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Upgraded to the 2023 Harrier from my XUV 500: 1 week ownership review

26th March 2024, 09:04 by Ananth Iyer

When it was time to start planning for the next ride, the XUV 700 was the obvious (and only) choice.

BHPian Sham_roadster recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

It is with great pride and pleasure that I announce the arrival of my GREY BEAST to my stable. It would be an understatement to say that a lot of thought and research went into it before I decided to plunge close to 3 followed by SIX ZEROS of my hard earned moolah into this steed.

Goodbyes

Had upgraded from my humble Zen to XUV500 eleven years back... and boy did that seem like an "upgrade"!! N now after my SILVER CHEETAH having munched 1.5Lakh km and seen the length and breadth of the country... it was finally time to say Goodbyes to my loyal ride. Other than the few minor niggles along its stay.... the M&M served with utmost dedication for last 11 years. Obviously, it wasn't easy to part ways with it and more so to part ways with the trust that brand M&M came with.

Planning and Research

Hence when it was time to start planning for the next ride in Sept 2023, the XUV 700 was the obvious (and ONLY) choice. Test drove all possible combos i.e. Petrol AT & MT and Diesel AT & MT. I am a firm believer that the TD vehicle of any dealer should be the most spic and span of the lot, even better than the ones being delivered the very day. Afterall they are the showcase vehicles not only for the dealer but the brand itself. But then I may be in the minority. Apropos, the TD vehicles that were offered to me over days appeared to have never been cleaned ever but I still guarded against making the first impressions as the lasting impressions. The drive itself was quite good and the cabin appeared to be plush (imagine had it been clean!!) Having driven a MT throughout my life, the AT seemed to be laggy esp in lower revs and lower gears. Experience inside the Petrol cabin was.... well.... Sssshhhh! Loved it! However, the fuel efficiency figures were alarming and we decided never to set foot inside another one again! Hence, it was XUV700 MT AX7L Diesel, and the family too was sold on it. Now came the time to be more objective. The downers:-

Non avbl in CSD, even after 2 yrs of launch! Why Mahindra, why??
The extremely high waiting periods!
Restricted colour choices.
Front looks. Maybe I just got bored seeing soooooo many of them onthe road. I for one always find the first model to be the best looking and immune to time. Rest all seem to be...well... an "effort"!
The ride quality was slightly on the stiffer side.
I know I may be killed for saying so... but felt not too much of a difference in the seating and the overall feel (yes I know I called the cabin plush). Spending 30L and yet getting the feeling of moving up two rows in economy class... was not justified.

Apropos, decided to give other brands and models a try. What choices did I have...?

Toyota Innova Crysta... Naah, too taxi looking.
Toyota Innova Hycross... Too expensive, Too big, No TD veh, Prohibitive waiting period.
MG Hector... Yuck! (Sorry Hectorinas)
Kia Seltos... A looker yes... but not a SUV. A downgrade, as far as I was concerned.

Did not consider the rest of the lot that claim to be the SUV lot.

Hence the choice was now limited to Tata or good ol' Mahindra.

Tata Harrier

Walked into the Kosmo Tata dealership at Jalandhar in Oct 23. The salesperson was quite welcoming and warm. Explained the features of Tata Harrier Red Dark in detail. The feel inside the cabin was indeed different and yes, an upgrade. However, call me old school (or boring), RED didn't do it for me. He offered #Dark. Wife was completely and instantly floored. The TD was offered on an AT and I could immediately make out the difference between the AT of XUV700 and this! The gear changes were smoother and vehicle appeared to be more responsive.

The salesperson was gung-ho on making the sale, hence when asked about the likely launch date of the facelift... he denied any such thing happening in "near future". I knew what he was doing and hence it was again time to keep the emotions under strict check and think objectively. I decided to wait it out until I got to see the facelifted version before making the final choice. Also, it was pretty apparent that if I yet again did not find the facelift to my liking, I would end up getting better offers on the outgoing model. So win-win it was. Also, would give me more time with my SILVER CHEETAH. Make it win-win-win!

Much awaited launch event was witnessed by the entire family!!! While there were a lot of Ooohs and Aaahs by the teens, there was only a silent exchange of gaze between self and the sensible half. And the deal was sealed right then. Next day morning saw me back at the dealership making booking payment. The choice between AT and MT was still open until actual TD on the facelifted version.

And then began the wait! Wait for the first vehicle to arrive, wait for the colour options, wait for the TD and wait for the model to be listed in CSD. The waiting period was well utilised in reading and watching reviews from ALL POSSIBLE SOURCES. Team BHP... Thank you for being the front runner! The model was more or less decided... Adventure Plus it would be. Did not want to rue at a later date for having settled for a model below top end.

Took the TD the very evening when the first vehicle arrived at the dealership. The vehicle was AWESOME (pardon my limited vocab, but no other adjective comes to mind). It was a looker. It was a beast. We were left speechless. It would not be an upgrade of two-three odd rows... It was as if one was teleported from the baggage hold to first class! YES THIS WAS IT! THERE WAS NO LOOKING ELSEWHERE!

I was, however, on the fence with colour choice ... Coral Red or Pebble Grey whereas the "not-so-sensible" half was still stuck on DARK! And the fact that NO OTHER COLOUR, other than sunlit yellow and Dark was available at any dealership, did not make it any easier. Call me insane.. but when I say "any dealership", I say it with personal experience of having visited all/multiple dealerships in Noida, Delhi, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Tricity!!!! Tata Motors... pls take note that you need to make it easier for customers to make their choice and watching your colours on your website isn't inspiring at all. The erstwhile practice of having small painted panels available in the dealership has been discontinued too. Plus, ALL the review videos on Youtube showed that the Grey came with Yellow inserts in the cabin!

Meanwhile during the wait, the model was also listed on CSD. Yayyyy!!!

After having exhausted all my options, and after having exhausted the hapless salesperson too.... I decided to play the gamble and booked the Pebble Grey. Convinced the wifey that we would drive straight out of the dealership on taking the delivery and head to a laminate shop to get the tacky yellow covered the very day!

The wait ends

But someone up there was listening to me. The day (infact at 2330h at night) the vehicle was offloaded from the truck, I received a call from my salesperson... who strangely appeared to be more ecstatic than I was... when he reported that the interior of my grey vehicle was grey!! I refused to believe it... but then seeing is believing and he arranged for live feed at that hour!!

The PDI was done the next morning by me and the vehicle was delivered by evening. Team BHP... thanks are once again in order. The exhaustive PDI lists were quite helpful. The salesperson was amazed at the in-depth knowledge that I came equipped with. The delivery experience fell short of expectations, wherein the till-now-overtly-sweet salesperson and his GM Sales refused to oblige their previous commitments of offering 3D mats as complimentary and the delivery itself taking upwards of 2 hours!! Despite my sole request of not taking the delivery post sunset, I got the vehicle in hand only around 1900h! As advised by fellow BHP-ians, I refused to get rattled and upset by these minor tribulations and rather enjoyed the moment.

This post comes after a week of having driven the Beast. The next one shall contain few query areas/minor niggles that have been faced till date.Till then... attaching a few pics of the new love of my life... Cheers!