Translates to 28K increase in on road price thanks to 15.4% road tax (tax + cess) in KA . Even in other cities, it will be 26-27K increase in onroad price excluding insurance. If we consider that as well, premium will go up because of the increased ex showroom & hence net net its ~30K increase in on road.

I went for my PDI today. The experience has dampened my spirits a bit. The car's front bumper is damaged on right hand side and the speedometer needle is stuck at 180 KMPH.

I have sent the mail to the dealer and awaiting his response. Your suggestions on what should I do are welcome. He does not have an alternate T8 Manual Silver. This car also was specially ordered for me as he is not ordering any more cars due to year end. Also, I got to know, the PDI of my car is still pending.

Pictures Attached.

Update -

Just got a call from the dealer. He assured me that the speedometer is a software issue and will be resolved at the PDI.

They are still trying to figure out what to do of the scraped bumper.

That is such a downer. Make sure you dont compromise because the other option is a long wait. Please do a thorough PDI using Autoindian's list and confirm that there is no other damage before you give your go ahead.

Phew! Tough luck. In any way, it would be a lose-lose situation. Potential high cost in new year vs. something which is not technically 'Brand new'. Chose something which will hurt you less.

You are right, the air circulation LED and the Eco AC LED (if you have switched it on) remain "ON" even of you pull out the ignition key, that is a normal behavior. I have not observed how long it stays that way, but a guess is about one hour.

Very sorry to know about that.

Most of the "in transit" issues are taken care during the dealer PDI, hence they normally don't allow the customers to inspect the car before they do their PDI. I think both the issues are minor and dealer should be able to take care if those during their PDI. In case you doubt any other issues in the car, don't hesitate to ask him for a replacement. In case the same color/variant choice is not available and you are in a hurry to take the delivery then be flexible with other colors. Bottomline is don't sign on the registration papers unless you are completely satisfied with the car.

Thanks for all your inputs.

The dealer has assured me the speedometer getting stuck is a software issue and will be sorted during the 2 PDIs that take place before delivery.

The scratched bumper has happened in transit and will be fully replaced before the delivery as well.


Yes, I did observe this as well during my PDI. Strange behavior though. Never seen something like this in any other car.

Found this brilliant looking TUV in Red on TUV Facebook page. Credits to original poster Harish Rao.

Bad experience with my TUV300 on the national highway :
I drove from Mangalore to Bangalore (via Shiradi ghat) last Saturday accompanied by my son, brother and sister. The onward journey was perfect. But something very unfortunate happened while I was driving back from Bangalore to Mangalore next day. I had almost driven 150 Kms from Bangalore and suddenly, I heard a whooshing/ hissing sound from the right side of the vehicle. I noticed that the whooshing sound was heard only when I pressed the accelerator. It sounded like a sudden gust of wind blowing. My first impression was of tyre puncture. I stopped the vehicle immediately and my brother checked all the tyres. Tyre puncture was ruled out and he opened the bonnet and checked for coolant leak. Nothing abnormal was found. I drove a little further for a minute. Brother felt that the turbo charger was spinning at high rpm. Then, to my utter shock, engine warning alert popped up. Brother immediately called M&M RSA and explained the situation. The CSR asked us not to drive and assured us that a towing vehicle and a taxi would be sent. However, he told that it would take 3.5 hours for the towing vehicle to reach us and it would be sent from Mysore. He told that there was no towing vehicle facility available nearby. It was a rude shock to all of us. We were stranded on the national highway with nothing near by and my little son was getting restless. We were just 35 Kms away from Hassan district and a M&M service centre is located there. But since it was a Sunday, we were out of luck. CSR also mentioned that the taxi would be arranged only for 50 Kms radius and the expenses would be covered by Mahindra for 50 Kms distance. Beyond 50 Kms, we would have to pay the driver according to his charges. I was really very very upset. Firstly, a new vehicle breaks down. Secondly, I am stranded on the national highway, having to wait for 3.5 hours for RSA. Thirdly, the cab driver says I would have to shell out 5000 Rs to be dropped to Mangalore. For no fault of mine, I was supposed to go through the trouble. I've driven long distance before in my hatchback, Chevy Beat to different states in the last three years and not even once did the vehicle had a breakdown. We weren't willing to wait for 3.5 hours. Brother called M&M Service Manager of Mangalore dealership. He asked the service manager if the problem could be due to turbo hose. The service manager asserted that the issue could have occurred due to turbo hose connected to the intercooler. Brother has worked in automobile sector for 7 years before switching to a different profession. On checking the engine he discovered that the turbo hose has come loose and split. The service manager suggested that if the hose is connected and engine warning signal disappears then we could drive the car to Mangalore. Brother fixed the turbo hose and the whooshing sound as well as the engine warning alert disappeared. Although delayed, I drove back to Mangalore safely. But this incident has shaken my faith. If my brother wasn't there with me that day, I would have been stranded in the middle of national highway with a kid. Not a good experience at all. Due to this incident, I have cancelled my Gujarat trip with family which was scheduled for next week.

I wonder how a turbo hose can come loose in a new vehicle. This is unacceptable. The service manager claimed that it must have happened in the manufacturing plant. He said that the person in-charge might have not tightened the bolt properly. But that is really surprising. My TUV300 has been to the service centre for vacuum modulator replacement. Do you think that the technician had disconnected the turbo hose and then not fit it correctly? This might be a minor issue and may occur one in thousand vehicles. But it is negligence either from M&M manufacturing plant or M&M dealership service centre. Such kind of small errors can lead to major disasters. Friends, do you have any comments on this ?

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That's an unfortunate experience on a new car. Glad that your brother was with you.

My guess would be the issue might have happened at the service center when you went for the modulator replacement.

Although you may not gain anything now that the issue is resolved, communicate in email to both M&M & the dealership to ensure one of them owns the responsibility for the issue.

Thats pretty bad to know and definitely faith shattering one.
Good that you kept your cool and your brother handled the situation well.

Please keep us updated about the further findings.

Why do I have the feeling looking at the pictures that the pipe is short ? Is it so ? If not, your ordeal was due to human error on Mahindra mechanic's role and there is absolute no fault of yourself or that of the vehicle TUV 300.

This can happen to any vehicle, even an airplane if you want to compare it with. My suggestion is don't worry too much about the reliability of TUV 300 based on this incident which was not actually a mechanical failure.

I will urge you to go ahead with your planned trips.

All said and done, it will be nice if you take up this issue to Mahindra, so the service engineers will be more careful to avoid such silly mistakes. Without a feedback, they will not know where they are lacking.

All the best for your future ownership.

Didn't expect this form a newly launched car. Neverthelss thank you for narrating the whole episode with relevant pictures

Does that mean we should not venture out on long journeys on Sundays? Why the heck service centres have to be closed on a Sunday? I can understand your agony. If Mahindra wants their RSA to stand out, they should not have such silly clauses, "Expenses would be covered by Mahindra for 50 Kms distance. Beyond 50 Kms, we would have to pay the driver according to his charges". The RSA vans should be made available at each dealership/ service centre and cover all major roads such that they should be able to reach the troubled car/spot in the shortest possible time.

Comparisons are inevitable and how we wish the reliability of our old workhorses would be carried over to our new steeds.

Good presence of mind for not completely relying on the dealership.

It is but obvious that your faith might be shaken after this incident. Thanks to your brother for assessing the situation, taking the right call and fixing the issue. Finally good to know that you all reached home safely. However don't let this incident mar your overall ownership experience and the zeal to do long drives. Think over it calmly and don't hush up in cancelling your Gujarat trip. Ensure that there is someone experienced (like your brother) to accompany you on your trip. Also get a thorough check done from the dealerhsip in front of your eyes, just to be doubly sure that such incidents are not repeated especially on long drives.

Well the service centre is just passing the buck to the manufacturing plant. At plant level they have stringent inspection checklists and it is unlikely that this might have happened at the plant level. In all probability the mechanic at the service centre attending your car might have not tightened the bolt properly (in case that was loosened for vacuum modulator replacement). As fellow BHPian, mrbaddy has rightly suggested escalate this to both the dealership manager and to the company so that at least one of them owns the responsibility for the issue. Not just that they take preventive actions and put proper checks in place so that cars coming for vacuum modulator replacement in future don't have to undergo similar fate.

Thanks a lot Mrbaddy, Chetans, TaurusAI and AutoIndian. I had taken my TUV300 to the service centre yesterday. The Service Manager confidently said that the turbo hose has not been correctly fixed in the manufacturing plant and this fault has not taken place in the dealership's service centre. The service engineers checked the vehicle and refitted the turbo hose again. But they haven't opened a job card and I have not received any written acknowledgement regarding this issue. I really don't like going through this ordeal. But I'm definitely writing to M&M today and ask them to investigate this matter further, also question them how such negligence could occur in a new vehicle. How can I be assured that such type of small errors wouldn't take place again?

However, I must admit that TUV performed great on Shiradi Ghat. I didn't find it difficult to drive the tank on curvy roads. Good pickup and good road grip. Even inside Bangalore city, width of the vehicle or the absence of rear view camera didn't pose any problem. If the highway incident would have not occurred, this drive would have been one of the most memorable drive for me. I had driven all the way to Bangalore to meet my old college friends. It was a small class reunion and we were meeting each other after 15 years.
Another thing I would like to share is that I saw more than 15 TUVs while I was driving between Mangalore - Bangalore. That definitely indicates good sales. I hope M&M focuses more on quality in future.

I completely agree with you, TaurusAI. This is not a mechanical failure and is just a human error. But this incident has contributed to fear in my mind. It will take some time to get over it.
You've said it right, AutoIndian. That's a very important point. I am definitely going to mention this in my mail to M&M. They do have to provide RSA vans at every dealership to offer quick and better service to customers who need assistance.
I wouldn't be comfortable driving long distance for sometime at least. I've never had a similar experience before in my life. My brother had insisted to join us in the trip just for safety reasons. Otherwise, I would have been driving with my son and sister. Had he not been there, we would have to go through a great ordeal that day. Trust me, I had panicked and I felt very guilty to put my son in that situation.
I strongly feel the same but have no evidence to prove it.

Thanks again to all of you for clearing my doubts. I truly appreciate your time.

I am happy to note this. I wanted to ask, but was scared as don't know what mental state you might be in after this incident

The only way to overcome your fear will be to keep driving it in the city to see how well it is performing. I am sure slowly you will regain the confidence for long distance driving.