Booked an XUV700 in Oct 2021: Continue waiting or get a Mercedes GLA

I'm being offered a GLA 220d under the corporate scheme whose cost over 5 years would come out to be slightly lesser than owning the Mahindra.

BHPian Jyotil recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Horns of a Dilemma

Friends,

No pun intended in the title but I have to choose what horn to toot and if you can excuse the lame attempt to be cryptic, it is pretty easy to deduce that I am talking about two cars here. Now that I have your attention, here goes the Faustian knot of a situation which I seek your help to disentangle.

I am one of those who has an uncanny knack for landing into situations that invariably turn into life lessons, be it simply choosing a lane at the toll booth insofar as whichever I choose magically becomes the slowest even if I was the only car in that lane or in this case replacing my 8-year-old Honda City CVT.

As many thousands are waiting for the supply chain gods to smile, I am one of those who did everything possible to book an XUV700 AX7L AWD on Oct 7th, 2021 - the first day within the first hour of bookings thrown open. Elated and even if it is a little embarrassing I have to admit that I felt a sense of immense pride in having accomplished this feat. Little did I know that the lesson was just starting to unfold.

The first shocker was when I did not receive any update in the first few days and then after a month another one that informed me my "adrenaline rush" or "dream drive" will be delivered in the month of August / September 2022.

Now I am not remotely qualified to be an endocrinologist but even I can tell that 10 months is too long a time to maintain any sort of adrenaline rush even if one was a junkie.

Then the knocks kept just coming, one by one I kept on seeing updates on XUVs getting delivered before time due to cancellations or people having booked at multiple dealers getting lucky or pulling strings to get one faster and so on. I learnt more about algorithms than I ever would have cared if not for the dreaded delivery algorithm that one of the Big 4 is said to have devised.

Since I had none of the above I chose to politely follow up with the dealer who was as helpless as a Ford dealer in the early 1900s when someone asked for a Beige model T. Then I upped the ante and climbed the proverbial corporate ladder at M&M starting with ASM, RSM, Sr. VP of sales & marketing also did lateral stints with Customer Service Head and then finally reached the upper echelon of the management layer - Executive Director of M&M. Got stock responses such as - we will keep an eye on cancellations and such.

Finally, in April the ASM called about a cancellation, even though it wasn't a color of choice I said yes but then after 2 days it was the toll booth lane all over again when I was informed I can have the car but only if I am ready to pay 100 grand more as there won't be a price protection.

I climbed the corporate ladder again but to no avail and this time not even a stock response. By now to recover from all the trauma of owning a new car, I had started reading about ancient Stoics and the Buddhist way of life so I could resist doling out a single rupee more than what I intended. But then what's life without twists and turns right?

In late May, the booking vanished from the site and after another pilgrimage to M&M customer care the booking appeared and as if it was rewarding my penance - the CPD was brought forward by a month, July 4 - July 11th. I was getting absolved of all my sins but I celebrated a bit too early as July 4th became 7th and the progress tracker on the M&M site showed no signs of budging. Finally, yesterday CPD was again pushed out by a month i.e in August.

As all of this was happening, a riveting side story was building up - under the corporate scheme, we are offered a Merc GLA 220d (not 4matic) with no upfront capital and with all service packs and warranties - the cost of which over 5 years may come to slightly lesser than owning an XUV700 which will require upfront capital and a loan. GLA was never a consideration mostly because of the price that these Germans demand. I test drove a GLA and I loved every bit of the package, not to mention the veto that the family holds on such a decision.

That's where you, the readers come in - what should I do now? Do I wait for an XUV700 and embrace the niggles et al or go for the GLA and be the member of the loneliest ownership thread on Team-BHP?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Here's what BHPian Porcupine had to say about the matter:

The XUV700 is an amazing vehicle and is bigger and arguably has a different use case than the GLA. With that said, if I was you, I'd go with the GLA. It definitely is smaller, but the 220d engine is good, and it's a German which will last you a long time with a solid build. And you get the prestige of the three-pointed star.

One thing you have to keep in mind though is the maintenance costs will be higher than the XUV, especially in the longer term. But not to worry, as it's an established product so you shouldn't have any troubles really.

Here's what BHPian Tanmay_868 had to say about the matter:

I would say, go for the GLA. As you mentioned, the service package and warranty package are part of the deal so the total ownership cost would be lesser than XUV.

Also, you will be saving yourself from an upfront down payment. That money can be used for investing purposes and for solving future niggles (hopefully not for this).

Lastly, the experience (/feeling) of owning any of the Big 3 is just amazing, which XUV can’t even come close to.

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