My Red Highway King: Mahindra XUV500 W8 Ownership Review

[mayankdixit]

It was under direct sunlight. Even then 54 degrees is a hell lot of temp.,sufficient to kill any living being in a car, stranded ,in the open for a couple of hours!!. I have heard scary news of children being forgotten inside the locked car and loosing their precious lives,due to heat and suffocation.
Fortunately the heat wave is a thing of past as presently northern India is inundated with rains and floods.This flood part has been very UN-fortunate for many,as can be seen allover the news.

 

[mayankdixit]

It does not feel funny at all, that I cant take XUV anywhere.Its just sitting under my porch, parked, waiting for the next long drive.Its one hell of a vehicle,but I will not take it in narrow market places and all,as I fear it will get scratched.My hatchbacks are good for it.The beauty of owning an old car,or/as well as, a second hand car, is that one becomes fearless of cyclewalas and rickshawalas. You then don't fear dents and scratches.Come what may,I will barge in the empty space on the road.Here in Kanpur every one is afraid to death,of Vikram -TEMPOS.These rascals have thick iron angles all around ,which, even if it touches you car body.will punch a hole in it,or, in the least bit, will make a nice and deep scratch plus dent.These tempos are driven by underage and untrained drivers.The shell of tempo is all iron.They rule the roads in my city.Every carwala and even bikewala hates them,and they in turn hate them back!!
Anyway I love my cars,and want to keep them for so long, that my fears of scratches and dents vanishes,and I move about in the crowd congested,jam packed roads,without fear, just like the driver of a politico bullying everyone in a safari, or a goon in a Scorpio , making its way in a no entry without any concern for the law.MY point is this that these people are damn concerned about nicks and scratches,while I despise as well as fear scratches from the core of my heart.
My maruti 800,was sold (1999 model AC,4 gears,radial tires, carburetor engine) mainly because it got rusted around the bumpers pretty badly.This forum has such lovely people like varun,and ss80,that now after going through their threads,I feel sad ,and start missing my 800.Rust was nothing ,it could have been beautifully restored,if only people like ss80 and varun were present on the forum then.Alas!
This fear of rust has made me " rust enemy no.1 " In all my cars I have gone down on my belly, under them,and sought out the rust prone areas and applied primer as well as paint,after sanding the rust.This includes my XUV too.This time, I want to keep my cars for really long,and I will not let rust bother me. That is why I love the threads on restoring 800,as I can Identify with them as well as the car, which I owned in the past.This forum has been such a motivation,because of actual DIY, done and demonstrated in detail.Other forums boasting of larger members lack this basic DIYs,and restoration threads.Thanks moderators for getting me on board.Now I can see more like minded people like me.

 

[carholic]

HLO Mayank
Congratulation for acquiring the beast.Hope to see you and beast some day in kanpur traffic .

 

[mayankdixit]

A minor DIY,on my XUV,noodle mat installed.
I wanted,and wished kagu mats for my XUV.In my city there is no retail outlet for direct selling of these mats. I was worried about ordering online. I may not get what I wish for,online. So went for noodle mat installation.I did not take a newspaper template,instead I went on cutting directly.
Total cost..750/-



















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[manuman]

Looks very good Mayank!

I want to go for a similar one for my rear seats. When I fold the last row seats, I don't have anything on the seats (rear side of the seat) to protect. After some shopping, like grocery, I dump the stuff in the last row - either on the seats or on the folded seats. The noodle mats seem ideal to me. Thanx for sharing the picture.

I have 3d mats for the floor btw, and they are fantastic.

 

[mayankdixit]

Looks very good Mayank!

Well,thank you very much.
I want to go for a similar one for my rear seats. When I fold the last row seats, I don't have anything on the seats (rear side of the seat) to protect. After some shopping, like grocery, I dump the stuff in the last row - either on the seats or on the folded seats. The noodle mats seem ideal to me.

You are absolutely correct. Noodle mats come in all sorts of colours and textures. You can cut and fit as per your requirement. Moreover the space behind the third row, above the tool box is very cute and very little,so not much mat area will be required.

 

[mayankdixit]

Another small feather,in my XUVs cap.
I recently completed a 4 day trip to Panchmarhi. My red highway king performed just like its name.The distance from Kanpur to panchmarhri was about 700 km.Both the time I completed the trip in one go, with only refreshment stoppages in between! In Satpura hills the climb is very steep at certain places,requiring one to frequently slot into first gear.I hate clutch slipping,but the lack of lower end torque in XUV (compare to NA direct injection) demands exactly that ,when you are on an incline and starting from dead stop.But I have no grouse about that.
Over all ,XUV behaved admirably.The highway manners are exceptional in this vehicle,there is no doubt about that.I have completed 10,000 km and now its time for the 2nd service.
Overall I got an average of 14.6 in this trip,despite of lots of 1) idling 2) aggressive driving 3) hill climbing,and 4) bumper to bumper traffic, plus few rail crossing jams.

 

[CarLoverJosh]

Wow iT's been a long time since i saw a Red XUV5oo. Well congratulations on owning one of the most capable SUV in India. One question- How is the ride quality? When i Test drove the car it cornered beautifully almost like a sedan but on bumps it felt terribly uncomfortable.

 

[CarLoverJosh]

Another small feather,in my XUVs cap.
I recently completed a 4 day trip to Panchmarhi. My red highway king performed just like its name.The distance from Kanpur to panchmarhri was about 700 km.Both the time I completed the trip in one go, with only refreshment stoppages in between! In Satpura hills the climb is very steep at certain places,requiring one to frequently slot into first gear.I hate clutch slipping,but the lack of lower end torque in XUV (compare to NA direct injection) demands exactly that ,when you are on an incline and starting from dead stop.But I have no grouse about that.
Over all ,XUV behaved admirably.The highway manners are exceptional in this vehicle,there is no doubt about that.I have completed 10,000 km and now its time for the 2nd service.
Overall I got an average of 14.6 in this trip,despite of lots of 1) idling 2) aggressive driving 3) hill climbing,and 4) bumper to bumper traffic, plus few rail crossing jams.

Doesn't the XUV have HillHold feature for this problem?

 

[shreeni0403]

Doesn't the XUV have HillHold feature for this problem?

That just jams the wheel from rolling back.

 

[mayankdixit]

Exactly.Hill hold wont help much in starting from dead stop on a steep hill.It only aids in stopping the car from slipping back (for 3 seconds)on an incline, as soon as one lets go of clutch.

 

[mayankdixit]

Some pics of my recent trip to Panchmarhi,M.P
Total distance covered 1400 km over 3 days.The noodle mats I installed as a DIY,performed its job perfectly. What more can you ask at this price point, ie 700 rs.As I drove above the recommended speeds I got an average of 14.6.

Picture on reaching the resort in evening



This was really funny



The car park at the resort



The pandav caves

 

[mayankdixit]

Some more pics from the trip.

before venturing out.





on the way,view from inside.


the tiger reserve.

 

[mayankdixit]

Tyretronics saved my pocket again.
During the recent 1500 km trip low pressure warning popped up in the infotainment display.
I wonder if the OEM J.K Tyre in my XUV,is more prone to puncture and cuts as compared to other brands??. Fellow XUV owners opinion needed.I suffered second puncture in the same Tyre in a span of 6 months. On the other hand tyre -tronics of XUV saved me from big bill again,this is the positive aspect.

 

[kinshuk.arya]

Hi Mayank, were you able to take xuv on all the tourist spots in panchmarhi? last time I went there only 4x4s were allowed in some places.