Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [65K Kms Crossed]

[bhvm]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

What sort of Comparo Would you like Bro? My XUV ownership thread is Full of XUV vs Fortuner vs Safari Stuff
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...-review-decals-audio-led-mods.html#post285507

Here are excerpts from my XUV 5OO Thunderbolt Thread-

>NVH, Steering-
First I would like to talk about noise insulation- its first class! The Engine is so silent that sometimes we hear other car engine more than ours. The Horns, Clutter, Zooms and all are simply tamed down. There's no brake noise for relaxed driving styles But I will reserve my comment on this one.
>The steering is light and precise, But weighs up gracefully at higher speeds. U-Turning is far easier than my Fortuner or Safari.
>Handling is Great and Supplied JK Elanzos Footwear do a wonderful Job. Not only they're silent but lend a good grip. I am yet to comment on their Emergency braking response and wet weather driving though. The Thread pattern is functional as well as pleasing to the eye.

>Middle row AC is very weak. They are merged into the First row blower. We have to ramp up the fan speed a notch up and it gets noisy. On My Fortuner, Last row and Middle Row are merged, Hence they have a powerful separate motor and cooling is better. Also, If we select Both Face and Feet mode, The Airflow to Face Vents Gets Half. All this means that a single motor is being overloaded with too many Vents and ducting. Last Row AC is best as the motor has only 2 vents. There's separate Fan speed control. Alas, This AC will be least used due to cramped last seat.

>During My Gujrat Trip, The feet vents (Front) let out strange bursts of warm air and cool air, While face vents were continuously giving cool air. This has kept me puzzled. I'll update on this after more trip

>Woofer for bass lovers is a must in XUV. On the other hand, my Fortuner has factory speakers those sound way better than XUV and don't need a SUB that badly.

>On Highway in the rear mirror or approaching us from high speed it looks BEAST, but stand near it and beast tames down. Feels small. Parked next to my Fortuner, Its small in every angle. Length but also width. It seems very large from far away but is actually smaller. Damm! How many times i've used 'small' here?

>Even the interior , Buttons, Seats, Consoles themselves are 80% size of fortuner. My dad gave an Idea that large grille is giving mammoth impression but the car narrows down from there. Especially glass area is much tapered off than the wheel arches (good 6~7 inches) hence its small from inside. So for people who come from Safari/Aria/Endevour/Fortuner will feel the XUV 500 is small.

>The benefit would be that it won't bring you the sweat on forehead like safari or Fortuner does in tight city traffic. The views are open and vehicle is compact. also the Front AC is very powerful so any sweat will dry off. haa ha. However we have to be careful with puffed up wheel arches or these may be scratched.

I had Back to Back drives in Fortuner and 5OO, Here are my observations-

> Fortuner has a higher Floor but Low seating position that's Less comfortable Esp for Tall people.

> Navigating 5OO in tight City is FAR easier. Due to reason above, small dimensions and better view of sides. On Fortuner the dashboard is too tall for visiblity and what all I can see is the 'Nose". And I am worried to dash that nose here and there.

> Rearward view is much better in Fortuner.

> Fortuner has tremendous low down torque and engine clipping is absent ! What a relief. You can dump the clutch in Idle speeds and Fortuner Lunges forward; whereas XUV 5OO clips out with a loud THUD.

> The steering is much harder than 5OO, gear is too tall.

> Fortuner gives the feeling of Sitting in a DITCH. Dooor panels, Levers, Dashboard etc is very high and gives you a Suffocating feeling. However on the XUV 5OO door panels etc are low and glass area is extended (esp first row), Giving you a KING like feeling with clear view around. Very airy cabin.

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Thanks BHVM how do you compare in gear driveability, Fortuner has a monstrous locomotive pulling 3 litre heart whereas the XUV has 2.2 litre coupled with a 6 speed gearbox ?

 

[bhvm]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Thanks BHVM how do you compare in gear driveability, Fortuner has a monstrous locomotive pulling 3 litre heart whereas the XUV has 2.2 litre coupled with a 6 speed gearbox ?

Fortuner-
For City, Ghats, Speed breakers- I love the Fortuner. We can Launch the car in 2nd gear and be forgiven. Also Speed breakers can be tackled in 2nd gear without the need of 1st gear for small breakers. Slight wrong/Higher gear is forgiven as well. However, once crossing 120, The Engine Noise and RPM is Bothersome. It's a Shame Toyota has wasted 3.0L Gem with Puny 5 speed 'Box. As a result I's seeing efficiency figures of lowly 9.8~10.5 KMPL. Make it atleast 6 or 7 speed and you're golden. The beast would be easily doing 240 KMPH with a new gearbox.

XUV 500-
Gear box is Much smoother. I love the Reverse Protection (ring). This thing can actually Beat a Fortuner/Safari/Pajero on Highway. I also Beat a Honda city guy once. 6 th Gear means very good Efficiency and Smooth drive + Top speed depending your Driving style. There are very few cars in India can beat XUV at high speeds. Feels like a King.

However For City and Speed breakers Its not all good. We need to frequently cog down to 1st Otherwise the Engine clips off with a Loud Thud. The Minimum Speeds (no Throttle No Clutch) of 2nd and 3 rd gear is Quite high for city use. We need to stomp on Brakes and Shift to 1st in tight city traffic. It's not a bad thing but little inconvenient.

Also the 3rd gear is very lazy till 1500 RPM. after That, this beast is a ROCKET.

My fav Gear is 6th. Usable all the way from 75 to 3 digit speeds. Very wide range. Super smooth and low noise.

 

[TSIVipul]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Well you yourself said it was insane speeds, so that leaves me with nothing more to comment

Still the fact remains intact. XUV rides very well when loaded with 6 passengers.

"Dil Maange More Sirji" - "Abki baar double wishbone suspension"
XUV wheel well is ok for a soft roader at best - i agree space would be a premium in any FWD up front, but that's what engineer's do for a living - find a way, nothing comes easy! If you look at the overall package and would get an opportunity to suggest that one thing to improve, i am sure your view wont be any different to mine.

Okay, I have analyzed it all quite well. For putting double wishbones in an XUV, one actually can easily manage with unequal and non-parallel arms with the spring/shocker being mounted on the upper arm(there is very less space to mount an offset spring on lower arm as the drive shaft also will be there) and I think that with slight of the trickery the spring can actually be fixed in the place that is already there for the McPherson struts. This way, by making slight changes in the chassis(by providing proper mounting points for four link suspension), the double wishbones can find their place inside the wheel arches of an XUV.
Though anti roll bar uncle and of course lateral load transfer and a lot of physical forces are going to present a lot of challenges in it. BUT yes, handing will be the biggest gift one will get out of it if this is implemented in XUV by M&M. The camber control(and of course camber variations) that a double wishbone suspension will offer(far higher than what McPherson struts offer) can make this car a sweet handler and the added advantage of higher suspension movements is an icing on the cake.

Yes agreed, wheel spin is easy in xuv and hence torque steer, if you are not careful with the right leg. XUV 3rd gear is one of the best in the business a very wide band - enthusiast's dream come true. BHVM owns a Fortuner and XUV as well - may be he can do a nice comparo of drive-ability though we all know they exist in different categories altogether.

Fortuner is definitely a good machine when it comes to pulling but I don't remember if I ever wanted to push an Fortuner above 100 in third gear(its gearbox is shorter for the gear) but in XUV, the excitement keeps on increasing at least till 120 kph in third gear, after which slight strain do enter the drama. In fact it is above 70-75 kph that th actual thrust starts building up(below 70 it is there but push is missing) and it pushes very hard till 100-105 at least and then starts slightly fading till 120 after which the strain can be observed.
I am sure BHVM also won't like to push the Fortuner so hard in third gear at least.
Rest since the day I drove XUV for first time(far back, when IR's XUV was 'brand' new), from that day only I a like 'no car has got such a sweet third gear'(except those i-vtec siblings with 1.5 and 1.8l engines) as the XUV has.

@BHVM: Considering its power, torque and dynamics,a Fortuner will hardly cross even 200 kph with any gearbox mated to its current engine. For that purpose(240 kph) at least 43 kgm of twist is needed given the weight and wheel size of the Fortuner taking the current ratios and adding slightly higher ratios too.

 

[SX4lover]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Fortuner:
On my test drive, I was going 6kmph on second gear!
The engine was very flexible and rev happy! I loved the pickup of the vehicle. The only problem I have faced on my test drive is that the gearbox lacked smoothness. It is really a good car to cruise at high speeds with 3.0litre engine but the but the body roll is really what stops it from doing 200+ speeds. I took it to Nehru Outer Ring Road on my test drive and it was cruising happily. I have a feeling that it can't handle ghat roads due to heafty body roll and bad aerodynamics. It's high ground clearance means that it can dodge and handle any speedbreaker without any effort. It's suspension is properly tuned for the city and you will have no problem dodging speed-breakers with the soft suspension within the city.
Overall, it is very good highway cruiser and a city-slicker.

Mahindra XUV500:
On my test drive, the main problem that I had faced with the car is the slippery clutch and the very hard to find trip meter settings. Yes, it is true! I took about 20 minutes to find the trip meter setting buttons in my test drive. They are too hard to find. Except that, it is an awessome SUV. You have each and every feature that you would not even expect of and it has more features even more than the fortuner! Till 2000 rpm, it doesnot have any power while the main power starts at 3000rpm and the power keeps on increasing till 4500rpm! It also suffers from harsh ride quality. The suspension is set only to go off-roading and to handle ghat roads and is not at all set for the city driving! It had broken my back when I was dodging the speedbreakers in the city. But is a very good suspension for ghat roads and for the aggressive drivers.
Overall it is a good car for aggressive driving and hardcornering and high speed driving.

Thanks,
Srikanth.

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Okay, I have analyzed it all quite well. For putting double wishbones in an XUV, one actually can easily manage with unequal and non-parallel arms with the spring/shocker being mounted on the upper arm(there is very less space to mount an offset spring on lower arm as the drive shaft also will be there) and I think that with slight of the trickery the spring can actually be fixed in the place that is already there for the McPherson struts. This way, by making slight changes in the chassis(by providing proper mounting points for four link suspension), the double wishbones can find their place inside the wheel arches of an XUV.
Though anti roll bar uncle and of course lateral load transfer and a lot of physical forces are going to present a lot of challenges in it. BUT yes, handing will be the biggest gift one will get out of it if this is implemented in XUV by M&M. The camber control(and of course camber variations) that a double wishbone suspension will offer(far higher than what McPherson struts offer) can make this car a sweet handler and the added advantage of higher suspension movements is an icing on the cake.

I am glad we agree! It can be done and XUV v2 should have it is my strong view!

Btw a new software update has come for XUV, i dont have the details yet, but owners can have the update done at the service centers!

 

[Dheeraj khandare]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Hey IR wanted to know about the Roof carriage. Is it a kind of clip on which is inserted in the windows or is it bolted to the roof? If bolted to the roof then aren't there any water leakage problems??

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Hey IR wanted to know about the Roof carriage. Is it a kind of clip on which is inserted in the windows or is it bolted to the roof? If bolted to the roof then aren't there any water leakage problems??

Hey dheeraj firstly welcome to tai and thanks for reminding me that I need to update this thread as well , I have been a step father to my xuv lately. I'll do some justice aka updates to this thread in a few weeks.

The xuv roof rails have mounting points already available - there are 4 pieces of the roof rails that come off and then you can mount the carrier, you don't have to drill any holes whatsoever, so no question of any leakage.

 

[Dheeraj khandare]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Hey thanks IR . we are planning to buy XUV in few months but my gut feeling is telling me to wait till feb or march as i have heard from few that a new revamped version of XUV is coming soon.. I see you live in pune your pics are from hinjewadi area. Never got to see your XUV though. I visit pune quit often and wish to see your car passing by some day. BTW while going office or just for shopping my family and i count XUV's we see . Guess we are going through the pre shopping spree.

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Hey thanks IR . we are planning to buy XUV in few months but my gut feeling is telling me to wait till feb or march as i have heard from few that a new revamped version of XUV is coming soon.. I see you live in pune your pics are from hinjewadi area. Never got to see your XUV though. I visit pune quit often and wish to see your car passing by some day. BTW while going office or just for shopping my family and i count XUV's we see . Guess we are going through the pre shopping spree.

welcome to the forum Dheeraj, yes you tend to look for the vehicle type that you are hooked on to - happens to me all the time.

Enjoy the pre shopping spree! Good luck with your purchase.

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Its been a long time i haven't updated much in this thread, the xuv running has come down and i have been giving it a step fatherly treatment since the Paj came in - i hope to do some justice though, its crossing 47k kms (the last few thousand kms are at snail's pace) - it will shortly be completing 3 years !

Some pictures attached and a slightly better write-up would come after i finish the 50k service.
I drove the XUV after a long time yesterday and it pasted a smile again on my face, that mhawk engine and 6 speed gearbox combination is freaking awesome and addictive - its not the exhaustive features of the XUV, but this combo which makes it stand out and i think this is its real USP.

Cheetah posing at Rural MH hinterland











The Mahindra brothers (there are 3 now counting the tractor as well!)

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [42K Kms Crossed

Fellow owners please advice, my 50k service is due and xuv has completed 3 years as well, got a few calls from Mahindra soliciting extended warranty , 1 year at 15k and 2 year at 25k.

I found it high - and i am not very keen, any suggestions ?

I dont have any issues to fix particularly, just routine service. Most of my issues were resolved long back and i do have most upgrades anyways.

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [48K Kms Crossed

Time for some updates, 50K service done this weekend finally , the service was overdue by 5 months already - yes i delayed it. I also didnt go for an extended warranty - will know with time if i was fool hardy.



The XUV has a 20k kms oil replacement, but i forced the oil change and oil filter change as i do it every 10k irrespective for all my vehicles now, i went ahead with the mahindra semi synth, may be next time will try out the liquid gold from mobil.

Oil Filter - 181 Rs.
Oil - Aprox 1800 Rs.





A few issues/updates which i got done :-

1) Rear upper link rods has their bushes worn out - i would have expected this as my xuv does bad roads a lot. but what i didnt expect was there was no bush replacement part in the rear upper link(unlike the front) - so had to replace the entire rod - thats a bit silly in my view, you dont do a knee replacement surgery if you bruise your toe nails. I will be raising this with Mahindra, i am armed with the old rods. Some 1955Rs for a pair.







2) I had already ripped off the rear wiper rubber - so that was replaced. -253Rs.



3) After having replaced 4 mud flaps , i replaced probably for the 5th time now, the new design ones come shorter than the old one. So a good move by Mahindra. But i am left with one shorter than the other, I am sure it wont take me much long to rip off the longer one. - Some 120Rs.





4) Front wiper/washer pump conked off, that was replaced. - 470rs.

5) My engine guard is in tatters due to off road bruise, i asked for replacement but it costed some 2600 + or something, i decided to stay with what i had and did some desi jhugaad of cutting it at edges and fitting washers - i think it can last a couple more years and i might as well fabricate a proper metal one instead.






6) The Ac filter was cleaned and Mahindra have come with a better paper based filter which avoids the dust going in to the coils - so i had them replace the old filters with the new ones. 933Rs. for a pair. I strongly recommend this to all owners with old ac filters to prolong your AC life. The previous ones arent very effective in dust prevention as is evident as its a mesh.



7) The software was updated to the latest , this includes the airbags based patch recently. Mahindra have brought in a single unified software updater(garuda) which can manage all their vehicles needing it. Checked the vehicle thoroughly for everything , didnt find anything.









8) I readjusted all the lights, both high beam and low beam, silver jubilee have now an arrangement to adjust the lights perfectly to a driver's need.



Total Service Costs :- 10,250 Rs. including taxes.

Most importantly stabiliser bar bushes, didnt need a change, this is the first time i went to the service centre and didnt change George Bush! Also importantly its great to see new updates coming from mahindra across multiple parts - shows the zeal for constant improvement. Most importantly spent time with the grease monkeys after a long time(16 months), who are now really good friends.

 

[singh890]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [50K Kms Crossed

Nice update IR buddy and good to see Dark Knight doing his work effectively.

I have one of my rear mud guard changed too - the small ones and i think it works well coz the orignal ones were too long.

Mine has clocked 57K actually coming close to 58K will put up a update soon.

What is the FE you getting ?

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Mahindra XUV5OO: "The Dark Knight" Buying & Ownership Experience [50K Kms Crossed

Nice update IR buddy and good to see Dark Knight doing his work effectively.

I have one of my rear mud guard changed too - the small ones and i think it works well coz the orignal ones were too long.

Mine has clocked 57K actually coming close to 58K will put up a update soon.

What is the FE you getting ?

Welcome back in action sirji. Yes the old mud flaps were like long dupatta!

My FE range has been consistently between 14-15 kmpl - my dad does even better , he is a very relaxed driver. The best FE i got tankful to tankful is 18.xxkmpl on the bombay bangalore highway. All are tankful readings.

To be honest my biggest difficulty with XUV these days is driving relaxed, i simply cant, the XUV is a hoot to drive and i appreciate it because i drive the Pajero as well. If i drive the Pajero in a sporty mode like what the xuv does ill get single digit FE, whereas the XUV no matter what i do never gone below 11-12kmpl range. Thats why I will keep saying god bless Mahindra for that Mhawk and that 6 speed combo. The way they have gone about removing all possible niggles/nuances in the xuv is quite amazing and i realise this every time i go to the service centre and compare items against what i have in the dark knight!

Yes my xuv running is tremendously decreased because of the Pajero and also for the fact that half the year i drive abroad.