[Piyush46]

Hi cloudno19,

I don't own a XUV automatic but I do own a fortuner automatic and have previously owned a captiva automatic, so I would take the liberty to try and answer these questions for you. I am no expert and maybe completely wrong so experts might correct me if I am wrong.

Need your responses on my 2 questions/clarifications-
1. With manual transmission of my Polo, I had an habit of up-shifting earlier maybe around 1800-2000 RPM. Now while driving my automatic Beast, due to my earlier habit I tend to lift pedal around 2000 RPM and than accelerate again. While doing so, at many occasions, I feel my Beast understands its time to up-shift and responds. I am not sure if its a true nature of an auto box to up-shift irrespective of my lifting pedal around 2000 RPM and all I have is an illusion, or is it that all auto box does understand the way we drive and up-shifts on inputs like lifting pedal slightly while accelerating.

I think this has more to do with the auto box understanding what you want it to do at that particular moment of driving. It understands that one is trying to drive sedately and thus in order to maintain the calm driving experience and fuel economy, it upshifts. Same is true for the opposite too, try to accelerate hard and the auto tranny will shift gears down for the enthusiastic driving experience and take the rpm notes to a much higher scale before upshifting.

2. While driving around the speed of 40-50km/hr with my Beast's memory for cruz control set around 80km/hr; if I press resume option, I get a push of power as my Beast tries to achieve 80km/hr. While I feel the power and pull of the my Beast, when I keep a tap at the RPM levels during this acceleration, to my surprise it appears to hover around 1500 RPMs. I am not sure how this is kind of pull and power is achieved by my Beast at lower RPMs as the same is impossible for me to achieve while maintaining these RPMs for a quick acceleration from 40km/hrs to 80km/hrs.

While i don't know the reasons behind it, I wanted to point out here that I also do feel the same in the cruise control of fortuner and the same leaves me amazed as how is the beast able to do it. Experts please comment.

[Rajeevraj]

Got a chance to TD the XUV AT as part of the car search for a friend who is looking to upgrade. Budget is flexible, can potentially stretch to the D Segmenters, but preference to keep around 20L max. Seven seater prefered. But since that is for occasional use, spacious 5 seater is also ok. Based on this we covered a wide range of cars, Rapid DSG, Vento TSI, XUV500, Innova, Corolla, Octavia, Creta, Verna. One key requirement is solidity and safety features. Safety means not just the 2 Airbags and ABS, basically the full package- Things like ESP, Hill Assist, Preferably 6 airbags and whatver else that is there. Reliability, peace of mind of ownership also important. Open between manual and AT, preference for diesel.Also, No Maruti

Two cars that stood out were the XUV and the Innova Crysta. But the Crysta is several months away and as per the showroom folks, will start at 20+ OTR Bangalore and go all the way up to 26-27L OTR Bangalore. Which left the XUV as the prime contender. Meets all the requirements, Loaded with safety features, priced aggressively (In addition Mahindra is offering at the pre-budget prices in MArch- which makes the W8 AT ~19L OTR Bangalore and thee W10 AT ~20L. Hard to beat that for Value. (The Creta Diesel AT is 18.23L OTR after the hike).

Some impressions after the TD.

• First a round of appreciation for the dealer-Anant Cars, Bannerghatta Road. They sent the car to my friends residence in Whitefield on a Saturday morning. Typically dealers hesitate to send the car on weekends. Once the car came, the SA did not try to restrict the drive at all. We did a TD of around 25km (could have done more also).
  
  
• First time I am driving the XUV. Felt very comfortable from the word go. Drove through some narrow roads and heavy traffic sections, did not feel the bulk of the car. Comfortable to maneuver and drive.
  
  
• Liked the loads of features. You name it, it has it. 6 Airbags, Hill Assist, Hill Descent, ESC, ABS, Powered seats, Cruise Control, projectors, AVN System. The list goes on. Liked the power adjustable seats.
  
  
• While the interior is very good, did not get the plush 'feel' that I get in my Vento or the Octavia (which is a whole different level). If you ask me to pin point, I would be unable to. Maybe the SUV feel combined with a louder engine contributes to it.
  
  
• Loved the AT in the XUV. moves forward smoothly once you take your leg of the brake. Upshifts are barely noticeable and pretty quick. Downshifts are also pretty good. Overall not too far from the DSG. In fact, I did a TD of the Rapid DSG immediately after and I felt the shift quality in the XUV to be better (The Rapid TD car seemed poorly maintained which could have contributed to some extent).
  
  
• If driven with a heavy foot, it holds the gear longer and the engine noise is very noticeable inside the cabin, not a very pleasant sound. But it really gets a move on. But not an AT to be driven with a heavy foot.
  
  
• The display indicates only a D and not the specific gear. The German cars have this. Even Ford does not have it. In manual mode displays the gear.
  
  
• Did not feel the absence of a sport mode. Tried the manual mode and did not like it. First, the button kind of shift is not very user friendly. Second, there seemed to be a noticeable delay in the shift happening after you tap the button. (Maybe 1 second). So did not feel it very useful in situations where you quickly want to drop a couple of gears. Maybe useful in the 4X4 Off-roading situations.
  
  
• The dead pedal seemed to be a half measure. My foot is pretty big and the dead pedal was only wide enough to fit half my foot, so it kept slipping off. Very irritating
  
  
• Overall a very competent AT. Not DSG fast, but the bigger engine makes it up when compared to the lower diesel DSG's like the Rapid. The Octavia DSG is at a whole different level. Of course, that is 5-6 lakhs more expensive and comes with the German Reliability concerns.
  
  
• The instrument cluster seemed a little basic,then realized a lot of the info is displayed on the AVN System.
  
  
• The AC was a bother for me. I set the AC to 22 degrees and it seemed way to cold in front and warm in the back. Maybe I was doing it wrong, but the SA was also not able to set it to my satisfaction.
  
  
• Lot of space, especially in the 2nd row. I was able to sit in the 3rd row (Am 5'11). Short distances should be fine.
  
  
• As already pointed out, total lack of boot space and non adjustable 2nd row seats are a disadvantage.

The final decision is yet to be made. Although there are some compromises, after back to back TD of this, Creta, Rapid, Octavia, Verna, Vento TSI, Corolla the XUV stands out as the favorite based on requirements. The dealer experience, the price and no long wait periods are additional points in favor.

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Got a chance to TD the XUV AT as part of the car search for a friend who is looking to upgrade. Budget is flexible, can potentially stretch to the D Segmenters, but preference to keep around 20L max. Seven seater prefered. But since that is for occasional use, spacious 5 seater is also ok. Based on this we covered a wide range of cars, Rapid DSG, Vento TSI, XUV500, Innova, Corolla, Octavia, Creta, Verna. One key requirement is solidity and safety features. Safety means not just the 2 Airbags and ABS, basically the full package- Things like ESP, Hill Assist, Preferably 6 airbags and whatver else that is there. Reliability, peace of mind of ownership also important. Open between manual and AT, preference for diesel.Also, No Maruti

Your [friend's] list is almost like mine. I ended up with HONDA CITY VX CVT, just about a couple of weeks ago. I am happy with my final choice.

I too almost booked the XUV500 W10 AT FWD before turning around to HONDA CITY.

HONDA CITY is an excellent/spacious 5 seater, as far as I have seen so far.

Since you are open for manual transmission, you can go for VX[O] that includes 7" touch screen and I am sure, it should be less than 15L OTR in Bangalore.

Check it out.

Prem.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

Since you are open for manual transmission, you can go for VX[O] that includes 7" touch screen and I am sure, it should be less than 15L OTR in Bangalore.

Check it out.

Prem.

Thanks for the input. The City was looked at and rejected for various reasons . Not getting into details here. But overall felt the City would not meet the requirements

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by cloudno19

2. While driving around the speed of 40-50km/hr with my Beast's memory for cruz control set around 80km/hr; if I press resume option, I get a push of power as my Beast tries to achieve 80km/hr. While I feel the power and pull of the my Beast, when I keep a tap at the RPM levels during this acceleration, to my surprise it appears to hover around 1500 RPMs. I am not sure how this is kind of pull and power is achieved by my Beast at lower RPMs as the same is impossible for me to achieve while maintaining these RPMs for a quick acceleration from 40km/hrs to 80km/hrs.

Try driving any manual turbo diesel vehicle in this way; upshift early and keep pedal to the floor, and before you are at 2000 RPM again upshift and floor. Give your ECU 10-15 minutes to adjust, and then see what pull your car can give even at low RPM's. Diesel's do have the torque, but we do not use it the Automatic does.
I too have a Polo 1.2 Tdi, and I see most other Polo drivers varying their RPM from 1000 to 3000. When I started keeping pedal to floor, and upshifting at 1800-2000, and down shifting befor RPM dropped below 1400 (60 in 5th) and not below 1000 only in second, my effeciency shot up like anything 16.5 to 18 in Pune traffic. 19+ on highways.

Rahul

[cloudno19]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Got a chance to TD the XUV AT as part of the car search for a friend who is looking to upgrade. Budget is flexible, can potentially stretch to the D Segmenters, but preference to keep around 20L max. Seven seater prefered. But since that is for occasional use, spacious 5 seater is also ok. Based on this we covered a wide range of cars, Rapid DSG, Vento TSI, XUV500, Innova, Corolla, Octavia, Creta, Verna. One key requirement is solidity and safety features. Safety means not just the 2 Airbags and ABS, basically the full package- Things like ESP, Hill Assist, Preferably 6 airbags and whatver else that is there. Reliability, peace of mind of ownership also important. Open between manual and AT, preference for diesel.Also, No Maruti

Great TD report Rajeeraj You summed up my TD experience to the point.

I too was in the same dilemma, especially about trusting Mahindra as a brand for my hard earned 20+lacs; but the positives were too good to consider when compared to any competitor in this price bracket.

To put things in right perspective, post TD of XUV 5OO AT W10, I was surprised to know that it matched almost feature to feature (at least for the ones that I was considering) when compared to 2.4 ltr CRV which I was considering, and my car is almost 10 lacs cheaper with may be some sacrifice in fit and finish. I am not sure if everyone would agree with me, but I feel Mahindra has hit the nail with pricing of this car.
I would be writing up my detailed report once I munch some more miles.

[cloudno19]

Originally Posted by dijams

Is it the displayed efficiency or the calculated ?

Coz my car shows 10, yet I get 9.

Just got my Beast refueled and thought of updating with my response.

With 90-95% of highway travel with 100% AC the calculated fuel efficiency is around 10.5km/ltr, while my display is showing 11km/ltrs.

And I am positive, I should be able to get more out of my Beast as I continue to munch more miles.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by cloudno19

Just got my Beast refueled and thought of updating with my response.

With 90-95% of highway travel with 100% AC the calculated fuel efficiency is around 10.5km/ltr, while my display is showing 11km/ltrs.

And I am positive, I should be able to get more out of my Beast as I continue to munch more miles.

10.5 kmpl seems on the lower side for 90-95% highway usage.

What speeds do you maintain on highways generally ?
How many kms on the XUV already?

[cloudno19]

Originally Posted by SDP

10.5 kmpl seems on the lower side for 90-95% highway usage.

What speeds do you maintain on highways generally ?
How many kms on the XUV already?

My Beast is a W10 AWD AT, for which the company claimed efficiency is around 13.85km/ltrs, again its still in its run-in period, so this seems to be pretty much in the expected range in the real world condition, especially after what I have heard from fellow BHPians.

Now, to answer your specific question, my speed is generally around 60-80kms/hr mostly maintaining below 200 RPMs and I don't try to push it beyond this.

[cloudno19]

Hi BHPians,

First set of niggles have started to creep in

1. Hazard indicator: This has stopped locking in to 'switched on' position and only works until I press it down.
2. Some minor yet audible squeeking sound and vibrations from plastics have started to creep in to the cabin. And I have yet not driven my Beast on any bad roads.

I understand these might be too minor niggles to be really worried about, but then it is too early to start worrying about any niggles, considering its only the start of a long journey that I plan to have with my Beast. This was never the case for me with VW.

Come on Mahindra, in this day and age, we expect better quality control from you. After a lot of thinking and convincing, I have put my faith in any Indian car brand, so I truly hope I am not disappointed. Fingers crossed!!!

[9tMax]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Some impressions after the TD.

• First a round of appreciation for the dealer-Anant Cars, Bannerghatta Road. They sent the car to my friends residence in Whitefield on a Saturday morning. Typically dealers hesitate to send the car on weekends. Once the car came, the SA did not try to restrict the drive at all. We did a TD of around 25km (could have done more also).
• First time I am driving the XUV. Felt very comfortable from the word go. Drove through some narrow roads and heavy traffic sections, did not feel the bulk of the car. Comfortable to maneuver and drive.

My experience is also exactly the same.
AMPL - the Hyderabad M&M dealer brought the xuv to my home and asked me to go wherever I wanted. In fact they did the same for my Logan also - years ago.

And the same attitude was there for Duster TD too - in fact after a reasonably long TD when I was reversing the Duster, the Showroom guy told me - Sir, let us go to the highway - there you can truly judge the car. .

About the driving experience - I also never felt the size or the bulk of the XUV while driving, whereas Duster required some careful judgements while driving through some narrow places or maneuvering some obstacles. Not sure about the exact reason behind it - may be visibility factor !!

[pillainp]

Hi guys,

I will soon be a member of this gtoup.

A purple monster is on its way to join the family.

We booked a W10 AWD AT in Opulent Purple on the 7th of March and were told there would be a one month waiting period.

However, it seems that the monster is on its way to Trivandrum right now, just 10 days after booking. So I should be receiving the car sometime next week.

I have had my greedy eyes on the XUV since its launch in 2011. However, we missed out at that time and went for a Vento.

The Vento having reached its fourth year and the warranty on its way to expiring, I was bitten hard by the upgrade bug. Plus I wanted to go AT and needed a bigger car considering the recent addition of my second baby daughter.

Initially I was seriously considering the Jetta in the TDI HL AT trim and we were working hard shoehorning our budget into a Jetta shaped hole, but all my devious plans were upset by Mahindra's dastardly release of an automatic XUV.

So now I look to be the proud owner of a purple monster (I wonder should I name it "Grape Ape"?) and to be a member of this group.

And already the itch starts:

Does anybody have any idea whether it is possible to upgrade all the windows on the XUV to one-touch up/down and anti-pinch?

I for one feel that this is a serious omission in a 20+ lakh car which has almost everything else.

One more question:

How best to prevent scratches on this most sensitive colour?

Is there someone who does PPF work in Trivandrum and if so how much am I looking at?

[dijams]

Originally Posted by cloudno19

Just got my Beast refueled and thought of updating with my response.

With 90-95% of highway travel with 100% AC the calculated fuel efficiency is around 10.5km/ltr, while my display is showing 11km/ltrs.

And I am positive, I should be able to get more out of my Beast as I continue to munch more miles.

I got a full tank of highway driving down my belt. I can confirm that's approximately the efficiency I got too. 10.8 kmpl. Driving between 80-100kmph.

Originally Posted by SDP

10.5 kmpl seems on the lower side for 90-95% highway usage.

What speeds do you maintain on highways generally ?
How many kms on the XUV already?

Hi SDP,

I think it's the run in kms. 3000 kms done. City 80% Highway 20% returns 9.

[pillainp]

Originally Posted by pillainp

Hi guys,

I will soon be a member of this gtoup.

A purple monster is on its way to join the family.....

Since most of the coming week will be bank holidays and I do not have time to visit the dealership on the few available working days, I decided to visit on Saturday and settle the outstanding amount that I have to pay from my own coffers.
I decided not to pay by cheque since if the banks go on strike as threatened from 28th to 31st, the cheque will be cleared only in the first week of April, and delivery will be prolonged till then.

This way, I will not have to carry around that much cash for so many days, and all I will have to pay on delivery day will be the registration charges.

While there, I also selected and paid for the accessories that I wanted added to the car. These include:
1) Premium footstep(?) with bracket
2) 3D floor mats (which look pretty decent). My only concern is that the driver footrest on the mat is plastic instead of metal. The dealer however assures me that since that part is fibre, there is very little likelihood of its breaking during usage. We shall see.
3) Teflon and underbody treatment.
4) Rain visors.
5) The HUD. Regarding this item, the dealer informed me that it is no longer being supplied and he will let me know if it is in stock.
Does anyone know whether the HUD has been discontinued?

I may also end up buying the 9" headrest display for my kids, who will be travelling exclusively in the 2nd row. Does anyone have any experience with these?

My monster should reach Trivandrum around the 24th or 25th, so I hope to take delivery on 27th or shortly thereafter.

[cloudno19]

Originally Posted by pillainp

We booked a W10 AWD AT in Opulent Purple on the 7th of March and were told there would be a one month waiting period.

Congratulations Pillainp, and welcome to the family.

I own the exact same variant and color. Tomorrow, it will be a month, since I have taken my Beasts' delivery and she has been a worthy addition to my family.

Wish you munch many happy miles...