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-   -   Mahindra XUV500 niggles & solutions (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/111190-mahindra-xuv500-niggles-solutions-23.html)

I have gone through all the pages of niggles and also the wonderful compilation of the issues by SDP into excel/image posted here. I love this post as it covers all issues faced by people.

Here is my opinion: On constant niggles by people and some questioning Mahindra on reliability and the niggles taking away the VFM tag, my response is, out of several thousand vehicles manufactured and sold, as per the compilation by SDP, about few hunderd people have reported the problem. This in shere %age is very less. Of course, there could be several who do not have Internet as the medium of reporting or discussing the problems, let us take those as 10x from the ones reported in this forum. Still the %age is negligable. I am not advocating or suggesting this is acceptable, but in my opinion, I would go with this vehicle for whatever niggles and how many ever %age of people have reported this

Here are few questions, the mods can help suggest an appropriate thread as I have only see ICE related, that talks about the touch screen stuff and not others:

1. Since I am thinking of going with W8, wanted to find with W6 users if there was any time they have felt the lack of ESP? Then the W8 users if they have felt that a particular situation was avoided due to ESP kicking in? My main reason for going W8 is ESP, hill decent, alloys and the jazzy TPMS. Otherwise W6 will fit the bill for me with changed alloys.
2. I wanted to know if anyone have fit the luggage carrier and have faced any issue in that. I would like to fit one when I get my XUV. Has the fixing of this deteriorated FE or any problems due to that if someone has faced, that will help me decide as well
3. I have other modifications to do, to put in front windshield sun film from Gareware, getting a custom made matteress that I can use on long drives with both 2nd and 3rd row folded so my kids can sleep (this is the reason for asking luggage carrier) and few more
4. In Chennai that I live, my Verna Diesel Auto climate control, cools the front seats when put on 24 or 25 degrees. It does not cool the rear seat. Will I face similar thing in XUV or with rear AC turned on, the rear two rows will cool to 24 / 25 too?
5. Has anyone tried replacing punctured wheels by removing the spare wheels from the rear? I wanted to know how easy or difficult it is to do that? I am contemplating on purchasing a powered wrench that works on 12v cig lighter in the car with which you can screw or unscrew the bolts and similarly powered jack with up and down function. The seller in Delhi says it will work on vehicle weight upto 2 TON. It costs Rs.10k including shipping and not sure if I should go or not go with this. If this would work, at least to that extent the change of wheels will be easier.

I will go with W8 hoping that the niggles would be resolved in the newer vehicles. Of course, if it crops up, my name will be added to the list by SDP clap:. Lets wait and watch

I am not pointing a finger at you buddy. Please dont take it that way. Infact I really appreciate the hard work you have done to summarize all the niggles and totally agree that you have been unbiased.

For understanding the gadgets, I guess Mahindra provides quite huge user manuals.

I am saying this from experience. I had a Scorpio VLX. Every owner used to complain that how erratic is the cruise control, whereas I never had any issue with it. Then after speaking to many owners, I realized they never knew how it functions... and they cribbed that it is a defect. And surprisingly, even the technicians at the A.S.S. are quite ignorant and they misguide the owners. Again, I am not pin pointing at any owner here nor do I mean any dis-respect to anyone, but I see the same happening here in many cases.

No buddy, I was not referring to some owners who had to go through the ordeal of visiting the A.S.S. every time. They have the reasons to crib.

But I have seen, read and spoke to some owners who do not know the actual functioning of some of the gadgets and then they complain that it is a defect. Many of the defects mentioned above are a result of the same. That is what I feel is wrong.

Of course, there is no denying to the fact that this is a big time goof up by Mahindra.

A fellow TBHPian J. Ravi brought the 2 ton hydraulic jack for his Linea (not a powered one, but it is a manual one) from Reliance Autozone, Bangalore, which costed him just Rs 1816.65. It has a good carry case as well. You can refer message #517 from his ownership thread over here.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post2690057

Let's not guesstimate how many XUV owners are on TBHP and how many have reported issues online. If you like the vehicle and if you can live with the possibility that any or all of the niggles can make an appearance on your own XUV, just go ahead and get it. Let's not try to convince the heart by putting an argument with hypothetical statistics.



I genuinely doubt, the FE would be impacted by adding luggage carrier (unless you are planning to carry another car using the carrier :D)


In a moving vehicle, sleeping on a mattress? Not sure, if it is a workable idea. Unless secured, luggage pieces (and humans) would roll all over the place in the luggage area.


Powered wrench to be carried in the car? :Shockked:
I believe, you are over-engineering the solution for a relatively average problem.


Raj_5004, absolutely no confusions there. In fact, my 'own' opinion is quite similar to yours. But since I am a prospective customer of the XUV, I have left my 'own' opinion (which would definitely be biased) out of the equation for this exercise.

Your post actually raises another very valid point:
What do you call a niggle?
Is there some sense of 'happening in many vehicles' when one uses the term niggle?
Should isolated instances of QC lapses also be categorized as niggles?

Your views please!

The way I looked at the analysis is more like statistical sampling. Of the folks who qualify to be Team-BHP members, if 50% of the owners complain about a problem, then it surely is a problem.

Yes I did.. Its fairly simple and straightforward. I don't think you need any additional accessories.

Hmm, my sole opinion on this would be -

If any niggle is an isolated case in someone's vehicle and Mahindra's A.S.S. was successful in solving it quickly and permanently, then I dont think it is fair enough to call it a niggle. Some minor quality lapse can happen with any car, even if it's a Toyota. For example, wheel alignment.

But even in isolated cases, if the niggle is something serious which can hamper drivability or safety, then it would not be wise to ignore that.

Coming to niggles which have been reported by many owners, such as TPMS error, erratic door locking behaviour, Nippon touch screen issues and grinding noise from brakes... these can actually be called niggles. But then I feel M&M has been very proactive about this and have successfully solved many of these issues permanently. I heard the Nippon received 4 updates, the brake discs were changed to eliminate the grinding noise, even the door locking issue was solved...

But some of the owners are complaining about -

Brakes don't feel effective - dint they notice this during the TD?

Tyre quality (JK/bridgestone for vrrraju) / tyre squeal - All JK tyres are prone to tyre squeal, remember the Maruti Swift L and V variants?

Rust formation on wheels/around brakedisks - Cmon, this happens with my neighbour's Benz as well. Even in my Punto. Its absolutely normal!

Gear shifting not smooth - Again, this should have been noticed in the TD itself. Still Mahindra has changed the oil I guess.

Clutch Throwback & clutch hardness - Many people complain about this from day one. I guess most of them are sedan owners. I have driven the first batch of XUVs and did not feel so. But again, even this one should have been noticed in the test drive.

Engine response is sluggish - Cmon, what do you expect in this price range now? A 4.0 litre V12?

Vehicle failed to start - A friend one told me that he had done something wrong (dont exactly remember what) which activated the immobilizer and his XUV did not start... Is this a niggle? Yes, even he called the Mahindra A.S.S. guys.

AC giving hot air (inconsistently)/ Not working at all - I had a Punto guy complaining about the same. Turned out he did not know how to properly operate the ACC.

Outside smell/air seeping in even in the internal air-circulation mode - Happens with my Innova too.

AC gives out a foul oudor when u turn on the car after it had not been used for over 2-3 hrs - Happens with my Punto too.

Cruise-Control (not engaging/switching off on its own) - A lot has been discussed about this before. Again, with my experience of the Scorpio VLX and reading what some owners have posted here, I feel there is NO DEFECT with the cruise control. Its just that some one needs to properly understand how it works.

Triangular dark spot in RHS headlight - Isnt this mandatory?

DRL illumination too feeble - Yes, because they are not DRLs. They are simply parking lights (not to be confused with hazard lights) which is designed to be seen in low light conditions only. Mahindra has never marketed them as DRLs.

Low mileage (11kmpl on mostly highway usage) / wildly fluctuating mileage - Since when is low mileage a niggle? My Punto gives me 11 kmpl now since I drive at average speeds of 3-5 kmph daily with AC at full blast. Can I call it a niggle?

Start/Stop not working - Similar to Scorpio, many owners did not realize that there are some pre-requisite conditions to be met for the start stop to activate. I remember the same happened with the Passat too when I used to work in VW.

Airbag light glowing - A simple cut in the wire can be the reason. Happened in my Toyota.

ABS light glowing - Same as above.

Dirt getting caught in numerous crevices - What can I say about this?

Wiper speed (Initially fast, then slow) - Isnt it designed to work this way? Some owners can confirm. We call it speed sensitive wipers. Has this in my Punto too. Now we call a feature as a niggle?

I again repeat, I dont mean any disrespect to any owners but I do feel some are just scouting for issues in the XUV when things are actually working fine. I MAY BE WRONG. IF I AM, I TAKE BACK MY WORDS. So no heated debates please!

:thumbs up

Few months back I was driving on a two way highway in MP. It was a very good straight road and I was enjoying a speed of around 120-125 as it was 2 o'clock in the night and there was no traffic at all. The road was turning towards the left about 30 digress so I did not bother to lower my speed. As soon as I approached that turn i saw the road turned 45 degrees towards the right. It took me by surprise and I have to maneuver a 2 ton mammoth 75 digress at a speed of 100+. That's when the ESP kicked in and I was able to see it's light on the dial. I would have over steered a lot towards right because I was in a panic situation. I was able to feel the systematic breaking that was being applied on the right side wheels and then on the left and then again on the right. It felt as if God has laid his hands to balance out the car from both sides :) XUV just adjusted itself and remained on the track. That was a life saver experience of the ESP.
Regarding the effectiveness of the AC on the middle row I would say its just OK. BUT if you restrict the airflow of the front 4 vents to 60% the cooling at the back becomes excellent.
I was also planning to buy an electric jack for XUV but my recent experience when I went to get the wheels crossed made me to change my mind. It's not that difficult to lift the car, what's more difficult is to get the wheel off from the hub. The tires are huge and some how they glued to the hub in such a way that the guy took good 10-15 minutes to get the tyres off from the hub. So either buy a heavy hammer along the jack or completely forget the concept of replacing the tyre if you are alone. This seems to be a problem in my verna too but as the tyres are small it's manageable with a little extra effort.

Yes, I have purchased one too, that is hydraulic one and is 2Ton capable. However, that is short of expectation as with the extended screw type think + the normal one up, at times the tyre of my Verna is still on the ground and not up. So, after I use this hydraulic one, I use the manual jack [it becomes now easier to operate the manual jack] to lift the tyre and replace. But you know, nothing like pressing a button to lift and drop :uncontrol.

Oops!, I am caught :D, I will ensure my wife does not see this

Not really, but was looking at getting the kids to sleep well lying instead of sitting.

I am not sure about sleeping in the matteress in moving vehicle, but was trying to get the idea from the sleeper coach bus. Then about luggage, that is why the luggage carrier above the vehicle :D.

mmmm, well not sure about over-engineering, but the trouble of climbing over the wrench to unscrew and back again to tighten them after replacing can be avoided if we had the powered one [probably not called as wrench, but something like the screw opening gun that people in tyre shop have]

In fact, one of the times I was trying to unscrew to replace the tyres, I fainted and my lucky star, my wife was with me and I was near habitable area and a quick soda + water helped me back to normal. In the last 38 months I own verna, I have switched the tyres 22 times. Purchased about 8 new tyres due to the tyres getting rendered unsealable. About 50% of the time the cluprit was a 1 inch screw and once it was an old two-wheeler key that struck the tyres. So any helpful stuff to do this of easy, I would love it. With the tyre size changing, I would prefer it to be easier than ever before. I am not complaining, but unfortunately the road that I use is likethat and I cant help.

I love this. Let me go through the exercise of 'wish' vs 'must have' before I decide with W8. This piece of info will goo into 'must have' for me lol:.
mmm, it is matter of adjustment.... fine, that is perfectly ok agree:.
Oh! ok, will keep one.

Aptly put, if I may say so.
The only real issues are-
1. Brakepad issue - Now partially resolved
2. Infotainment issues - Now resolved with update 4 ?
3. Gear lever slipping out of 1st gear - Havent heard the complaint recently
4. Gearbox issue - Partially solved with new oil
5. Brakepad issue - Resolved with a new set ?

Balance are minor niggles, owner to owner perception varies.

Took a ride in a XUV in the rear and faced a peculiar problem. When strapped up, I found the seat belt going over my neck and not the shoulder. The problem being, for me, the seat belt "fixture" was too high. That might be an issue since in case of any eventuality, I would not want the belt to tighten around my neck!

Is it only me or can someone else verify this issue? I could not find any height adjustment mechanism in the center seat for the seat belts.

True.

But point # 1 and # 5 are the same?!

Impressed!

Rarely met someone who belts up in the rear seat.

The oem jack does its job effectively -raise vehicle off the ground! - the problem as Rotitbagai mentions is a fact! At the workshop - while replacing my tyres- it took 3 able bodies several kicks/ bangs and finally hammering to get the wheel off!.
Personally I think it is because of the rusting of the drum - which holds on to the centre axle and also the area where the studs/bolts hold. Earlier when the vehicle was fairly new - Single handedly I changed the tyre, using the OEM equipment to jack up remove the bolts and lower the spare from its place.
I have since had them to sand paper the brake drum area- so lets see when the time comes to replace a wheel. I just Hope it does not happen in the middle of some highway!

Well to some this would not be constitute a niggle - but then to each his own!!
Then again have a Scorpio for over ten years! been through two gypsies, fitted various size tyres/rims- and never ever faced a niggle!

Heavy/big wheels, takes effort to remove etc can hardly be called niggle by any stretch of imagination. However, on a lighter note, considering those unverified news of wheels coming off from the vehicles M&M must have decided to glue them to the hub with feviquick. ;)

Little choice when you are not the owner, and the owner's wife is also with us!!lol:
On a more serious note, any truth in my observations?

I am very sorry, I can really comment on that part as I tried the rear seat on a stationary vehicle only. During the test drives, I dint budge from the driver's seat.