Used Myles rental this week and the experience was very good.
They had a discount of 25% on the total amount till Diwali. Booked an XUV 500 and chose the pickup point as Chennai Airport. The day before the booking date, received a call from Myles and confirmed the booking details and the pickup location. The cars are located in the Kandhanchavady branch and will be driven down to the respective locations. Since I had read a lot of mixed reviews, decided to pick up the call from the lot so that they can change the car if needed. Asked the person who called me if I can park my Nano in their yard. He agreed and said I can park in their parking lot.
On the date of pickup, drove down to the OMR, Kandhanchavady location. While coming from Thoripakkam, need to take a left after Apollo hospitals and then a left at the 4-rd junc, its a parking lot 3 buildings down the lane. They do not have any signboard, but you can see a lot of KA registered self-driven cars parked inside. Drove in and they had 2 young chaps who immediately started doing the paperwork for the delivery. They took my license and passport, made a copy and returned them back. Needed to sign a paper explaining the fines/charges. Cleaning charges were at Rs.3000, confirmed with the folks that this applies if the car is extremely dirty inside and outside. Also there is a speed limit of 100Km/Hr and they impose a fine of Rs200 for the first time, then 500 and then up until 1000 the subsequent times. The attendant then marked a checklist of the items on the car like Fire extinguisher, Myles branded Umberla, Toolkit, Spare wheel, Vehicle Documents. He explained all of the car documents in details and showed the validity as well. Then he noted down all the scratches on the car similar to how it is being done in a service center. Certain minor scratches he did not note down, but i did take a picture for my reference (more on that later). Then he handed over the car and started explaining details like how the reverse gear needs to be engaged and certain other pointers like this is a FWD car etc. All in all, the folks were knowledgeable and courteous.
The car allotted was a 2015 New Age XUV 500 W6. It had run 53269kms and was in good shape. The exteriors had very minor scratches and the interiors were clean. Only gripe was that vacuuming was not done on certain places like under the driver seat, gear lever cover etc. Learned that their vacuum cleaner got conked off and will be fixed soon. The car drove well, there was a very slight pull to the left at speeds above 50Kms, but not sure it was due to the road or alignment. But this was hardly noticeable. Picked the car at 10:00PM and planned the journey next morning to avoid any last minute surprises. Took the car back home and in the morning checked essentials such as tire pressure, windshield washer fluid, engine oil, all lights and controls. Noticed that the rear left tire had low pressure. Topped up air and started the journey. Tires were in decent condition though with good tread depth. During rest stops checked the tyre pressure and there were no drops.
The journey was from Chennai to Pudukkottai, NH45 was free of traffic after chengalpet. Engaged cruise control at ~97Km/Hr, drove all the way through at this speed. Till Trichy, cruise control can be used. After that the roads are narrow with hectic on-coming traffic. Maintained speeds between 50-80Kms. This is the first time I drove XUV 500 for a long distance, must say the drive was effortless. Knowing that there is a lot of reserve power helps to drop down speeds without second thoughts, getting back to cruising speeds is effortless. Expansion joints are hardly felt, did not have any chances of panic braking, hence cannot comment, but braking was very effective. Driving this car in and around Pudukkottai's narrow streets is a chore, every two wheeler/cycle coming close to you causes rise in heart beats
. May be this is due to the fact my daily drive is a Nano.
During the return I was traveling solo, had chances to experience the acceleration and power of XUV (below 100 though) and must say i was mighty impressed. Have test driven XUV earlier but this was totally different. After entering Chennai, due to the mad Diwali traffic, took me ~3hrs to reach OMR from Perungalathur. Dropping off the car was quick and hassle free. The attendant noticed a scratch near the headlamp and bumper that was not noted down during pickup (during pickup the sheet was filled by a different person), thankfully I had a picture of the scratch that i took during the time of pickup and he readily accepted his mistake and apologized for it. Met the supervisor Krishna Kumar who was friendly and asked feedback about the overall experience and the car. Wanted to check-out Vento and Jazz in their parking lot and they readily obliged. Planning to take one of these in the future. Overall a very positive experience and will definitely recommend.
Total distance driven was 754Kms and the fuel consumed ~60Lts. Spent a lot of time in traffic and at least 45mins of idling during the entire travel as i was traveling with a baby.