[abirnale]

Last weekend, I collaborated on a trip: the pictures and details here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...nary-trip.html (Bavarian, Indian and Japanese machines | An ordinary destination and an extraordinary trip!)

Cross-posting some pictures of the car:





















The aerial footage:

https://youtu.be/9zQwkTiuBfI

And some important notes:
This is my first time climbing up on the 36-hairpin bends of the Masinagudi-Ooty section in an AT car. It was obviously not an easy task to keep up with beemers and Ninja on this ascend - the laws of physics just simply don't allow it for an SUV. Even though this is a monocoque, it's not the same as a sedan. What I found more fascinating is - the AWD is underrated! The ability to power the rear wheels when the extra torque is generated helps immensely to swiftly move forward. You don't need to do anything different - just drive like normal and the car does the rest. Every time you put your foot down to make a swift move, the car does not disappoint you.

What is disappointing though is, the Aisin TC box is perfect for normal driving, nothing special for a spirited hair-pin bend climb. t serves about 98% of the time right - but lets you down for that 2% times badly. So much so that, the Zoom mode cannot compensate for the laziness of the TC box. Now this disadvantage can be mitigated provided that the driver knows how to modulate the pedal to keep the engine RPMs in the right band and don't let the speeds drop. The lack of skills on a driver's part, I think, can be compensated by using M mode to some extent. The best would be if there were paddle shifters to aid! Is someone in M&M reading this and wants to make this part of their product or platform roadmap? I hope they do!

My expectations might be too high or too lame - Aisin TC is no match for sleek ZF coupled with functional drive modes and proper RWD sedan dynamics - but the XUV7OO is a great Indian engineering output that I am proud to drive with some adjustments for now! Every owner says this - my car is the world's best car until I outgrow the car!

With this short trip and write-up, I leave you to enjoy your summer holidays (if you get them!) and TheRedSparkle continues to inch towards the 40K Kms mark!

Stay tuned for more updates soon! Thanks for reading!

[abirnale]

Wandering into another weekend!

Sometimes the plan is to make no plan - and that is becoming the plan! We were craving the usual Coffe Barn sandwiches @ Halli Berri Coffe Barn we just set off to give in to our cravings! Keeping our Saturday leisurely morning departure from home around 10.30 am we left with the hope to tentatively return by late night 10 pm. It turned out to be one heck of a great day drive. With a 600+ KM return day drive, #TheRedSparkle leaps loser to the 40K km mark, now standing at 39,300 Kms! We took our usual NH75 and then detoured via CR Patana - Arasekere - Banvara - Athigiri - Langadahalli Ghats - Kadur - Arasekere - CR Patana - BLR. The roads with some exceptions are fabulous - and even if they weren't, TheRedSparkle wouldn't care a damn about it!

Driving the countryside, taking breaks at CCD in Arasekere, and heading into Halli Berri Coffee Barn, we chanced upon a water body - a lake. Dont remember the name, and neither does google Maps store the location history nor I am able to pinpoint the location now :( Simply taking a cue from the locals, we went off-grid and the road through some narrow bushes, soft-roading, we reached the banks of the water body. The view was so scenic and serene, we wanted to camp there for the night! I wish we could - it was kind of remote and unsure of the regulations in that area or if it is part of prohibited reserve forests of some kind, we simply moved back to our route tracing back through our memorized turns. We took some good areal videos as well as bird pictures that we sighted there. Later reached the usual stop for late lunch (the sandwiches). The Coffe Barn restaurant makes ultimate sandwiches of different varieties. Try their egg and veg-cutlet recipes and home-brewed coffee.

And thus simply returned back home - The Red Sparkle as always had more fun than anyone else! We clicked tons of pictures, took the fast corners of the country road at times, and otherwise simply went slowest on those bad roads. The AWD is under-rated: it does help you take the ghats in its strides, go over gravel surfaces without having to sweat out, takes us into the slightly slushy water banks, and doesn't hesitate to climb up on the rocky slopes on the coffee plantations. It just performs adequately for our needs. And this is where it should be stopped - AWD can do only so much. It isn't the real 4WD with locking differentials and finer controls as a real-world 4WD does. The sudden acceleration and ease with which the car leaps forward when needed with all it's four wheels powered, it is immensely satisfying! But then what more an urban dweller with an occasional itch to go off-grid can ask for?

With a mix of the terrain for the drive and the day well spent, we are ready for the week's mayhem.

For now, sharing the pictures:



















The difficult roads we take often lead us to beautiful destinations: the prize, some birds we crave to click - wish we were there in the morning!



















These faithful companions followed us from the nearby settlement and made us feel absolutely safe - we treated them with some biscuits that always keep in the car for such occasions!



What you see around is just mesmerizing - even when the angry sun beating down upon you: you just take a moment and soak into it without any resistance. Your day is made!











When the soul is filled, you still need to satisfy your stomach's itch - we usually eat our lunch at 1 pm, and it was well above our limit - 4 pm! Hence, we straightaway head to the place to continue to treat the body with this:





A quick magic movie from the photo gallery, here is the compilation:

https://youtu.be/UtG94es7i5Q

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more fun updates as we continue this journey!

[abirnale]

40K Kms Service Done:

After about 14 months of ownership and 40K kms of driving, yesterday TheRedSparkle was turned into Chrome Motors for 40K Kms Service. The typical 40K Kms service includes cabin and engine air filters change and some general fluid tops-ups and checks. I have been following the practice of changing the engine oil every 10K kms since beginning though. Hence took the appointment, informed them that I will need more time that just routine 40K kms service time.

To my surprise, the car was taken care very well - 9.30 am check-in and 11.10am Out of the service center! The work done on the car included:
- Engine Oil Change
- Oil Filter Change
- Brake fluid top up
- Brake pads and rotors check (front pads are 10 Kms old and rear ones are about 20K kms old. They still have life left for about another 3-4 K Kms on front, 5K on rear.)
- Underbody checks, ICE Scan and checks, Recall checks and general checks.
- DEF Fluid top up

There is no new software version to be applied - no work needed there. The car still has issues with iOS getting disconnected and hence I continue to use Android and iOS phones. Switching my sim cards is a pain but cant help this. The good part is - Android Auto works on wifi for wireless mode and still maintains the BT connection whereas iOS CarPlay does not. That means when the connection gets lost, the android phone call continues to be on ICE speaker via BT whereas iOS looses it and becomes handset only affair until it is reconnected! The same is the case with Google maps - iOS needs to restart the navigation on gMaps whereas Android upon reconnection resumes automatically. This is the single most reason why I don't prefer to use iOS CarPlay as only connection choice.

By the way, the car had some silent recall for some relay switch. Also the Cabin Carbon Air filter part was not in stock hence these two items are pending. Rest all is completed and the 40K service bill of Rs. 7636 including oil change is all I had to pay.



As usual great and efficient service at Chrome Motors. I was also told that someone form M&M is watching this thread with keen interest - Chrome folks got the follow-up questions on the OBD light post I had made in Feb and were further guided to take more diagnostics from the CoTek. No actions as of now since things are working as expected - the most likely reason I assume as of now for that OBD light is fuel filter. I will ned to be a little more cautious on filling fuel at unknown bunks when I am out on my long trips - BS6 isn’t an easy norm to follow it seems!

The car is back on road again and a lot of summer driving coming up!

[yuvmudapa]

This is probably the highest run XUV700 in India! Glad to see Mahindra is reading the issues that owners have to face. How has Wireless Android Auto been for you? I have been having some serious disconnection issues with it. After it disconnects, It just will not connect wirelessly again! It was a pain when we had to depend on Google Maps while travelling.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by yuvmudapa

This is probably the highest run XUV700 in India! Glad to see Mahindra is reading the issues that owners have to face.

Ha ha! Not really - there are some folks who have run it more than this. All that matters is the run with ample fun!

Yes, some of the regularly updated threads are being “watched” by manufacturers, especially M&M for sure and they take pro-active steps to improvise/ correct - thats what makes them better every passing day. This probably flows top to down in the M&M culture right from their chairman to customer support staff!

Originally Posted by yuvmudapa

How has Wireless Android Auto been for you? I have been having some serious disconnection issues with it. After it disconnects, It just will not connect wirelessly again! It was a pain when we had to depend on Google Maps while travelling.

The Android is working much more stable than iOS for me. The Android even if it disconnects Android Auto, the phone stays active and hence no disruption. If in the middle of gmaps navigation, it’s tricky - though after about 30s it will reconnect automatically for me. For about entire trip of 6-7 hours, android will disconnect maximum once or twice for me whereas iOS will disconnect around 3-4 times. If I use either in wired connection mode, zero issues - just the unnecessary battery charge cycles will be there though which I believe eventually will spoil phone battery health.

[Sandegov]

Hope you are doing well, wanted to check with you if you faced the below vibration issue at anytime so far? Planning to take my XUV to the service center for this and any information on the fix would help.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5536272 (Mahindra XUV700 Review)

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Sandegov

Hope you are doing well, wanted to check with you if you faced the below vibration issue at anytime so far? Planning to take my XUV to the service center for this and any information on the fix would help.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5536272 (Mahindra XUV700 Review)

Nope - not at all. In fact I am back after a long 3500 km drive (trip report due by weekend) and did not have any issues like these. I mostly think this to be related to the balancing or alignment weights. Not sure if there is any correction to be done in the steering calibration etc - do check that. typically when you do WA/WB, the ADAs needs to recalibrate the values if they are off the chart. Also, I suggest to try the same speed with and without ADAS (especially LKA disabled) and see if the behaviour changes.

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by abirnale

NNot sure if there is any correction to be done in the steering calibration etc - do check that. typically when you do WA/WB, the ADAs needs to recalibrate the values if they are off the chart. Also, I suggest to try the same speed with and without ADAS (especially LKA disabled) and see if the behaviour changes.

Any specific pointers for WA/WB in AWD's or is it the same as the case of FWD's.

Do we need to go to the service center after every WA/WB?

[Sandegov]

Originally Posted by abirnale

Nope - not at all. In fact I am back after a long 3500 km drive (trip report due by weekend) and did not have any issues like these. I mostly think this to be related to the balancing or alignment weights. Not sure if there is any correction to be done in the steering calibration etc - do check that. typically when you do WA/WB, the ADAs needs to recalibrate the values if they are off the chart. Also, I suggest to try the same speed with and without ADAS (especially LKA disabled) and see if the behaviour changes.

Thanks a ton, just got my XUV back from the Anant cars service center after 3-4 days. The SA tried to brush it off as normal behavior inspite of showing it on the test drive and on my insistence they kept it for another day and claimed the issue has been fixed by retorque/tighten the coupler and tested it two times and found no vibrations at all. No surprises - the issue is still there and there were vibrations on my drive back home on Nice road.

Have you gotten the WA/WB and calibration done at chrome? any knowledgable contacts there whom I can get in touch with, any references there would really help. My second service is due soon as well so I can take it there for both.

My LKA is set at warning only - I'll completely switch it off and give it a try.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Vasuki

Any specific pointers for WA/WB in AWD's or is it the same as the case of FWD's.

Not sure if there is anything specific for AWD. I haven’t observed it so far. The calibration is needed when there is one side pulling or some misalignment on steering angle. There are some values that are recorded prior and after to AA and WB. I wasn’t watching the exact process but for sure there is this step involved. I have also seen that this is not done for all and all the time. When they see the wa and wb values they take a call if the calibration is needed. On my car it was never done. Once I did the QA and WB outside ASC, at Madhus sister concern TP. There were some red flags that needed camber adjustments. And after doing it my car didn’t need steering calibration.

Originally Posted by Sandegov

THave you gotten the WA/WB and calibration done at chrome? any knowledgable contacts there whom I can get in touch with, any references there would really help. My second service is due soon as well so I can take it there for both.

My LKA is set at warning only - I'll completely switch it off and give it a try.

I only did the tire rotation at Chrome. Never had WA and WB done there. I typically do it with Madhus or TP. To check, you can walk-in to the Chrome, meet their Service GM Dinesh and refer to this issue, reference my name too. He can guide you. On the days they have high volume, a prior appointment will help. If you have some slots in your mind, I can also pass on the word to them. I see that you are close to Chrome motors - it’s worth giving it a try.

[Sandegov]

Originally Posted by abirnale

I only did the tire rotation at Chrome. Never had WA and WB done there. I typically do it with Madhus or TP. To check, you can walk-in to the Chrome, meet their Service GM Dinesh and refer to this issue, reference my name too. He can guide you. On the days they have high volume, a prior appointment will help. If you have some slots in your mind, I can also pass on the word to them. I see that you are close to Chrome motors - it’s worth giving it a try.

Thanks, have booked an appointment at chrome for Monday morning 9:30. Would really help if you can pass on a word to them. Will speak with Dinesh and do as suggested.

[abirnale]

Installing a dashboard Camera

The XUV7OO comes with surround view monitoring (SVM) and an ability to store the footage on a add-on SD Card which dealers/ service centre staff can install on your demand at an additional cost. This entire SVM functionality serves two purposes:

• The live view for when you need to see your blind spots during reverse, tight spaces, off-roading etc.: Love this, been using all the time.
• Emergency Recording - in case of unexpected events that needs to be stored for reference (of proof or otherwise).: Good feature with a major flaw.

So the second point is a real pain on this car: if you need to extract the recorded footage form the car’s SD card, it’s not a DIY or an easy access. What you will need to do is - access the SD card physically and grab the footage. Or else, like below, point another camera at the ICE screen and while the footage is played back, record it as secondary recording. Neither car nor Adrenox App on mobile can give you this footage directly. Moreover the footage is four separate cameras with typical views that doesn’t make full sense when seen individually. So even for the proof in case of emergency, this is not very intuitive to refer to.



Since this video recording isn’t really useful for owner/ driver for either as access to proof immediately or to refer to as memories some point later - I decided to get the dashboard camera setup done.

I chose the cost-optimum 70mai: https://www.nexdigitron.com/collecti...products/a800s This is a dual channel setup with ability to take about 128GB SD Card, 4K front and HD at back. The order generally arrives in metros within 24-36 hours.



The installation was done at local accessory shop under my observation: ensuring the hardwiring is done without affecting any electronics/ wiring and or functionality. No cutting or splicing of any panels or wires or otherwise!

The fuse to be tapped from the inside cabin fusebox - I am not using parking recording since my parking place has my own CCTV setup as well as at work its secured.



Without opening any panels, simply routed wires from the roof liner edge of the car roof inside. Using the plastic prying tools this is very easy and without even having any impact on the interiors.

And then finally fitted onto the windshield exactly below the ADAS module without having it interfere with that housing in anyway.



This now works like a charm. The video quality is great: front as well as rear. I can read the number plates without any problem. A slight glare can be countered by using the CPL filter (which I did not order yet). The dashcam connects with the mobile over Wifi or you can remove the SD card and read through your computer. The glitch though: if you are using wireless CarPlay or Android Auto and while the car is using it, connecting with dashcam over wifi would need you to disconnect wireless displays! This isn’t a huge discomfort unless you want everything to work at a time - which is rare. I use the USB card reader for my DSLR etc to pull footage faster and used to that mechanism already. So it’s easier to do the same for dashcam too.

So all in all, great accessory fitting: meaningful and functional. If M&M wants to do something about this: they should make SVR footage accessible from Adrenox directly and some processing of those videos to make them look viewable from each angle individually.

And while that doesn’t happen, I continue to record our drive memories, use this setup as proof if required: I am generally a very responsible driver and always encounter the hooligans on road. All I want is record of incidences that can save my rear and occasionally the memories that I can relive including such acts:



Happy motoring - there are few more drive reports and observation posts coming up! Stay tuned.

[abirnale]

About the recent travel: BLR - MH - Pune - Mumbai - Konkan - Goa - BLR

Not exactly a trip, and neither can it be termed as routine commute! Nevertheless we are back in town after being outside of BLR for 15 days. I had some work to attend to at home town in MH and needed to pick my son after his mid summer break. I drove from Bangalore to MH, then continued to Pune, did a quick trip to Mumbai, a one day visit to Mangaon town in Konkan near Raigad, an overnight stop at Sanquelim and then back to Bangalore.

The highlight of the trip was we had two amazing birding sessions: one at Bhandup Pumping Station for Flamingos and another to see the most beautiful Great Indian Hornbills a.k.a. Flying tigers! We also visited our farm, home, some distant inaccessible places - and no drama at all: The redSparkle gobbles the miles without a sweat! Most of the highway runs are now speed controlled and ADAS is such a boon on roads like Pune Mumbai Express way! We took some farm roads, some country roads with potholes, smooth expressway tarmac, messy roadwork stretches and some amazing Ghat roads.

Here are some pictures from this marathon drive:

A smooth sailing on NH48: I love this road even though I might have driven on this more than 50 times!



If you drive sanely, this is very much realty:



This haldiram shop outside Kolhapur is a great place to pick sweets before I meet my nephews!



Whenever I go home, a visit to our farm is a must. Driving through the narrow village roads with full of stones, deep potholes and some slippery roads with wild thorny bushes on both side of the road is just normal sight.









Back to home or more urban jungle, the car is still literally “at home”: for one night I had to park it outside and there was a hailstorm - I was worried if the sunroof will break due to hailstones! Thank god, nothing like that happened!





After picking my son form Pune, we took a drive through expressway twice - once to Mumbai where we could meet a contact who took us to the Bhandup mangroves and gave an up-close view of the lovely flamingoes! We always wanted to go to Bhigwan and that trip has never happened. It was written in our fate - and it happened!



















On one of the the sunny Saturday mornings, we decided to contact our friend Shantanu who is a celebrated naturalist in MH and has been tracking a pair of Great Indian Hornbills for the past 4 months or so. More about him here: https://youtube.com/@ShantanuKuveskar

With another group from Pune, we were taken to the location were we sighted these flying tigers: this was the best moment of our trip! Can’t describe our feelings as we had waited a long time to see these majestic birds out in the wild!









Guess what we had for company! XUV7OO's capabilities are supposedly inspired from this European. We had fun driving through the narrow stretches, driving down at night on the winding Tamhini Ghat and of course the bird sighting.



Shantanu has some fantastic pictures and footages of these birds and soon he is publishing his paper on them along with the documentary he is creating: stay tuned for it on his YT channel/ Insta. I cant wait to go back to him again soon to enjoy the journey with him and sighting more birds! We too recorded some videos and pictures for bird but on this thread I will post the car pictures in the subsequent posts - birds are best captured by these other professional guys that accompanied us on the trip - check Shantanu’s Insta for that! This thread needs to focus back more on #TheRedSparkle

A routine drive back to home is boring, we we decided to take another overnight pitstop at Goa to meet our parents there: a customary stop at Amboli ghat and a bite of Khekada Bhajjis is a must!




And another interesting update coming up as next post - keep reading!

[abirnale]

It’s been 14 months now, we have been driving this car to a variety of destinations, with variety of situations around us. Except two occasions, the car did fantastic - I was expecting a lot more niggles to come my way knowing what happened in 2011-2012 with XUV5OO. Although my visits to the ASC have been almost once a month, this car is relatively a lot more trouble free.

The one thing I want to do sometime is to use the car in a controlled off-road situation where I can myself see it in action, capture some nail-biting moments and if thing survives, bring it back home in one piece. There has been a lot of discussion on AWD but not much credible information, documentation available for this car. I hope to see some meaningful action on this front soon.

And while we wait for that, here are some more pictures from the recent trips:













Back in Namma Bengaluru - lake hopping continues.





Stay tuned for more updates.

[roaringfours]

Hi. Got my Silver box flashed a couple of days back on a call from the dealership. Apple carplay though was working with its normal niggles and problems before that too, but after the update it has been working perfectly fine (touch wood!) so far. Though Alexa it seems needs a re-set after this update.