[HotChillyPepper]

Originally Posted by Sathya_sc

OMG.. All of these in a 3 weeks old car is simply unacceptable. I will also get APR manufactured car and am getting mentally prepared. I still wonder whether I made the right decision.

Probably I must have waited for the Duster I guess. Let me think over this tomorrow and take a final call. My car is going for registration on Tuesday.

Satya, Even after going through all these niggles, I have never repent the decision of buying XUV. Every time I drive it, I am getting addicted to this vehicle. As a package its still the best car I can afford. Being in product development for 9 years, I would admit there is no product company that will fix every issue and then release to customer. That is just a myth that if you buy from German manufacturer your life will be so easy.

But in case of XUV, the issues that we see in field are not acceptable to be released to customers. There were many cases the whole functionality was lost, for example, Clutch, Cruise control, Security system, Remote unlock etc. They cannot be termed as niggles, but lack of proper QC. I cant believe M&M didn't detect these issues in the 285 cars they claimed tested for 2 lakhs KMS. May be M&M can blame their suppliers for some of the quality issues, but as a customer I am buying M&M product and singing the papers with M&M logo on it.

Hopefully M&M will voluntarily come up and fix all issues without spoiling the image of one of the most successful product they have in hand.

Imagine Australian XUV customers getting same niggles in their units. Unlike India, M&M may face many law suits there and penalty for automobile manufacturing defects are pretty high as they care for human life. Most importantly M&M should protect the global brand image they are trying to build. For that they will have to think differently than before.

[Sathya_sc]

I am sticking onto my decision. I badly needed a Powerful Diesel Highway cruiser and XUV fits the bill perfectly for me..

I discussed with family and friends and have decided to go ahead and get things rectified as they arise. I know its going to be painful but the expectations are very low as such after reading pages and pages of niggles thread..

If the alarm system behaves bezerk, then probably i will use manual locking! Thats how I will live with it. If it solves the purpose of decent highway cruising, I am fine with it. Clutch failure was a nightmare, but its good to hear that has been fixed in APR batch and wheel breaking is also a bad thing.. but I believe it is one of a case and assume it will not happen to me.. Lets see how this all goes..

After all, if its going to be really painful than what I think, I will just sell it and buy something else given the fact it commands high re-sale in the market.. General public does not know all these issues and it sells in high volumes..

But I must admit, I have lost my happiness in this buy completely.. I think I must not have read this thread. For the Linea MJD that I had earlier, I did not go thru the niggles thread and I was happy even though it gave a lot of issues..

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Sathya_sc

....
But I must admit, I have lost my happiness in this buy completely.. I think I must not have read this thread. For the Linea MJD that I had earlier, I did not go thru the niggles thread and I was happy even though it gave a lot of issues..

I doubt about the effectiveness of this "ignorance is bliss" approach. I am happy that I know the weak-points of the vehicle and would be keeping a regular watch on those things. The constant feeling of 'doubt' (and possibly nervousness) that I would have, is something that is not desirable, but definitely better than the vehicle catching me by surprise.

[PGA]

Some updates on the Silver Spirit.

Car is now a little over two months old, it is 3200 on the odo and some infatuation has given way realism. Tested it to the max speed of 140 kms/hr, one early morning run from Chandigarh to Jalandhar. The engine started losing its composure after 120 kms/hr and was visibly/audibly groaning at 140km/hr. I wanted to test it to 150 kms/hr but decided to leave it for another day as some sleep deficient bus drivers kept on disturbing the rythm.

The car visited service centre once, as it had started to pull to the left. (Modern Motors Ludhiana) The team was enthusiastic in taking over the vehicle to carry out the alignment checks and interchanged the front two wheels. The car is behaving since then but not 100% to my satisfaction. Was wondering if I could get a recheck done on alignment from a local chap, will it effect the warranty issues.

Outstanding issue of ABS light comming on after 10-15 mins of drive couldn't be sorted out. One more issue has cropped up since then, loose articles in front right hand side door

Another issue that I have in general with all authorised service centres is their reluctance to talk about the fault analysis and line taken for rectifications. Stock replies of items being faulty and wholesale change of components tend to put me off and therefore avoid them. SM of a workshop is normally an over worked, wheeling around individual who is torn between loyalty to his profession and trying to make moolah for his employer by changing spares. Concept of RM in XUV has overcome that to an extent, hope it stays that way after the warranties expire.

Regards

[PGA]

Originally Posted by rohitbagai

One more thing, when the problem of clutch occurred I saw a message that the break oil is at low level and I should drive slow.

I was wondering about the lack of symptoms prior to clutch failure.

If the low brake oil warning came on when the clutch failed, it implies that brake oil leaked out of the slave cylinder. One will be able to see the traces of such a leak on the cylinder or at the bottom of a parked car, Rohit did you check the state of the cylinder that was removed from your vehicle.

As per my understanding, slave cylinder is operated by master cylinder and it finally presses the forks to release the pressure/ clutch plates. If it has malfunctioned then why did your clutch and pressure plates get damaged.

Invariably failure of slave cylinder is noticed as it causes sponginess in the clutch and gear changing becomes difficult. Did you notice anything. What was the state of clutch plates? Were they burnt out!

Thanking you in anticipation
Regards

[Sathya_sc]

Just a quick observation. I went thru the niggles thread again to understand the issues and related vehicle batches.. and its interesting to know most of the major issues (like leaks, suspension scraping noise etc.) have been the vehicles manufactured from Oct11 to Feb12.

HCP's post is an exception since he has bought it in the recent past.

I also enquired a couple of my friends in office and neighbourhood who own the car from the recent batches like Apr/May and they are happy except for a few quirks here and there (nothing major though).. It will be good if we can start collecting 1) users handle, 2) version of xuv (6 or 8), 3) month and year of manufacture and 4) a quick summary of issues faced (just a list).

and based on the posts we can do some analytics on what type of issues were prominent in which batch of cars. This will give a feel of whether the major issues have been sported out or not (am not including the brake issue here.. i spoke to a person who owns a W8 from May batch and has no issues with brakes whatsoever.. no noise, brake bite is good etc. I also drove it to confirm)

Only the niggle list alone does not show how Mahindra has responded to users feedback. After speaking to multiple folks (from today morning till this time) who own cars from recent batches show that major issues are not present anymore.

[HotChillyPepper]

Originally Posted by Sathya_sc

HCP's post is an exception since he has bought it in the recent past.

I also enquired a couple of my friends in office and neighbourhood who own the car from the recent batches like Apr/May and they are happy except for a few quirks here and there (nothing major though)..

In my car I didn't get any suspension noise as in the first batch of vehicles. My issue is suspension being rough on small irregular patches and that time I can hear an unsettled clutter from suspension, something like the bearings or the lower arm bush worn out in a car that has done few ten thousands kilometers. This is indeed a problem admitted by M&M and present in all cars that are getting delivered even today. M&M is still doing their research on a fix.

The brakes are effective in my car, I never had complaints about stopping power. But brake pedal need to travel close to 1 inch to start the braking action. Also the brake is not progressive and accurate. This also admitted by M&M and they are working on a fix, expected to be out by Oct end. But if you are happy with the brake performance as it is today, you are a lucky person.

There is a resonating sound in my car while braking from 80 Kmph. This is related to the same lower arm bush is what I was told. This sound is also present on 3 vehicles I drove from April batch.

[Abhi83]

Hi Fellow Members,

This is my first post in the forum. I took the delivery of my XUV 15 days back, and here's how the story after that goes.
Following problems were observed in the first run itself:
1. Prominent brake noise
2. Rattling of front windows when slight open
3. Car had a pull towards right (ya that's right not left)

Visited the service center 2 days later, was clearly told by the RM at Bhasin motors Mathura road New delhi, that the break noise is common and there are no solutions offered by Mahindra yet. He categorically mentioned that he will not like to give any false promise but this issue is there and more prominent in North India (not sure how true is this). Same reply was given for the rattling issue, that it is also common and if he tightens the window beyond a limit to reduce the noise, the power function might fail. So have to bear with that for now.
The right pulling issue was addressed and resolved (though i still feel its not perfect).
Yesterday while driving, suddenly the center light (above middle row) came off and had to be tucked in the hole. Means seriously dont believe this could happen in a new car.
I'll admit that in the 15 days of ownership, i have seriously given a thought of selling of the car, as it just undermines the joy of ownership. Also due to brake noise, i dont feel confident and feel that it might just fail any day, so i refrain from driving at high speeds. Much more confident driving my i10 than XUV.
Though the features are definitely incredible, I'll say its not the right time to purchase it, till the issues are resolved at Mahindras end. I've met Mr Anand Mahindra in college a couple of times, and seriously cant believe the owners of his dream project are being dealt in such a way. Sad and tensed...

[Sathya_sc]

^^ Whats your vehicle month of manufacture. I assume it must be May. If it is, I am really surprised. I drove one May month vehicle and had no brake noise (high speed braking or low speed.. The vehicle had 2000kms on the ODO).

I am not sure about the window rattling though, since I never drive with windows rolled down (or may be a maximum of 1/2 times a year or even thats rare)..

Also, HCP/Abhi83, Can you please let me know whether your brake disc drums has 2 grooves or more? Looks like the disc drums with more grooves solves the problem (looks like this is the latest design from Mahindra). The vehicle I drove had multiple grooves and there was no noise and the brakes were spot on.

[PGA]

Hi Abhi
XUV is a great car in many ways, engine being one of them, enjoy its capabilities.
Brake noise is not related to its operating mechanism so will not result in its failure, to me the noise infact is an assurance of their application.
Cheers

[nikhileshgrover]

What is the city average that folks are getting in Bangalore? I stay in a congested part of the city and the screen shows me a constant 9. Did a tank to tank manual comparison, and I got a dismal 8. I drive with a/c on all the time and use the micro hybrid on and off. On enquiring with the rm, he said 8 is what is everyone is getting in Bangalore. Wanted to revalidate it with users in the group.

[Wind]

Here is my first contribution to this thread:

Today morning the clutch pedal dropped to the floor when I was changing gears. Since this happened in the basement, I called for help to move the car from the main driveway. One of the chauffeurs who was standing nearby came to my help and after he pressed the breaks and clutch pedal couple of times the clutch was back in the normal position and I was able to take the car out of the basement. Would be taking the car to Sireesh to diagnose this issue. I did not see any fluid on the floor and the break fluid reservoir is a little below the maximum mark.

-- Wind

[fundagenie]

Originally Posted by HotChillyPepper

The brakes are effective in my car, I never had complaints about stopping power. But brake pedal need to travel close to 1 inch to start the braking action. Also the brake is not progressive and accurate. This also admitted by M&M and they are working on a fix, expected to be out by Oct end. But if you are happy with the brake performance as it is today, you are a lucky person.

I test drove a W8 FWD that had done 3000+kms. I drove for around 1-2 kms on good roads and some fairly uneven roads. Specifically kept my ears open for the grinding noise from the brakes, but dint hear anything. However, one thing I noticed about the braking was it was not giving the confidence. The brakes felt very soft and several times as I felt it would not stop within the expected distance, I sort of rose up from the seat to stand on the brakes.

This brake softness was felt both by my driver and another customer who was test driving along with us. My driver mostly drives our innova while the other person said he drives a skoda octavia and i10. And I drive a honda city, hyundai accent and alto. So 3 people driving different brands of vehicle of various segments felt the same about the brakes. The customer care person who accompanied us was saying this was due to the ABS /EBD features and we will get used to it once we start driving the XUV regularly. Plus his additional comment that this was how brakes feel on vehicles in foreign countries and we indians need to get used to it.
One other reason was that the vehicle had not been serviced till date. Also claimed that if required the braking could be hardened a to suit our preference.

HotChillyPepper : reading your comments, it means I should be expecting the same brake issues with my XUV when it comes...

FundaG

[tachobells]

Originally Posted by fundagenie

The brakes felt very soft and several times as I felt it would not stop within the expected distance, I sort of rose up from the seat to stand on the brakes.

This brake softness was felt both by my driver and another customer who was test driving along with us.

The customer care person who accompanied us was saying this was due to the ABS /EBD features and we will get used to it once we start driving the XUV regularly.

Plus his additional comment that this was how brakes feel on vehicles in foreign countries and we indians need to get used to it.

That argument is weird
But, you'll definitely get used to the hard clutch and the soft brake. Only a matter of 1-2 months or even lesser.

[PGA]

Originally Posted by Wind

Here is my first contribution to this thread:

Today morning the clutch pedal dropped to the floor when I was changing gears. Since this happened in the basement, I called for help to move the car from the main driveway. One of the chauffeurs who was standing nearby came to my help and after he pressed the breaks and clutch pedal couple of times the clutch was back in the normal position and I was able to take the car out of the basement.

-- Wind

This in all probabilty looks like failure of one of the master cylinders either brake or clutch. Both share the same fluid, haven't seen the circuit though but that is the way for all modern gen vehicles. Do let us know the analysis of authorised dealer.
For the record purpose, saw W8 with burnt out clutch at the dealer in Ludhiana. Car was May manufactured with about 1000 km on the odo. Could not speak to the owner, dealer blamed bad driving technique, which I find hard to believe.
Glowing of ABS light after about ten mins of driving in my car was attributed to broken brake switch.