[debuda]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Looks like some nice figures. What is the total tank capacity & how much have you exhausted so far? Or otherwise, what is the DTE shown as of now?

What speeds did you adhere to? Did you use cruise control as well? Read multiple threads which confirmed cruise control mode fetching much better figures on different cars.

Tank capacity is 70 litres. I started with an almost full tank at Jamshepur and have travelled 885 km. The DTE is now showing 220 km. I'm going to wait till the low fuel warning before filling fuel.

I was doing 70-100 kmph most of the time. It's only while driving on the 85 km long Allahabad Bypass that the XUV exhilarated me with the sweet ting-ting alarm (about 8-9 times!).

Originally Posted by vikram_d

Did the Bluetooth problem you mentioned during the PDI get sorted out? Most Bluetooth issues that I have seen are due to Bluetooth version incompatibilities between the handset and the head unit.

During the PDI, the Bluetooth connectivity with my Nokia was not configured correctly. After bringing the car home, I read the manual and did the configuration properly. There has been no problem since. Every time I switch on the ignition, the car automatically pairs up with my Nokia in no time.

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Its good to see a proactive Mahindra dealership and service center and I am sure you will ensure an all smiles service experience going forward as time passes. Perhaps dealerships in smaller cities tend be more proactive and attentive towards their customers than the ones in bigger cities. Where is this Mahindra dealership located? Are there other Mahindra dealerships in Jamshedpur.

Yes I was brought up in Jamshedpur and did my schooling there. However I couldn't place the road where you took your XUV. It looked to me some rural area on the outskirts. I drove my Vento last February to Jamshedpur and once I entered Jharkhand from West Bengal I constantly wished I had an SUV and constantly cursed Madhu Koda and his government . It seems the roads leading to Jamshedpur still remain in the same dilapidated condition. Wishing you good luck and a safe ride on your long road trip. We hope to see a nice travelogue once you are back.

1. My Mahindra dealership called Utkal Autocoach Ltd (A.K.A. Alfa Motors) is in Adityapur.
   
2. The road where I took my XUV earlier is towards Patamda (the far side of Dimna Lake).
   
3. The road from Chichira Border (W.B. / Jharkhand) to Jamshedpur (about 100 km) is horrible at present. Yes, we have to thank the great 'leaders' of Jharkhand for this sorry state of affairs.

Originally Posted by tachobells

Dear debuda, please get a pair of sidesteps for your wonderful car.
The stool idea is interesting and a cost saver too, but on the long run it won't be very convenient. And you might end up looking stupid in front of the crowd. Just a friendly advice, no offence meant.

My wife bought the mini-stool only for short-term use for her mother who was visiting us (she usually stays in Kolkata). My wife and I don't feel (yet) any need for foot steps for ourselves.

[samarjitdhar]

Originally Posted by debuda

The road where I took my XUV earlier is towards Patamda (the far side of Dimna Lake).

No wonder that road looked familiar. On my return trip from Jamshedpur I used that route going through Patamda. I wrote about it in my travelogue here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-traveled.html. This route was better than the other road based approaches to Jamshedpur currently . The XUV is I think the perfect vehicle if you want to take road trips from Jamshedpur.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by debuda

Tank capacity is 70 litres. I started with an almost full tank at Jamshepur and have travelled 885 km. The DTE is now showing 220 km. I'm going to wait till the low fuel warning before filling fuel.

This means you should get around 16kmpl.

Originally Posted by debuda

I was doing 70-100 kmph most of the time. It's only while driving on the 85 km long Allahabad Bypass that the XUV exhilarated me with the sweet ting-ting alarm (about 8-9 times!).

This is pretty slow and sedate and your average speed in that case should be around 70kmph while on the move.

Have you reached Delhi? What was the duration? How many hours of rest? What was the total fuel efficiency?

[pramod]

Originally Posted by debuda

Though colour is a matter of personal choice, I'd recommend silver

Booked Silver W6 @ Sireesh Auto Bangalore today.

Have not got any system generated booking confirmation yet.

Anything else that i should follow up at this juncture wrt the booking done?

[debuda]

ODO : 1700 KM

Reached Delhi today on the 4th day after leaving Jamshedpur. This was our (my wife and I) maiden long drive (1350 km) on the XUV. Having read every word that was ever penned on the XUV Niggles thread on TBHP, I did have some apprehensions. That is one of the reasons why I took my XUV to the Service Centre for a thorough check-up prior to the trip even though it had clocked only 350 km.

But both my wife (as front seat passenger) and I (as driver) were fully satisfied with the XUV’s performance and comfort on the highways. It was amply clear that this SUV is a totally different animal compared to our earlier hatchbacks and sedans. And for all the good reasons.

Our itinerary

Though I have done Jamshedpur to Kanpur (~ 900 km) in one day in the past in my Swift VDi, it is not commensurate with my easy-going lifestyle. It becomes strenuous for a single driver and the biggest problem is that a few hours of driving after dark is involved which IMHO is quite avoidable in India.

So this time I did the drive to Kanpur over 2 days – Jampot to Varanasi (540 km) on Day-1 and a very leisurely Varanasi to Kanpur (340 km) on Day-2. Day-3 was spent relaxing at Kanpur with relatives. Kanpur to Delhi (460 km) was done on Day-4 (today), again quite a leisurely drive, thanks to our early start (5 AM) from Kanpur and 180 km of the fantastic Yamuna Expressway.

I took the NH-33 from Jamshedpur to Barhi, which was quite satisfactory barring some short broken stretches near Jamshedpur. 4-laning has been completed between Ranchi and Ramgarh and this is a nice stretch. From Barhi (260 km from Jampot) to Agra it is GQ (NH-2) all along which is superb. From Agra to Greater Noida I took the Yamuna Expressway which is the best expressway I have seen in India.

Ride quality and suspension : The ride quality over mildly broken / potholed stretches is excellent as long as one maintains speeds over 30 kmph or so. This was unthinkable in my earlier cars. On badly broken stretches one needs to slow down but the suspension inspires confidence. It feels strong. I deliberately drove the XUV over some big bumps and craters without slowing down and though the car (and the 2 of us inside) jumped a bit, the suspension functioned well and there was hardly any Scorpio-like body roll.

Handling / steering: Despite its bulk and 2 tonne weight, the XUV handles amazingly in a car-like manner. The power steering feels just right. The turning radius is acceptably small. I don’t usually attempt sharp cornering at high-speeds and so can’t comment on it, but whatever cornering I did felt good.

Transmission : It is simply great. The gear shifts are butter-smooth and the slight notchiness one feels while downshifting to 2nd and 1st is acceptable. One can shift from any gear to any gear without going through intermediate ones. On the highways, I usually shifted to 6th directly from 3rd or 4th. The least used gear was 5th, I almost never used it.

Engine : Simply superb. I’m not a pedal-to-metal kind of driver, plus I am particular about good running-in, so I didn’t test the engine to its limits. But I did take it to about 3000 RPM (after completing 1000 km on the ODO) and found the engine wonderful throughout the RPM range from 1000 to 3000. Even in 6th gear it pulls nicely from 1000 RPM as long as one is gentle with acceleration. On the 85 km long Allahabad Bypass I couldn’t help zipping a bit because that stretch passes through wilderness and bicycles / hand-carts / rikshas / auto-rikshas / cattle / tractors / pedestrians are conspicuous by their absence. I heard the sweet ting-ting alarm in my XUV 7-8 times during this stretch! Arguably, this is the most wonderful sound one can hear in the XUV!

It’s a gem of an engine -- quiet, responsive, fuel-efficient and very refined.

Mileage : “Kitna deti hai” – a question every Indian motorist supposedly likes to ask. I’m no exception and wasn’t disappointed in this respect either. I reset the Fuel Average in the DIS before starting this trip and it gradually increased to 18 kmpl well before I reached Kanpur. Apparently, the DIS does not indicate average mileage figures below 9 and above 18.

During the drive from Kanpur to Delhi, the average gradually decreased from 18 to 17.2, and I could not really understand why. I was driving in an ambient temp. between 14 to 20 deg C, the AC compressor was rarely used and speed rarely exceeded 120 kmph. On the 180 km long Yamuna Expressway, I set the cruise control at 100 kmph and this should have improved the average, but didn’t.

I started from Jamshedpur with a full tank and added only 11 lit of diesel during the trip. The 1350 km trip ended at Delhi with DTE showing 12 km. Assuming that about 6 lit of fuel is remaining in the tank, the actual mileage works out to about 18 kmpl. This is simply awesome by any standards. Of course, my general driving style is such that I get above average mileage in any car. But getting 18 kmpl from a 2.2 litre / 140 BHP / 2 tonne XUV-500 was way beyond my wildest dreams! We discuss a lot here about what M&M have got wrong, but they certainly have got their act right in many aspects of the XUV.

Tyre temperature on concrete roads : The GQ is mostly concrete and so is the Yamuna Expressway. Whenever I did higher speeds for half an hour or more, I pulled over and assessed the tyre temp. by touching. I always found my Bridgestone Duelers acceptably lukewarm. Of course, the ambient is now low and things could be quite different in hot weather.

The difference that the sun can make was best illustrated when I checked my tyre temperatures after an exhilarating (7-8 ting-tings!) drive on the Allahabad Bypass. My LHS tyre sidewalls (both front and rear) were noticeably warmer than the RHS ones. The reason – the sun was shining on the left side!

One must remember that if one is stopping the car (to check tyre temp. or anything else) soon after a high speed drive, the engine should not be switched off but allowed to idle for a few minutes. At high powers certain parts like the turbocharger become very hot and if the engine is suddenly switched off, the stagnant oil in the turbo bearings can actually burn.

Check out some pics I took during this trip :


To get this angle / perspective, I selected a spot on NH-2 where the road was much higher than the surrounding terrain. I went down to the adjacent fields to get this view.




We spent a night at B.H.U. (Varanasi).




The highly enjoyable Allahabad Bypass on NH-2 (GQ)




Mandatory 1000 km of running-in completed on NH-2. My Garmin GPS navigator visible.





An average of 18 kmpl -- awesome!!




I love starting early in the morning -- no crowds, and cold air which engines love.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by debuda

ODO : 1700 KM

Reached Delhi today on the 4th day after leaving Jamshedpur. This was our (my wife and I) maiden long drive (1350 km) on the XUV. It was amply clear that this SUV is a totally different animal compared to our earlier hatchbacks and sedans. And for all the good reasons.

Fantastic write up Debuda & congratulations on completing your first (truly) long & eventful trip. You would be the one to get the blame squarely, if ever I go for the XUV as my next vehicle in future (even though my pocket doesn't permit me in current circumstances). Your thread is making me fall on love with this vehicle. Keep on writing & adding those lively pictures to this thread.

[debuda]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

No wonder that road looked familiar. On my return trip from Jamshedpur I used that route going through Patamda. I wrote about it in my travelogue here http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-traveled.html. This route was better than the other road based approaches to Jamshedpur currently . The XUV is I think the perfect vehicle if you want to take road trips from Jamshedpur.

I went through your wonderful travelogue just now. Very nicely written.

To tell you the truth, one of the main reasons for my buying the XUV is the pathetic condition of many of Jharkhand's roads. On the broken roads of Jharkhand, full of gigantic craters which are impossible to completely avoid, you have to take quick decisions on which craters to choose!

My wife and I often drive to Calcutta from Jampot. The 120 km stretch of NH33 from Jampot to Chichira border (J'khand / W.B. border) is repaired / resurfaced every 3-4 years or so. The road remains good for about a year and then deteriorates. Right now, this stretch is at its nadir because last repairs were 4 years ago. Talks of 4-laning have been going on for quite sometime but the bidding / contracting process of the State Govt. keeps hitting roadblocks due to issues of corruption as well as Maoist problems. Pending finalization of the 4-laning project, State Govt. has given up even on patch repairs and the stretch to Bahragora has become almost unmotorable. I would think many times before driving on this stretch even in my XUV.

The last time we made a trip to Calcutta and back, we chose a route through Orissa : Jampot - Rairangpur - Bisoi - Jharpokharia - Jamshola border (Orissa / J'khand) - Bahragora. This route is nice but doubles the distance between Jamshedpur and Bahragora (200 km instead of 100 km on NH33). Also, one still has to suffer 20 km of broken roads from Jamshola border to Chichira border. But after entering W.B. the roads are decent and after hitting the superb Golden Quadrilateral at Kharagpur, I always forget my sorrows!

[SDP]

Debuda, superb report. I was sort of expecting a super report . Hope you remember my response post in the niggles thread when you had expressed apprehensions about the XUV5OO.

I am NOT saying that XUV5OO and M&M are off the hook. The vehicle still needs to perform superlatively and inspire a lot of real happy stories (like yours) over a sustained period of time and avoid stepping onto any mines like the power-steering leakage fiasco from recent (4-5 month old) batches.

A very happy Diwali to you and wish you a fun return journey!

PS: I did not understand one part of your report where you mentioned the DTE was 12 and you guessed the remaining fuel as 5-6 liters. Does the DTE show distance-till-reserve? I need to refer back to my owner's manual.

[TaureanBull]

Originally Posted by debuda

ODO : 1700 KM

[/b]
Attachment 1015195

Lovely pic.

What is this tring-trong sound? Can you elaborate on that?

A very inspiring write up and comprehensive too!

[SDP]

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

Lovely pic.

What is this tring-trong sound? Can you elaborate on that?

A very inspiring write up and comprehensive too!

The XUV gives out a warning alarm when the speed is above 150kmph.

Not really a safe speed given the realities of Indian highways. In fact, in Indian context, the speed-alarm should be around 120kmph. But that's OT here.

[rohitbagai]

Originally Posted by SDP

The XUV gives out a warning alarm when the speed is above 150kmph.

Not really a safe speed given the realities of Indian highways. In fact, in Indian context, the speed-alarm should be around 120kmph. But that's OT here.

Scorpio has it at 100/120kmph and trust me its very irritating, especially when kids are sleeping on those long drives.

[asdfvinay]

Originally Posted by rohitbagai

Scorpio has it at 100/120kmph and trust me its very irritating, especially when kids are sleeping on those long drives.

Is this only for the Scorpio MHawks or there on CRDe too? I have a CRDe SLX, I never crossed 120 on it and would like to know if such thing exists on my Scorpio.

[debuda]

Originally Posted by SDP

PS: I did not understand one part of your report where you mentioned the DTE was 12 and you guessed the remaining fuel as 5-6 liters. Does the DTE show distance-till-reserve? I need to refer back to my owner's manual.

I had assumed that when DTE shows zero, the fuel tank is not really empty but has a reserve of 5 litres or so. My earlier mileage calculations were based on this assumption. However, it now seems to me that my assumption was wrong.

As I reported earlier, I started for Delhi with an almost full tank, filled 11 litres en route and reached Delhi (1350 km) with DTE showing only 12 km. Subsequently, as I started for a filling station in Delhi, the DTE dropped to zero after about 1 km and I reached the filling station after another 1 km (DTE stays at zero and does not go into negative territory!). I told the pump attendant to fill the tank to overflowing level. I had expected that around 65 litres would go in, but actually 71 litres went in! The following conclusions may be drawn from this :

1. The filling station could be giving less fuel. But considering that it was a large HP filling station in the Nation's Capital, let us assume that they actually pumped 71 litres into my car.
   
2. Probably the DTE shows the actual picture without keeping any reserve up its sleeve. In that case, my tank was probably almost empty when I reached the filling station. Apart from 70 litres in the tank, about 1 litre can come in the filling pipe.
   
3. It is also possible that the tank capacity is not exactly 70 litres, but a bit more.
   
4. Assuming that my tank was almost empty at the time of filling in Delhi, the revised fuel consumption works out to about 16.8 kmpl over 1350 km. This is not very different from the figure of 17.2 kmpl being shown by the car's DIS.

Another interesting thing is that even after pumping in 71 litres of fuel, the DTE is now showing 770 km. How come? Why is the DIS calculating the DTE assuming an average of only 11 kmpl? Should it not (logically) calculate it based on the latest average (17.2 kmpl)?

I am quite sure that the DTE will actually increase for sometime as I drive. I had seen this phenomenon earlier when I started from Jamshedpur.

Clearly, we need to better understand the following :

1. Actual tank capacity.
   
2. Whether DTE has some reserve.
   
3. The system logic used in calculating DTE and the reliability of the displayed DTE and Average figures.

I shall keep experimenting (may be one day I'll drive till I run out of gas!) and share my findings. I request other XUV owners to share their findings as well. A word of caution here : If going dangerously close to DTE=0, keep a 5-lit can of diesel and a funnel (can be easily made by cutting a mineral water plastic bottle) in the XUV. Also, you must know how the fuel system has to be primed if it runs dry (XUV does not have a fuel pump inside the tank).


There is a small hand priming pump in the engine compartment. If your fuel system runs dry, fill fuel in the tank and open the 10 mm plug on the front side of the priming pump (10 mm spanner available in tool kit). Thereafter keep pressing the spring-loaded top cap of the priming pump to suck fuel out of the tank till it starts coming out of the 10 mm plug. Now tighten the plug back in place, prime some more, and start the car.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by debuda

There is a small hand priming pump in the engine compartment. If your fuel system runs dry, fill fuel in the tank and open the 10 mm plug on the front side of the priming pump (10 mm spanner available in tool kit). Thereafter keep pressing the spring-loaded top cap of the priming pump to suck fuel out of the tank till it starts coming out of the 10 mm plug. Now tighten the plug back in place, prime some more, and start the car.
Attachment 1015631

I believe this is to release air, right?

Debuda, I would advise against going this close as far as fuel level goes. It heats & damages the fuel pump as far as I know. Please correct me if I am wrong.

You may calculate the fuel economy on tankful to tankful method with auto cut off or till the point fuel oozes out.

The fuel lines, injectors take a bit of fuel as well. Usually if the tank capacity is 45ltrs. the said Car takes in anything between 47-50ltrs. Heavily depending on how much the said dispenser is set at. Most manipulate a bit.

Your thread is the thread for XUV. Please do create a new thread about your travelogue.

A bit about DTE can be read here
Thanks

[TaureanBull]

Originally Posted by debuda

Another interesting thing is that even after pumping in 71 litres of fuel, the DTE is now showing 770 km. How come? Why is the DIS calculating the DTE assuming an average of only 11 kmpl? Should it not (logically) calculate it based on the latest average (17.2 kmpl)?
[*]The system logic used in calculating DTE and the reliability of the displayed DTE and Average figures.

AFAIK the DIS will calculate the DTE as per your latest running characteristics. It sounds more logical too. To elaborate further, when you move in a bumper to bumper traffic your DTE should be less. The DTE should increase when you are travelling on the highway.

It displayed a KPL of 11 based on your city driving consumption in Delhi. You can check on this and comment once you start moving on the highways.

However, point to be found out is how often the DIS analyses the data to refresh the DTE calculations.