[ssadwelkar]

The search for a new vehicle began more than a year back, had TD'd almost all vehicles in the 10 to 20 lakhs range ( sedans and suv's) including the Jetta for which I was ready to stretch my budget upto 22.5 lakhs but my family members had fallen in love with the XUV and eventually I too developed a liking for it after almost a year of its launch, I TD’d the vehicle twice, the ride was smooth and comfortable, rocking motion is reduced considerably as compared to my Scorpio and it handled pot holes more efficiently, it is surely a VFM, the amount of features it offers is amazing.

Had a look at the Rally vers of the vehicle at the BKC at the Auto Expo last year and thats where I decided to buy the vehicle, a week after that on Nov 7 we went to the showroom NBS Int in Andheri and paid the booking amount of 40000 and booked the AWD Black color, the vehicle was expected in 6 to 8 weeks.

On 7th Jan exactly after 8 weeks I received a call from the SE saying that the vehicle had arrived, unfortunately I was to travel out of India the same day so I requested the SE to keep the vehicle in the yard till I returned, he agreed, I also told him not to proceed with the registration until I inspect the vehicle (tip from TBHP), I had to make a down payment to block the vehicle in my name. I was out of India for a whole month, this was the longest month I had ever experienced in my life, I was just waiting to get back and take possession of the vehicle. Eventually after a long painful wait I returned to India on 6th Feb, on the 7th we went to the showroom , a driver was already arranged for us by prior appointment to take us to the yard near Mumbra. After inspecting the vehicle which had only 8 kms on its ododmeter we went back to the showroom and made the balance payment, and also gave them a list of accessories that needed to be fitted , we were promised delivery on 13 or 14 Feb, I requested that the vehicle be delivered on 13 Feb. on the occasion of Ganesh Jayanti which was on the13th.

On the 12th when I spoke with the SE he said the RTO had still not allotted a number and that it would take another day but he would deliver the vehicle as promised on the 13th on a temp number plate. The next day we went to the showroom at around 2pm, the vehicle was there it was looking beautiful with the added chrome accessories , I checked the odometer it was showing 81 kms, I guess they drove it from Mumbra to their garage in Sewri to install the accessories and then to the showroom in Andheri, it took almost 3 hours to complete the delivery process but overall it was a pleasant experience , armed with the TBHP checklist made sure everything was in order , the vehicle had a temp number plate but we were asked to wait till 4:30 pm hoping that the permanent number would be allotted by the RTO till then, there was no news of the number till 5pm, so we drove out of the showroom at around 5:15 pm through the crazy traffic manoeuvring carefully until we reached home finally, by the time we reached home I had already received an SMS from the SE that the number had been allotted by the RTO and that he would come to my place in the night and install the permanent plates, as promised the SE came to my place around 9:30 pm and installed the permanent plates.

Some pictures while taking delivery of the vehicle.


















Part II - Continuing with my ownership thread and 1800 km report.

3M Treatment
I had not opted for the 3M treatment from the dealer as they were asking 15000 for the full package, under body and UV paint protection, so I called up 3M Borivali and took my car there for the treatment, they did a good job and the best part was that I could see and watch what they were doing, this cost me around 9000 Rs. including the sun film for the front wind screen, there was a lady there who explained everything to me in detail about the treatment specially when I told her that I was a TBHP member, I was very satisfied with their job which was well done.











Long Drive.
A couple of days later we left for Karwar via Pune and Goa to visit our relatives and of course show off the Cheetah, I have been regularly reading the XUV niggles section on TBHP and was hoping that all the issues would have been resolved being a Jan 2013 manufactured model and that my vehicle would be trouble free, but that was not to be, please read on.

NVH Levels and FE, handling and road grip
As planned we left on Saturday afternoon as we had to attend a birthday party in Pune, it was a pleasure driving on the Mum-Pune Expressway, the drive was very smooth, the noise and vibration were almost nil, gear change is smooth once the vehicle is in motion and it cruised along effortlessly in 5th and the 6th gear, but when the vehicle is stationary or while parking shifting into Reverse and the 1st gear are notchy and hard especially shifting into the Reverse gear.

Road grip and handling is very good even on high speeds, no body rolls on turns, feels like a sedan, whether it is because of the design or ESP at work, I dont know.

While I was so used to the engine sound from my CRDE Scorpio this Mhawk engine of the XUV is very silent and smooth, the gear indicator in the instrument panel is very helpful, because the engine is so silent and with the music playing in the background you just cant depend on the roar of the engine to make the gear shift especially when you are not pushing it, many times I would drive in the 4th gear and then realize by looking at the indicator that I can shift higher and then higher again into the 6th gear whuch gave an advantage of about 400 lower RPM as compared to the 5th gear, and the vehicle would still pull effortlesssly. I was trying to keep the max RPM to 2000 so the 6th gear was very helpful on the Expressway and the NH4 while keeping the FE at its max , it was showing around 18.1 kml but by the end of the whole journey it had dropped to 13.1kml. By calculating manually i.e. total fuel consumed and distance travelled I ended up with an FE of 12.8kml, which included the highway driving plus ghats plus the city driving in Goa and karwar, and with the AC ON all the time, considering that my vehicle is an AWD I think it is a good mileage, though I did not use the AWD so I dont know if it will make any difference in FE if the vehicle is locked in AWD mode.

Sound insulation in the cabin is so good that when you honk you can hear the horn as if it is in a distance, also when closing the doors if 3 doors are closed the 4th door needs to be closed with extra force, because of the air pressure in the cabin, but if you open any of the glasses before closing the door, the door shuts without any effort, good sound proofing.

Cruise Control
I tried the Cruise Control but for a very short while, I think it is useless on the Indian roads where there is no lane discipline even on the highway, it is just impossible to maintain a constant speed for even a short while, touching the brake pedal or the clutch pedal immediately disables the cruise control, I wish at least the traffic on the highway was more disciplined so we could enjoy a relaxed drive, the scariest part is traffic moving in the wrong direction, the dead pedal is a boon on long drives which I missed in my Scorpio.

Wheel alignment and balancing
I did feel the vehicle pulling slightly towards left and steering vibration at 110kmh, both points noted, why didn’t M&M fix this before delivering to the customer?

Music System
The music system is quite good once the Treble and Bass were adjusted to my liking because by default they were set in the centre, once adjusted the highs and lows were quite good at a medium volume but at a higher volume there was definite distortion from the speakers because of high bass.

I was able to successfully pair 2 of my Android phones with the system one for music streaming via BT and the other for phone calls, and both worked quite well.

The Blusense app also worked well but it just displays the vital parameters , you cannot control anything form it.

Disappointment was while cruising along the highway enjoying the music, it happened, the thing that I was afraid of, there was a POP sound from the speakers and the music system shutdown and then rebooted itself, I was hoping that M&M would have fixed this issue by now but apparently not, and this happened to us 4 more times in my trip of 7 days. Point noted.

GPS
The onboard GPS (Map My India) I think is better than Satguide that I used to have in My Scorpio, but then I was using a small Mio C230 device in my Scorpio, so the visibility was not great as the screen was small and the maps were not in detail as compared to MMI, after using Satguide for almost 5 to 6 years MMI is a good change, POI's can be easily found and the map is in detail, and the greatest advantage is the big screen in the XUV, the touch screen is also quite good and responsive.

Static Bending Lamps
After attending the party in Pune and driving along in the night time I noticed that the Static Bending lamps were not coming on, this is the first time I was driving the vehicle in the dark and the lamps not coming on were quite obvious, point noted.

Brakes and engine power
In the stop and go traffic in Pune, the front brakes had a grinding sound and the pedal was spongy, point noted, also in the stop and go traffic the engines stalls if the clutch and accelerator combo is not used correctly while in the 2nd gear, it stalled on me twice or thrice, this never happened to me in the Scorpio, but I eventually got used to it, I think the Scorpio CRDE engine was peppier at lower RPMs and it always pulled effortlessly from very low speeds even in the 2nd gear. I also noticed the lack of power in the 2nd gear in the XUV while doing the hair pin bends in the Ghats.

Low Beam
I found the low beam of the vehicle inadequate as compared to my old Scorpio, probably because the FR low beam was adjusted lower than the FL low beam, maybe M&M tried to follow the European standard but as we all know this is useless in India where we motorist constantly get bombarded by the High Beam of the oncoming vehicles and with the low beam aimed lower than the left does not help at all, in fact I found it to be unsafe at it creates a blind spot on the right side, point noted.

Reflection from Dashboard
During the daytime reflection from the dashboard is quite bad especially from the centre shiny part of the dashboard, while driving on a road with tress on both sides and the sun shining from the trees the reflection gets really bad and irritating, I thought it would trigger photosensitive epilepsy in me, but wearing sunglasess reduces this effect quite a bit.

Engine noise
While driving along I also noticed that there is a tak tak tapping kind of sound from the engine when you push it to accelerate hard especially from 2nd gear onwards but this sound is not there when you are gently accelerating, point noted.

Airconditioning
No complaints on the AC as it is very efficient I had it on Econ mode all the time.

Interior Space and comfort
Needless to say interior space and comfort are excellent in the 1st row as well as the middle row, we didn’t use the last row as it was folded to accommodate the luggage.

To summarize, I will only mention my dislikes.
The tailgate designing is overdone, similarly the front also with the black grill like appearance all over the face , but the black color of the vehicle hides this.

I think they should have done away with the hump on the rear wheel arch.

Middle row should have been adjustable to create more space for the last row.

Dashboard reflection while driving.

Some pics taken during my trip to Pune, Goa and karwar.











Part III – Vehicle in garage.
After returning from the long trip, I decided to call my RM to report all the issues mentioned above during the trip, on Monday morning I call the RM and introduced myself and told her that the vehicle is only 10 days old and had several issues, first thing she tells me is “Sir you have to call your RM” I said OK is your name so and so? She says yes then I said that’s where I am calling, then she apologises and says but Sir you will need to take an appointment, I said look it’s been only 10 days since I got the vehicle and it has several issues and I need them to be resolved ASAP, it has done only 1800kms and still a long way to go till the 1st service, and I can’t wait that long, she thinks for a while and says ok, try to bring in your vehicle tomorrow, will see what can be done.

My RM is in the NBS workshop in Sewri so next day we left around 8:15 am from Kandivali, driving through the mad rush hour we finally reached the workshop around 10:30 am and met with my RM, the onboard GPS was helpful in taking us to the location.

The following issues were reported:
1. Infotainment system rebooting on its own
2. No beep while locking and unlocking vehicle tried the instructions from the manual but did not work.
3. Tapping sound from engine during hard acceleration.
4. Static bending Lamps not working.
5. Grinding sound from front brake pads and spongy pedal.
6. Adjust FR headlight low beam
7. Wheel alignment pulling left
8. Wheel balancing, steering vibration at 110kph.

I told her that I knew it was not possible to complete all the above jobs in a day while we waited but just fix the Bending Lamps and reflash the infotainment system for now and will do the rest in 1st service, looking at the Infotainment System she says sir but your system already has the latest software, I said Ok, then why does it reboot? No problem Sir she said we will have a look and reflash it.

While we (I and my wife) waited in the lounge, I was checking on the vehicle every ½ an hour, till 12:30 the vehicle had not been touched, I then went back to the RM and requested that I be introduced to the Service Head, I then met the Service Head and discussed all my issues with him, I said how can M&M hand over a vehicle to customers with so many issues? Why aren’t these fixed in PDI? Is it right that a customer has to bring in a vehicle for repairs in the 1st 10 days? He says I know what you mean but we are unable to TD a vehicle as there are no plates, but assures me that he would get the issues fixed, anyway it was now around lunch time and nearing 1pm, the RM was kind enough to order a Pizza and a Coke for us but it was not on the house, we paid for it. Around 2:30 when I checked on the vehicle they were still working on the Bending Lamps, a laptop was connected to the diagnostic port where it showed that the Bending lamps were enabled but didn’t work, they then opened floor mouldings and checked the wiring, everything ok here, then they removed the fuse box and ran a few more tests still nothing, by 4 pm almost all panels in the interior and exterior were opened, the sight was not good, I was really upset that they had to pull out so many things on a new vehicle, hope they put everything back again as it originally was, it was now nearing 5pm and I was getting tired of sitting around so I told the RM “guess I better leave my vehicle and come back tomorrow, she agreed with me, then I requested her to arrange a driver to drop us at the nearest taxi stand from where we could catch a cab back home as the workshop is located in a very remote area where nothing is easily available. A driver and a vehicle (XUV) was arranged for us who dropped us at Dadar TT from where we caught a cab and came home. The ride was quite rough and rash. I asked the driver “are you dropping this vehicle at a customers place ? He says yes, when we got down from the car I told my wife I am not availing their vehicle pickup and drop service anytime under any condition, these guys will ruin the vehicles and the vehicle will die a premature death the way these guys drive.

I called up RM the next day and she told me that they were still working on the Bending Lamp, apparently something was seriously wrong with them and they could not pinpoint the problem, I then told her that since the vehicle is already there to complete the rest of the jobs and that I was willing to keep the vehicle in the workshop for another day but would prefer to take it back with all issues resolved.

Today is the 3rd day, I called my RM this morning, she says that all issues have been fixed, and that it waiting on a Road Test, I will be going to pick up my vehicle in the afternoon, the vehicle has been in the workshop for 3 days now and am hoping that everything has been fixed.

2pm and just heard from my RM that the vehicle is still pulling and that it is now 3rd in queue for alignment, she told me not to start from home. Will I get my vehicle today? Hope the guys who do the road test handle the vehicle gently and dont abuse the vehicle like the driver who dropped us, I am not liking this one bit, the more the road test the more the vehicle will get abused.

To be continued.....

[Octane_Power]

Let me be the first one to congratulate on your purchase
Undoubtedly the best SUV under 20 lacs.
And yes i understand it well when you say "It was the longest month"
Congratulations once again.
Do post interior pics along with you initial impressions on the Cheetah, Sir!

-Bhargav

[220kmph]

Congrats and wishing you many happy and safe years of driving. Have fun. Looking forward to your ownership experience and a whole load of photographs.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[ssadwelkar]

Originally Posted by Octane_Power

Let me be the first one to congratulate on your purchase

Do post interior pics along with you initial impressions on the Cheetah, Sir!

-Bhargav

Thank you sir, I will try to post some interior pics soon, I have already posted my 1800kms report , please go through it when you get a chance.

Rgds

Originally Posted by 220kmph

Congrats and wishing you many happy and safe years of driving. Have fun. Looking forward to your ownership experience and a whole load of photographs.

Thanks 220kmph, I have posted some photos and a 1800kms report, please go through it when you get a chance.

Rgds

Note from Support - Posts merged. Please use the multiquote feature to reply to multiple posts, instead of submitting back to back posts.

[SDP]

Congratulations ssadwelkar! Another TBHPian with XUV is Mumbai!

About the issues you are facing, one key thing is not to worry too much about them.

The following issues were reported:

2. No beep while locking and unlocking vehicle tried the instructions from the manual but did not work.

2. There is no beep while locking/unlocking the vehicle. This is by design. Please check the manual again. By doing a longpress of the lock/unlock button on the key, you can test the security-hooter and that's what the manual mentions.

4. Static bending Lamps not working.

4. Now this might sound stupid, but sometimes the problems have weird causes. Did they check if the bulbs are working and not fused? My static bending bulb on right side fused within a week (or may be it was fused at the time of delivery and I noticed after a week). Two bulbs fusing at the same time sounds improbable, but is a possibility.

6. Adjust FR headlight low beam

6. About the low-beam on right hand side, since it is designed that way, I wouldn't recommend trying to change it. Might give birth to a different issue.

Have fun with the XUV. Don't let the initial problems get to you.

EDIT: Just because you got the vehicle from NBS, you don't have to get it serviced at NBS. I believe, there is a service center by some other dealer at Goregaon. Please check it out, would be significantly closer to your place.

[getsurya]

Ssadwelkar,


Many congratulations on your new XUV!!

Good pics from you and thanks for the same.

Having been a Mahindra customer, I can understand your feeling. I hope you have a great time and get your car back all sorted out!

Happy motoring!

[S.MJet]

Many Congratulations ssadwelkar on your new ride.

Nicely written review & nice pictures.

Those issues reported are small niggles & hopefully are sorted out by now.

Wish you many happy miles.

[Sommos]

Many congratulations Ssadwelkar for your new XUV.
Enjoyed going through your report. It is really sad that M&M did not address the initial issues with the XUV.
But the XUV is an excellant vehicle, so enjoy your ride to the fullest and don't worry about the minor issues.
Wish you many happy miles munching with the XUV and absolute niggle free performance in the future.

Drive safe.

[ssadwelkar]

Thank you all for your good wishes, I got my vehicle back from the workshop yesterday after 4 days, most of the issues have been fixed except that the Infotainment system still reboots even though it has the latest software/firmware , I spoke with the Service Head this morning, he has promisd to send the Nippon Technician at my place to check out the system so I dont have to take the veicle back to the workshop.

Rgds.

Originally Posted by SDP

Now this might sound stupid, but sometimes the problems have weird causes. Did they check if the bulbs are working and not fused? My static bending bulb on right side fused within a week (or may be it was fused at the time of delivery and I noticed after a week). Two bulbs fusing at the same time sounds improbable, but is a possibility.

Hi SDP it took them 1 full day to troubleshoot the Bending lamp issue, finally they pinpointed it to some contacts in the wiring harness, the lamps are working now.

Can you please tell me whether both lamps come ON at the same time regardless of whether the vehicle is turning right or left or should the right one come On on right turns and the left on left turns? Thanks.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by ssadwelkar

Thank you all for your good wishes, I got my vehicle back from the workshop yesterday after 4 days, most of the issues have been fixed except that the Infotainment system still reboots even though it has the latest software/firmware , I spoke with the Service Head this morning, he has promisd to send the Nippon Technician at my place to check out the system so I dont have to take the veicle back to the workshop.

Rgds.

Congrats on the XUV and I can understand how it feels to leave a vehicle in the workshop for 4 days after a week of getting your hands on it. That's how the Tata's and Mahindra's function. Real life testing

But enjoy your new vehicle and drive safe.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by ssadwelkar

Thank you all for your good wishes, I got my vehicle back from the workshop yesterday after 4 days, most of the issues have been fixed except that the Infotainment system still reboots even though it has the latest software/firmware , I spoke with the Service Head this morning, he has promisd to send the Nippon Technician at my place to check out the system so I dont have to take the veicle back to the workshop.

Most probably they will suggest a change of your silver box. This is a regular Nippon issue, unfortunately.

Originally Posted by ssadwelkar

Hi SDP it took them 1 full day to troubleshoot the Bending lamp issue, finally they pinpointed it to some contacts in the wiring harness, the lamps are working now.

Can you please tell me whether both lamps come ON at the same time regardless of whether the vehicle is turning right or left or should the right one come On on right turns and the left on left turns? Thanks.

Both come on together. It's a very simple mechanism and is agnostic of the direction you are turning.

[ssadwelkar]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

That's how the Tata's and Mahindra's function. Real life testing

Exactly the reason why I waited for a year after the launch, hoping that M&M would have resolved all issues by now, but.......

Nevertheless, its a great vehicle and am enjoying it.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by ssadwelkar

...Hi SDP it took them 1 full day to troubleshoot the Bending lamp issue, finally they pinpointed it to some contacts in the wiring harness, the lamps are working now.

Can you please tell me whether both lamps come ON at the same time regardless of whether the vehicle is turning right or left or should the right one come On on right turns and the left on left turns? Thanks.

Both the lamps turn ON, irrespective of which side you are turning. The functionality is speed sensitive as well as steering-wheel-turning-angle sensitive.

[ACM]

I guess this was not a nice way to start the ownership experience. I believe the cars are driven around a bit around the warehousing faclities outside the octroic naka for the PDI and absence of number plates should not be an issue. Anyways the cars are not delivered with "0" kms on the number plate.

I guess as mentioned by SDP one needs to be cool about these initial niggles when buying a M&M or a TATA vehicle, and focus on getting them all resolved one by one.

Don't give up on the cruise control - it will be useable on outstation drives as well as on eastern and wester express highway or say the jogeshwari link road, palmbeach road or ghodbunder road especially when you are out for a drive rather than commuting , it will require a bit of practice.