[RGK]

The engine bay is so tight that you can't even see the Battery serial number easily.

This has become common in modern cars and it is the same in my Ecosport as well.


Congratulations Abi and Wish you happy and safe motoring.

As you have mentioned, the sunroof is so large and it will be an awesome experience on the ghat roads. Enjoy the lovely beast.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by robimahanta

Lovely detailed review Avi. Glad I got the opportunity to check it out with you during PDI.

Thanks, Robi! It's a privilege knowing you and banking on your support be it automobile or otherwise! You are our great family supporter too. Love your garage and love the tasteful modifications too.

Originally Posted by dailydriver

I have followed the journey of the Orange Cheetah and its owner for a while now; both have been pretty interesting.
....
Heartiest congratulations on bringing home the Sabertooth.

Thank you very much for your kind words. I will be sure to keep posting more deep-dive stuff and my experience.

Originally Posted by Dark water

Interesting, informative and comprehensive review, many congratulations to you and all the best.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Heartiest Congratulations on your lovely Red Sabertooth, and thank you very much for taking efforts to write this detailed report. BTW, if I am not mistaken, this is the first XUV7OO AWD on the forum! Congratulations on that too.
....
And finally, welcome to the Red Club! Can't wait for an opportunity for a Red photoshoot now.

Thank you AD - a fan of your travelogues A red car shootout would be amazing fun! Looking forward to it.

Originally Posted by Sandegov

Congrats @Abirnale, wish you and the family loads of memorable miles. The red stands out in a sea of whites and midnight blacks

Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by graaja

Awesome write-up and pictures.
Congratulations on the Red Sabertooth

Thank you coach. How about a red-blue combo picture soon?

Originally Posted by nerd1200

Congratulations Avi! That was an awesome writeup of an equally brilliant car.

Thank you very much. I shall try my best to bring you more and more content and fun experience as I go through it and the bad part of it too.

Originally Posted by sauravpat

Congratulations on the new car! Wishing you lakhs of safe and memorable kilometres.
...
Just one question for you, are the DRLs a warm shade like they appear in your photos instead of a cooler temperature like in most other cars? Or is it just the white balance in that particular photo?

Thank you, Saurav. I think they're bright white (sorry, not just my wife but most folks think I am color blind.) The picture was the result of Google Photos doing some auto stuff. In-person the headlights are super bright. They have these features that work in auto-mode. Nice throw and high beam almost never work in the city. The street lights as well as oncoming cabbie lights make it switch off to low beam. No revenge opportunities you see! But if you make them all forced to high beam (top indicator position), the lights are a nightmare to oncoming vehicles. I did a quick night drive on a desolate road and am happy to report that lower triple-digit speeds at night with these lights are doable. The booster lights work like charm - tiny sized with big boost.

Originally Posted by Aditya

Exceptional, unbiased & detailed ownership reviews of cars have started going to our homepage reviews box. It's the ultimate stamp of trust from Team-BHP (as a platform) because lakhs of visitors every month check out reviews from there & make purchase decisions.

Thank you, Aditya - honored to be featured in that space!

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

Many congratulations on the XUV700!

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by Karthik R

The way your car and you have evolved is endearing. You both have aged very gracefully, I must say.

Do let us know if you are opting for Ceramic coating or PPF, maybe? And also all the accessories you might be installing.

Regarding the cabin being inadequately lit, I did come across a post in the Original XUV 700 thread where an owner installed the 64-colour ambient lighting and boy did the interior look fantastic.

Thank you very much.

No, no coating, no PPF. Let's be honest - my perspective. It's a Mahindra. It's an SUV. It got to be dirty, it has to pick up some battle scars. The cost is worth painting the car every 3 years. This car will age well anyway. I am going to spend some on underbody protection if at all. The only accessories I bought are footmats! Nothing more as of now.

Also, no fiddling with any electronics as well as interior panel adjustments. The ambient light isn't a big issue for me. I don't like things to be dinchak - just a little light in the footwell to help my passengers find things they drop. that's all is my wish. They will use cabin lights for now. For the booth, I will use some 3m tapes to stick the cycle torch and do with it.

Originally Posted by amol4184

Congratulations on the transformation and the car.

Thank you very much. A better view of myself is actually an ego-boost!

Originally Posted by tilt

Congratulations Avi

Lovely review; and I eagerly await more from you on the driving impressions, especially the highway bits and the long-drives.

Thank you Mohan. Looking forward to joining you on the upcoming drives.

Originally Posted by starwarsfanatic

Congratulations on your XUV 700. The red sabertooth is looking spectacular, wishing you many happy and joyful miles ahead

Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by sridhar24

Congratulations on getting home your Red Sabertooth, looks spectacular indeed.

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by justwheels

Brilliant car and a brilliant name. Suits so well. Its funny how something named sabertooth is much more mature and modern as compared to something that was named cheetah

Thank you very much. Sabertooth was the instantaneous name that came up to my mind looking at the DRLs. Mahindra did not want to link this with XUV5OO, probably to pitch in a higher price range as well as push the envelope further. Having owned a Cheetah-inspired design, I thought sabertooth is apt. And what better way to bring back this extinct species nomenclature than use it here. I still love it to be known as Red Sparkle - it truly is sparkle on the road when clean and under the sunlight!

Originally Posted by fundagenie

Congrats Avi.

Thanks Fizzy. The first stickers that are going on the car are - our very own "Got Bhp?" and your designed TORC ones!

Originally Posted by AZT

Beautiful and detailed write-up. 5 star thread

Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by Raghunath Singh

Super awesome ownership review Avi

Thank you dude. we are planning to meet soon - would love to connect with you in person.

Originally Posted by bejoy

Congrats Avinash on your new possession. Wishing you many happy miles and I am sure you will enjoy every bit of the journey from now!

Thanks Bejoy - looking forward to meeting you again!

Originally Posted by RGK

Congratulations Abi and Wish you happy and safe motoring.

Yes, and thank you very much!

[fusionbang]

Congratulations Avinash on this beautiful car Wish you lot of miles with smiles!!

I still remember our initial days with the XUV5OO, how we struggled hard to improve our lightnings and glad to know nothing to be modded on this car.

Eager to follow your ownership experience on this beauty.

[abirnale]

Yesterday I visited the service centre - but before you jump on to find out if there was an issue, let me state the obvious - Nope!

I had two things in my mind that were pending:

• SD Card Mounting for DVR feature
• Under-chassis coating

Since the drive for me from my home to Service centre is a long one through traffic, I got chance to explore more ICE features - some of them are super helpful! The on-boar navigation is often underrated in the age of Apple CarPlay and Google Android Auto. Having used Google Maps all these days, MMI (?) navigation needed little getting used to. But once I got hang of it, things were peaceful. The map snippet on MID console is too good. The hints it throws on the main screen at major junctions is better than Google maps - see the example below:



The only thing I felt is - when I come out of basement parking and expect it to get the GPS fix immediately, it wont. But If i come out in open, wait for a minute, things start rolling! I had sent my destination from Adrenox App to the car - it was picked up well by car but somehow the navigation never started when I was in basement. So I had to do the search and start navigation again once I was out in open. Apart from that, no issues at all.

The ICE has the applications from IndiaToday and thrillophilia - they are good timepass. See the screens below - I think application is only good when you have the best content.



This is pretty much the reason why Google maps is one stop solution for many.

The India Today App read me the news - bit slow to load (may blame to vi network?).



I visited the PPS Thanisandra service station - that is the main in town for PPS. I needed to ensure that the underbody is protected well. So performed the silencer coating as well as underbody rust protection. The Mahindra cars are better made now - they typically don't need these, but its the kind of insurance I wanted anyway. My last car had zero rust issues!

See the pictures below to help understand the work:

The coating products used:


The difference between non-coated and coated silencer!


This car has nice underbody protection:


The engine oil drain plug is easily accessible too:


Oh and the AWD thingie:


While I was there, I also got them to fit the 32GB SD Card for DVR feature. The location of card is weird, you can't do this as DIY. Also you need some special tools to do this - not a typical press to eject/ pull out SDC slots. I am thinking if this was afterthought feature to gain marketing mileage! Or may be - this is primarily meant for safety/ proof of action thing, they kept it at a place where its rare to get SDC destroyed, maybe.

The white small thing in the pic is SDC location!


My suggestions would be:

• Need a better mechanism to retrieve the recorded videos (via Adrenox App may be?)
• And ability to replace the cards without ASC visit.

Anyway, DVR works and super helpful. I literally need zero aftermarket work on this car! Great job Mahindra!

By the way, I also noticed a couple of display related bugs - the screensaver with twin-peak logo should be appearing like this:



Instead sometimes, it comes as this:



None of these are actually issues - just the sluggish display refresh rate may be or some bugs. I am sure M&M team will squash these bugs in next update.

And by the way, the actual expected visits to ASC are only as below:



The total cost of this visit is Rs. 4610 including Rs 150 for diagnostics - the mechanic had to touch the settings gear symbol to see if ICE needs any software updates

More updates to follow as I continue to explore the Red Sabertooth and bring the sparkle to your reading!

[abirnale]

It's been a week now that car is home and unfortunately no long drives have happened so far :( Owing to some health challenges in the family, seems like this weekend too shall pass without much action...

To fulfil the itch of driving the car, me and my daughter went out this morning. To our favourite hillock off Ragihallii forest, close to our home. The video below has a compilation of our morning time:

https://youtu.be/vy6oMjvlCQ4

The more I spend time with this car, it continues to give me the feeling of being worthy substitute for Orange Cheetah!

We briefly used AWD, fantastic power delivery to rear wheels when I needed them. This location is doable with FWD too but needs a lot of power and momentum to climb up on the gravel as well as the rocky terrain you see in the video. The Sabertooth on the other hand did not need any momentum - just business as usual driving. Extremely comfortable with SVS cameras helping steer the car properly and literally not required to anything else!

The roads were horrible, bumpy, gravel filled, dusty. And at some flat stretches we went with about 35-40kmph speed. We did not hear any thuds, any issues with suspension. The feeling inside the cabin is super silent. Loved the overall feeling of sitting inside and exploring in peace! Only when I took the bad roads today, I could appreciate the huge improvement in handling and suspension over orange cheetah - this is another job well done Mahindra!

The car was driven in Zap mode only today with certain stretches forced on AWD lock. The speeds while on AWD locks were crawling kind - less than 10 kmph, gentle movement without any accelerator input. Note that the current tires are not A/T and they were grippy on the rock!

Leaving you with some pictures from the drive:









Have a great weekend.

[Sandegov]

Is that a black wrap on the roof?? goes very well with red, very neat

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Sandegov

Is that a black wrap on the roof?? goes very well with red, very neat

Yes, thanks. Glossy black from 3M. Considering matching alloy paint and red brake callipers, maybe someday soon.

Amazon seller cheated with bad quality number plate frames, and Mahindra ASC riveted them! About to take them off and replace with Orbiz. (ordered, awaiting delivery.)

[tzasch]

Originally Posted by abirnale

PDI Formalities, Process and Dealer Experience


The major cost heads for the final OTR price is as below:

Rs. 22,89,000 - Sale Invoice Price (includes close to 7.5 lakhs of GST and Cess!)
Rs. 04,77,280 - RTO Taxes and Cess
Rs. 00,80,000 - Insurance (IDV of 22,60,788)
Rs. 00,22,890 - TCS
Rs. 00,27,139 - Extended Warranty
Rs. 00,08,691 - Fastag, Accessories, Other expenses etc.

Total: Rs.29,05,000 (Rounded)

Hi @abirnale, I am expecting delivery of my AX7 P AT in the coming days here in Bengaluru. i needed quick help regarding Insurance. Can you let me know which Insurance company is this and what add-ons are included? I have been quoted 84,000 for lesser IDV than yours.

[appupandya]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Congratulations! I too have bought the same car same colour and same model, DSL AWD L AT. Mine too is 2022 manufactured. probably our cars were in the same batch during production.

Got delivery on 10th Feb. Shall post my short review and delivery experience soon.

Wish you happy miles ahead

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by tzasch

I needed quick help regarding Insurance. Can you let me know which Insurance company is this and what add-ons are included

I took Tata AIG. Covers B2B/ Zero Dep, EP, Key Replacement, RSA, RTI.

Originally Posted by appupandya

Congratulations! I too have bought the same car same color and same model, DSL AWD L AT. Mine too is 2022 manufactured. probably our cars were in the same batch during production.

Super - congratulations to you too! Have a pleasant ownership experience. Someday we will meet and so will our rides

[abirnale]

It's been a week and a little more since the Red Sabertooth is home. It's been an absolute delight and a matter of pride to see heads turn, people stopping on the signal asking curious questions! I also met some bhpian who recognized the car and waved at me to say hi! The neighbors have been asking questions as well as the kids in the neighborhood are making a beeline to see around! I never imagined this car to be such an attraction. I guess It's just about time as more and more cars show on the road, this novelty will die down. Nevertheless, I loved the attention!

Now coming back to the continued experience with the car, I was pleasantly surprised with a longish drive I could manage on Sunday evening. Onward to a friend's place near Denkankottai (She got an FWD AX7 L in TN the same day as I got mine!) was an easy drive whereas the return was a spirited night drive.

I was also able to explore a bit of ADAS features, especially the ACC system - it works like charm! On the highway, where the traffic is orderly or lanes are followed a maximum number of times, this system is hugely predictable and helpful. I would not be using this system inside the city for sure! The LKA warnings were precise, the road speed signs were precisely read and flashed on the MID. The instantaneous FE numbers shoot up high when you cruise at 80-100 speeds! The car doesn't feel out of place anywhere - the bumps from the unpaved country roads were gobbled up like anything! The twisting roads on farm side roads were a treat to drive in this car. No suspension thud or bottoming out anywhere (we were two folks in the car).

The return drive was post dusk - the lights were amazingly great! I put them in auto mode, the high beam wouldn't work most of the time as it automatically shuts down at the slightest hint of oncoming light/ street lights or any objects car detects. Then I had to put it into the manual (topmost slider position on the stalk) and then it revealed Diwali on the road! The Booster lamps came out as soon as the car crossed 80kmph - a quick and usable light that is! So now with full lights, high beam, booster - all ON above 80kmph speed, you wouldn't miss a thing on the road! I am sure it would be a menace on the road for oncoming traffic. So technically, leave it into the AUTO mode, the car takes care of you as well as the cars around you. If you give a damn about others, go to manual headlights ON position, throw high beam and let booster add the spice to this! Finally, I think I found my light needs to be fulfilled by a stock setup!

Another fiend driving behind me mentioned this - the XUV7OO tail appears to be planted on the twisties. No visible movements, unlike predecessors. The ride was extremely planted, silent, and non-exhausting!

The best thing is - the AT box controls the RPMs in ZIP or ZAP mode very well. Even when you are driving at 120kmph, the revs won't cross 2000 (other than upshifting or downshifting moments). On the contrary, if you switch to Zoom mode, the revs would not fall below 1800/1900 RPMs or so! I did not feel at any time that I miss the MT shifting. The AT TC box almost read my mind and continued to behave as if I would have shifted the gears myself - or say better than me!

And with that, wrapping up the post - some pictures from the quick drive yesterday:

Some Bangalore TORC friends caught up with the car to explore:


The friend's car: AT FWD AX7L Diesel


The pictures from the drive around the farm:










The ODO now stands at 600+ Kms, in a week's time, the car should go for the first service.

[supertinu]

Congrats Avinash on your new purchase. Absolutely the right upgrade from the XUV500. In my mind I am also sure that my next car will be XUV700 but I am not in a rush given my low running. My XUV500 stands at 44K kms in 7 years . Pandemic really stalled whatever running I had.

Keep the updates rolling and share your experiences.

[adityasiera]

Congratulations on the fantastic car. A 5 * review.

I have one question with the AWD. Can you keep the AWD on during high speed runs for additional grip ? or does the AWD switch off at a certain speed ?

[tzasch]

Originally Posted by abirnale

I took Tata AIG. Covers B2B/ Zero Dep, EP, Key Replacement, RSA, RTI.

Thanks for your response, I was able to negotiate with the Dealer and he has agreed to reduce the quote with the same add-ons as yours. Your review and details have been super helpful for me so far, Thanks!

[Ritesh_Dogar]

Originally Posted by adityasiera

Can you keep the AWD on during high speed runs for additional grip ? or does the AWD switch off at a certain speed ?

The AWD switches off automatically above 80kmph, even if you are at forced AWD setting (switched the AWD on by pressing the button)