[Mudhalaipatti]

Originally Posted by SDP

Is it that the play is too much? or the clutch is too hard? Has the play or the hardness changed over the period of ownership?

Sorry for asking more questions. Just trying to understand the problem better.

No problemo Sir. You are infact helping me here.
Well the clutch is harder than before. Also I get this grinding vibration when the clutch is engaged. More prominent in heavy traffic situations where it's half clutch driving.

[sri2012]

Removing [Font] tags, please avoid Copy Paste from external Font editors, also do a Preview before Submitting posts. Thanks.

Hi

I admire your detailed writing style. It is interesting.

Am unable to carry on with my work at my office. Riveted to Tbhp and now enjoying this thread. J

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

The Day – 25-Jan-13
Call up Zulaikha and they inform that invoice would be raised on Monday. The seat would be replaced next week. Temp registration and other administrative work would take 3 days. I have a hectic week ahead anyway and request delivery sometime after 4-Jul.

More, as it unfolds.

Just wanted to highlight this Is that really "July 4th”

[Mudhalaipatti]

Originally Posted by sri2012

Removing [Font] tags, please avoid Copy Paste from external Font editors, also do a Preview before Submitting posts. Thanks.

Just wanted to highlight this Is that really "July 4th”

Thanks. You do you have a sharp eye. It is or rather it was 4-Feb.

Update on the FE
I have been driving to office for the last 5 days. It's 33 km one way. The first 15 km is heavy traffic and the rest 18 km is relatively free highway stretch. I have AC on, including rear, tyre pressure is 32 on front and 34 at rear. Usually it' 7 full grown, sometimes overgrown adults. The FE has dropped from 15kmpl to just under 13kmpl.

While I was not able to shove a hippo in to the car, my colleagues were able to compensate it partly. There's a huge difference in the ride quality when Sita is fully loaded. The ride is more planted and even, when it's fully loaded.

However the braking is seriously giving me jitters. It feels like I'm driving a water tanker, when braking. You could feel the momentum carrying you forward, much farther than you would wish it to be. The braking distance is increased and many a times I ended up braking hard. As soon as I'm nearing 5k, I'm going to get the brakes replaced.

Now, I have a question on gear shift rpm. I usually shift at around 2k. I have tried upshifting at around 2.5k-3k, but the XUV does't seem to like it. I don't feel any additional power delivery beyond 3k. Also I understand that diesels don't like to be revved. So I keep it low, at around 2k. But when I upshift from 2nd to 3rd at around 2k, the needle drops down to 1k. Everytime I upshift, I risk cutting the turbo, as the rpm falls to 1k. Even after trying hard, I'm not able to upshift fast enough to prevent the needle from falling to 1k.
Any suggestion on the ideal rpm range for the upshift for each gear. And how to keep the turbo spinning all along ?

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

Any suggestion on the ideal rpm range for the upshift for each gear. And how to keep the turbo spinning all along ?

The ideal rpm to shift a gear is around 2300-2400 so that by the time you shift and release the clutch, your rpm is around 1800-1900 and you are in the band when the turbo is spooling. Also, as and when you clock more kms, your gear shifts will become faster resulting in a linear driving experience.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

....

However the braking is seriously giving me jitters. It feels like I'm driving a water tanker, when braking. You could feel the momentum carrying you forward, much farther than you would wish it to be. The braking distance is increased and many a times I ended up braking hard. As soon as I'm nearing 5k, I'm going to get the brakes replaced.

Please talk to your RM about the brakes. Solution exists, why wait?

Now, I have a question on gear shift rpm. I usually shift at around 2k. I have tried upshifting at around 2.5k-3k, but the XUV does't seem to like it. I don't feel any additional power delivery beyond 3k. Also I understand that diesels don't like to be revved. So I keep it low, at around 2k. But when I upshift from 2nd to 3rd at around 2k, the needle drops down to 1k. Everytime I upshift, I risk cutting the turbo, as the rpm falls to 1k. Even after trying hard, I'm not able to upshift fast enough to prevent the needle from falling to 1k.
Any suggestion on the ideal rpm range for the upshift for each gear. And how to keep the turbo spinning all along ?

Good observation about RPM dropping rather significantly when upshifting from 2nd to 3rd. Don't worry about the engine RPM dropping to the below-turbo range. The turbos run at very high rpm because of the precision engineered design. The time required for the turbo to stop is in 15-30 seconds range. Upshifting from 2nd to 3rd would be a fraction of a second, so it won't stop the turbo from spinning for that brief period. Have fun!

[debuda]

Went through all 4 pages of your wonderful thread today. Very detailed and well-written.

But somewhat disappointed to note that even the new batches of XUVs have their fair share of niggles. Why should a brand new 15-lakh car pull to one side? Your clutch problem seems to be a cause for concern too. Would like to know the root cause of your clutch issue whenever it is finally resolved.

My own Oct-2012 XUV-W6 has been surprisingly niggle free so far. I have driven it 10,200 KM and subjected it to a fair bit of punishment. Probably I'm just plain lucky!

[Mudhalaipatti]

Thanks debuda.

I have been experimenting with loading and it's impact on FE, ride comfort along with the tyre pressure. Here is the outcome of the 300km run over the last week. 30% city, 70% highways, with AC always on. Just to have a balanced view,the ride was over the same roads/stretch with almost the same traffic conditions and almost the same driving skills.

Constant Parameters - Roads/Stretch, Driving Style, Traffic conditions
Variable Parameters - Loading, Tyre Pressure

The FE figures are XUVs calculations. We'll have to bear in mind that this is subject to 10% margin of error, both ways.

Also loading is equivalent to the number of AC vents open. If it's just one person, it's only one vent on the driver side (out of two) that's open. Rest are closed. If it's 7 people on board, its all vents open (total of 8).



It's quite interesting to note the FE figures based on loading. With 7 full grown adults, the FE drops significantly by close to 30%. While there's additional load that engine has to lug, the quantum of air that's pumped in appears to impact FE.

Also as against the manufacturers recommendation, I have bumped up the pressure and got a fairly decent ride and a fairly decent FE.

If I were to ask for a sweet spot, it would be a loading factor of 4 with 36 and 34 as tyre pressure.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

Thanks debuda.

I have been experimenting with loading and it's impact on FE, ride comfort along with the tyre pressure. Here is the outcome of the 300km run over the last week. 30% city, 70% highways, with AC always on. Just to have a balanced view,the ride was over the same roads/stretch with almost the same traffic conditions and almost the same driving skills.

Constant Parameters - Roads/Stretch, Driving Style, Traffic conditions
Variable Parameters - Loading, Tyre Pressure

The FE figures are XUVs calculations. We'll have to bear in mind that this is subject to 10% margin of error, both ways.
....

It's quite interesting to note the FE figures based on loading. With 7 full grown adults, the FE drops significantly by close to 30%.
....

Also as against the manufacturers recommendation, I have bumped up the pressure and got a fairly decent ride and a fairly decent FE.

If I were to ask for a sweet spot, it would be a loading factor of 4 with 36 and 34 as tyre pressure.

Mudhalaipatti, very good effort and analysis!

I have been a wee bit concerned about the FE I get and have been doing experimentation with various variables myself.

My own observations are very similar to yours:
1. I had accidentally driven with 38PSI for the entire Gujarat trip (~2800km). 4 adults + 2 kids + liberal amounts of luggage. The ride was perfect, no complaints from anyone in the SUV. When I am driving alone, the ride is bumpy even at 32-30PSI and doesn't deteriorate noticeably even at 36 or even 38 PSI. If at all, the FE improves by ~0.5 kmpl. So it does make sense to over-inflate the XUV by 2-4 PSI.

2. The AC is powerful and eats into the FE significantly. My guesstimate is that the impact is in the range of 1.5-2 kmpl!

3. As load increases, with passengers + luggage, the FE does drop noticeably. May be by 1.5-2 kmpl. Your data shows significantly more drop. So I will keep an eye on this factor.

So, yes, some very good observations there.

The TBHP watermark has eaten into the data at the bottom. You may want to add some blank space at the bottom of the images before posting.

[sridhar24]

Mudhalaipatti thats one mega initial ownership thread, Full 5-stars for it. Started reading and just got hooked on to it till i finished, great writing style and attention to detail. Wish you many more happy and niggle free miles with Sita.

[Mudhalaipatti]

Originally Posted by SDP

The TBHP watermark has eaten into the data at the bottom. You may want to add some blank space at the bottom of the images before posting.

Oops. I deleted the file and don't have it anymore. Let me look at my notes, lying somewhere to recreate this.

Just drove close to 1000km over 3 days, over all types of terrain and with extreme loading. How many people do you think this truck can handle. Officially 7, unofficially - in my case, 7 adults, 3 adolescents (aged 10-16), one kid. The detailed report on 3.5k run.

Breaks and Tyres
Let me get this off my heart, otherwise I feel suffocated. The brakes were awful as usual. Mahindra and Bosh were threatening close to wiping out my dynasty. Mind you I have not been driving rashly, doing speeds of less than 80kmph on most cases. On one occasion, there was this overtaking lorry on the other end, around a dead corner. I thought I had enough distance to stop, but the brakes ensured that I was only a few cms from certain death. No I'm not exasperating nor am I exaggerating the situation. Well there's a third sinner in this and that is the tyre. The tyres were screaming all the while, even on not so tight corners and not so hard breaking.

I had taken my colleague who is neither family nor friend and is in no way attached to Mahindra XUV, on a trip on the highways. On occasions where I had to slow down from 60, he exclaimed that my tyres are making a lot of noise and that means the grip is not that great.

I then tried to repeat this and in all cases, it was true. I just failed to hear the noise over the music that I had. I had a friend stand by the road, while I braked and he exclaimed that the tyres are indeed screaming on moderate breaking instances.

I have the Bridgestone rubber and has clocked 3.5k. Not so great breaks, coupled with not so great tyres is not safe. Now what are my options ? What other tyres Mahindra has to offer? Can I ask for replacement ?

The story doesn't end here.

Wheeling Alignment
I couldn't stand Sita veering towards her left and decided to get the wheels aligned. I thought it's simple and I was in a for a surprise with the results. Have a look.



The negative Camber was making the vehicle veer to the left.



Source: knewance

But this could have been dismissed as a non issue, if it was a one off issue. Almost all vehicles are prone to this and it appears it's a factory issue. Is the calibration on their wheel's section/fitment machines offset by so much ?

So it's a three pronged issue, that I have. Bad brakes + Bad tyres + Bad alignment.

This led to some interesting driving on some bad stretches. More on this shortly.

Comfort
All is not sober with the XUV. The one thing that I was blown away was the drive comfort. The drive of around 200km was through some of the worst roads, I had ever driven in my life. Imagine a small dog resting on a pothole and all I could see was the tip of it's ears. These were craters large enough to be converted to bunkers. It was a horrible driving experience. The passengers would have got nausea, sea sickness and a headache. But almost all of them, including me came out of the drive, not so stressed. I asked about the drive and everyone was praising Sita for it's drive comfort.

Interestingly, the last row seats were super comfortable, as I hear from them. The snug fit ensured that they were not tossed around.

Power & More Power
I expected reduced power and reduced pulling by the mHawk as it now had to haul 300kg more than it's top loading weight. But the vehicle didn't feel any different from carrying just the driver. Amazing is one word. How can this thing pull so much with out even a whimper. I'm taking about the acceleration as well. I didn't feel any sort of lack of acceleration at all. And all the while felt like a tank.

Fuel Efficiency
Further to my earlier observations on impact on FE, I can now confirm that the rear AC plays an important rule in FE. For around 100km, I had switched off the rear AC. The FE was around 14kmpl. This was with 7 adults and more.
When the rear AC was switched on for another 100km, the FE dropped to 12.2kmpl. That means, the XUV doesn't bothered to be overloaded atall, but bothers with the amount of cold air it has to spew. Wonder how well the AC efficiency would hold up over the years.

Cruise Control
Tested the cruise control to the core. Got some fabulous stretches to test it. Here are my observations.
It works as stated in most cases. When you tap the + button, it increments the speed by 2km. When you continuously press the + button, it acts a accelerator press. Speed increases substantially, but gradually though. But when you keep the + button pressed for more than 10 sec, the cruise control switches off and can't be switched on again. You'll have to stop the car, remove the keys, start again to get the cruise control working again. Not sure if this is a 'Safety Feature'. For me this is a niggle.

Someone had asked the question, whether the cruise control adjusts the torque on uphill and downhill travel. Yes it does. If you have set your speed for 80kmph and you encounter an accent, the railway over-bridge, the speed momentarily drops by 2kmph (equivalent to one press of the '-' button, for a few seconds. The engine builds up more power till it comes back to 80kmph. Similarly for downhill travel, the speed goes up by around 2kmph, before the brakes are applied and speed brought to 80kmph.

Another niggle that I was not able to reproduce was the automatic switching off of cruise control. It happened to be on 4 occasions and I'm very sure that I didn't interfere in it's function in anyway. The first time it switched off after 7 mins, the next time it switched off after 2 mins and the third time it switched off after 20min (yes I got a stretch laid out) an d the fourth time at around 8 mins.

Overall it was good trip. If the brakes and the tyres were to be good, this car is arguably one of the best cars on Indian roads.

[narayan]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

I had taken my colleague who is neither family nor friend and is in no way attached to Mahindra XUV, on a trip on the highways. On occasions where I had to slow down from 60, he exclaimed that my tyres are making a lot of noise and that means the grip is not that great.

I then tried to repeat this and in all cases, it was true. I just failed to hear the noise over the music that I had. I had a friend stand by the road, while I braked and he exclaimed that the tyres are indeed screaming on moderate breaking instances.

if the tyres are screaming at moderate distances, not sure if its a tyre issue. it could be that brake is locking up and HENCE the tyres are screaming. please also check if the ABS is working properly.

[sumitdongerkery]

Originally Posted by narayan

if the tyres are screaming at moderate distances, not sure if its a tyre issue. it could be that brake is locking up and HENCE the tyres are screaming. please also check if the ABS is working properly.

This seems to be a chronic issue of XUV 500. Even at moderate speeds when you break at the signals it gives a screeching sound. It really becomes embarassing when people start staring at you I will surely get the alignement checked since i see some scope of improvement by doing that

Cheers

[krishnaraja]

A very nice and neatly compiled ownership thread and a very deatiled one. Choice of words are pretty good

I am surprised to see that Zulaika let you do a PDI before invoicing.

I have booked the XUV with Zulaika and they are not allowing for PDI before invoice. They say PDI can be done only after Invoice and that too only for the vehicle exteriors. For interiors they will not open up and show. He says there will be 1000s of vehicle there including BMW, Benz, Audi etc. and this will be a disturbance.

[Mudhalaipatti]

Originally Posted by narayan

if the tyres are screaming at moderate distances, not sure if its a tyre issue. it could be that brake is locking up and HENCE the tyres are screaming. please also check if the ABS is working properly.

I understood from fellow BRIDGESTONE duelers that this is a 'feature' of the duelers. *not happy*

Originally Posted by sumitdongerkery

This seems to be a chronic issue of XUV 500. Even at moderate speeds when you break at the signals it gives a screeching sound. It really becomes embarassing when people start staring at you I will surely get the alignement checked since i see some scope of improvement by doing that

Cheers

Very true. The TN cops are always on the lookout for such 'things'. If the plane missed the runway, they would charge you for overspeeding and braking hard.

Originally Posted by krishnaraja

A very nice and neatly compiled ownership thread and a very deatiled one. Choice of words are pretty good

I am surprised to see that Zulaika let you do a PDI before invoicing.

I have booked the XUV with Zulaika and they are not allowing for PDI before invoice. They say PDI can be done only after Invoice and that too only for the vehicle exteriors. For interiors they will not open up and show. He says there will be 1000s of vehicle there including BMW, Benz, Audi etc. and this will be a disturbance.

Stand your ground. Use your team bhp membership and inform them that this is not going to help their image. Tell them 'NO PDI, NO MONEY'. You can always switch.

Update on 4200KM
Offlate I have been taking Sita to 3 digit numbers and I'm feeling like being in the middle of a hurricane. The wind insulation is so pathetic that I'm given a jet engine roar everytime I cross 100kmph. The door beadings/insulation is at fault. This has become the number one priority along with the brakes. My occupied look horrified at the noise in the cabin past 100. Can't stand their looks "You call this a premium vehicle?!" look.

Now I know, why I feel a whiff of hot air from outside, on my right hand.

I have been speaking to my RM to get me new Galfer brakes and the new levers, but with little success so far. He insists that he doesn't have these nor is he authorized to do so. Perhaps I should speak to the MM area manager. Could anyone give me the Chennai area manager's contact please.

For my first service here's the list that I have.

Priority 1 - Brakes
Priority 1 - Jet engine roar inside cabin.
Priority 1 - Wheel alignment/Balancing.
Priority 2 - Crrrrr sound just behind the steering wheel.
Priority 3 - Creaks and sounds from the instrument cluster. The scoop above odo needs to be tightened.
Priority 4 - Even when the vehicle is stationary, there's is creeak, creeeak sound coming somewhere from the left. Couldn't figure out the source.
No priority - The reverse parking alarm/sound has to be activated.

I have asked for a weekday slot next week, to see the service in person. But Zulaikha is trying to wean me away by offering a two day service schedule. But i'm going to stand my ground. I'm not comfortable leaving the lady overnight in a police station and in a service station.

I couldn't get the post which detailed, customizing the ICE startup screen to show your name, instead of 'Hi...'. Could anyone please point to the post or explain the procedure here please.

[Sathya_sc]

After reading your posts, I assume you are in CHN. Take your vehicle to India Garage and contact Mr Vijay and tell my name (Sathya). The service exp that i have got from Vijay and IG is simply outstanding. He knows XUV in and out. Give it a try.. Send me an email so that I can send his number to you.