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Our big jump from Hyundai Eon to XUV700: Buying & ownership experience

28th January 2023, 13:34 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

After ruling out the other cars, it all came down between the Tata Safari and Mahindra XUV700.

BHPian rudra_shiv recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A big shout-out to @abirnale, @mudhalaipatti, and @ravenavi for their interesting & informative posts about XUV700 that clarified a lot of pre and post-purchase queries. Folks your experiences surely help people around you.

Childhood Love Towards SUVs

I was one of the biggest admirers of Mahindra SUVs since my childhood. It started with me being a kid (around 2002-2006) watching Scorpios dusting the cities from the window seats of our school vans. Its stance and go-anywhere attribute made me fall in love with it a lot. And my love for SUVs broke exponentially when we went for the SAE BAJA 2013 from our college and witnessed an XUV500 standing across the street. And I, fortunately, had a chance to experience the car in 2013.

When years passed, we could afford a Hyundai EON in 2012 (the family's first new car). Though we bought a Hyundai, I and my father always loved bringing an SUV into our parking. By that time we were starting to look alliance for my marriage, and a plan to buy a new car was ON. Unfortunately, I lost my father and the decision to buy a new car in 2018 was postponed.

I was eagerly eyeing Scorpio (which is the N now). Seeing the camouflage ones, the newer stance, RWD and 4WD options made my jaw drop. Somehow, I was lazy checking XUV700 till that.

Pre-Car Buying

Fortunately, I had a chance to test drive/experience one of my friend's AX3 Petrol. Man! The machine was a beast of its own nature. I felt the Petrol Motor give you a thunderbolt-level rush and of course, was thirsty. That day, I concluded XUV is the one that I go for. Frankly, to say, I fell in love with the Petrol Mill. That ride indeed triggered the want for a new car.

And finally, in Jan 2022, we felt it is time to get ourselves a bigger car.

Our preference was a good enthusiastic ICE car that could do decent city rides and a couple of tireless highway drives every year. We were open with both Petrol and Diesel, the yearly run won't cross 15k, and we were looking to keep it for 15 years/2 Lakh Kms. Also, I was inclined to buy a car from the "INDIAN" Automakers.

Wanted to test drive the HARRIER Twins, XUV700 Diesel, and Petrol AX7L before I finalize the choice. And my mind and heart all wanted a Manual. Diesel was not our choice, but still, a test drive of the available options was a need of time.

Ruled out Creta/Alcazar twins from the equation because of poor safety rating, but overall Creta's ride was a bit better compared to that of the Seltos. I have driven Creta and Seltos a couple of times and somehow did not feel the sturdiness or the "toughness" M&M or TATA offered.

We narrowed it down to XUV700 and SAFARI.

Our budget was initially 18 Lakhs and we stretched it a little and capped it to go not more than 23 Lakhs. The battle was between SAFARI and 700.

SAFARI

TATA Sales was swift and responsive. He followed up very appropriately. Though he lacked technical knowledge of the crash ratings and other aspects of infotainment, he was very enthusiastic. He came up with good discounts for exchange, accessories, and Extended Warranty by the time he brought the car for a Test Drive of the XZ+ of Harrier and SAFARI.

Pros

Stance - I felt the car looked proportionate and had a good stance.
Ride & Handling - I felt the ride was a bit bumpy at speeds post 90-100+ Steering lacked feedback. But under 90kmph, surprise! surprise! it was very composed, agile and eager.
Power - Power delivery was very good. The car felt very eager making the driver floor the pedal.
Third Row Legroom - This was definitely a good part for SAFARI as the second row had a sliding adjustment. The people in the second and third rows can do a mutual agreement and settle for the best. (We actually don't need a 7seater even a 5seater was good to go, hence this was not a point of concern)
Braking - Brakes were good but not the best. Also could feel a more pronounced nose dive.
Basic Ticks - Even the XT+ comes with an Auto-Dimming IRVM, Auto-fold ORVM, Boss Mode, and one-touch power window for the rear, and the XZ+ offers ventilated seats even to the rear.
Audio - Though the infotainment was poor and buggy, the audio was pretty decent to the standards. I liked SAFARI's audio system over 700s hyped Sony 3D Audio.

Cons

Steering - Felt it was not that easy to work in cumbersome traffic comparing 700. 700 takes the win here.
Clutch and Gearbox - TATA lost here terribly. Hard and long travel clutch combined with a notchy gearbox bundled up with a slightly taller first gear. Well, that made me put a sad face on the Salesperson of TATA (who was proposing XTA+/XZA+ since he came).
Infotainment - Well, the sad part continued here. Infotainment was very very slow and glitchy to use. That too I was very worried about fiddling with a smaller display in XT+.
NVH - The car left me with a feeling that TATA has not insulated the car well yet. For the most part, was able to hear the engine roar inside the cabin. For an adult who mostly used Petrol cars, felt NVH was a bit high.
Ergonomics - Seats were very comfy. Unfortunately, was not impressed that the left leg got bumped to the silver humanity line under the dash very frequently while shifting gears and the car had many blind spots. (somehow felt even the rear windshield view was small too).
Lighting - The HID projectors were good but not the best. Poor place for cost cutting though.

XUV700 - THE WOW

We reached CAI Coimbatore for the Test Drive. The salesperson was very appropriate with the timings.

We test-drove the AX7L D MT and he offered us to take a spin of AT as well. (well good selling there). We requested TD for Petrol as well, unfortunately, the Petrol went for another Test Drive (I was interested to show it to my mom).

Pros

Stance & Build - Though the stance was not as butch as the HARRIER twins but was surely head-turning, especially the front DRLs. The build overall was excellent and as everybody knows this boasts the 5-star package. During the TD, we tried it in one of the worst patches of the road in Coimbatore (behind Coddissia when the road construction was going on). I could feel the toughness it offered on the irregular roads and it glided over the bumps and potholes like a charm.
Steering, Ride & Handling - It was Feather-light. Really loved and enjoyed driving it in cumbersome traffic, bumpy road, and a short 3km open stretch.
Clutch and Gearbox - MT: I was again impressed with the smooth clutch, though felt the initial gears were slightly notchy, I got used to it very soon. This was a strong point for my decision of choosing the 700. The Diesel clutch felt slightly heavier but had a very smooth feel.
NVH - Pleasantly surprised with the NVH of the car. It did not feel like a Diesel at all. Such a smooth one. Petrol has no match in NVH, with all windows closed what you will be able to hear is the tire rubber noise.
Power - The 183Bhp Diesel felt like a beast on road and the drive modes were very nice to use. Wherein, the 200BHP mStallion Petrol had an outright power burst, especially between 1.8-3.5k rpm.
Infotainment, Ergonomics, and Interior Plastics - This is where to me M&M excelled. Ergonomics were spot on. Infotainment was not refined and was buggy during our TD but was good for the most part.
Seating - From the EON to XUV700, I felt comfortable thanks to the well-cushioned seat contours in the front. The rear seats are definitely very roomy that could accommodate 3 people comfortably even for decent long drives.
Braking - The 2-tonne machine is able to get halted to 0 from 90 within 30m which is just not good but a great one. I could clearly feel reduced nose dive comparing HARRIER & XUV500.
Wheels & Tyres - AX7 comes with the 18" and anything less than AX7 comes with 235/65 - R17". I personally liked the AX5 alloy design.
All LED Lighting - This is something TATA should learn from M&M. The headlight is so powerful and the aided booster lamp that comes into action after 80kmph gives a good sense of what is around.
ADAS - The killer feature of the package. During the test drive itself I was very impressed with the ADAS part especially the AEB and Auto-Pilot when I was driving the AT. I am sure this will be the next "marketing" feature that every manufacturer will bring to the table.
Panoramic Sunroof - One good reason for opting AX5 was the large sunroof which M&M calls the "Skyroof". It is indeed very large, unlike other manufacturers M&M did not do any cost-cutting by offering poor curtains to it.
Sony 3D Surround - I personally felt it was good but not definitely the best. And somehow it was up to the hype.

Cons

Third Row Space - Usable for kids. But this was not a concern to me as mostly travel with 5 people.
Lack of few usable features for AX5: Steering RH Controls + Cruise, Auto Fold ORVM, Boss Mode, Auto-dimming IRVM (unfortunate that even the top AX7L does not boast this)
Blower Controls for the second row (Harrier Twins missed it too)
Variant-wise features breakup and exposure to the general public and the sales were really less - This will be explained in a later stage.

Keeping in mind the budget and priorities, we booked the 700 AX5 Diesel MT on the very same day. Within I was still battling in my mind b/w AX5 Petrol and Diesel, The tentative delivery date did not pop up for some weeks and the M&M site dropped me a bomb of the Feb 2023 timeline. Meanwhile, I joined the most active Facebook and WhatsApp groups and was hearing their experiences.

A month later to the booking, my alliance discussions concluded and our wedding date was just two months away. And then I realized we could not have the beast for our wedding. Wrote a couple of e-mails to M&M higher authorities to see if the delivery can be preponed. But nothing worked.

During the month of April 2022, got to understand from one of my friends that Ramani Motors Coimbatore had a couple of AX5 Petrol in stock. Considering the long wait for Diesel + Availability of Petrol + I felt Petrol would make sense for the yearly driving of max. 15k, landed to the conclusion of taking home the AX5 Petrol 7STR Manual White.

Sealed the deal with the booking for Petrol Variant with RAMANI and requested PDI so that we can make the payment.

And for a surprise, RAMANI Motors Salesperson brought us an AX7L P MT and AT for a Test-Drive as I told him over the phone that I missed experiencing AX7L Petrol and drove only the top-end Diesel. Good and proactive.

Here is the beast standing in front of our sweet home

We traded the Hyundai EON ERA+, which did only 43K in the 10 years' time for 2.25Lakhs with RAMANI Mahindra. Throughout its 10 years with us, EON never failed us. It was in pristine condition without any paint chips or rust.

Here is a look at our good old EON

Below was the split-up

Ex Show: 17,18,000
RTO: 2,65,585
EON Trade: - 2,25,000
Insurance: The dealer quoted 1,30,000. Negotiated to 64,500 with the deal I got from Royal Sundaram and Policy Bazaar.
Accessories: They offered me 25k worth of accessories and I liked nothing. Hence politely declined. The ones I preferred were out of stock with them. I choose to go with only the rear bumper.

Hence I ordered the Reverse Parking Camera, Mudflaps, Touchscreen Scratch guard, and front parking sensors (which later I felt useless to max) from M2ALL and 7D Matts from Coozo. All the mentioned ordered accessories cost me 12.5k.

On-Road cost me 20,54,550 INR and including the EON exchange the final invoice was 18,29,550. Above it, I opted for the 2-year extended warranty for 26k for peace of mind.

We were given the Engine and Chassis Numbers. Thanks to TeamBHP's article on decoding VIN numbers. Concluded that the car was manufactured on April 2022.

PDI 1: Went with my buddies (Sudakar, Siddarth and Arun). Did happen to see the car, and feel the interiors and outside. But the car did not start. It was a Sunday, looks like they have removed the fuse for safety purposes the salesperson politely requested us to visit them again.
PDI 2: PDI went all smoothly accompanied by our brother Prakash. We glanced at the car and the car ran only 13kms which was fine. There was only a small paint chip in the rear passenger door which the dealer/sales agree to fix it either during the delivery or first service.

We made the payment in the month of May and the car was registered on 26th May 2022.

We requested the delivery a day before our Wedding. June 01, 2022.

THE D DAY

With all happiness around, we were eager to welcome the beast. We requested to deliver to our home. The salesperson (Santhosh) appeared sharply at the requested 9 AM time and was helpful throughout the process.

And that's when I happened to notice another small grenade which neither the salesperson, dealer, or even the experts were clear about it that time. It was AX5 Petrol Manual missing ESP. This came as a shocker but could not do anything other than feel bad for missing it. Really did not know what M&M to leave this feature for a 21Lakh AX5 Petrol Manual.

Good job Mahindra for creating a huge confusion around it.

First 1.5k km

The car blazing completed its first service within a span of a month. Newly married travels across houses and temple visits made us cover it to the fullest speed. We travelled a 450 km temple drive and came back tireless. We mostly travelled as 3-5 people with minimal luggage. Seeing MID was a bit of a shocker sometimes (Yup! Nobody prefers seeing 8.5kmpl in MIDs).

Actually, CAI Industries is the nearest ASC for me. Since I took the car with RAMANI, I was inclined to leave the first service alone at RAMANI.

A few concerns left on their note are:

Faced suspension "thud" noise from the driver's side.
Request to install the accessories from M2ALL - Reverse camera, parking sensors, and mudflaps.
Gear shifts were slightly notchy.

I was not happy with the cleaning done. Happened to swirl marks around the piano black areas of ORVM and door panels. Reported back to them. The next day, Arunkumar from Services immediately took an appointment, visited our office to clean it with the rubbing compound, and promised it won't happen next time. Arun agreed about the mistake happened and he was very genuine and polite clearing my few other doubts with the key.

The service Bill was 0 Rs. as the first service is just complimentary.

As RAMANI being 40 kms away from my house and 20 kms away from my office, I decided to opt for CAI for the future.

The beast was ready for a short trip from Coimbatore to Kumbakonam.

Had an 800 kms trip to Kumbakonam. The overall ride was very good and tireless. We travelled with 5 Passengers with half a boot of luggage. Had a few issues with Alexa's Network Connectivity (Courtesy of Vodafone)

Felt two things, one was a bit concerning

Thud Noise continued. This was more pronounced in the speed breakers.
Floaty feeling >110kmph. The car felt very floaty and felt lacking connection with the Tarmac. (I Thought missing traction control/ESP could be a reason).

Reported the same via email to M&M authorities. Immediately the CAI Industries was tasked. I should thank Mr. Dileep and Mr. Ronald for taking immediate measures in addressing them. The good part was, Ronald and Dileep were in touch to understand if the floaty feel issue respawn for me. Fortunately, it did not occur after that.

Had a wonderful 1200 kms drive with 4 passengers + 75% boot from Coimbatore - Salem - Chennai, which aided me to test the boundaries of the car. The entire drive was super exciting and we returned without a tired (we stayed in Chennai for a night).

Few Niggles

I felt the rear camera was creating issues, hence requested a replacement with M2ALL during July. The replacement took time as M&M upgraded to the new camera module (which is slightly better than the previous one in terms of low-light quality).

AC was not up to mark. It took at least 30-45mins to cool the cabin with the outside temperature being 27-29 degrees. Reported the same to CAI, and they cleaned the internal HVAC filter.

As a response to point 1, they retorqued the suspension. Unfortunately, the issue respawns again and also in the pedal area. Interestingly, when I posted about this on WhatsApp and FB many commented that they faced the same. Hence, I took the initiative of Google Forms to collect the data of the owners who were facing the issue and posted it to M&M authorities (Mr. Anand, Mr. Velu and Ms. Asha).

I immediately got a call from the Regional Head. I am glad that he took overall feedback about the vehicle and also promised to address this issue. He mentioned that the issue raised is being discussed internally and those who have raised the concern along with me will be notified of the updates within a month. Very glad that M&M is actively listening to customers. And immediately a pickup was scheduled to address this. CAI inspected my car for a spin and addressed the suspension issue lubricating the bushes. And magically after the service :-p the sound faded away and has not spawned back until now.

The rear camera niggle and the AC issue were addressed during the very same visit. I should really thank CAI. They take the feedback seriously and act on it to their best.

1.5-5k km run

It is August now, beast has completed close to 3k kms. Mostly it is just me, my wife, and my mother traveling in the car. And occasionally with 7 people with some luggage.

The beast was returning a decent 10.5kmpl within City and 12-12.5kmpl in highways (between 1.8-2.5k rpm) - both are tank-to-tank figures.

With September, the beast has done close to 4.5k kms now courtesy of the trips to Isha, Attapadi, Pollachi + occasional city rides.

MID occasionally touched 13-13.5 in highway rides (tank to tank was 12.5kmpl) and kept tight with 11.5 in city rides (tank to Tank for the city was 10.8kmpl) which is not a bad one for this 200BHP beast.

With this, what I felt M&M could have done better was to add the below features and charge a couple of thousand extra.

Definitely the ESP. Not sure why M&M ignored this or at least should have clearly mentioned it in the brochures or educated the sales teams. This is a costly miss. If anybody from M&M is reading this, I really wish you find a way if this can be added to the existing customers even at extra costs.. I do understand that would cost 30-40k and a skilled job. But should save families.
Steering mounted RH controls + Cruise Controls (21lks car missing this is a shame) - Must have
One touch Up and Down at least to the driver's side for AX5 - Must have
Auto fold ORVM - Must have
Central Locking to close all windows and sunroof. (Interestingly, the sunroof will close if you keep pressing the lock key) - Must have
Cooled glovebox (which is in AX7) - Not a must but a welcome addition
Push button start (which is in AX7) - Not a must but a welcome addition

And the magic happened with the suspension recall during the month of September.

Meanwhile, was exploring the options for seat covers, keep a tab on this thread for interesting updates on the same.

And it will be surely interesting!

Right now the ODO is at 8.8k. Keep you all posted with more experiences with our drive to Munnar, Canister Recall, and many more with photos in the next update.

Below are a few more random pics from our PDI to recently.