[yuvmudapa]

Originally Posted by abirnale

It was already replaced once when we were investigating ESP blinking on speed breaker issue. Long time ago. It is happened once before replacement as well as happened many times after replacement too. The trick to not let it happen is allow the system to boot properly instead of rushing to start! Car needs warm up before it can sprint forward!

Whenever I rush through the start procedure, screen blanking *may* happen - I kind of know how his now after carefully observing the pattern.

The proper routine is:
- ACC ON/ Start car ICE and not engine. Allow the needle to do their startup dance.
- When the MID shows press brake message to start engine, only then start engine. Or wait for main ICE screen to come to its default Home Screen.
- Gove a 30-45 seconds engine idling time before you slot from P to D.

In the similar way, when you stop the car, slot into P, allow 45-60 seconds of idling and then switch off. I typically use the idling times for switching On or Off AC, pick or stow safely my stuff from car like wallet, keys phone, look around the car or inside car, check if all is well and then move.

Yes, this routine you mentioned was told my the Mahindra employee who came to explain the features. The dealership guys however never mentioned it to us.
Yesterday, when I rushed the startup, the hill descent control error popped up and only after stopping and restarting the car, it went away.

[abirnale]

Busy days. The updates aren’t flowing as much as I would like to. Sorry for this delayed post.
After a round trip to my home town, I had two more trips - to bekal fort with some TBhp friends and a trip to Dandeli and Dudhsagar. The Bekal trip is already covered with some pictures in Robi AND Dr.AD’s threads, so just cross referencing https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...ml#post5430594

Here is an update:
TheRedSparkle odometer now reads 28600 kms - just shy of a trip to cross over to 30K Kms. I am confident, we will enter in new year with 30K kms on the odometer

A week ago, I had taken a Friday off owing to kid’s school being closed. We went on the trip to Dandeli and Dudhsagar. A long due item of visiting Dudhsagar falls finally got ticked off.

Pre-Trip General Inspection:
Prior to the trip, I wanted to address my concerns on the car with a general inspection and hence a visit to Chrome motors was scheduled for Thursday. The primary issue was intermittent disconnection of CarPlay and some suspension noise from the front. And since I was there, needed to refill DEF, check if there are any service actions. It turns out that there is no real update on the ICE software after the CarPlay was rolled out. There were two packages though on same release and one was specifically came with release notes of ICE restarting. My car doesn’t have such issues but in the hope of getting CarPlay disconnections fixed, I asked to reapply the patch. It actually got bad - the update failed as the files were not copied properly on USB to apply. We spent an hour extra to get this sorted. next was suspension - they opened the front covers and checked - just needed some re-torquing. Nothing odd was found or reported. The feel is better now but I think I hear the thuds a little louder than when the car was new. Anyway, nothing path-breaking. After refilling the DEF, car was released. Nothing was charged other than DEF. Nice to see Chrome motors treating this visit as general complain visit and hence no charges for inspection.

Tire damage during the trip:
Well the car was back and we were ready to head out for our much awaited trip. The drama was about to unfold - the front left continental tire got a cut closer to sidewall corner - the air started leaking fast :( I pulled over the car near a toll booth near Tumkur ans the guy at the puncture repair center harped a lot about how best he can fix this. I should have been alarmed but seeing less choices, i allowed him to fix. He put on the mushroom patch - to do that, he ended up cutting a wire along perimeter of the tire and the puncture did not even last for 5 kms after i left the shop. He damaged the alloy too as it needed to remove the tire to fix using the modern equipments he had - this went unnoticed by me. Anyway, I was on my way and did not feel right to go back and again pursue the fix - with family in tow, I just wanted to stay on track. I found a IOCL pump, refilled air and continued. Hoping that it will hold air for 100kms or so but alas! It did not hold for more than 10km. I then decided to give up this thing and simply pulled over, took the full size spare out and changed with this leaking tire. We are back on road with a risk that if there is more similar puncture, more delays and inconvenience would follow. Luckily, that did not happen. The continental tires are soft and great for highway but probably the bad roads I have taken occasionally or taken slight soft roading must have caused issues… or i parked on the curb too close without realising the danger may be. I think these tires are very soft - not for people like me who take cars off highway into unknown pretty often.

More about the trip:
Dandeli is our favourite birding destination - we love to see the hornbills and other birds there. The preferred say is “Kadumane Homestay”. They have the best location, close proximity to the Dandeli as well as joida where you can sight more birds. The property itself is in the middle of lot of flora - sure chances of sighting some endemic to western ghat birds. We spent Friday evening visiting the Honey Bee Park (managed by homestay), Supa Dam backwaters and settled in for a nice campfire and dinner. At the backwaters, we took a walk closer to the water body and ended up sighting jackals! Lucky us, there wasn’t more fierce predators around! We had asked for two tents being setup outside the actual cottages to give kids feeling of camping - another long item due for tick on kid’s TODO list! On Saturday, we enjoyed the specific birding session with a noted naturalist of the area. See this https://www.newindianexpress.com/sta...n-2518371.html. She took us through some ficus trees around timber depot where we saw huge numbers of hornbills - it was treat to the eyes and amazing to click them from some close range. We sighted Malabar Grey and Malabar Pied Hornbills in huge numbers for almost 30 minutes on one of the trees there. We also sighted Racquet Tailed Drongo, Multiple Sunbirds and Flower Peckers, a flameback, Indian Pitta to name a few. Couldn’t click all of them due to lack of range and light on my camera gear. it was fun seeing them through binoc though! Family and friends who joined us on this trip thoroughly loved this session. After spending some time in the afternoon with water sports, we headed to Dudhsagar Plantation Stay near Mollem. On the way, we also visited Tambadi Surla Mahadeb Temple. Unfortunately the gates of the unesco site were closed by 5.30pm so we had to be happy seeing the place from outside only.

The very next day (Sunday) we checked out early in the morning and left for the the Dudhasagar falls visit. It was fantastic jeep ride with multiple water crossings, back-breaking ride in boleros and a spectacular view of the falls from the bottom of the falls! And then peaceful return back to home by midnight to Bangalore. It was a great trip!

Adding some pictures from the trip:





















































And our usual bengaluru Lake Hopping continues!
Stay tuned for more updates!

[ohaak]

Your photographs are just wonderful.

On the topic of the car, my strong recommendation is to have your own puncture repair kit and tyre inflator in the car. It is a worthwhile investment. I use a Black & Decker pump and it has helped me for the past few years for different things including training Tyretronics. Highway puncture shops are the worst.

On the choice of tyres, I recent switched to Yokohama Geloander A/T G015. It is far superior to the stock Apollo Apterras that my car came with.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by ohaak

Your photographs are just wonderful.

On the topic of the car, my strong recommendation is to have your own puncture repair kit and tyre inflator in the car. It is a worthwhile investment.
…
On the choice of tyres, I recent switched to Yokohama Geloander A/T G015. It is far superior to the stock Apollo Apterras that my car came with.

Thank you!

I do have the kit and inflator. That isn’t an issue. When air leaks fast, it’s just worthless to keep filling every 5 kms. That’s what actually happened. I have driven car on a slow puncture by just refilling and delaying the fix by using inflator in past. But when you have a larger leak, it’s not easy. Also, the repair kits are easy to use if the plugs can be applied. Anything that requires larger patch or removing tire from the rim isn’t possible while on the road through DIY.

The spare tire on my full size alloy is Yoko only. Holding up well in these emergencies. The only complain is, they have grooves which trap a lot of small stones that make noise when back on highway. But otherwise, great tire. A lot of folks also told me about Bridgestone Ecopia being great tire for them on XUV7OO and XUV5OO with 18” size.

[abirnale]

An unpleasant update: It’s obvious to have battle-scars all over when you are driving mostly in crowd and traffic’ed areas! It’s totally another thing to have a self-inflicted wounds - as a result of absent mindedness or missing that one second of attention span :(

It happened to RedSparkle over Wednesday afternoon - driver door:



I had parked the car in a narrow lane near Domlur/ Leela Palace area when i went there for some personal work. I had parked the car to the extreme side and did not observe the erected pole with some board on it. When I was back to take the car, it was dark and without realising the pole to be so close to right rear door, I backed with some steering angle - ended up bruising the door. Luckily noticed the thud on door early and before making the dent worst, I could recover. A bad day I guess :(

Luckily though, this should be treatable with some buffing/ polishing - Something I had not done on this car since it came home! The odometer is stuck at 29K, and hoping to push it over to 30K in another two weeks. Then The Red Sparkle will go for 30K service.

By the way, the suspension recall is not a mandatory recall - its vague in terms of which cars are affected. As of now I see a pattern that anyone who complained about suspension noise/ thud, they are getting it replaced. There is no such Service Action listed against their cars in service systems. So I am going to stick to the thumb rule - never fix anything that I don’t see as broken and stay away from the trouble if you can! The Red Sparkle has a few rattles from the rear left door and dashboard area - very faint. Must be inflicted again either when we replaced the silverbox early in the life or must have been caused at the time of cabin Air filter removal process. This should be easily fixable.

Stay tuned for more updates and some interesting trips being planned for 2023!

[Shoury A Dasari]

This is a beautiful set of pictures—reading your ownership thread is a delight and I’m always excited to read updates!

I have a question about the XUV7OO: is it suited to mud/rock terrain, in the front-wheel-drive spec? We (my parents and I) travel to Wayanad, Kerala, in our 2006 Mahindra Scorpio. This is our first/only car and we really don’t know how modern cars behave on such terrain. Since we are coming from a rear-wheel-drive car, please let me know how the XUV7OO performs in such terrain.

Also, have you (or anyone on this forum) had a problem with paint being scratched on the XUV7OO? What do you do to prevent/fix that?

Wishing you many more happy, fun and safe miles ahead!

Cheers,
Shoury Dasari

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Shoury A Dasari

I have a question about the XUV7OO: is it suited to mud/rock terrain, in the front-wheel-drive spec? We (my parents and I) travel to Wayanad, Kerala, in our 2006 Mahindra Scorpio. This is our first/only car and we really don’t know how modern cars behave on such terrain. Since we are coming from a rear-wheel-drive car, please let me know how the XUV7OO performs in such terrain.

Also, have you (or anyone on this forum) had a problem with paint being scratched on the XUV7OO? What do you do to prevent/fix that?

Thank you Shoury!

There is obviously fundamental capability differences between a FWD & RWD, Also a Monocoque and ladder frame kind. That set aside, the XUV7OO powertrain is extremely capable. In my kas FWD car (XUV5OO), there were only a few times I felt the need for the power in rear wheels - that was when i was attempting to climb up on a very steep incline with bald tires in Sakhaleshpur and couple of times when the front wheels were stuck in rut. Unless you expect yourself doing these things, XUV7OO in its fwd avataar should do just fine! It has gor enough grunt and torque to keep you out of trouble. Having said that, you can also consider the new Scorpio N or Grand Vitara AllGrip.

About the paint scratching - I don't bother much. My car has picked tons of battle scars! I would be happy to repaint the entire exterior after three years into the ownership for the same cost as I would need to do the PPF etc.

Another Quick Note - Replacement under warranty for power window winding motor:
By the way, the Front Left passenger side Power Window stopped working on Friday. It was neither being operated with switch on Passenger door nor the Driver door. I suspected the blown fuse or faulty winding motor - the known issue since last 10 years in XUVs. I reached out to a friend who got me to connect with GM or Service at Anant Cars on Bannerghatta Road. The GM ensued that my car was attended in swift manner. They diagnosed the issue to be faulty winding motor and got it replaced too under warranty. Everything took about 90-100 minutes on Saturday morning and all is back to normal.

The fun part now is - when I use the “Lock Windows” button on the driver side, it only locks the windows on second rows and prevents them from being operated by the switches on those respective doors. IIRC, the co-driver window also used to get locked earlier when I disabled the window rolling using the lock button on driver door pad. But now the co-driver window doesn’t get locked at all! The co-driver can operate it at his/ her will regardless of the position of switch on driver pad. Not sure if this is something I did not notice earlier or something changed after replacing the winding motor!

More Lake Hopping:
Saturday morning me and my son visited the Muninagara Dam area - wandered into the farms nearby and clicked some great birds around. Pictures below:

































To wind up a pic of the TheRedSparkle - a good car wash is due!



Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more updates!

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Another Quick Note - Replacement under warranty for power window winding motor:
…
The fun part now is - when I use the “Lock Windows” button on the driver side, it only locks the windows on second rows and prevents them from being operated by the switches on those respective doors. IIRC, the co-driver window also used to get locked earlier when I disabled the window rolling using the lock button on driver door pad. But now the co-driver window doesn’t get locked at all! The co-driver can operate it at his/ her will regardless of the position of switch on driver pad. Not sure if this is something I did not notice earlier or something changed after replacing the winding motor!

An update - a good surprise call this morning! The good folks from Anant Cars reached out to clarify on this. It looks like the 7OO front door power windows always operate regardless the window lock button state. Thats the feature I never noticed. The Anant Cars team went to the length of explaining the feature and ensured that I was satisfied with them. I like this proactive approach of Anant Cars - contrary to my experience with them from 5OO days! Kudos to M&M for trying to make positive growth and progress every time, even if it’s an inch of progress - its in the positive direction!

This episode is like an easter egg - in 5OO I kept discovering different storage places available across the cabin every time I accessed the area! By the way, has any new AT owner (cars manufactured in last month or so) discovered the new feature on the 7OO that AT now comes with Micro-Hybrid feature for start and stop of engine when you stop at Signal? There is a button on the dashboard on right side, where you see the switch cluster for HDC, AWD etc? Saw this in a picture on our TORC group channel recently and an owner confirmed it too!

And also glad that these folks (including M&M) keeps seeing these TBhp threads and other social media to ensure they have an eye on customer issues/ complaints and work on them in a proactive manner.

By the way, I am considering giving a chance to Anant Cars for my next upcoming service at 30K Kms.

Stay tuned - excited to close the 30K mark sooner than I thought I would.

[abirnale]

There is always something to discover in the car: see the video below -

https://youtu.be/Thdsg7JKj-Y

It was an accidental discovery. I wanted to set the SVR settings such that I can always see the relevant camera (Front or rear depending on the direction i wam slotting the gears for) and all be able to see the middle digitally stitched surround view. While I was fiddling with the setings, I touched the middle portion of the screen where the car’s surround image is rendered - if i touched front of the car, the front cam will come up on the left side. When I touched sides or rear, the relevant camera feed appeared on the left side of the screen! That was actually a cool thing - just that there was no visual clue that I should have picked up earlier! I mean it’s a touchscreen so touch inputs are expected but without a button, word/ link or something, our brain is only tuned for pinch zoom in and zoom out, scroll! I never thought I could switch between camera feeds by just doing what I did in the video above!

The silly part is - when the google maps show up on the screen during Apple CarPlay, it doesn’t allow the normal zoom in and zoom out using simple touch inputs we do usually - pinch in or pinch out using two fingers! Is it the same for Android Auto too?

I try hard to know what logic is being used for designing these interfaces or what must be the rationale for doing it this way! Small things that really matter or makes you feel good about. This is the difference between being better and best in what you do!

And yes there is no cure for some disconnections of Apple CarPlay or that blinking ESP signs on the speed breakers. According to M&M (via MASS), this is “normal”.

And this week, the RedSparkle turns 30K kms old - we are going to visit the MASS this week for the 30K kms service. I am expecting Brake pads to be replaced in addition to the usual fluids, oils and filters. Stay tuned for more updates.

[BendO_Rookie]

Hi Abirnale,

Post #4

Thanks for being an inspiration and making some of us an autophile. I have been reading your post since the very beginning.

So owner's manual has a mention of Transfer Case Oil replacement step on 10k service. Can you throw some light on this aspect.

Pardon me in case I missed it but I do not see anyone talking about this.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by BendO_Rookie

I have been reading your post since the very beginning.
…
So owner's manual has a mention of Transfer Case Oil replacement step on 10k service. Can you throw some light on this aspect.

Thanks

The transfer Case oil is applicable for AWDs only. The transfer case in AWDs is used by Auto-AWD feature to transfer the power to rear wheels. It is a part of the drivetrain of AWD system. The transfer case transfers power from the transmission to the front and rear axles by means of drive shafts. This case oil change is part of routine servicing. Should be done. Hope this helps.

[BendO_Rookie]

Thank You,

Post #5

Originally Posted by abirnale

Thanks

The transfer Case oil is applicable for AWDs only.

That was quite an elaborate explanation.

I think I asked incorrectly. The question was is it optional? (I do not think it is optional).

The booklet says it needs to be done, but neither the service folks nor your 10K service post mentions it. Perhaps they missed it in my case because they did not realize that it was an AWD vehicle. Anyway, I asked them to replace/topup.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by BendO_Rookie

I think I asked incorrectly. The question was is it optional? (I do not think it is optional).

No, its not optional. Its mandatory. It is there in my 10K service too. Somehow I did not elaborate it at length :(

30K Kms Service done:
About 300Kms away from the mark, I decided to get the Red Sparkle serviced yesterday so that we continue to munch more miles together during Xmas holidays (if we get any!).

After considering the options, I chose to go back to Chrome Motors. They just know the car and owner well and allows me to keep a direct eye on the car sitting in their lounge and continue my work - the bays are literally 23 feet away from where I sit in the lounge and yet away from the floor/ noise.

What is covered as part of 30K service:

• Routine checks, inspections
• Oil changes (Engine Oil, PTU/ Transfer Case Oil change)
• Various Filters (Oil filter and Cabin Air filter is mandatory)
• Tyre and Brake Checks
• Service actions if any (There were none for this VIN)
• Complaints if any (I asked to check the rattle on the co-driver side)

With prior appointment, I reached the Chrome by 9.30 and to my shock, the service venter was overflowing with vehicles already! Looks like business is good! It took a little while for them to get my car on the service bay but once there, the work was accomplished faster so that I could leave by lunch time.

During the inspection, we noticed that front brake pads are almost about to trigger the “pad change” warning. So we had to replace them anyway. So here goes third set of brake pads. On an average only 15K life for each set! The rear brake pads have got ample life.

The rattle investigation led us to pinpoint something minor of a plastic vibration inside dash or A pillar. I suspect it could be slightly loose roof rail too. I asked the service staff to not touch anything this time - let the rattle become unbearable to really touch the dash and pry it open!

See the picture below: when I watched the underbelly for engine compartment, the healthy dose of protection to sump well, overall engine bay being covered with nice insulation material and this doesn’t look flimsy at all. This thing has survived lot of slush and water on bad road, stones on highways as well as relatively hot weather. The material is still holding good - in XUV5OO, this underbelly cover used to start sagging in just about one monsoon!





Here is the overall bill/ RO details. The cost included 10% discount from Chrome for being their loyal customer.



It is such a beautiful feeling to see the sparkling red car on the road - especially when it belongs to you



And now driving into the weekend hoping to see 30,000 on the odometer! Stay tuned for more updates.

[bajoseph04]

Originally Posted by abirnale

we noticed that front brake pads are almost about to trigger the “pad change” warning. So we had to replace them anyway. So here goes third set of brake pads. On an average only 15K life for each set!

Ok, so the XUV500 has a drum brakes in the front and no disc? brakepad replacement every 15k? Is that normal? I understand the front brakes wear out faster but 15k for me seems to be too soon. I recently had to change the front discs and rear pads for my WRV at around 60K KMs. Could have easily done 1L had I been a more mature driver as I'm today. But being a new driver 6 years ago, riding the brake was unavoidable

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by bajoseph04

Ok, so the XUV500 has a drum brakes in the front and no disc?

No. They are discs all around. The pads on rear wheels are smaller than the front ones.

Again - the brake pad life is function of multiple things. Driving style plays an important role, so does AT and all other gimmicks. To the point - 7OO brake pads wear out faster than 5OO in my case - “I don’t ride the brakes”. �� The car is AT, that adds to the equation too. And all of this, I expected 15-20% difference in life over my last 5OO consumption pattern anyway. 25K an average to 14-15K kms is a big dip. That is all I am saying.