Team-BHP - Mahindra XUV 500 - Moondust Silver - Loaded with chrome

I was to collect my beast on last friday itself - 14th Oct 11 . That would have made it first SUV all around, however I gave them a list of accessories which were in transit from Nasik and that really took a week.

On the day of launch in Delhi, seeing a grey W6 on display at one showroom, considering the mass of overexcited crowd spilling over the showroom, in the anticipation of long booking Q, I booked a W8 in black color at Sri Durga Auto in Prashant Vihar

But how I gravitated to Silver W6 from Black W8 is an interesting story

Quite satisfied by my early bird achievement, I happened to visit Gurgaon showroom after office just to have a look if more cars were parked and hoped for a TD. The crowd was maddening there too with seemingly elite gentry swarming around the 4 display vehicles.
There I saw a stock Black W8 and a Silver W6 loaded with chrome and other accessories.
I realized upon seeing an actual Black XUV that the color actually underplayed the curves of the monster which were more pronounced in Silver.
Additionally, amongst the accessories on the Silver W6 parked alongside, it was shod with the optional alloys called "super speed rims". They were the best looking awesome stuff I have ever seen on an SUV and simply enhanced the character and oomph factor of the vehicle. Upon enquiring about replacement of "wide spoke alloys" that come as stock with W8 with the “super speed rims", I could not get a satisfactory answer about price adjustment and I learnt that on W6, opting for them would cost 32K in exchange for stock steel pressed rims.
Secondly the leather on the seats has always been a debatable topic for me owning to too much heat absorption in summers and stone cold in winters. The W6 did not come with it.
Now I started thinking if I go for W6, it would give me choice of alloys sans leather.
W8 vs W6 .
So to start with there were these crucial 2 points of aesthetic value in the W8 – leather and alloys.
The rest of the options like a small color display and hill descent did not seem very inspiring to shell out another 1.2 Lakhs over and above W6.
I also learnt the tryetronics would only work on stock Wide Spoke alloys and not on optional Super Speed Rims.
Hence another item knocked off the list. Now for ESP, I was pretty convinced that in conventional driving ABS +EBD would supposedly do a fine job for me sans ESP and I could live without it. Secondly I was kind of reassured of dropping ESP when I learnt in review by GTO about ESP switch toggle on/off and he had to restart the car to get it default mode in TD. This also convinced me not to go for too many sophisticated options in a new brand for which we would be the initial customers.
Hence saving 1.2 Lakhs in the process I gravitated to W6 in Silver and using the spare amount for accessories to improve the looks department further.
And I had to for the first time forego my fetish for Black color.
( Although I have always had a black vehicle - my current Hyundai Verna SX ABS and the previous Indigo Marina before it - have been all in black color)
So I went black but I turned back (though they say in west - once you go black there is not turning back)

Now the package

SUV 500 W6 Silver On road : 12.70 Lakhs

The acccessories I went for: 78 K

Total 13.48
Discount on accessories .05

Nett 13.43 lakhs

Accessories :
1. Alloy - Super Speed Rims - Killer indeed at 32K
2. Chrome package -
Side body strip, front headlamps, fog lamps, tail lights, chrome handles, rear view mirror covers -12k
3. Body protection package 12k
4. Scuff plates- (wanted illuminated ones at 4k) but stock had not arrived, so settled for silver ones at 1k
5. 3M film 5.1k
6. Roof mounted DVD player ( instant decision after visiting dealer) 13.5k
7. Deziner floor mats 3k

As on today chrome garnishing for headlights, tail lights, boot opener and fog lamps are still awaited.

Driving for the past 3 days have been absolute ecstasy.

My observations much to my delight :

Looks it simply looks like a rich cousin of the Audi Q series ( believe me any picture does not do justice - its least photogenic vehicle I have ever seen )
Visibility and stance is terrific
Ground Clearance is amazing and it simply glides over random stones lying in the middle of service roads ,which otherwise you would fear would rip through underbelly and would otherwise best avoid by meandering around them,
But here you get the quintessential SUV feeling of a male chauvenist conqueror without having to negotiate the straight line cruising, dismissing them as you find yourself passing over them without a clink sound in the floor.

The ride quality - it just glides over roughest road at below 20kmph on bad roads but gets very stiff above that.
On smooth tarmac, it really feels planted and inspires lot of confidence while meandering through traffic. Steering is responsive and has a nice grip to hold. Cornering is the best part wherein the size does not instigate body roll as you would expect from such a ship of a vehicle.
The seating position takes a while to feel home as I have a habit of resting left arm on armrest and right one on door groove in verna. In this case now I have got used to the uber comfortable seats, however left hand has to be kept in little backward extended position to rest the elbow on central armrest, which could have been better had the position been a few inches forward.

Engine :
Is a gem and makes you smile every time you put the foot down, it doesn’t give the turbo surge like my verna but rises linear all the way to the top.
The 3rd gear is well suited for a slow speed traffic cruising and can negotiate lower rpms without knocking which is amazing as in verna`s case I had to ferquently downshift.
However, when accelerator is pressed down in a rush , it picks up with a surge of tremor through the body frame, dunno why?

At any speed between 40-80, engaging cruise control is fun. The best part is the speed up and speed down button below the right thumb , its like playing on an xbox or something without the need to bother your right foot.

The tank was full at Rs 2200 and gulped 54 litres, after 5 litres put in by dealer.

Air-conditioning is damn respectable and indeed very powerful, however I wasn’t aware that if blower is switched off in the 3rd row, the rear AC switch won’t be engaged from instrument console and had to bother my customer care guy at 9 pm and nice of him he guided me around it.

The little improvement areas:

The dead paddle when covered with mat kind of makes it tight between clutch and the paddle itself and my left foot has to nudge around to find some resting space which I find more adequate in my verna.
The brakes are so far so good, but haven’t yet tested at 100+,

The gearing in 1st and 2nd is a bit notchy and can be menacing at times to engage 1st gear and at times reverse too.

The passenger front side door at times gets fidgety to open and the door release lever fails at times and requires central locking and unlocking to get it going. At first I was wondering if they have given a child lock for this front door, which I did not find upon inspecting. Would get it checked on 1st service.

Attention and celebrity appeal:

Ever since Friday morning it has invited a lot of curiosity from onlookers and one Audi Q7 guy walked up to me and had a quick glimpse of interior etc and congratulated and appreciated the quality of interiors and overall look. He could believe that so much is available for 13.4 on road (including accessories worth 78 K - 5k discount)

Another episode Friday afternoon and I swelled out of joy. This 60+ something cash rich farmer (apparently from sale of land) drove besides me in a VIP number Santa Fe. He requested me to roll down window and asked me how much did it cost and I told him 13.43 with accessories, and he had an expression of absolute wonder , frustration and surprise mixed together and he blurted out ` I heard it was for 18Lakhs`and I reassured him that I was telling him the correct price and then he again chuckled -, "I bought this vehicle for 24 Lakhs , I`am selling it tomorrow and getting XUV" and the discussion went on how he would utilize his 'contacts' to manage one despite the booking closed and long ques. Then we waved off goodbye and moved on in bumper to bumper traffic but this gentleman kept following my car catching a glimpse overtaking me from either sides when traffic eased and slowing down to notice the details esp Alloys. I`am sure he ain`t sleeping the way I did not for past 5 nights and then left it to Almighty to get me the delivery done complete with accessories and other formalities.

Iam getting used to my new found celebrity status and Iam loving this adulation, wherein according to the Audi guy in the morning, I`am driving an Audi like vehicle at the price of a top end Scorpio and crowd is getting pulled with all sort of overwhelm from all around and trust me this sort of attention is priceless.

Trust me it a an amazingly under priced vehicle.

So - Iam just driving around and thanking my Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Maharaj Ji for the blessings.

Would update more experiences as I go on long distances the coming week
Cheers