Re: “Thunderbolt” XUV 5OO Detailed Review (Decals, Audio, LED, Mods++)
Hello Friends!
I just had a long trip with my XUV 500 THUNDERBOLT to Bombay and I would like to share some of my experiences for the same.
1)XUV Performance is just Stupendous! The poweful 2.2 Engine means that ANY vehicle dare come too close will be dismissed with a nice Squeeze on the accelerator. An Innova Guy was playing cat and mouse with me. He would Brake late and would try to overtake me by any means when I slowed down(Eg. On speed breakers). He Overtook me a good 4~5 times in about 150KM worth of this drama but the Stonking XUV engine made sure he was dismissed in 10 Seconds flat!
2)Steering On the XUV suddenly feels heavy! Wow. After driving the i10 for about 400KM random runs, I've been spoiled. The i10 Blue buy steering is just unmatched by any other vehicle i've driven. However I do understand that XUV has larger tyres and More weight so the steering is bound to require better effort.
3) The Tyre noise at 120 is much Less in XUV Thunerbolt than is in i10. Infact i've never touched 120+ in i10. The tyre noise at 80 is good enough to deter me.
4)Ease of driving- In VERY tight city turns, I found the XUV relatively easy to drive compared to Safari of fortuner. The view and sitting is better and Reverse camera Helps a lot. Actually XUV is easier to reverse than my i10 due to lack of reverse camera
5)I noticed a Super long Sai baba Rally from Bombay all the way to Shirdi. Their prep was praise Worthy. I must have seen easily 10K people on Foot. There were Generator vehicles, Neon jackets for safety, LED red lights (light sticks) to signal cars, Policemen, Vounteers,LED torches, Tea and snack cars every mile or so. Overall a very safe and inspiring rally. I really loved their safety gear.
6)The Palash Food court was sadly closed, so we stopped at FOOD Junction ( which has KFC, Dominos, Sukh sagar and so on Clubbed together) for my fav Club sandwitch! Yum!
7)large tyres means Better speeds, Better average speeds over bad roads and much tighter handling. I really hate the small puny tyres on i10. Any suggestions about upgrades?
8)I followed a neat Chevy BEAT guy who seemed to drive well. The Vehcile seemed stable at around 110 and kepy well with our tunderbolt. Even he was very eager to overtake me, but he completely lost out to XUV at Higher speeds. Being in a relaxed mood, I just decided to follow him as this would give advance warnings about Sudden speed breakers, Curves and road hazards.
9)The GPS again deserved a pat on its back. None of is knew the roads around bombay and we were totally dependent upon this GPS to guide us through. However it did take us from very cramped,Small roads(Called Mohammed ali road) which gave me some sweat. Is there a setting to ask GPS prefer BIG roads only? I could'nt find any. We also bunged up a few turns suggested by GPS due to construction work going on, and it was quick to re-route us a alternate.
10)FE was dissapointing -11.7 KMPL Tank method- and MID showed 12.5 KMPL. I will attribute bumper to bumper Mumbai traffic for the same. Also Sai baba rally means lots of our Runs were slow. Kasara Ghat was mostly 1st gear driving due to same.
11)Headlights- oh buy! I am full of praises. Most of the vehicles instantly gave way even without asking. My Thunerbolt as the capacity to use upto 10 bulbs,as follows-
2x High beam 50W = 2000 lumens
2x Low beam 55w= 2200 Lumens
2x Factory fogs 35W= 1400 Lumens
2x2 CREE smart LED 10Wx4 = 4800 Lumens
Total 10,400 Manly,Muscular,stellar lumens~!
Notice how the LED Headlights skew the whole graph with lowest consumpton but highest output. The light output was brillinat. I used them on the 4 lane sections where there are plants on the middle as they completely block any light transmission to the opposite lane.
12)Being spoiled by a Monster 15 inch woofer at home, I decied to buy a simple 12 inch woofer for my XUV. Please note that my XUV already has 4 channel amp and 2 Woofers underseat. I was looking for an entry level woofer which added a litte more bass and wouldn't cost a bomb. I brought an JBL 1215B for 4k.
The woofer has a cone dia of 12 inches, comes in sealed box and looks classy. There are knob type quick disconnect plugs in case I want all the seats up. The woofer box is quite thick and sacrifies the last row for the same. However for all the smooth bass, I will carry it whenever possible. The thump is collosal!
So my current setup includes-
2x Small woofers undeseat
1x larger, removeable 12 inch woofer at the rear
I look forward to posting a dedicated review for the woofer later on.
13)So theat was it. And did I say, this was a Single hand, single Day, 700KM Run with my thunderbolt. We started early Morning at 4 AM, Got the Bombay works done, left bombay at 5pm and were home at 12 Middle night.
14) Exclusive cars seen on Road/Bombay streets-
Audi R8 in Red
Merc Gullwing (very low and antique sports car, Left hand drive)
merc gullwing - Google Search
Premieer RIO. Ha ha.
Unfortunately no pics as I was driving.
Thanks.
