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BHPian ![]() | Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT | EDIT: 20,000 km update The Rise of YodaThis thread will chronicle my companionship with Yoda, a Mahindra XUV300. Yoda joined our family of 2 (my wife and I) on Nov 5th, 2021. He's our first car and needless to say, we love him to the depths of our hearts. My aim is to keep this thread as lively and succinct as possible so that not only can enthusiasts enjoy his stories but also gain some information (especially for folks who are looking at the XUV300 as a potential buy). Without any further ado, let me introduce you to the protagonist of this story, Yoda! Yoda enroute to Kanyakumari - this was a detour from Nagercoil due to the floods blocking the roads to Trivandrum ![]() Yoda overlooking the Cape of Comorin ![]() Somewhere along the NH44 ![]() This is Yoda's sleeping spot. Behind him to his left you can see his brother, Mantis, a KTM 390Adventure ![]() The posts are structured as below for ease of reference (if you'd like to jump to a section): Last edited by krishnakumar : 24th November 2021 at 21:18. |
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BHPian ![]() | The Selection Process The RequirementsMy one-line requirement was this: Quote:
We jotted down our non-negotiable requirements as below:
A detailed budgeting exercise allocated 15-16L for the purchase of a car. Therefore, we were essentially looking at the sub-4m compact SUV segment. We decided to go with a diesel powertrain because (a) we had an annual expected mileage of 15,000km (b) I loved the diesel grunt (probably the biggest contributing factor). We did not consider the mid-variants of higher segment cars because of a few reasons like (a) we weren't really in need of a bigger car than a CSUV (b) some of the mid-variants were lacking essential active safety kits like ESC (c) my wife needs practice driving; therefore, a smaller car would be far less daunting for her to start off. Used cars were a strict no from my wife while I still toyed with the idea for a bit. However, we disregarded this eventually since we felt that our first car should be new. The ContendersTo help me decide on the car I had started a thread - (Tata Nexon vs. Mahindra XUV300 vs. Kia Sonet | Which car should I get for 15 Lakhs?) If someone is interested to go through the entire process, please feel free to click away ![]() For the more busier folks, I'll try to summarize the process here. All the cars were in their Diesel MT powertrain:
Tata Nexon XZ+(S) What we liked
Kia Sonet GTX+ What we liked
Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) What we liked
The VerdictWe struck off Sonet from the list straightaway due to two major factors: (1) Lack of confidence regarding its safety (2) Stiff ride quality. Compared to the Nexon and XUV300, the Sonet just didn't feel like something that's providing a lot more extra (in terms of mechanical robustness). We weren't in on this for the gadgets, so off the Sonet went. Now that we were down to two contenders, the battle was very intense. The factors considered are captured on this post from the same thread posted earlier - (Tata Nexon vs. Mahindra XUV300 vs. Kia Sonet | Which car should I get for 15 Lakhs?) Without going into too many details, let me summarize how the two stacked up on 5 broad parameters: Safety: XUV300 > Nexon While the Nexon and XUV300 are both 5-star rated by GNCAP, the XUV300 scores higher in terms of adult occupant safety and overall score. Even if I were to ignore that, XUV300 in its W8(O) form gets 6 airbags over the 2 airbags in Nexon. This tilted our scores in favour of the XUV300. Apart from that, since this was a close battle, I was also going to add things like auto-dimming IRVM, places to put your phone away, physical buttons for everything on the dash as "safety" features because, hey, anything that makes the driver less distracted should be counted as "safety". Performance: XUV300 > Nexon On the road, both Nexon and XUV300 would satisfy my needs. Both of them will put a smile on my face. However, if I were to be very critical I'd score the XUV300 higher but only ever so slightly. Handling and Comfort: Nexon > XUV300 Here, the Nexon wins the match. The steering setup is confidence inspiring and I can feel connected to the road. The same cannot be said about XUV300, although it isn't too far behind. In terms of overall ride comfort as well, the Nexon is just setup better than XUV300 - again only by a small margin. However, with a pair of critical lenses the Nexon outscores XUV300. Cabin Experience: XUV300 >> Nexon On long road-trips, the cabin experience becomes important as well. The XUV300 easily wins this game. Boasting some best in-class features like Dual Zone ACC, an excellent practical cabin and not to mention, the umpteen amount of attention-to-detail features, XUV300 outscores Nexon by a good margin. While the smaller boot space and a less ideal rear seat should've set things back, our evaluation revealed that it is just about right for a family of 2 (+1 child) and hence didn't make a difference to the outcome. After Sales and Softer elements: XUV300 > Nexon Between Tata and Mahindra, we heard better things about Mahindra overall in terms of ASS. While it is generally a concern for both, we were willing to punt on Mahindra more. Moreover, we could see Nexon everywhere. During our evaluation period, we would count how many Nexons/XUV300 we saw on the road wherever we were going. Nexons easily outnumbered XUV300s. Somewhere in our heart we wanted something a little bit exclusive. The XUV300 fit this bill. I also personally felt (after multiple TDs) that the XUV300 is a highly underrated car. I wanted to own one to tell the world that this car is worth it. Stupid? Maybe. But like I said, softer elements. The XUV300 also had the shortest waiting period so that was a plus for us. And that was that. We finalized that the Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) Diesel MT shall be our first car to own. ![]() Last edited by krishnakumar : 24th November 2021 at 21:04. | |
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BHPian ![]() | Sales Process, PDI and Delivery Sales Process and PDISales and negotiations I had been in touch with 3 Mahindra dealerships in Bangalore which were: (1) Sireesh Auto Silk Board (2) Anant Cars Marathahalli and (3) India Garage Whitefield. Initially I had contacted both Anant Cars and Sireesh Auto for XUV700 since we were interested to see how the AX3/AX5 variants would turn out (when the cracker pricing announcement was done). Immediately after the launch we dropped this plan altogether since (a) the mid-variants were too bare bones (b) we expected LONG waiting periods and dealer high-handedness. Until this point, we weren't considering the XUV300 and its addition to our shortlist almost coincided with us dropping the XUV700. So when the SAs from both dealerships started following up with me on my interest in XUV700, I asked them to get me a TD of XUV300 instead. It was only Mr. Mahesh from Sireesh Silk Board who continued to follow-up my change in interest to XUV300. There was no word from Anant Cars after I shifted and I followed up once or twice and did not bother to follow up with them again. I had reached out to India Garage Whitefield primarily to get an additional TD of the vehicle and also to get a quote so that I have leverage. The SA (Mr. Arwind) denied a possibility of stockyard PDI and I told him that no booking shall be made since it's a non-negotiable requirement. He didn't seem to be too bothered by it as well. Therefore we decided to stick with Sireesh Silk Board and started our sales process. I want to compliment Mr. Mahesh on being diligent and professional throughout the process. Later, Mr. Srinivas (team lead at Sireesh) also joined in on the process. They gave me a quote of Rs. 15.52L, the break-up as follows: Ex-Showroom: 12,64,112 Cash Discount: 13,000 Corp Discount: 4,000 Net Invoice: 12,47,112 TCS (@1% Net Invoice): 12,471 Road Tax (@18.87%): 2,38,538 (17% of ex-showroom + 1.1% of tax as cess charges) Reg Charges: 1,800 (without hypothecation) Fastag: 500 Incidental: 7080 Insurance quoted: 33,000 Extended warranty+RSA: 11,460 Total: Rs. 15,51,961 We booked the car on Oct 24th, 2021 by paying Rs.11,000 so that we could kickstart the allocation process while we negotiate further on the final OTR price. I was very clear with the dealership that full payment will be done only after doing a detailed PDI at their stockyard. They readily agreed and said that they don't do it any other way. Good! They weren't willing on reducing the invoice value any further and said that the Rs. 17,000 discount is the best they could do. However, they were willing to match the insurance. I was able to retrieve quotes ranging from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 30,000 from different insurers which I shared with Srinivas and requested for a discussion with their Insurance Executive, Mr. Ravi. After a further round of negotiation, I was able to bring down the insurance quote to Rs. 29,484 for Nil-Dep B2B 1 year comprehensive plan + 3 years of TPA. The insurance is from Mahindra which is offered by Edelweiss and offers cashless claims across their network. This brought down the final OTR price to Rs. 15,48,445. We were okay with this and didn't want to stretch the discussions any further. The Surprise Allocation At the time of TD and booking, it was told to us that the delivery timeline is 6-8weeks for our variant+colour combo. However, 2 days after booking on Oct 26th I got a call from Sireesh's finance department regarding vehicle allocation and asking for my financing option. I was totally caught by surprise and asked the lady who called me to confirm via mail regarding the booking since I had received no official communication (no OTF etc.) from Mahindra or the dealer. The next day Mahesh called me and confirmed that the vehicle is indeed allocated and is in-transit from their Nashik factory and would be at the stockyard in 3 days. I was SOO excited! We were planning to go to my hometown for Diwali and were going to book our tickets for the same. We dropped the plan and decided to take the delivery if the PDI goes well. I insisted on getting the PDI done on the same day the vehicle arrives and Mahesh managed to get that arranged. Taking learnings from TBHP's official PDI checklist, I prepared a more detailed one (attached below if anyone wants to use it) and went to the stockyard on Oct 30th. Everything was in order except for a few minor issues. The car was manufactured in Oct'21 when decoded from the VIN and the ODO stood at just 4km. Sweet!! XUV300 PDI Checklist.pdf A few pictures from the PDI. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I mailed them regarding the issues that were to be fixed. Once we ensured that mail communications captured everything (PDI issues, delivery dates, negotiated final price etc.) we made the payments and shared the transaction details. DeliveryThe delivery was fixed for the day after Diwali, that is Nov 5th 2021. Our parents had prescribed the auspicious time as 1.45-2.45pm. I'm not a believer myself but my wife and parents are, so I respected that. Mahesh asked me to come by the showroom at around 1pm and assured everything would be in order. However, knowing the horror stories from TBHP I decided to show up a little earlier unannounced, just to check on how things were shaping up. We arrived at the showroom at around 12.30pm and I was pleasantly surprised to find the car, all ready, behind the curtain. We went inside the showroom and Mahesh had already prepared all the documents necessary. We were assisted by Mr. Suresh, the Delivery Manager, for the documentation process. Every document was in order so only my signatures were pending. They asked if we wanted to check on the issues which were reported before we do the documentation and I agreed. We inspected the car again and all the issues reported were resolved. I checked the ODO and it stood at 12km (showroom was exactly 8km from stockyard which I had checked earlier), the VIN and engine numbers matched as well. We went back and finished the document formalities. We were done with everything by 1pm!! We had a whole 1 hour to spare before we could take the delivery within the auspicious time window. I was randomly walking around the showroom just to pass time, a lot of it spent inside the Thar, which I definitely enjoyed. Once the clock struck 2pm, we asked for the delivery process to begin. Photos and videos were taken. And with that, by 2.30pm we were out of the showroom with Yoda!! ![]() Last edited by krishnakumar : 24th November 2021 at 21:14. |
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BHPian ![]() | Initial Ownership Review Initial Ownership ReviewThe XUV300 is one of the most underrated cars in my opinion. It has the most powerful engine in the segment, tough build quality and a great cabin experience. As I write this review, I have already completed 1300+ km with Yoda. Almost all of it was on highways. We also took Yoda to an extreme stress test while coming to Trivandrum via Nagercoil during the second week of November'21. The southern tip of India was battered with incessant rains and the Tamiraparani river that flows through Nagercoil was overflowing because dams upstream had to be opened. We took village routes, off-roaded a bit, took it through narrow winding streets, climbed steep inclines and even crossed through flowing water (the river was flowing over the road but it was thankfully below the recommended wading depth). Yoda took it all like a champ, after all, he is a master of The Force! Needless to say, it reinforced our faith in Yoda. It's a car that we can now take anywhere and perfectly fits our one-liner requirement that we started our search with. Things that I absolutely cherish
Things that leave me wanting
Things that I can live with
Enough with the words, some pictures of Yoda, shall we? This has to be the best angle for XUV300 - the car just looks super smart, No excessive gaudy chrome anywhere - just the right amount! ![]() The rear looks really good, especially with those LED brake lamps lit up. They have managed really well to reduce the visual bulk without making it too gaudy or vanilla ![]() The side profile isn't the best and it resembles more of a hatchback. The rear dropping-off doesn't suit the rest of the body proportions. However, it does gain back some points with those fabulous 17" alloys. ![]() Woohoo!! 1000km up. It was mostly uneventful. This milestone would have gone unnoticed if not for the low fuel warning - we took this after giving Yoda a nice drink at the fuel station. ![]() Those AMAZING attention-to-detail features Important caveats: Some of these features may be (1) exclusive to the W8(O) variant (2) available in other cars as well. The below list isn't an attempt to downplay other cars or portray the XUV300 as unique. Rather, these are just a list of features that I found to be great and useful.
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Niggles Reported Well after all, this is a Mahindra. So some niggles are expected. We have observed the following issues and I'm planning to get them resolved in the first service:
Apart from the above everything is solid about this car. Accessories/Mods Fitted and Planned Complimentary accessories given by the dealer
That's all folks. Stay tuned for more stories on my adventures with Yoda! ![]() Last edited by krishnakumar : 24th November 2021 at 20:42. |
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Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() | re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing! Going to our homepage today ![]() |
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| re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update Congratulations, and thank you for such a thorough thread. Here's to many more miles filled with joy! ![]() |
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| re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update Extremely well written, Krishna. I can see your joy in every sentence in the post. Looks like you have successfully converted some fence sitters towards Mahindra! Congratulations on your new car and I am eagerly waiting for more travel posts from you. |
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BHPian ![]() | re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update Congratulations XUV300 is one competent vehicle and very well written review. I toyed around the idea of getting one for myself last year, but was disappointed with boot space, chopped off rear design and retro dashboard layout. I was blown away by the heft when I lifted the bonet in the showroom. I then visited Nexa to checkout Scross and the bonet felt really light. I hope you have taken extended warranty. Wishing you happy miles. |
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| Re: Initial Ownership Review Congratulations on your XUV300. It is a very good car, and one of the better Mahindra products in recent times. Wish you a very happy ownership and many happy miles on this car. Congratulations on reaching 1000km, and good to see you are doing plenty of long drives! That is the best way to enjoy these cars. However, sorry for nit-picking, but if I may, let me say that please do not wait till you get low fuel warnings in future. Since you mentioned this is your first car, it is important to get into a habit of refueling when the fuel tank reaches about 30% level. Fuel going so low that your car has to show low fuel warning is potentially harmful to the fuel system in the car. Further, in some rare cases, this can put you in trouble when unexpectedly you do not get fuel when needed the most. For both car's and your safety (specially during outstation drives), the best habit is to refuel before letting the fuel level go below 30%. Last edited by Dr.AD : 25th November 2021 at 10:51. |
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| re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update What a crisp and well compiled post. Congratulations on your first ride and well chosen, i must say. I keep telling folks who are considering a sub compact SUV to strongly consider the XUV 300, for the reasons that you mentioned - great engine, high on safety and good features. Granted it may not have many of the little bells and whistles which the Kias, Hyundais, Nissans may have but it is as you said a SOLID offering from the Mahindra stable. Perhaps a little facelift on some features will bring it on par with the other compact SUVs out there. Here's wishing you happy motoring with Yoda! |
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| re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update Very well written. Congrats for getting a new member to the family. XUV300 is indeed a competent offering. Sad to see that it is not always a part of the so called comparisons. It still has enough tricks up its sleeve to give the competition a run for its money. The only sad part is that Mahindra is busy making it lighter in weight (removing features) which I feel will kill the USP of this package. |
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BHPian ![]() | re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update Thank you all for the kind words! ![]() Quote:
Most definitely! I'll do my best to share Yoda's stories. Quote:
Quote:
However, I have to say that this particular exercise was more deliberate to check the MID warnings, Distance To Empty etc. I was also waiting for a fuel station with a relatively better rating. Needless to say, this shan't be repeated! I had cultivated a bad habit, over a decade ago, of leaving as little fuel as possible in my FZ because chaps would steal petrol from my bike (in college campus). It took a long time for me to get out of this habit when I started getting secured parking. Thank you petrogeek! Yes, for a small family, this car gives an excellent driving experience. Last edited by krishnakumar : 25th November 2021 at 11:47. | |||
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| re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update Congratulations! Glad to see you have actually taken the suggestions for the XUV 3OO on your earlier post seriously. As a fellow owner, I'm glad that you actually find that the boot is not actually as bad as what people make of it. You'd feel the lack of space maybe 2/10 times but its not usually a deal breaker otherwise. I believe that main reason this car did not sell very high numbers was primarily because of how people felt that they could not even fit two bags in the trunk. Also, doesn't the torque rush between 1500-2500rpm put a big smile on your face? ![]() |
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| re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update Great review KrishnaKumar. Wish you many happy miles and rattle free journeys. I took the delivery of my XUV 300 W8 (O) petrol autoshift on 4th Nov from India Garage Whitefield. The same SA, Arvind, however was ok with me doing a PDI prior to payment. But in other aspects I guess Sireesh sounds way better than India Garage. One question to you on the extended warranty. Is the 11460 that you paid, for the 4th year extended warranty alone or also includes the RSA upto 4 years? |
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| re: Ownership review of my first car, Yoda | Mahindra XUV300 W8(O) D MT. Edit: 1 year & 10,000 km update Congratulations to you and your Yoda ! Great choice of colour for this solidly built tank none the less. Last edited by quattroa4 : 25th November 2021 at 13:35. Reason: spelling |
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