Early delivery of my XUV700 & my overall experience & observations

BHPian RaghuChn recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello Team BHPians! Finally got my XUV700 AX7L D AT (Midnight Black) on Sat, 25-Nov-22 evening in Pune. Booked it on 23-Oct-21; the original estimated date of delivery was Apr-2023. But the car was allotted on 29-Oct-22 and was delivered yesterday.

What you would love in the car

1. Space in the 1st & 2nd rows - 'plenty' is the word; seats are super comfy too.
2. The power on tap that the car offers is phenomenal!
3. Ultra-smooth steering in the Zip mode (I do a custom config, with steering in Zip and all the rest in Zap modes).
4. Adaptive Cruise & Lane Keep Assist work like magic; love the auto-adjusting steering, and stop-and-go function the most.
5. The LED headlights are quite effective; they put the daylight ahead of you even in pitch-dark conditions; found this set-up to be better focused than the Xenon HID Projectors in my other car.
6. Touch & feel of the infotainment system is fantastic. The MID screen has become my new pass-time for this weekend.
7. Comfort, handling, zero body roll on ghats, planted drivability and the build quality that makes the XUV700 feel safe as a tank! The 182 PS + 450 NM figures go straight from the paper to under the hood without any loss in transmission.
8. Excellent cabin noise management for the 2.2L M-Hawk beast. Bridgestone Ecopia shoes are prone to road noise (as seen in my Verna); if XUV700 is as quiet as it is with these tyres, I am actually looking forward to the Continental ones that are much quieter (as seen in my Verna, again).

Less impressive points

1. 3rd row is a joke. It's barely usable for anything that's animate & grown-up; one of the ways to make it usable is to fold the middle row and then you have space to straighten your feet sitting in the 3rd row. Basically, that competes hard to win the argument if it said that the 3rd row is as comfortable as it is in Safari / Innova.
2. AEB has not come into play so far (150 kms of Pune traffic navigation, not even a warning, barring just once when there was nothing in front except a 3-inch tall plastic speed breaker!), when there were a few such situations during city driving where it could have helped. Don't know if it is an aid or an emergency thing (like airbags).
3. Camera quality has definite room for improvement (all 4 cameras); there is a bit of a lag too, of a few milliseconds; the car starts moving on the ground a few ms before it starts to move on the camera.
4. The front grill slats have so much gap that a stone flying in from the tyres of a vehicle ahead, can easily crash at a damaging speed, into the aluminium fins of the radiator inside. Need to look for some metal mesh to do the job of a bullet-proof jacket for that radiator. M&M could actually launch an accessory that does the job.
5. The tyre life might be shorter than most of us would like. I expect the stock tyres to do the job for about 45-50k Kms, no more. After all, they carry 2 tons of metal that has a demanding set of electronics beyond just brakes (all 4 discs) & acceleration.
6. M&M has omitted the sequential turn indicator at the rear, due to a chip shortage issue. What remains is a tiny little blinker on each side, the simplicity of which does not go well with the otherwise flamboyant rear end of the car. I am told that it has been discontinued and they won't even retrofit it for this batch of cars, even if it becomes available at a later point.

Delivery experience

I got a call from the dealership that the vehicle has been allotted to me. I did not believe it initially; thought it was a prank. After all, I had been reading how frustrating it has been for so many people with regard to the delivery timelines on this vehicle. My original delivery date was supposed to be in Apr '23, and I wasn't even expecting to get it anytime sooner.

Actually, around the beginning of Oct this year, I was toying with the idea of ditching the XUV700 in favor of the Hyundai Tucson, which was launched with all the same (and many more) features. The price difference (almost 13 lakhs) needed some explanation / convincing at home, which had to be planned carefully

Within the same week of my visit to a Hyundai showroom to take a look at the Tucson, I got a message from Mahindra that my car was arriving sooner and would be delivered between 13-Nov-22 & 13-Dec-22. ~3 weeks after getting this message, the dealership where I had booked the vehicle, called me to confirm vehicle allotment and arrival.

Then started the regular process of document submission, loan processing, margin money payment and so on and so forth. I was looking to get the vehicle BH registered. From my experience, I conclude that getting the BH registration is a process which demands time, patience and unique doc requirements, which are beyond Form 60 in Vaahan Portal, and these often are the whims of the local RTO authorities.

I gave up at one point and paid the difference amount for regular MH12 registration. The fact that my papers were initially processed for BH and then were changed to MH, took 3 extra days (someone who needs to do the rework takes 2 days for the same, I am told!).

Thereafter, the process was completed, very well assisted by Unnati Motors (Viman Nagar) executives. If I must absolutely find a fault with the delivery process, that was 3 revisions to the delivery date in a span of 2.5 weeks; I don't think that will even be much of a concern for many. I am a stickler for time and if time commitments are not honoured, I flow free with my feedback. That apart, everything was quite satisfactory.

Accessories that I got installed from the showroom

1. Rain visor with chrome insert set (Part No. AW60013)
2. 3D floor mats (Part No. AW60026/29)
3. Mud flaps (Part No. AW60001)
4. Rear bumper protector SS (Part No. AW60039)
5. Infotainment screen protector (Part No. AW60095)
6. Illuminated scuff protector set (Part No. AW60017)

Total listed cost of accessories- 25,450/-; Bargained it down to 24,000/-

Also got the ceramic coating done for an additional 21,000/- (quoted price - 25,000/-), from the showroom itself.

Yet to be seen

1. Fuel efficiency (too soon to comment on it with just ~210 kms on the ODO, but right now, it is between 11 & 12 kmpl)
2. Any niggles with infotainment / ADAS systems
3. Engine noise levels once it goes past the 5k km mark
4. Any recalls for the sequential indicator at the rear (again, hoping against hope here)
5. "First service @ 1k Kms is just a free check-up" - let's see. (Request members to let me know if they've had to pay for the first service)

Finally, with so much written about the XUV700 in a gazillion forums within and outside Team-BHP, I do not claim any of the above to be original. I just wanted to share what's good and what's not, based on my observation & understanding of the vehicle that I call my own now. Thanks for reading!

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.