[Shanksta]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Happy to inform that with all your well wishes the Molten Orange tank was delivered at the said time.

Finally the tank resting in its home, apartment parking[/b]

Congratulations AutoIndian!! Wishing you loads of (s)miles in the orange tank. Eagerly awaiting your ownership report.

[cmayur]

Congrats to owners of all the tanks so far. Molten orange does look good in the sunlight. Wish you all many happy miles on your tank.
I wanted to know if we have any AMT tank owners so far and if they can pen a few lines of their day to experience so far with the amt. Having booked one myself, I am a little lost if amt was a smart choice. As such having a thought on the tuv itself with mixed reviews on the 3 cylinder bit for such a heavy frame and on top of that amt with little more reduced power 81bhp.i am not technically sound in automotive area but I know I always wanted a suv. My intent is not to sprint with the tank. Frankly its not possible in Mumbai traffic but having an underpowered vehicle is equally risky I think and that too the size and weight of the Tuv.
Hence i wanted some feedback from owners of the tuv amt. Do the points I mentioned above should affect a buying decision, on amt without hill assist and tendency to roll back backwards is a big problem, in city stop start on highway getting on a flyover in stop start mode, would it be challenging, manuvering the tank in traffic, is it difficult. Also of any practical issues not already documented here in the review or ownership reports so far.
I have a Linea 1.3mjd right now and am only changing for the extra space and amt part.
Amt owners... Any thoughts.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Happy to inform that with all your well wishes the Molten Orange tank was delivered at the said time.

Here is wishing you many many miles of trouble free ride.

Questions: Does the TUV300 have an ISG under the hood? I understand that most micro/mild hybrid systems with auto start stop use an ISG to reduce load on the starter motor. Even during the TDs, the SA mentioned that the ISG takes on the load for frequent starts in heavy traffic conditions.
1) If this is the case, why has Mahindra not included regeneration in the ESS or Hybrid tech that it claims to have?From what I have read, it seems a logical step to include and close loop the system
2) Does Mahindra still get the reduced excise duty because of this psuedo hybrid ESS tech? or should a car have regeneration in place for it to get the cut in excise duty (like the Ciaz & new ertiga)

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Happy to inform that with all your well wishes the Molten Orange tank was delivered at the said time. Sharing some moments captured
Finally the tank resting in its home, apartment parking[/b]

Wonderful to hear those words at last - 'Finally.... resting in its home......" I know just how you are feeling! Now we look forward to your owner's feedback inputs to get to know the tank vicariously!

[AutoIndian]

It was a very hectic day and understandably so, today the TUV came home. It is only now (well past midnight) that I am finding some time to pen my thoughts

Originally Posted by achyu

Congratulations AutoIndian!

Nice pictures. Now the wait starts for your ownership thread

Originally Posted by Shanksta

Congratulations AutoIndian!! Wishing you loads of (s)miles in the orange tank. Eagerly awaiting your ownership report.

Originally Posted by cmayur

Congrats to owners of all the tanks so far. Molten orange does look good in the sunlight. Wish you all many happy miles on your tank.

Originally Posted by procrj

Here is wishing you many many miles of trouble free ride.

Originally Posted by shashanka

Wonderful to hear those words at last - 'Finally.... resting in its home......" I know just how you are feeling! Now we look forward to your owner's feedback inputs to get to know the tank vicariously!

Thank you once again achyu, Shanksta, cmayur, procrj and shashanka. A detailed photo shoot is on the cards, but not sure when time will permit it. Well ownership thread may take some time as currently I am transitioning from one assignment to another. Hence it is double work for me at office. However will target to come out with review at least by end of this month. Parallely I will keep sharing my experiences in this thread.

Originally Posted by cmayur

I wanted to know if we have any AMT tank owners so far and if they can pen a few lines of their day to experience so far with the amt. Having booked one myself, I am a little lost if amt was a smart choice. As such having a thought on the tuv itself with mixed reviews on the 3 cylinder bit for such a heavy frame and on top of that amt with little more reduced power 81bhp.i am not technically sound in automotive area but I know I always wanted a suv. My intent is not to sprint with the tank. Frankly its not possible in Mumbai traffic but having an underpowered vehicle is equally risky I think and that too the size and weight of the Tuv.
Hence i wanted some feedback from owners of the tuv amt. Do the points I mentioned above should affect a buying decision, on amt without hill assist and tendency to roll back backwards is a big problem, in city stop start on highway getting on a flyover in stop start mode, would it be challenging, manuvering the tank in traffic, is it difficult. Also of any practical issues not already documented here in the review or ownership reports so far.
I have a Linea 1.3mjd right now and am only changing for the extra space and amt part.
Amt owners... Any thoughts.

Although I am a "MT" TUV owner, I would like to share my thoughts on the AMT TUV, of which I had taken two extensive test drives. Hope you allow me

Slot the car is first gear (gear indicator visible on the instrument cluster). Lift your right leg off the brake pedal. People used to driving manual diesels would anticipate the car to move forward, but actually nothing happens, though the gear shift indicates "1" on the cluster. Press the throttle gently and the car begins to move. It moves with eagerness beyond 1500 rpm. Lift your leg off the throttle and give a gentle push to the AMT gear lever, the second gear engages, rpm drops and the car, which was pulling strongly seems to have lost the steam. Again it builds up momentum as the rpm crosses 1500-2000 range. This way you can keep upshifting till you are in 5th gear, 80 kmph comes @ 2000 rpm. It can potter @ 60 kmph in 5th gear (1500 rpm). The moment you hit the brake pedal it begins to downshift. It senses the brake pressure and modulation of brake pedal downshifts smoothly. If you notice a speed hump from 50 metres and you are in 5th gear, a gentle tap on brake would downshift it to 4th, again a second tap would downshift to 3 and again one more downshift to 2nd. Now you can easily cross the speed braker on 2nd gear and pull cleanly from thereon, by a gentle push on the A pedal.

Biggest negatives of AMT:
I was on an incline near the showroom gate. Car came to a standstill and the first gear was engaged. Now to prevent roll back I pressed the brake pedal. The moment I lifted my right leg off the pedal and tried to press the accelerator, the car began to roll back. If you press the A pedal aggressively, the car may move forward with a jerk. Very dangerous in choc-a-block traffic and at signals. Next time when I came to a standstill on an incline, I engaged the handbrake. This prevented the car from rolling back. Then I gently started pushing the accelerator, as the car was trying to move forward, I released the handbrake. This time it was a smooth maneuver. A hill hold assist function would have been very apt for the AMT.

Also while putting the car in reverse in my apartment parking, I put the AMT lever to the "R" position. Lifting the foot from the brake did not make the car move backwards, I had to gently press the accelerator. While reversing any manual car, I always prefer keeping my right leg over the brake and left leg over the clutch. This way if I have to stop by pressing brake, I can do half clutch, so that the engine does not die off, but this is not a possibility in the AMT as there is no clutch pedal. May be one can try putting right foot on accelerator and the left one on the brake, this way there would be better control.

On the positive side the pull, low end torque just blew me away. The 1.5, 3 potter is quite capable of pulling this 1.6 tonner and It dismissed the pot holes like they never existed. The steering felt precise and quite chunky to hold. When I test drove along with whole family, it came out with flying colours

I loved the AMT after test driving it two times for the convenience it offers. The only fly in the ointment is that the car not moving in first gear, unless you press the accelerator and car not moving when reverse gear is engaged, unless you press the accelerator. Of course with practice you can overcome this. I am sure the only AMT owner here, Silver Knight might have found some work around or practiced it to perfection by now. His experience would give you a far better idea about the suitability of AMT for your needs.

Below are couple of highlights of the day gone by:

1. The dealership staff was quite courteous. The main sales person explain me all the features of the car in great detail and kept asking me if I want to know anything further.
2. While pairing my android with the car, my phone popped up "failure" message at least 10 times. Even the sales exec got frustrated. Finally I thought of deleting the earlier pairings in my phone and reconnect and voila it worked seamlessly.
3. I got rid of all plastic seat covers at the showroom itself.
4. The showroom arranged for all the pooja items, haldi, kumkum, coconut, sweets, garland, gandhi topi etc.
5. The dealer presented me the beautiful ganesh idol, picture of which I have shared in my earlier post.
6. They also gave me a 10 litre diesel coupon, which I redeemed at the nearest fuel bunk. The DTE went from 177km to 302km. So an increase of 125km for 10 litre, indicating average FE of 12.5 kmpl.
7. After that I moved on the the Shell bunk and did a tankful over there. The TUV gulped 33.46 litres and the DTE was now showing 675 km, giving an FE figure of 11.18 kmpl. Note: The above is just for academic purpose. The actual FE will be known only when I do a tankful again. Mostly will do it when the fuel gauge reaches half way mark.
8. When I entered my apartment and started reversing the car, there was a wild shrill from the reverse parking sensor as if the car is going to hit an obstacle. When I saw in both ORVMs and IRVM, there was nothing behind. But to be doubly sure, I put the car in neutral, pulled the handbrake and stepped out. My doubt came true, out of the 4 rear parking sensors the plastic protective covering of only 2 sensors was removed a the showroom, while balance two still had it in place. On peeling them off, the reverse sensors started working perfectly fine.
9. In the evening went to the local 3M shop to get the black cladding and floor matting done. The vinyl wrap that he showed had a lighter shade of black, whereas the original factory fitted wrapping is pitch black, hence I did not pursue it. However got the quotation from him for complete roof blackening (although I don't intend to go for it).
10. Got the 3M nomad mats fitted in brown colour (as black or grey was not available). It costed me around 6.75K (24 sqft carpet area). Also bought a Meguiars supreme shine microfibre towel from there for Rs 500/-
11. Did some night driving. The cornering lamps are simply superb. Very well thought feature illuminating the corners. The brake lamps are also quite powerful, especially the LED stop lamp. The OE lamps seem to be sufficient with good throw. I will come to know their effectiveness during my night drives from office to home.

I think I have already crossed the limit of this post. Enough for today. Will share some more experiences in the coming days.

[cmayur]

Thank you Auto Indian for your detailed experience. Ditto on the incline near the showroom. Experienced the exact same jerk the way you did under exactly same condition. Since it was a td and i was all thrilled I didn't give it much thought later. However later, trying to think now and Mumbai's stop start traffic in peak hours with all the flyovers and wondering if this would affect me. Would love if silverknight would care to coment. The tips you provided are really helpful and thanks for the same. The way we depend on clutch for controlling our manual cars is amazing and would need real good adaptation when it comes to an automatic and specifically a car the size of the tuv.

[silverknight]

Originally Posted by cmayur

Thank you Auto Indian for your detailed experience. Ditto on the incline near the showroom. Experienced the exact same jerk the way you did under exactly same condition. Since it was a td and i was all thrilled I didn't give it much thought later. However later, trying to think now and Mumbai's stop start traffic in peak hours with all the flyovers and wondering if this would affect me. Would love if silverknight would care to coment. The tips you provided are really helpful and thanks for the same. The way we depend on clutch for controlling our manual cars is amazing and would need real good adaptation when it comes to an automatic and specifically a car the size of the tuv.

AMT report with 900kms on odo:
- Whether you put it in 1st or reverse you need not push accelerator, creep function will get it moving with some delay
- You do need to be careful initially to get used to how torque is delivered and how to manage it without clutch
- AMT is very convenient in traffic, keep it in auto mode and you just have to use brakes for bumper to bumper traffic
- On inclines you will have to use hand brake.
- But if I had to choose between "hand brake + A pedal" vs "Clutch + Brake" I will go with former any day.

I wanted to get the ownership report out today but I don't have privileges to create one. I have contacted the moderators but no reply as yet.

[cmayur]

Thanks for clarifying silverknight. Hope your request gets approved and we get to know some more interesting facts from your ownership experience.

[AutoIndian]

Friends, I forgot to share one concidence. When I had been to Shell bunk for doing a tankful, one man walked over to me and asked if I had taken the TUV delivery recently, I told yes. I saw a sparkle in his eyes and sense of pride as he was looking at my TUV. He then introduced me as Mr. XXX (name concealed for protecting identity) working with M&M's Chakan plant as a Quality Manager. Now I could co-relate his enthusiasm on seeing the TUV. I took this opportunity to let him know that I had been to the dealer stockyard for doing the PDI of the original car allotted to me. During the PDI I observed the missing B pillar black cladding. This was a serious goof up on a newly launched car coming out of the factory without the B pillar blackened. What were the final inspection folks @ M&M's Chakan plant doing when this car rolled out of the assembly line. I showed him the pictures that I had clicked. He requested me to share these pics with him on whatsapp and he will investigate it further. I have shared the pictures with him today. Lets see if he updates me further on why this had happened and what care they will take in order to prevent such incidents in future.

Yesterday evening I went to the 3M shop to do the floor matting. Attaching some pictures taken over there.

TUV standing shoulder to shoulder besides a black Safari undergoing a detailing treatment


The paper pattern laid out for taking measurements


Second row floor matting (3M Nomad mats) laid out


Driver side floor mats


Second round of pooja at night


Rear of TUV at night


The 3M (CR70) film demo model

[AutoIndian]

Today was the first day when I drove the tank to my office with prayer on my lips and a sword on my head. I was very skeptical and apprehensive, especially about the two-wheelers cutting across during morning traffic. Hence started a bit early to beat the traffic. There were few scary moments, but nothing that could stop a heartbeat. The TUV came out with flying colors and covered the 20km drive without any fuss.

What I didn't like:

• You give the beans to this engine and it will cry and howl. This is no tarmac scorcher.
• The three potter will show its nature if you try to exploit it
• It has load carrying capacity and can work like a donkey, but whip it to run like a race horse and you will be disappointed

What I liked the most:

• The noise insulation of the cabin is pretty good. The tyre and road noise are pretty controlled (Note: my points of reference are the two previous cars that I have owned till date, Indica and Innova). So it may not have the most silent cabin or a very refined engine, but more than meets my standards
• The way in which the tank gobbles up the road irregularities, be it pot holes, speed bumps, road joints etc. There is nothing but a very mild thud heard inside and passengers are undisturbed. It would be very hard to tell the quality of the road if you are sitting inside the TUV with your eyes closed. You will feel every road to be super smooth.
• The first stage of the turbo has a very sweet whine. If you are on 5th gear and driving @ 60kmph (around 1500 rpm), you can hear this whine very clearly, sounds music to ears

Note: I intend to start a new series from today, "What did I learn today @ my TUV?", wherein I can share my new learnings @ the TUV. Prospective owners can benefit from it and existing owners can correct me wherever I am wrong.

What did I learn today @ my TUV? #1, 09-Nov-2015:

When I was in traffic with clutch pedal half pressed, I observed that the gear indicator on the MID had vanished. The reason for this could be that the computer is unclear whether I am going to upshift or downshift or remain in the same gear. The moment I released the clutch pedal fully, the gear indicator came up on the dash. This could be very useful to know if you are riding half clutch, will help you prolong the clutch life.

Edit: I recollected it just now that I pressed the "Eco" button midway to my drive to office, hence the engine response sort of felt lethargic. I will de-activate it on my return journey and feel the difference.

[mustang_shelby]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

It was a very hectic day and understandably so, today the TUV came home.

Congratulations on your new tank, AutoIndian. I wish you a lot of safe, comfortable and enjoyable miles ahead.

The miss from Mahindra QC about the blackening of the pillar is definitely disappointing. Their response and eventual resolution (providing another vehicle), though, shows Mahindra is striving for customer satisfaction. Definitely appreciable.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by mustang_shelby

Congratulations on your new tank, AutoIndian. I wish you a lot of safe, comfortable and enjoyable miles ahead.

Thank you mustang_shelby for your wishes.

The miss from Mahindra QC about the blackening of the pillar is definitely disappointing. Their response and eventual resolution (providing another vehicle), though, shows Mahindra is striving for customer satisfaction. Definitely appreciable.

I totally agree. This glaring goof-up at the factory should not have happened in first place. The positive aspect of this episode was that they did not try to push down the same faulty vehicle to me and arranged for other two alternate cars in same color and same variant. The Area Sales Manager of M&M and the dealer Sales Head were very co-operative and supportive of all my requests. They used to respond back to my queries very promptly. Barring for the initial 10 days after booking the car, the rest of the days till I took the delivery of the car their support was excellent.

I sincerely hope that their after sales support proves to be equally good (if not better).

[kiranvakati]

Saw TUV black colour T4 version on road.
Amazing road presence for a sub 4-metre vehicle. From behind it looks huge because of the width.
I assumed from the side it will look like a sub-4 but man i was wrong, it doesnt look like sub-4 vehicle in any angle.

Hats off to Mahindra.

T4 doesn't have body colour bumper and it actually suited the black colour. To me glossy black body merged will with matty bumper running all the way up to the tail lamp. It adds on to the butch look.

[Aditya]

Mahindra has received 12,000 bookings for TUV300. Almost 50% of them are for the AMT version.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

Source: Autocar India

[purohitanuj]

Did a test drive of AMT today. Here is what I feel:
1. I tried to crank the engine without pressing the brake pedal and I was expecting a notification on MID; but to my surprise, there is no indication for this case. The TUV just did not crank. I wonder why the little notification was left as the MID even gets 4x4 and LD indicators.

2. I tried the "creep" function but was disappointed when the SUV did not move after releasing the brake pedal. It was very later in the drive I figured that the "creep" function is present, however it takes a lot of time (and very slowly) to engage and it is very very smooth. Initially I thought that I was rolling due to gradient but then I tested it on a slope and TUV climbed it. This needs attention and the delay needs to be corrected. The delay is "massive" ~7-10 sec.

3. Gear change while acceleration is OK but one does feels jolts sometimes

4. Pressing acc. just after releasing the brake does not come into effect asap. It takes its own sweet time to engage the clutch. Note that this behavior in conjunction with "delayed creep" will result into frustration in B2B traffic.

5. AMT version does not get "ECO" mode (engine map not the AC setting)

6. Box is smart enough to understand your driving mode and shifts accordingly.

7. Ease of the acc. pedal and it will upshift if you are accelerating; it wont if you were cruising.

Its not a deal breaker and one needs to adjust driving style to match the TUV's response.

P.S. I drive Scorpio AT (Torque Convertor with Locker) thus the incapable "creep" made me nuts; however, I have very much interest in AMT blocks. I have driven Celerio AMT, Nano AMT, Zest AMT, TUV AMT just to feel the technology offering.