[saurabhrai]

So this is my first non "help me" post here. I bought XUV 700 AX7L D AT on 15th Jan. This is my story of that purchase.

Introduction

Our first car was a used Maruti 800. Our first new car was 2004 MS Esteem Vxi. Man was she something to drive. That is the car which taught me how to drive and I will always remember her. We had her till last year and had to sell it for scraps as road legality was gone and we had moved to kolkata and the car was registered in Delhi.

In 2016, we had bought a White Hyundai Creta SX(O) D MT which I took with me once I moved out for work. I bought my parents a Honda City Vx P MT in 2018 in its' place.



Search

Now, coming to July 2021, Creta had done 75,000 odd Kms and there was an itch to upgrade. There were no mechanical faults in it. Only the clutch had been replaced once till now.

So, I took test drives of all the cars coming in my budget and some crossing it too. My criteria were some basic features, diesel engine and a good AT box. My usage was now about 20-30K Kms per year and mostly Highway.

1. Tata Nexon: Diesel Manual was available for TD. The car seemed fine but the clutch felt extremely weird. That turned me off immediately. Plus in my head, size wise, performance wise, quality wise it was not really an upgrade to Creta. Rejected

2. Kia Sonet: Diesel AT. Really liked this car. Space was manageable as my usage was limited to front two rows mostly. Performance seemed marginally better than my existing drive, features are a given for any Kia/Hyundai. Safety was a concern, but other points were weighing against it solidly. There was a waiting for 4 months back then which seemed doable. Considered

3. Tata Harrier: Test drove the Diesel AT. Loved driving this tank of a vehicle. Features seemed fine enough. Performance was great. It basically ticked all the boxes. But Safari was a stretch by just 1.5 lac and I could have a 6 seater "in case" I ever need one. (You can see the 27 year old mind working, right.) Rejected

4. Tata Safari: It was just a bigger Harrier. The drive was extremely stable and it too ticked all the right boxes. But then a friend of mine, an Innova owner, told me that if I am willing to shell out 25 odd lacs for Safari, why not go for Crysta instead. Z AT was costing 27ish lacs back then and I could maybe wait for six months (I was willing to wait for 4 for Sonet) and sort out my finances. Rejected

5. Toyota Innova Crysta: Asking for a test drive was a task. Apparently you don't test drive a Toyota. Anyway, took a diesel AT for a drive. It didn't have the features, but boy was the premiumness there. I immediately felt like I was sitting in a big car. It was surprisingly easy to drive too. Came back with a smile. Considered

I had finalised Crysta for now and went back to normal life, meanwhile sorting out my finances. I had planned to complete 1lac KM on my Creta and then sell it off.

That happened in June '22. I booked Innova Crysta Z D AT which was now commanding a waiting for 2 months. I got my car valued by Cars24 and Cardekho meanwhile. I was getting decent quote for it too. But for a family issue, I had to cancel my booking and postpone my plan indefinitely. I did TD some other vehicles in the mean time though.

Kia Seltos/Hyundai Creta: Driving a diesel AT felt extremely underpowered compared to my current car. Rejected

Jeep Compass: This was some car. Immediately hit my heart. The performance, unlike the popular opinion, was great. That premium feel. I always say, Compass is gateway to luxury vehicles. But the cost for top end was in no way justified or achievable for me. And it has to be top end for me. Rejected

Mahindra Thar: Loved driving this jeep. It is uncomfortable but fun to drive. I posted numerous times on the Thar thread and people responded by saying "It is not meant to be driven above 100" "--well, I can live with that", "It has a continuous movement" "--well, I can get better aftermarket suspensions", etc. Basically I was willing to justify all its' shortcomings to my family. "I don't really need a 4 seater". You get my naivety. Considered

In the background, I had booked XUV 700 AX7L D AT AWD (that's long) Midnight Blue (delivery time June '24, later moved down to June '23) and Scorpio N D AT Z8L 6S on the launch day (not the introductory price; delivery time was August '23). I wasn't really planning on buying XUV for the same logic of Safari. Not once did I test drove it.

Now, in November end, My ASS informed me that the gearbox is about to go and it will need some work in 2-3 months. This was scary for me as I feel once engine or gearbox is opened, the vehicle can only go down from there. Could be wrong though. I inform my parents that it's high time we change the car.

I started calling all my SAs asking which cars are readily available. Around 13th December, my Mahindra guy calls me and tells me one Thar, Diesel AT HT Black is readily available if I want it. No bookings needed. I went bonkers. I immediately called up my mother and told her I am going forward with it. Research mode went in full mode. Two days later, the day I was going to pay the booking amount, my dad calls me up and puts his foot down.
Dad: "No, you cannot get a Thar. You are not that privileged. Get something else."
Me: "But it ticks all the boxes for me. And I don't really need a 5+ seater."
Dad: "I don't care. If I visit you even for a day, I am not sitting in a hired car and definitely not in the backseat of Thar."
Me:

I called up my SA and tell him I can't go ahead with Thar. He tells me Scorpio Classic is also an option.

Who hasn't loved scorpio at least once?

I took a test drive and came back broken hearted. It's not what I thought you'd be.

Well, what else?

He tells me there's one XUV available, everything as per my requirement except for AWD. Well, now that Crysta was out of the picture, my logic was no longer applicable. Now, the question was to go for this variant now or wait 6 months for AWD. Meanwhile a different dealership calls me up to tell me my preferred Scorpio N model is also available. Why to make things simple when you can complicate the hell out of them.

Scorpio N: the price I am paying doesn't justify this car when compared to XUV. Especially for my usage. If I needed a rugged vehicle for countryside usage primarily, Scorpio N was the car. But my territory was the urban jungle.

XUV AWD: Paying 1.5 lac more for a feature "I would love to have as I would love to go off-road" made no sense. I have taken my Creta to very remote places with no troubles.

Wow, so mature of you Saurabh!

Now it was 16th December. We north indians don't make purchases during 15th December-14th January. So all the payments, PDIs, registration were done in the meantime. Creta was also sold off to Cars24 in this time.



Delivery

On the day of delivery,15th January, I went to the showroom as per the scheduled time. There was a small celebration ceremony, followed by a mandatory puja.

Mind you, this was the first time I drove this car.





Accessories Taken:

1. Mud Flaps
2. Foot Step
3. Floor mats
4. Pedal cover
5. Rear scuff plate
6. Infotainment screen protector

Initial Impression:

I don't have anything new to add to what has already been said. Niggle wise in my 600kms, only that football in the rear noise is there and the auto start stop feature has it's own mind. The sequential indicators are missing which the cutomer care confirmed that I will receive in a couple of months.

I can write more once we get to know each other a little better.

Sorry if I went on for longer than needed. It's just that I am so glad I made this purchase. Every time I look at my car parked, I can't stop but crushing at her.

[har_war_09]

Originally Posted by saurabhrai

So this is my first non "help me" post here. I bought XUV 700 AX7L D AT on 15th Jan. This is my story of that purchase.

Congratulations!!! Good that you got the new car just in time, Do let us know your experience.

So is this a Dec 22 manf. taken delivery in Jan '23?

[saurabhrai]

Originally Posted by har_war_09

Congratulations!!! Good that you got the new car just in time, Do let us know your experience.

So is this a Dec 22 manf. taken delivery in Jan '23?

It’s actually November ‘22 as per VIN decoding.

[mayankthebest]

Is anyone facing the issue that the front usb of XUV700 remains powered on even when car is switched off? I have plugged in my dashcam in that and worried about battery drain.

[Carophile]

Hi ,
Starting with a thanks note to moderators for letting me into the group.
I wanted to enter with a detailed review report but that is still WIP in want of a decent writeup which we all are used to in this group.
Meanwhile, I did not want to wait to discuss other important issues so starting to post now.
Following are two issues which I am recently facing:
1. E sim network lost- since 30th dec the signal is gone. I thought it will be the usual tantrum of removing battery terminal and refixing. Didn’t feel like immediately doing it. In 3rd week Jan, for some matter ( not important enough for this group) I had to send vehicle to workshop where they worked on it all day and informed in evening would need 2 more days. At the end of 2 nd day I was told the ‘ SILVER BOX’ has some issue due to which it is not capturing E sim. Needs replacement. Awaiting now for Silver box to come.
My concerns were as following:
1. The reliability of Silver box ( a component worth 50k) is questionable.
2. Since Silver box is the motherboard of sorts, if any functionality fails which cannot be resolved by software update, it will end up in replacing Silver box. The vehicle is studded with features- how many times will we need to change Silver box ( theoretically atleast)!

2. Issue #2- battery drain to zilch
This is yesterday’s one where I took an army of kids to celebrate daughter’s birthday to a theme park around 60 kms from Mumbai( residence).
We had 2 vehicles - an old Tata manza and Xuv 700. Former was with driver and later was driven by me and the keys were also with me.
In evening I gave the key to driver to park the cat near to exit in parking lot.
With in 10 minutes I got driver’s call that vehicle is not starting.
Called up RSA and got it resolved by 10 pm.
RSA experience was great but my concerns are as following:
1. How did battery discharge? I am past the juvenile issues of leaving a light turned on by mistake and using the Acc mode to listen to music / charging phone.
My driver is equally made careful to not use Acc mode as the vehicle is known to have battery drain issues
2. The RSA’s jump start did not work and he called for another battery so as to put it in the battery slot and put terminals directly into the battery rather than through cable.
On putting the fully charged battery directly into the vehcile , it started.
Worry is that older vehicle were ok to jump start but in XUV is battery drains so much so that you will need to put directly. The slot is small and if RSA battery is of large solize then this cannot be done.
This has happened to me earlier once and the workshop NBS SEWREE didn’t find any answer to what had happened.
If at the moment there is no issue then Workshop had no diagnostic capability to identify the reason to prevent it from happening in future.


Need your inputs / suggestions on both topics.
Also what I should watchout in the Silver box replacement process.

[SID7115]

Originally Posted by TurboLag200

Hello all! I would like to ask all XUV700 Petrol AT owners and MT owners, What is the average fuel efficiency you are getting in the city and on the highway ? Would greatly appreciate your answers. I own the Petrol AT and i generally average 8-9 km/l in the city and 10-12 km/l during highway runs.

Hi
We have a XUV700 AX7 L Petrol AT. We get around 7-9 km/l in the city and around 14-15 km/l on the highways.
The maximum we've got is 18.8 km/l on the Mumbai- Pune Expressway.
Attaching some photos. The first one is on the Mumbai -Pune Expressway and the second one is on a Pune-Kolhapur run.


Cheers
Siddharth

[Carophile]

Originally Posted by mayankthebest

Is anyone facing the issue that the front usb of XUV700 remains powered on even when car is switched off? I have plugged in my dashcam in that and worried about battery drain.

Hi. The front usb has power available even when the vehicle is switched off. I used to keep a charging cable attached to it but after realizing this, have removed it. The power still drains out .

I have faced issue of battery totally drained out twice in 6 months ownership . Exact reason not identified yet.

[mayankthebest]

Originally Posted by Carophile

Hi. The front usb has power available even when the vehicle is switched off. I used to keep a charging cable attached to it but after realizing this, have removed it. The power still drains out .

I have faced issue of battery totally drained out twice in 6 months ownership . Exact reason not identified yet.

So how does one plug in the dashcam?!

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

...

Dashcam Setup

After deliberating for almost 6 months, bought the 70mai Pro Plus+ A500S Dual Channel Car Dash Cam.

I have seen @Mudhalaipatti post on dashcam installation but not sure if they are facing any battery drain.

[nickelniks]

Originally Posted by rudra_shiv

Thanks a lot Nickelniks. Glad to find another Petrol Owner in the forum.
Between, have you got the ECMS Cover and the Rear Sequential Indicators fitted as a part of recall yet?

Hi Shiv,
Not sure what is ECMS cover. I got factory fitted sequential turn indicators as I had taken delivery back in Feb 2022.

[nfsfreak]

I had booked AX7L AT AWD (Electric Blue) with Sireesh Auto, Bangalore (Dommasandra) on 31st Dec 2022.
The initial email from Mahindra indicated a delivery date of Apr 2023 (was expecting mid 2024!!!) but in portal, the date is not populated yet and the status is just in first state 'Booking Complete'.

So, existing owners please help me with below queries -
1. how far the initial tentative delivery date mentioned in booking confirmation email from Mahindra is reliable (can I really expect the car to be delivered by Apr 2023)?
2. usually how long it takes for the status & delivery dates to be reflected in Mahindra's portal (under My Bookings)?

[haribalram]

Originally Posted by nfsfreak

I had booked AX7L AT AWD (Electric Blue) with Sireesh Auto, Bangalore (Dommasandra) on 31st Dec 2022.
The initial email from Mahindra indicated a delivery date of Apr 2023 (was expecting mid 2024!!!) but in portal, the date is not populated yet and the status is just in first state 'Booking Complete'.

So, existing owners please help me with below queries -
1. how far the initial tentative delivery date mentioned in booking confirmation email from Mahindra is reliable (can I really expect the car to be delivered by Apr 2023)?
2. usually how long it takes for the status & delivery dates to be reflected in Mahindra's portal (under My Bookings)?

Congrats on your booking. 4 months delivery for a 7L AT + AWD appears very optimistic, but things may be improving. Usually, the delivery dates are reflected within a week to 10 days. Even when there is a date, we have observed the dates blanking out when M&M does an internal planning & allocation cycle & updated later.

Your service advisor should have the visibility of your trending delivery date in their system.

[nazeer_ahamed]

Originally Posted by mayankthebest

Is anyone facing the issue that the front usb of XUV700 remains powered on even when car is switched off? I have plugged in my dashcam in that and worried about battery drain.

I have installed 70mai Pro Plus+ A500S Dash Cam in my AWD AT model. The power source is from the front USB. Initially I too had the same doubt.

The dashcam has an LED light which shows its operational. I experimented couple of times locking the car and later come back and see if the LED is still on. I did not carry the keys with me. After a certain time, 30 to 60 mins (I'm not sure of the excact duration), the power is cut off and the LED on the Dashcam was not glowing.

Maybe it is related to the 'One Hour Mode', where power to the infotaiment is cut off after one hour.

Its two months since I installed the dashcam and I have always seen the Dashcam off after a short duration of locking the car. I have never faced the battery drain issue during this period. As soon as I unlock the car, the dashcam is powered and LED glows.

[mayankthebest]

I too have the same dashcam. There is a setting in the dashcam itself to switch off after 5/10 mins of car being stationary. However I am not too confident of its working though.

The car's user manual also has this warning. Bit confused!

[haribalram]

I am checking with the experts here to understand if there is a proper method to know the fuel efficiency for just a trip vs the fuel efficiency for the tank load. Mine is AX7L D AT. I have set AFE to reset during refill. If one prefers the tank fill method and wishes to know the fuel efficiency on a particular highway drive, how does he/she get it? As an example, I started a trip (of 300kms, 2/3rd of the tank available) with AFE of 10 and finished at 15. The AFE for the 300 kms trip must be higher than 15 to have pulled the overall AFE from 10.

1. With the Car's Trip A/B display, I am only able to see the Distance, Time & Average Speed. No AFE for the trip is displayed.
   
2. With the Adrenox App's per trip statistic, I am only able to see the Distance, Travel time, Top speed, Avg Speed & Alerts.
   

I am providing links to 2 threads that attached screenshots for this metric.

1. XUV700 Thread post (Mahindra XUV700 Review) - Car's display. Is this only available for the MT cars?
   
2. Scorpio N Thread post (Mahindra Scorpio-N Review). Adrenox App's display. I quoted this as I assume the Adrenox App's implementation would be consistent between -N & XUV.
   

I could hear the murmur, why bother with all this, just enjoy the drive . Trust me, I am doing it. A bit of inquisitiveness to understand it better.

Thanks in advance.

[mayankthebest]

Originally Posted by haribalram

I am checking with the experts here to understand if there is a proper method to know the fuel efficiency for just a trip vs the fuel efficiency for the tank load. Mine is AX7L D AT. I have set AFE to reset during refill. If one prefers the tank fill method and wishes to know the fuel efficiency on a particular highway drive, how does he/she get it? As an example, I started a trip (of 300kms, 2/3rd of the tank available) with AFE of 10 and finished at 15. The AFE for the 300 kms trip must be higher than 15 to have pulled the overall AFE from 10.

...

I think you can hold the "Enter" button on the steering wheel to reset the FE for a particular trip (A/B).