[atjazz]

Hi all,

First post ever, so it’s also surreal and happy feeling seeking advice from best experts in the Indian car scene.

I seek advice as I don't live in India but my mother does, and I visit her occasionally, driving a Hyundai Eon hatchback I've owned for over 10 years.

I've always wanted to own an SUV, but my mother doesn't drive and spends half the year in another home, leaving my hatchback parked for six months. I'm unsure if I should buy a new car since I won't be driving it much, but I have the opportunity to purchase my friend's well-maintained XUV500 Diesel 2018 W11 (TopEnd) for 12 lakhs, 40k kms on the ODO with a city mileage of 9-10kms; and highway 14kms per ltr and annual maintenance cost of 10-15K. He’s kept it in great condition, and I trust his ownership; I wouldn’t consider used cars otherwise.

I don’t know much about the Indian car market but this would be an emotional purchase solely to own a SUV when I visit home. I plan to drive this for another 5-8 years atleast. However,

1. I'm concerned about buying a diesel car given the 10 year ban in some states. This car is KA registered and will be in Bangalore.

2. The price and mileage- is it a good car for price, model year, and kms driven?

3. The overall quality of XUV500 long term including Mahindra reliability? My mother is old and I don’t want her moving pillar to post for repairs. Need a hassle free ownership which my Hyundai Eon has given me.

4. Any important PDI checkpoints do I need to do before buying this vehicle?

[IronDrago56]

Hey Everyone, Asking on behalf of a Friend.

My Friend is in the Market for a 2012-2014 XUV 500 - Prefereably the W8 trim with the rare AWD option. We're having no luck finding the AWD version, but we're seeing a lot of W8's with 2lakh + KM. And they're asking anywhere from 4.8 - 7.2 Lakh.

Just wanted to know if there's anything to look out for before buying one? Is 2Lakh+ KM typical for first Gen XUVs? And what would be the typical maintenance cost? Any inputs would be appreciated.

[diwakarmuthu]

Originally Posted by IronDrago56

Hey Everyone, Asking on behalf of a Friend.

My Friend is in the Market for a 2012-2014 XUV 500 - Prefereably the W8 trim with the rare AWD option. We're having no luck finding the AWD version, but we're seeing a lot of W8's with 2lakh + KM. And they're asking anywhere from 4.8 - 7.2 Lakh.

Just wanted to know if there's anything to look out for before buying one? Is 2Lakh+ KM typical for first Gen XUVs? And what would be the typical maintenance cost? Any inputs would be appreciated.

It is a sign of a well maintained car here. We need to remember, the 1st gen XUV500s had a lot of niggles. You can check the Issues & Niggles thread out here in this forum.

Personally, I wouldn't go near the vechicle that has done 2L+ KMs. If you decide so, do a through investigation on the condition of body (if Chennai, Rust could be an issue), Engine fundamentals (Head, pistons, etc. see for service intervals and if any major change has been executed), Electricals, you never know until you get in.

One needs to think if we need to put 5-7L on a 10+ year car that will see its end of life in 3-4 years. It doesn't justify that kind of investment IMHO

I am in the market for 2019 & above XUV500 W11 O AT AWD for the right price.

[IronDrago56]

Originally Posted by diwakarmuthu

It is a sign of a well maintained car here. We need to remember, the 1st gen XUV500s had a lot of niggles. You can check the Issues & Niggles thread out here in this forum.

Personally, I wouldn't go near the vechicle that has done 2L+ KMs. If you decide so, do a through investigation on the condition of body (if Chennai, Rust could be an issue), Engine fundamentals (Head, pistons, etc. see for service intervals and if any major change has been executed), Electricals, you never know until you get in.

One needs to think if we need to put 5-7L on a 10+ year car that will see its end of life in 3-4 years. It doesn't justify that kind of investment IMHO

I am in the market for 2019 & above XUV500 W11 O AT AWD for the right price.

Thanks for the inputs diwakarmuthu. My Friend is just looking for a good vehicle to use on bad roads since the roads are in terrible shape. He has a friend who works at MPL Mahindra in chennai who's willing to do a used car inspection on some of them.

We visited one W8 Yesterday, it was a White 2013, that'd done 1.98L Km. It was an Automatic and It shifted well, all the bells and whistles were working minus the ICE screen that was badly faded. It had some rust in the front apron but its fixable, there was severe brakedust contamination on the Alloys but it the owner had documentation for every single repair done on it (He's the first owner, an MLA owned the car).

We went through the service history and had a lot of repairs done on it, and really took care of the car. The Major repairs done was an Engine overhaul at 1.3L KM, (Changed the piston rings, bearings, rear engine seal, Transmission bearings and so on) And the suspension was also overhauled at 98k KM. And he changed transmission fluids every 10,000km. Problem was the price, the man was wanting 8 Lakh for it and wouldn't budge on the price. We gave him our number and we told him if he's willing to negotiate to give us a call. My Friend loved the car, shame the owner wants so much for a 11 year old car.

Anyway, the hunt continues, so far none are looking good. May consider going out of chennai to find a good buy. will let you know if I find any good ones.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by IronDrago56

My Friend is just looking for a good vehicle to use on bad roads since the roads are in terrible shape. He has a friend who works at MPL Mahindra in chennai who's willing to do a used car inspection on some of them.

For bad roads, your friend should rather find proper rugged vehicles. The XUV 500 will fall apart where rugged Body on Frame (BoF) vehicles will keep chugging on. For no roads, the 1st Gen Thar will the best solution. For mediocre roads, a used 2WD Scorpio, Xylo or Innova (or any sort of BoF vehicle) will do the trick. For BoF vehicles, bad roads are only an inconvenience and they will need proper torquing of bolts once in a while, that's it - aside from scheduled maintenance.

[IronDrago56]

Originally Posted by locusjag

For bad roads, your friend should rather find proper rugged vehicles. The XUV 500 will fall apart where rugged Body on Frame (BoF) vehicles will keep chugging on. For no roads, the 1st Gen Thar will the best solution. For mediocre roads, a used 2WD Scorpio, Xylo or Innova (or any sort of BoF vehicle) will do the trick. For BoF vehicles, bad roads are only an inconvenience and they will need proper torquing of bolts once in a while, that's it - aside from scheduled maintenance.

Noted I'll let him know, I could see if I can find First gen Thars for less than 7L, otherwise something like a Safari or like you said, a Scorpio or Xylo but I doubt he'll settle for any of those. He's a die hard XUV guy. The Roads here are bad, some areas there is no asphalt on the roads. So lets see if I can tell him about other options.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by IronDrago56

Noted I'll let him know, I could see if I can find First gen Thars for less than 7L, otherwise something like a Safari or like you said, a Scorpio or Xylo but I doubt he'll settle for any of those. He's a die hard XUV guy. The Roads here are bad, some areas there is no asphalt on the roads. So lets see if I can tell him about other options.

I don't know, it seems to me that your friend yearns for an XUV 500 - and he should buy one if he really wants one. But this desire for a XUV doesn't gel well with the whole stated "bad roads" use case.

The XUV 500 is a softroader and excels upon well-laid highways, in the words of a Mahindra service technician. I was asking about their products and which ones are the real tough ones, back in 2019. Pat came his reply to the question on the tough ones in the Mahindra portfolio - Bolero, Thar, Scorpio, Xylo & TUV 300/Plus. And he told me in very clear terms that both the XUVs will fall apart over sustained bad road usage.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by IronDrago56

Hey Everyone, Asking on behalf of a Friend.

My Friend is in the Market for a 2012-2014 XUV 500 - Prefereably the W8 trim with the rare AWD option. We're having no luck finding the AWD version, but we're seeing a lot of W8's with 2lakh + KM. And they're asking anywhere from 4.8 - 7.2 Lakh.

Just wanted to know if there's anything to look out for before buying one? Is 2Lakh+ KM typical for first Gen XUVs? And what would be the typical maintenance cost? Any inputs would be appreciated.

There is a fellow BHPian owned one for sale. AWD. W11. But not the first generation one, this is infact the so called 3rd generation XUV 5OO.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post5824087 (BHPian-owned cars for Sale | Pics & details)

Also, engine wise I know of fellow owners who have done above 1.5 Lakh without any issues. There are few 2 lakh+ vehicles too, which doesnt have any engine related issues. The compressor conks off around 1.3 lakh kms on odo and radiator fan conks off around 1 lakh kms on odo. Its a 35K and 10K part replacement each.

Else, as such the model is not having any major technical issues.

A point to note, vehicles past 2013 mid have lesser niggles since the ones in initial batches were rectified by then.

[IronDrago56]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

There is a fellow BHPian owned one for sale. AWD. W11. But not the first generation one, this is infact the so called 3rd generation XUV 5OO.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post5824087 (BHPian-owned cars for Sale | Pics & details)

Also, engine wise I know of fellow owners who have done above 1.5 Lakh without any issues. There are few 2 lakh+ vehicles too, which doesnt have any engine related issues. The compressor conks off around 1.3 lakh kms on odo and radiator fan conks off around 1 lakh kms on odo. Its a 35K and 10K part replacement each.

Else, as such the model is not having any major technical issues.

A point to note, vehicles past 2013 mid have lesser niggles since the ones in initial batches were rectified by then.

Thanks for teh tip, Its goot to know that Many XUV's past 2013 are more refined, narrows our search, Sadly the W11 advertised is way over budget for him lol. He's putting down 6-7L for the Purchase, and 1.5L for any anticipated repairs if needed.

Just hope that we find some more. Many I'm seeing here look abused, many of them in terrible shape and have very tacky alloy wheels and stickered calling them "Land rovers" lol. Likewise, we'll see. My friend is optimistic. His second choice is getting a Safari Storme/Hexa XM

[diwakarmuthu]

Originally Posted by IronDrago56

Just hope that we find some more. Many I'm seeing here look abused, many of them in terrible shape and have very tacky alloy wheels and stickered calling them "Land rovers" lol. Likewise, we'll see. My friend is optimistic. His second choice is getting a Safari Storme/Hexa XM

Passing on some pointers as a long term Mahindra customer (I just sold my Scorpio LX mhawk!)

1. Look for a vehicle that has minimum 7 years of ownership left. With respect to XUV500, it would be wise to look for cars 2018 & beyond
2. If you are looking for a car in Chennai, ensure the vehicle is rust free. In Mahindra vehicles, look at the joints where the door meets the fenders, running boards, bottm part of the doors that are prone to rust. Best done if you can put it on a ramp to check the underbody.
3. Service history - Check it completely, ensure that no major accidental work has happened
4. Test drive - Mahindra's typically will give a steering noise (indicator of the steering column or steering rack being worn out or requires change), brake noise (brake pads, along with rotors, discs and shoes will require change), squeaks and rattles (not so much, but nice to go through them if you are going to keep the car for sometime) and electronics (still figuring out how to evaluate them)

Safari Storme and Hexa are very good cars, but landing on a 4x4 is a lottery literally. Good luck with that

If AWD or 4x4 is a requirement, I would urge you to look at Scorpio S6 to S10 variants that can go offroad too.

[IronDrago56]

Originally Posted by diwakarmuthu

Passing on some pointers as a long term Mahindra customer (I just sold my Scorpio LX mhawk!)

1. Look for a vehicle that has minimum 7 years of ownership left. With respect to XUV500, it would be wise to look for cars 2018 & beyond
2. If you are looking for a car in Chennai, ensure the vehicle is rust free. In Mahindra vehicles, look at the joints where the door meets the fenders, running boards, bottm part of the doors that are prone to rust. Best done if you can put it on a ramp to check the underbody.
3. Service history - Check it completely, ensure that no major accidental work has happened
4. Test drive - Mahindra's typically will give a steering noise (indicator of the steering column or steering rack being worn out or requires change), brake noise (brake pads, along with rotors, discs and shoes will require change), squeaks and rattles (not so much, but nice to go through them if you are going to keep the car for sometime) and electronics (still figuring out how to evaluate them)

Safari Storme and Hexa are very good cars, but landing on a 4x4 is a lottery literally. Good luck with that

If AWD or 4x4 is a requirement, I would urge you to look at Scorpio S6 to S10 variants that can go offroad too.

Oh yeah, S10 Scorpios are also good, but its hard to come by in a 6-7L Budget, we'll have to see. Would be nice if we even got an older model Scorpio Getaway, they're very rare though.

My Friend wanted to go for an Aria 4x4 but I advised against that because I hear its not a capable off roader. So Hexa/Storme 4x4 would be a good idea if we can't find any good XUVs. We did find a blue 2012 XUV W8, rare color and my friend is wanting to go take a look. As mentioned before, my friend has a contact at a Mahindra ASC who can do a pre-purchased used car inspection, so we're covered on that front. He has a 1.5L budget to splurge on repairs if needed.

From what I've seen, getting an XM Hexa 4x4 is a good idea, it comes with the creature comforts so I suppose he may go for that. We'll see how it goes tomorrow when we go to check out that Blue XUV. Facebook marketplace listing states its a 2nd owner car with 86k on the Odo and the guy wants 6.8L for it. Lets see how it goes.