[abirnale]

Originally Posted by revsperminute

Drove a friend’s XUV AWD just now which is around the 18k Kms mark and I found the tyres to be quite skittish even under 7/10ths driving. The traction control kicked in twice while accelerating on a flyover.

Now, my friend uses his car on a lot of concrete highways at high speeds which may have lead to the tyres wearing out prematurely. How has your experience been with tyre wear on the 700 AWD?

Hey, thanks for the appreciation.

This is in-famous ESP blinking thing I mentioned earlier in this thread. M&M and their MRV folks did a lot of investigation with my complaint, diagnosed and reviewed, and spent a lot of time. They concluded that that is the expected behaviour. The reason for this is XUV7OO AWD is an automatic system - system will detect the slip on wheels and do whatever is needed. Every time you run over a hump or something that throws one of the wheel up in air, traction control kicks in. This happens only for AWD variants and not FWD. This is how they tuned it. I have “never” seen this on higher speeds, cemented roads or even bad roads. This I have observed only on those oversized humps and while going at the speed of about 20kmph. The flyover you mentioned may have uneven joints that cause one of the wheel to go out of sync/ with other tires and then traction control kicks in.

Talking about the tyres, they surely play an important role but at 18K kms age, I don’t think they have lost the traction. A good amount of life must be in them still! And cemented or black tarmac or bad roads or any other ways, this isn’t the observation I have ever had with my AWD. By the way, the sure shot to reproduce the traction issue is on hump - give gas just a moment prior to exiting the hump. You will throw the rear wheels in air for sure.

Hope this helps.

[revsperminute]

Originally Posted by abirnale

The flyover you mentioned may have uneven joints that cause one of the wheel to go out of sync/ with other tires and then traction control kicks in.
.
.
Hope this helps.

Appreciate the speedy reply. You’re right, the flyover does have poorly designed expansion joints and abrupt level changes. As for the tyres, I may be spoiled driving on PS4s all the time.

[abirnale]

There is never a dull day in the life of M&M Vehicle owners - sometimes literally!

This happened to the RedSparkle last Sunday while I was driving to Sadashivgad from Bangalore:



And then this happened today:



The first incidence was a worrisome - the light didn’t go off on its own or after the car was restarted. I had to disconnect the battery terminal and reconnect. It took about 15 mins of drama on the roadside to get over this error - I continued with my trip after having a quick call with RSA and my trusted ASC - Chrome Motors contact. The car did not show the signs of loss of power or anything unusual. Hence I was advised to get it checked at next ASC visit or if the sign reappears. Thankfully, the trip went on fine without any issues and disruptions.

The second issue of the brakepad wear indicator is to do with sensor wire becoming loose again. Recalling my experience from the the last incidence, i checked the exact place and the doubt was confirmed. It was the exact same wire, this time lost contact with pin itself.



The first incidence was thoroughly investigated by Chrome Motors when I came back from the trip on Wednesday last week. They did the iSmart scan and found that there is something wrong with fuel system - they checked the entire line for leakage, blocks and signs of damage. When checking the fuel filter, they found that it had some impurities and dirt in them. This must be the culprit of the OBD light - replaced the air filter, reset the error codes and car was sent out. This must be casualty of filling fuel at some bunk on my trips earlier. I haven’t been very particular about pumps. The car was typically refuelled every time the low fuel warning came and whatever pump is close-by at that time. It seems like I got to be a little more careful for fuel going forward. So far the issue has not resurfaced and hence assuming that faulty fuel/ fuel filter or some dirt in the fuel is the root cause. Since the car appears to be normal with all other things such as engine sound, electronic component scans, ECU parameters etc, for now we put this episode to rest.

The Brakepad wear indicator still needs to be addressed - either redo the coupler and fix it or get the entire wiring replaced - right now, I don’t want to make one more visit to ASC for this thing. Let the car keep running: I know brake-pads are not worn-out yet and they have great life for another 7-8K Kms. The car odometer now reads 37,000 Kms and so by end of April or mid may it should get the 40K service anyway - that is the time this thing will be fixed.

And now back to the quick drive report from my trip to Sadashivgad and Bhadra Rivertern JLRs in next post.

[abirnale]

Extended weekend trip to Sadashivgad and Bhadra WLS JLR property:
Grabbing the opportunity of having short break after the school exams were done for my daughter, me and her decided to take a quick driving holiday leaving the other two family members behind (junior’s exams are still not done). All we wanted is some “we” time and driving. Daughter wanted to include “beach” in the destination - we had Devbagh beach on our list for long time. So that was an easy choice. There is a new JLR property (Refer to Dr.AD’s thread) on the nearby Sadashivgad fort adjacent to the Devbagh beach JLR property. Both properties are so closeby that they conduct the day agenda together for their patrons. You have options of having dinner nat beachside with Devbagh JLR or on the fort at the the top of the hill restaurant watching the Kali flow at the foothill. During the day, they take you on the boat ride to nearby Kali Temple island - some water sports activities and followed by watching sunset at the beach. They do provide some campfire etc but looking at the weather, we opted out of it. The fort-top place is amazing - has a rustic feel of old bungalow, lot of raptors around and relatively peaceful.

While we spent our Sunday here at fort JLR, we chose to spend our Monday at river-tern JLR property in Lakkavalli. Nice winding drive through the jog falls area via Honnavar - Sagar - Shimoga to Lakkavali - better in monsoon of course!

The JLR properties are beautiful - amazing locations, great access to otherwise inaccessible areas, simple and yet elegant stays, good healthy food and great hospitality. We spent the afternoon taking jeep safari in Bhadra WLS and morning boat safari in the Lakkavalli Dam’s backwaters. The Jeep Safari was boring with mostly owls being spotted and deers. The boat safari was more exciting - sighting the terns, watching them up-close, spotting more raptors around was great fun. The gorgeous sunrise is the highlight of the day. Contrary to the outside temperature in nearby towns, the the Rivertern lodge JLR property is relatively cool.

On our way, at the Sadashivgad/ Devbagh JLR:

























More on the next post.

[abirnale]

The River-Tern Lodge JLR Stay pictures:









Attachment 2425501

[abirnale]

And #TheRedSparkle:











Although we don’t generally miss our Orange Cheetah, the Google Photos and the unwarranted ASC visits do remind me of it once in a while:



Stay tuned - for more updates as we explore! Thanks for reading.

[roaringfours]

Hi..my AX7L AT Diesel came with stock Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance tyres. Haven’t seen these on many XUV 700s so far. The dealer says they are pretty good and noiseless tyres. Has anyone else got the same and any feedback on their performance and longevity.
Thanks

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by roaringfours

Hi..my AX7L AT Diesel came with stock Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance tyres. Haven’t seen these on many XUV 700s so far.

I too heard these to be great - I will wait for your feedback before I switch to the next set!

Originally Posted by abirnale

And then this happened today:
…
The issue of the brakepad wear indicator is to do with sensor wire becoming loose again. Recalling my experience from the the last incidence, I checked the exact place and the doubt was confirmed. It was the exact same wire, this time lost contact with pin itself
….
The Brakepad wear indicator still needs to be addressed - either redo the coupler and fix it or get the entire wiring replaced - right now, I don’t want to make one more visit to ASC for this thing. Let the car keep running: I know brake-pads are not worn-out yet and they have great life for another 7-8K Kms.

Although I said I need not visit ASC for this issue, I couldn’t bear this warning and alert on the MID constantly. Visited the Chrome Motors ASC. These guys are just superb!

The technician teams there led by Edrish and their electro-mechanic Shabbir were the guys who shown superb commitment to help and sort the issue. Shabbir de-pined the coupler, did a clean job of reconnecting the terminals, soldering them well, using the superior quality tape I gave, sealed off well. Also put on a plastic pipe, created a spiral cut in it so as to let it bend well and protect the wires from weather etc. This is superb PRO job. Ensured that everything is back in place. I was least expecting them to do such a thorough job. Not just money he saved for me, he did a job far better than last ASC in Sangli last time. I realised that last time in Sangli, the ASC gave me wrong information - this is only brake pad wear indicator sensor connection and nothing to do with wheel sensors or ABS etc. So technically not a blocker issue the way Sangli ASC painted it to me last time. And stupidity - I did not validate their theory!

Anyway, now at Chrome Motors ASC, finally got the super clean job done, efficient and out of there in about 30 mins. Can’t thank those guys enough. This is main reason why I don’t complain of traveling 20kms one way to address issues to see these guys.

By the way, I am still unclear if this is a wear and tear issue or a quality issue - the cleaner way to address this is by replacing the entire wiring harness - right from engine fuse box all the way to wheels! This is not a logical design in my opinion - I wouldn’t want to touch the engine bay to do such things just for one broken coupler which is just an irritant on the dashboard! More than the effort and risk, this thing costs a bomb if not covered under warranty!

Anyway, putting things to rest now - let’s keep driving and enjoying the car the way it is meant to be!

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Although I said I need not visit ASC for this issue, I couldn’t bear this warning and alert on the MID constantly. Visited the Chrome Motors ASC. These guys are just superb!

I did not click the pic to refer - here it is:



The best thing to do with this car is tour around. Exams season is a good time to do long trips but not when your own kids are having exams What can you do - blessed to be in Bengaluru - within 20 kms area, we can explore these gorgeous sunsets, best country roads and surreal evenings. Had an opportunity to click some pictures of the car too! Being the only person in our nuclear family who can drive and also wants to click pictures, hard to find more in-action clicks when we go off-road. Reaching to the hill-tops through the gravel/ large slippery stones and ruts is fun-adventure. Most of the time car does it’s job without drive intervention but situations like yesterday, I need to force it in AWD - fuss free movement. The SVS is a boon - you can see what stone is in front of you, when you do the tight turns on the narrow rough roads, you know when you are about to fall off the cliff. Solo drives/ without support is not as scary as it used to be earlier on XUV5OO. Of course, slightly harder off-road trails would need a company!

For now, enjoy the pics:





























Stay tuned for more updates!

[abirnale]

Sunday morning breakfast drive: A last minute plan to catch up with friends (courtesy TBhp tenure for all these years!) and their Bavarian steeds is a great excuse for 200km drive. We happened to drive out towards Krishnagiri in the thick fogs and relatively (by usual standards of this road) less traffic. When things are right, everything is fun - the car, the friends, the food. What more would you ask?

Sharing some pictures form the Sunday morning:

The fogs were thick - saw a lot of cars with parking light blinking all around and driving




The all LED/ white lights are not really effective for the fogs - they sure need some change! God knows how the folks up-north deal with fogs for prolonged time with the LED lights in their imported cars (including not fancy, our desi XUV7OO).

The thalaiva showed some great moves in his new 330i m sports:



The White surrounded by Red: do they make a X5 M sports in Red? I hope they better do.





The junior loves such drives - he will not be waking up for school as excited as he does for these drives. He knows most of my TBhp friends and their cars: Thanks Dr.AD, he also knows the difference between having different driving modes for car and gearbox, and cam tell how GC of the car 50-50 weight distribution helps do things that Bavarians do the best!



I am sure, the moment he is legally allowed to have the DL, I will loose keys to my car (whichever I will have by then!)



Stay tuned for more updates: we are standing at 37500 Kms mark on the odometer!

[mukeshc18]

Hello,

Great review of the car. I am not able to decide whether to go for AWD or not. My main usage is going to be Highways including all terrains.

SA from PPS motors is not recommending it.

Would it make sense to go for it considering it is costing almost 1.5 lacs plus.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by mukeshc18

I am not able to decide whether to go for AWD or not. My main usage is going to be Highways including all terrains.

Thank you!

It’s actually your call basis what I am stating below:
- AWD is a capability that helps in soft-roading/ mild off-roading for sure
- AWD also helps with countering torque steer
- AWD has additional cost, of course compared with non AWD
- AWD is additional weight than FWD, thereby definitely affecting FE in some way negative.
- AWD is only available in AX7L, AX7 AT format in diesel - no MT, no Gasoline.
- AWD is smaller set of users, hence not prioritised manufacturing, hence not very fast delivery too.
- Your pattern of driving - highway vs bad roads vs rough/ steep mountain roads/ hills would define what you actually want.
- AWD is one thing that you can have it and not use it. And it cant be aftermarket/ retrofit. When you need it and not having it is not a pretty feeling too.

Hope this helps.

[mukeshc18]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Hope this helps.

Thank you. I own XUV500 Automatic currently. I just went through all my trips to analyze where all it could have been useful. I did miss it when I went to Manali last year.

I had booked AX7 L but dealer booked wrong color so they need to change the booking. So, I have decided to go ahead with AWD as they need to change the booking. I am not in hurry to get the vehicle so can wait for few more weeks. I had discarded AWD but this thread brought the option back.

[abirnale]

While I wait for 40K servicing mark to achieve, currently at 38000 Kms, family continues to wait for the exam seasons to be over so we can drive! But that is just holding us back from overnighters and drives beyond 500km a day - Bengaluru has access to these amazing lakes, express ways and we continue to explore them!

The beautiful pink flowers blooming all over bengaluru add to the colours of our life:







Me and my son recently drove on the Mysore Expressway to random lakes and then ended up again at Kokkerre Bellur - this time greeted with a lot of Painted Storks! The country roads of the Mandya and Maddur, filled with sugar cane fields, lush green paddy fields even in the month of march are a sight to behold. The obvious advantage is relatively relaxed day in the field and a lot of avifaunae sighting. The mysore express way now has toll! The exits aren’t many - of you were directly headed to Kokkere Bellur, Google maps will not get you there faster. Instead take exit near Rudrakshipur village and just follow the general direction in the local roads - you will not regret missing the roads here!

Here are the pictures of various winged miracles we sighted:























































And being at the end of the picture limits, car pictures in the next post (I guess the winged miracles are taking more space on this thread that I need to scale down!)

[abirnale]

CONTD from last post…

And TheRedSparkle, at it’s best - taking us through the country roads, great and worst roads in the maximum comfort I ever asked for:















Stay tuned - more updates will flow in as we head into the weekend with a drive to nearby hills!