My Red Highway King: Mahindra XUV500 W8 Ownership Review

[harishankar]

Therefore, it surprises me even more,when my friends (on describing all this to them), look at me in a queer sort of way,because they say they have never even once dusted a cloth on their cars. Not even once, can you imagine, in all their life. Because servants do it for them. Don't save money Mayank,hire a servant for this, they say.
And then I look back at them in an equally Queer sort of way because then I think they are acting really weird.

Yes, I love water washing the car. In the Amby days, I washed my car every day. But nowadays due to work pressure , I am not able to do it regularly. Our watchman does it. But I also get a lot of pleasure in water washing the car. Never done what you have done though... interesting... wondering if the same can be done on the KUV 100 NXT.

 

[mayankdixit]

Yes, I love water washing the car. In the Amby days, I washed my car every day. But nowadays due to work pressure , I am not able to do it regularly. Our watchman does it. But I also get a lot of pleasure in water washing the car. Never done what you have done though... interesting... wondering if the same can be done on the KUV 100 NXT.

Of-course the same can be done in your car too.Its not much different than XUV. Same family eh?

 

[bhvm]

You can call it a "high"

I call it the ZEN EXPERIENCE.
Very calm and just me and my car and my thoughts. Many of life's problems can be solved by deep thinking during these Zen movements. People have different ways to experience the same ZEN. Its my DIYs & Projects for me.

My other method is to listen Music late light when everyone is asleep. Earphones on. EQ on. Pretending to be asleep but actually not...

 

[mayankdixit]

Recently concluded a trip from Kanpur to Katra-Vaisnodevi to Patnitop, in my XUV.
Total distance covered 2480 kms,over 5 days. I was the only driver all the way.
Average achieved in the whole trip= 18km/ltr. I did not reset the metre even once.
Breakup of the journey as under.
Day 1. Kanpur to Panipat distance 600 kms. I took the ALExpressway > YEW > Panipat.
Day 2. Panipat to Katra distance 600 kms. Karnal> Ludhiana>Jalandhar > Pathankot > Jammu > Katra.
Day 3. Darshan at Vaishnodevi.
Day 4. Katra to Patnitop distance 80 kms.
Day 5. Patnitop to Kanpur direct . Distance 1200 kms driving all day for 19 hrs. I really enjoyed this challenge.

XUV performed flawlessly. The newly installed Bridges tone tyres are awesome.They are giving me such a plush ride on all sort of terrains. I will give them 5 stars for their performance,over rough terrain as well as expressways. It is far better than the time when my XUV was brand new out of showroom. JK elanzos were so poor in comparison giving out hard ride with no grip on braking. Now I am enjoying the ride on rough surfaces even more.My smooth tarmac braking has improved too,due to these tyres.
I went from Patnitop to SANASAR and NATHA top. The roads there were horrible. I have not encountered so rough and broken and gravelly road in recent times.I was afraid that I will have at-least 1 puncture if not more.This was the norm with JK tyres even when new. Luckily there was not a single puncture in the whole journey. Moreover these tyres increased my grip levels and allowed me to glide over rough roads with some speed!! I am very impressed.

 

[mayankdixit]

Some pics of this trip for your viewing.

 

[Nanofreak]

Excellent travelogue @mayankdixit any perticular reason to choose XUV over the Nexon?
19 hours of continuous driving, that's a feat, how did you manage the fatigue.
Regards
Vinod

 

[vijay]

Recently concluded a trip from Kanpur to Katra-Vaisnodevi to Patnitop, in my XUV.
Total distance covered 2480 kms,over 5 days. I was the only driver all the way.
Average achieved in the whole trip= 18km/ltr. I did not reset the metre even once.

XUV performed flawlessly. The newly installed Bridges tone tyres are awesome.They are giving me such a plush ride on all sort of terrains. I will give them 5 stars for their performance,over rough terrain as well as expressways. It is far better than the time when my XUV was brand new out of showroom. JK elanzos were so poor in comparison giving out hard ride with no grip on braking. Now I am enjoying the ride on rough surfaces even more.My smooth tarmac braking has improved too,due to these tyres.
I went from Patnitop to SANASAR and NATHA top. The roads there were horrible. I have not encountered so rough and broken and gravelly road in recent times.I was afraid that I will have at-least 1 puncture if not more.This was the norm with JK tyres even when new. Luckily there was not a single puncture in the whole journey. Moreover these tyres increased my grip levels and allowed me to glide over rough roads with some speed!! I am very impressed.

Wow thats what i call having fun with the machine.This is what the beast is made for take to the terains and it wont let u down neither you would stop enjoyng the drive nor the machine.Congratulations on your 2.5K drive.Bridgstones are definately way better tyres compared to JK ones.OEM are ment for cost cuttings only from manufacturers.Keep riding.

 

[mayankdixit]

Wow thats what i call having fun with the machine.This is what the beast is made for take to the terains and it wont let u down neither you would stop enjoyng the drive nor the machine.Congratulations on your 2.5K drive.Bridgstones are definately way better tyres compared to JK ones.OEM are ment for cost cuttings only from manufacturers.Keep riding.

Thanks for your motivating words.

any particular reason to choose XUV over the Nexon?

When compared to nexon, XUV is bigger + more comfortable + more power full+ gets more respect in police checkposts + more space for the umpteen bags my family packs +drives more comfortably on the expressways at triple digit speeds+my son loves it more emotionally+ I can as well as my family sleep comfortably in it in case we dont get room(I have already done it once at Sonipat in past) +Its less tiring on long journeys,as the ergonomics is superior + I feel more confident driving it + etc etc.So it beats Nexon in all of these,no comparison.

I asked my son as well as my wife,should we take Nexon this time?I myself was just kidding,bust just for the heck of it I asked.Result ,they flatly refused!!as if its a non issue!

I love my Nexon ,but XUV occupies a special place in my heart.

 

[mayankdixit]

Hi mayandixit
Did you use any rust dissolving solution? Any plan for under body coating?

I know it looks stupid to reply now. I apologise for too late a reply. Sorry again for missing your query.
But for the general benefit of the readers I am bound to reply.

Idid not use any rust dissolving solution. I don't believe in them. They are basically acids. Do more harm than good. I used the old hardworking method. I used sandpaper and rubbed it all-over till the rust was gone. Then I painted it.
Under body coating is done from the factory itself. Not required at all.

 

[mayankdixit]

Latest activity is that I removed all the chrome from the fog lamps and backlight as well as the front grill. I was getting bored of all that and I yearned for the clean look.
It was tougher than I thought. The original chrome accessories had very good adhesive and it could have easily lasted another decade. I was worried about paint damage while removing. It took a lot of effort and time to do it.

 

[mayankdixit]

Continuing with more pictures of the DIY.
There was lots of grime and mud and cobwebs . I cleaned up every thing nicely as can be seen in the picture below. Some how I feel that the clean look is better.

 

[Driveright]

Any maintenance you do on your vehicle just creates a connection with man and machine .I just hop onto TANTOR every day just to say Hi and definitely he has responded to me with love and affection .I'm coming up with a travelogue where I have mentioned how the small things we do to our rides may have helped in reinforcing this emotional connection with our rides.

Latest activity is that I removed all the chrome from the fog lamps and backlight as well as the front grill. I was getting bored of all that and I yearned for the clean look.
It was tougher than I thought. The original chrome accessories had very good adhesive and it could have easily lasted another decade. I was worried about paint damage while removing. It took a lot of effort and time to do it. View attachment 260378 View attachment 260379

try to use a hot air gun .it helps to losen the adhesive ..or leave your car in the hot sun and allow the panels to get hot

Recently concluded a trip from Kanpur to Katra-Vaisnodevi to Patnitop, in my XUV.
Total distance covered 2480 kms,over 5 days. I was the only driver all the way.
Average achieved in the whole trip= 18km/ltr. I did not reset the metre even once.
Breakup of the journey as under.
Day 1. Kanpur to Panipat distance 600 kms. I took the ALExpressway > YEW > Panipat.
Day 2. Panipat to Katra distance 600 kms. Karnal> Ludhiana>Jalandhar > Pathankot > Jammu > Katra.
Day 3. Darshan at Vaishnodevi.
Day 4. Katra to Patnitop distance 80 kms.
Day 5. Patnitop to Kanpur direct . Distance 1200 kms driving all day for 19 hrs. I really enjoyed this challenge.

XUV performed flawlessly. The newly installed Bridges tone tyres are awesome.They are giving me such a plush ride on all sort of terrains. I will give them 5 stars for their performance,over rough terrain as well as expressways. It is far better than the time when my XUV was brand new out of showroom. JK elanzos were so poor in comparison giving out hard ride with no grip on braking. Now I am enjoying the ride on rough surfaces even more.My smooth tarmac braking has improved too,due to these tyres.
I went from Patnitop to SANASAR and NATHA top. The roads there were horrible. I have not encountered so rough and broken and gravelly road in recent times.I was afraid that I will have at-least 1 puncture if not more.This was the norm with JK tyres even when new. Luckily there was not a single puncture in the whole journey. Moreover these tyres increased my grip levels and allowed me to glide over rough roads with some speed!! I am very impressed.

how many passengers and luggage did you haul doc ? Very impressive figures for such a long drive.On my recent trip of 2400 kms TANTOR returned 10.6kmpl overall .The best was on the highways of TN 11.8 kmpl..6 adults,3 kids and 10 days of luggage.I drove on non existent roads and steep inclines and ghat sections for about 300 kms.The MID had shown 10.8kmpl at that circuit.All this with 100%AC .

 

[mayankdixit]

how many passengers and luggage did you haul doc ? Very impressive figures for such a long drive .

Since XUV came in our lives, It has consistently given me this figure on almost all of my long drives. I can understand that mid figures are over optimistic. I can also understand that tankful to tankful will give the actual figures. But this is enough for me. Iam immensely satisfied with this figure of 18km per litre. This engine is a gem. It also tells that I am driving it correctly.
I do not drive very aggressively. I avoid sudden braking.
Iam not interested in tyre spinning at takeoff. Abusing my car I am not a fan of. But don't think I baby my car. It routinely performs the warning chime in every trip on the expressway. I have done most of the hills with this only. And so far I have never been disappointed with the performance.
One very good thing about this car is the way it pulls from zero.
One has to be the driver of this car to understand how this thing CAN accelerate. It can easily embarrase cars double it's price. I never expected a petrol swift like performance from a heavy 2.2 litre Diesel SUV. But Mahindra surprised me with this. It puts a smile on my face every time I move out of toll booth lanes after paying.
So I repeat, very few SUVS can match up. And at this price point...None.

 

[J.Ravi]

Average achieved in the whole trip= 18km/ltr.

Excellent. Even my erstwhile XUV 500 recorded a superb fuel efficiency of 13.85 kmpl tankful-to-tankful after its 8,664 km-drive to Kolkata and Leh in 2017. I climbed the Himalayas with one tankful from Naggar to Leh without any intermediate refilling at Tandi.

 

[mayankdixit]

how many passengers and luggage did you haul doc ? Very impressive figures for such a long drive.

Sorry for not answering to the point in my last post. I got carried away.
There were 3 adults and luggage for 6 day trip. Total 4 medium+ 1 large bag.