree that the service staff at Toyota is faily well trained & courteous to take care of all sorts of customers.

So going by that logic wouldn't the Xylo's running as Taxi's also come to the same service centre as the XUVs? Or from another angle wouldn't you feel proud sharing the same service centre with a LandCruiser owner?

Your views are respected and appreciated. Both the XUV and the Innova are great cars and have there own merits and demerits. I am just saying that the statement you made regarding rubbing shoulders with Taxi drivers is not true or atleast is a common factor with both Mahindra and Toyota. And anyways should it be a criterion while buying a car? It gives me hints of discrimination.

To the OP: Did you take a TD of both the cars? Time for an update on your decision making process.

[raj_5004]

Originally Posted by mjumrani

One's turning head laps never came back to the default position after turning.

Are you sure your friend is not just bashing the XUV for the heck of it?

XUV has static bending lights as in the VW Passat & not dynamic cornering lights. That is, it has a different set of angled lights apart from the main beam. So there is no question of the head lamps not coming back to the default position after turning, as it simply does not "turn".