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BHPian kedar_GT recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
I started penning down this review when the car was 4 days and 900km old and today it’s a tad lesser than 2 months old. Sigh. Procrastination and me!
Hence, today, I just decided to take the plunge and share this review; I will add to it as I go along! At the time of publishing this post, my 1 month first free checkup/service is done.
I took delivery of my '23 XUV7OO AX7L Petrol AT in February and completed 900 km within the first 4 days. The car is well documented on Team-BHP - so I will just touch upon those points that are a significant change for me.
Well, I had been on the lookout for a new car for the last year or more. Nothing converged since I really did not need a car apart from the fact that I wanted to replace my highway steed with an automatic and something sturdier/safer/more powerful than my current ride i.e. a 1.4L gen1 Ertiga Zxi. I always wanted a 7str for the convenience factor but was open to a 5str just in case it was a premium German (albeit entry-level) with a budget cap of 50L (the lesser the better). So, I test-drove cars ranging from the X1, Safari, Octavia, Hector Plus, Fortuner, Hyryder & the XUV7OO.
I liked this car very much and was the lone 5str that I considered. The practical cabin, the fast petrol/diesel engines, the boot space, and the pano sunroof all combined to make this one enticing German. Add to the fact that this was more spacious than the Q3. I especially liked the 2018 white/black X-Line version with the X-alloys and was on the lookout for a preowned one. I almost bought a 4yr, in-warranty, 25k run example (it was blue in color) but due to a last-minute hitch, I backed off. The thought of spending new-car money on a used example was a mind block even though I thought I was mentally ready for the same.
The dealership experience was always a turn-off. I was willing to put this aside and still consider this but for 2 reasons. One was the heavy steering and the second was the poor/pathetic condition of the TD vehicle (i.e. the Tata experience). I mean badly maintained would be an understatement (think big dent on the front bumper, broken fog light, front tyre running on the spare, some misc warning lights on the MID).
I notice the dealership uses the same TD vehicle as of till date. Due to the steering feel, one gets the impression of driving a much heavier vehicle. Being used to creamy petrols & silent cabins, the diesel gruff was always something that I would have had to reconcile with. The missus shot down this choice saying it was a Tata and I too thought that she will not enjoy operating the hydraulic power steering as opposed to the light steering on her current ride.
Fantastic drive and poise for those in the front seats. Has a flat ride and decimates speed breakers when one powers on at a decent clip. The deal breakers were the upright and not-so-spacious rear seats (the less we speak about the 3rd row the better), the NVH at idle and the sparse service network (the SA later on told me that BLR was one of the biggest markets for the Meridian - makes sense with NCR folks not wanting this car due to the diesel-only option). This one was shot down by the kids who did not have any kind words for the rear seats.
This was a contender but was surprisingly shot down by the wife due to the willowy drive at higher speeds. She drove it back-to-back with the Astor and preferred the Astor over the Hector. As the Astor is a 5-str with less leg space at the back, we did not consider this further though I was impressed with the in-cabin ambience of the Hector Plus and more so, of the Astor. The kids did like this one due to the captain seats and the pano sunroof!
The interiors and the busy ride were a downer and so was the pricing for this truck. I have a detailed post about this too.
Wifey did not like the interiors on the same. After getting used to roomy vehicles, the all-black interior of the Octavia does take some time to get used to. She also scraped the TD car on some bad roads and I had nothing to say after this. Personally, I loved the car, the humongous boot space & the power on tap but the interiors were a bit too bland for my taste. (A close friend picked up the vRS 245 last week - maybe I will pen down some drive impressions of the same).
Well, I never really had this one on the radar due to the long wait times and wifey was also not so keen on a Mahindra. Also, I found it too similar in looks to the XUV5OO. As I was drawing a blank on the car search and getting a bit frustrated due to this, I went ahead and booked the 7OO on my wife’s birthday without really informing her about the same. I thought that I most likely have a 6-month to a year’s lead-up time and in that, I will settle on something that is up and coming.
Surprisingly, I got a call to pick up the car in just a tad over a month's time from the time I placed the booking! This led me to believe that there was some heavenly intervention and assistance in helping me to pick my next steed and I just decided to go with the flow. I traveled to my home town, did the PDI and okayed the car. (it had 11km on the ODO at that time)
First look
The centerpiece infotainment system:
Side view
Delivery day
One with the familia
Enroute to Bangalore
Getting a nice foam wash after the 600km drive
Parked at my office parking
With that out of the way let's get to the root of the matter.
I averaged 10.5kmpl (11.2kmpl on the MID) on a 600 km drive from Goa to Bangalore i.e. 200km on narrow/er & ghat roads and ~400km on the Bangalore-Pune NH4 highway.
Since then, I have seen it drop to 9.2kmpl on the MID as I have driven it ~80km in the city. I think the real world would be 6-8kmpl. While I was expecting low FE in the city, a ~ 10 kmpl on the highway was not expected (I was hoping for 12-14kmpl) - but then it is extremely difficult to drive this at sub-triple-digit speeds!
Please, please, please give this car an ECO or City mode. It badly needs one when somebody wants to drive in a calm relaxed manner and does not want to wake up the horses on tap. The car holds the 2nd gear for a much longer time than needed resulting in a dip in fuel efficiency.
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