[Sommos]

"May night call me today for travel, and
I will enjoy the fleet of Moon, Stars, Sirius and ORION."

XUV 700 - Likes :

a. Large spacious car with confortable front seats and easy to set the perfect driving position.
b. The 2.2 L Turbo diesel CRDi engine with max power of 136KW/ 182 BHP @ 3500 RPM and max torque of 450NM @ 1750 RPM is never short of power.
c. Though there are number of 700 on the road now, but still the car attracts a lot of attention on the road.
d. The door closes with a solid thud (though not as solid as the Fiat Linea) which shows the solid built quality.
e. The car comes with a long list of safety features including 7 airbags. I do appreciate the ADAS features, though the practicality on Indian conditions is debatable.
f. After living with the poor audio setup of the Linea for 10 years, the 12 speaker Sony audio system in XUV 700 looks like heaven to me.
g. This being my first AT, there was initially some apprehensions and fear. After overcoming that stage I have really started to enjoy the comfort of the AT. From my limited knowledge and experience on the subject I can say that the six speed torque convertor is smooth and mated well with the engine.

XUV 700 - Dislikes :

a. Full size spare wheel - I would expect any manufacturer to provide a full size spare wheel atleast in the top variants.
b. Auto dimming IRVM and rear sun-blinds - these are again very common features and should have been provided in a car of 23 Lakhs ex-showroom.
c. The EPS lacks any feel and feedback - after driving the Linea, I miss the steering feedback sorely.
d. Head room is limited even in the second row for six footers.
e. Third row seat and the boot does not get any illumination - even my 10 year old Linea had illuminated boot.
f. Initial owners have reported multiple issues with the car - software issues, suspension noise, jarring brake pads (to name a few). Luckily (touchwood) no such issues have been faced over the 1.5 months and 1500 KM ownership in my June 2022 manufactured car. Maybe this is the only positive side of the nine month long wait.
g. The lack of boot space and crampy third row seats is none of my concern because in 98% time the third row seats would be folded and the space would be used to hold the baggage in the long drives.
h. Availability of spares and accesories is an issue with M&M - small items like the 32GB SD card is not available and my request with the GM-Services is pending for three weeks or more.


The Beginning

The demand for a new car was first raised by wife sometime in 2020; but then I was not in the financial condition to bear the burden of another loan and the request was politely turned down or deferred. Then came the pandemic and the whole world was brought to a standstill. Basic day-to-day life became a struggle and the demand was subdued for a few months. Schools and colleges were suspended and my son came back home from his college. Again by the end of the year, as things started limping back to normal, the demand for the new car again raised it’s head. This time the demand was even stronger as my son and wife both had teamed up to raise the demand for a new car. Several argument was placed in favour of the motion – some pertinent ones but some were out rightly silly. I patiently listened to all the arguments trying hard not to show any reaction. In my family of three members (myself, wife and son) I realised that I have been cornered and it would not be possible for me to hold on any further – after all in democracy majority always wins. But from my heart I was still in no mood to make such a big investment when my Linea was serving me well and with all the uncertainty in the outside world.

Then suddenly in February 2021 came the Second Wave that saw largescale layoffs, economic crisis etc. etc. Though by the grace of God, none in my family was infected but we did encounter some tragedy amongst our friend circle and neighbor hood. My son also narrated some incidence of his friends abondoning the engineering couse due to demise of their parent. All these shook us to the core and the discussion for the new car did not happen for a few months and I was very relieved.

By the end of June 2021, when things started to open-up we began our search for the new car. After discussion amongst the three of us, it was decided that the new car has to be a SUV (family's demand) and preferably Automatic (my choise). We checked the Kia-Seltos and the Creta – both of them were instantly rejected by the home ministry citing lack of proper boot space. The Linea had indeed spoilt our habit, as with a huge boot space, carrying extra luggage was never an issue.

Then we went to visit the TATA showroom to see the Safari and the Harrier. The Safari was on display but the Harrier was not. The Safari was very keenly inspected by both wife and son. In our family there would rarely be a fourth or fifth passenger, and the rear seat was useless for us. So the salesman was requested to fold down the rear seats which allows for considerably large luggage area. The faces of both mother and son lit up as if they have found exactly what they were searching for. This is what they both wanted, a bigger and spacious car with a huge boot (with the folded last row) and both started explaining the features to me. The display car had captain seats in the second row, which was rejected by the family. The SA informed that bench seats in the second row would also be available, if desired. The first thing that I noticed when I sat in the driver seat was that my knees were rubbing against the lower part of the dashboard. It felt awkward but I thought of checking this point further during the TD. So booked for TD on the coming Sunday and came back home. But TATA dealer didn’t provide a TD vehicle even after two reminders. I had booked my Fiat Linea and taken delivery of the car from this dealer. I even had to get the initial two servicing of the Linea done from here before Fiat opened their own showroom. I did not have a good impression about the TATA after sales services from my earlier experience but it was 10 years back and I was mentally prepared to TD the car and see how it goes from there – so unfortunately TATA lost a prospective customer.


By this time the car market was hot with the XUV700 news and I was keenly following the topic in various forums. After the media drive on 15-08-2021, patiently waited for the review to be published here on TeamBHP. After going through the review (published on 18-08-2021) I had already decided in favour of the XUV700. In the evening, opened the TeamBhp review in the iPad and handed it to my son to go through it carefully and give his honest and unbiased opinion. Son also decided in favour of the XUV700 over the safari. Next evening I handed over the iPad to the Home Minister and asked for her (most) valuable opinion. After going through the review (or maybe the pictures only) she gave her approval after a couple of hours. White is always our favorite colour for a car and both my previous cars were white; but this time my son was given the responsibility to choose the colour and his choise was Black.


List of the cars that have been checked or test driven :-

a. Kia Seltos

b. Hyundai Creta - both lack space and the family preferred a bigger one.

c. Jeep Compass - have been owning the Fiat Linea for a decade and the lack of Fiat dealership is a matter of concern. Though I loved the driving dynamics and the comfort of the Compass, but frankly could not muster the courage to go for another Fiat product just because of the tiny dealership network (approximately 80-82 across 70 towns and cities).

d. TATA Safari - the dealer never bothered to provide a test drive and so was never considered seriously. Harrier was not considered as the Safari was an improved version of the Harrier.

e. MG HECTOR - The Hector looked big from the side and there was ample amount of space between the front and the second row seats but after the TD the car simply did not connect to the heart.

f. Toyota Innova Crysta - Tried my level best to convice home ministry to atleast come and check out the Crysta - but she always have a feeling that it is a Taxi.


The Booking and Delivery experience :-

Come October 2021 the M&M showrooms were filled with prospective customers taking a look at the new sensation in the auto market. On the 4th of Oct. got out of office in time and went to the showroom to check out the XUV 700. The display car was diesel AT in midnight black, while the TD cars were in Petrol AT in midnight black and Diesel MT in electric blue colour. The showroom was comparatively less crowded but there was a queue for the test drive. Called my son to come to the showroom and started discussing the booking procedure with the SA. I was told in very clear terms by two different SA that the dealership booking would get priority over the general public and it would be prudent for me to deposit the money with the dealer. I was also assured first day booking with price protection.

By this time my son had arrived and the first priority was to choose the colour. I knew from heart that any variant of the black would be a pain in the ass to maintain, but at my age (crossed 50 yrs.) it is time to step aside and let the next generation start taking decisions. Proper black was not available and thus the Midnight Black was the nearest available colour. Realising that the colour had a blueish tinge he had some dilemma between this colour and the white, but finally decided on the midnight black. We then checked the features and sitting comfort on all the three rows, finally after 45 minutes the colour and variant was decided – XUV 700 AX7 DSL AT AWD in MDNBLK. Filling the forms and payment took another 10 minutes and we were back home with the broucher and the on-road pricelist. This was the first instance in my life that I had booked a car without taking any test drive and that too a 2.7 million worth car. During the booking I noticed that my no. was 58 in the booking register and 57 people had already deposited the booking amount of 21K before me with this dealer. Due to excessive rush the test drive could only be arranged by the dealer on 6th October 2021. Chose to drive the diesel MT to have a feel of the engine and the short TD was satisfying. By this time two new variants of the XUV 700 has already been revealed by M&M and I upgraded my booking to XUV 700 AX7 L DSL AT AWD. The mad rush on 7th morning reminded me of the mad rush that used to happen in the cinema halls on the first day of an Amitabh Bacchan movie in the late eighties or nineties. My SA was courteous enough to call and inform that all bookings were pushed through (including mine) by the dealer staff and even sent the screenshot on my Whatsap.

Two days after this received a sudden call from M&M customer care – they wanted to know the reasons why I did not proceed to book the vehicle that was selected in my cart. When I informed them about my booking through the dealer, they checked and informed that neither my mobile number nor my name was appearing in the booking list. Again went to the dealership in the evening and met the GM-Sales. The GM very patiently discussed several issues related to the booking procedure and assured me of my booking and handed me the receipt for 21K.

My initial tentative date of delivery was July-August 2022 and the agonizing wait for the new car began. Had hoped to receive the car by May-June and had planned to visit LEH with a friend and his wife. Though the car was not delivered, we visited LEH in the month of May, as per our earlier plan. During our stay at LEH, one fine evening, received an SMS from M&M that the car will be delivered between 10-17 June. The days passed by without any information and finally on 18th called up the SA to enquire. He was absolutely clueless about any expected future dates for the delivery. Out of frustration, on 20th June wrote a crisp mail to Head of CRM at M&M and the very next day received a call from the M&M plant that my car has been Invoiced on that very day. The GM-Sales at the dealership next day confirmed that my car has indeed been Invoiced in the name of the dealer and the expected receipt date is 30-06-2022. The car was unloaded at the dealer stockyard on the morning of 29-06-2022 and I was called for PDI. The car had 14 KM on the ODO and except for two stain marks on the passenger seat and passenger side door panel, everything was fit and fine. One key fob and the rear sequential turn indicators were missing, as expected.

Son was home after his third year end term exams and 01-07-2022 being Ratha Yatra (an auspicious day), wife wanted to take delivery on Friday itself. The choise numbers that we had in mind was not available, so any random number was taken. Told the SA to fix the side steps and the screen guard; the exchange value for my old Linea was also agreed and all payments were cleared in the evening. On the D-day drove into the dealership at 14:30 hours in my 10 year old Linea, handed over the keys to the SA; performed a small puja of the new car; signed all the paperwork and was handed over one set of the same along with the owner manual and the warranty cards; gifted a box of Chocolate each to the SA (Shubham) and the GM-Sales (Mr. Luvkush Tewari) and drove out of the dealership in the brand new car all within one hour and fifteen minutes.

In the midst of all this smooth experience with the Sales team at M/s. Shivnath Automobiles, Bhilai, there was one dark spot though. Due to my office pressure (first quarterly accounts) I could not spare any time to arrange the insurance from outside (I also had only one day for this); the dealer charged me 1.1L for the insurance which should ideally cost 75K.

I wrote a mail to Ms. Asha Kharge, Head - CRM at M&M regarding this issue, but did not receive any reply. If anyone from M&M is watching or reading the ownership threads, I would like to inform the management that this one activity / transaction has spoiled the otherwise smooth and fussfree buying experience. Thanks to fellow BHPian @ColAjayDrives for sharing his insurance details with me.

To the insurance experts in the forum I have one question - Can I or rather should I go for cancelling the original policy and obtain another policy from the outside ? How much would be the cancellation charges. I understand that I would loose the cashless facility from the dealer workshop.


First glimpses of the car ready for a PDI -






When I questioned the SA - how do I know that this is AWD variant ? This is what he showed me.




Some more pictures of the car from delivery day -












Some finer yet important observations :-

1. One thing I miss the most (specially after driving the Fiat Linea 1.3 MJD Emotion pack for 10 years) is the steering feedback. The fantastic HPS of the Fiat coupled with the brilliantly calibrated suspension gave immense confidence and satisfaction to me as a driver. Here I find the steering feedback of the EPS unit to be minimal and it makes me shaky as an enthusiast driver to push the throttle beyond a certain speed.

I have not yet gone on a long drive on the highway, but I have a feeling that I might not enjoy driving this car as much as I did earlier with my Fiat purely because of this lack of feeling the connect with the road below. (This is purely my personal opinion and I cannot argue on the technicalities.)

2. When other cars have to slow down on speed breakers, the XUV 700 can easily tackle them at decent speeds. The 18 inch wheels and the suspension does a pretty good job of handling potholes and minor undulations at decent to high speeds.

3. The suspension noise, that has been reported by many others in the social media platforms, has not been encountered yet. My car is manufactured in June 2022 and I hope that the initial issues with the suspension has been rectified by M&M (I do remember Ram87pune mentioned that post April 2022 vehicles would not have the suspension issue). At crawling speed I do however hear a subdued thud noise on some potholes. But I still feel the suspension of the Jeep Compass was better than the 700, both uses the FSD.

4. I do always fill my tank to the full and I have noticed a slight “dhub dhub” noise from the fuel tank while reversing. It can only be heard if the surronding is absolutely silent, in any normal day you would not even notice.

5. The XUV 700 does not nosedive on hard braking. Coming from a sedan I do feel some amount of body roll but it is pretty well controlled and does not give a nervous feeling.

6. The diesel engine is very refined and idles at 900 RPM and the engine noise is not felt inside the cabin. During my single highway run of about 50 KM I felt that the cabin is very well insulated from both tyre/ road noise and also traffic noise.

7. The above mentioned drive returned with a mileage of 16.8 KMPL as per the MID. Otherwise the car is returning a mileage of 11.74 KMPL by tankful method in 100% city run. The car has clocked 1535 KM only in one-and-half month of ownership and due to the run-in period hard acceleration was avoided. However I did notice that the shift from first to second gear (it may be second to third - I am not sure about this) takes longer than usual and the RPM climbs upto 2200 before the gear change happens.

Some pictures taken on that day -






8. The Linea was a fairly low slung car, thus I had to sit down into the driver seat. Compared to that the ingress-egress in the XUV is very comfortable. The welcome seat slide mechanism also gives a feeling of premium ness and leaves a lot of room for the driver but it may also create a problem in case this feature is unknown to someone seating at the second row. The seats feel very comfortable to me for the short runs within the city but it is yet to be tested for a longish drive. I need to mention the driver arm rest which is located at the perfect height for me and enhances the comfort level by a few notches giving the feeling of sitting on a comfortable armchair.

9. I have been driving MT cars from 1991 (my father’s Ambassador), Maruti 800 (first car in 1999), Hyundai Santro (2006) and the Fiat Linea (2012). This is my first AT car and I was very scared that my left hand would involuntarily travel to the gear knob out of habit. On the very first day while arriving at a busy intersection my left hand did move to the gear knob, though I was very much conscious of this and my son started laughing loud.

Over this one month I have gradually adjusted my habit and I must say that I am really enjoying the comfort of driving the AT now. The light and the wiper stalks are also on the opposite side (compared to my Linea) and sometimes I do mess up with this.

10. Wanted to christen the new member in the family as “Orion” – the great. There are many stories about the adventures of Orion, the giant and handsome and most skilled hunter in Greek mythology. On his death he was put in the sky, along with his faithful dogs (Sirius and Procyon), as a constellation by the Greek Gods. But my wife found the idea of naming the car a very silly one and reminded me of Bhide bhai’s “sakharam” from the serial Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chasma.

11. The rod that supports/ holds the bonnet when open, in the normal folded position the front end rests very close above the engine cover and gets really hot. After a long drive if you require to open the bonnet for any reason, please keep in mind that the supporting rod would be too hot.

12. If you are standing near the car (radius of 6 feet) after locking the car, the boot door can still be opened - need to be alert or move out of the range.

13. A long press of the unlock switch on the key fob opens the driver side window as well as the sun roof. Similarly a long press of the lock switch closes the sun roof as well as the driver side window, if they are left open by chance.

14. If the head lamps are kept in the auto mode and the high beam is switched on, the high beam turns off when it detects a light from any vehicle coming from the opposite side. This is a welcome feature, but what is irritating for the driver is that the high beam does not turn on again automatically. But if you keep it in the manual mode, the high beam stays on and does not switch off.

[Sommos]

While going through the guidelines of the Ownership Report realised that certain information has been missed out in the first post. The following additional disclosure is placed before the members for information :-

a. Cost :-
Base Price after price protection for first 25K - Rs. 22.89 Lakhs.
Accesories fixed - Rs. 34100.00 (includes Screen guard, Mud flap, Side Steps and 7D mats - better to buy the mats from outside).
Extended Warranty for 4 & 5th year - Rs. 27,139.00
RSA for 4 & 5th year - Rs. 3,020.00
Final on road price - Rs. 27.00 Lakhs.

The Registration charges in Chhattisgarh is calculated @ 9% of the Invoice Value and not on the current market value (as some members from other states have reported). Central registration (BH series) has not been implemented in my state or else in all probability I would have opted for that. Even thought of going for the BH series from Nagpur but found that the RTO charges are much higher in MH. Dropped the idea after talking with the Nagpur dealer.


b. Usage :
My daily usage is limited to 25 KM to and fro from Office.
Minimum 2 visits to Raipur every month for airport or some other pretext - average 100 to 120 KM each time.
Vacation twice each year averaging 900+ KM each way.
Most of our relatives lives in the eastern part of India - so one trip per year to Kolkata-Durgapur-Bokaro (mostly Kolkata).

Adding all the above, my annual running is around 15K KM. Did all this calculation before purchasing the Linea 1.3 MJD 10 years back. This time there was no second thoughts on the fuel type - wanted to have the AWD and diesel was the only option. The SA, at the time of booking tried hard to dissuade me from booking the AWD variant. But the only thing that he had to say against the AWD was that it swithces off at 80 KMPH.

c. Safety & other features :
A lot has already been discussed in the forum about the different features of the XUV 700 and I would not clutter my thread by reapeating the same. My car being Luxury + AWD + AT has all the features (probably) that has been listed in the broucher and the list is pretty long. When the features were explained on delivery day most of the things did not register in my mind. Later on started reading the manual to understand the features and it took some time to complete reading the manual twice.

I am using the ADAS facility except the ACC (adaptive cruise control) within the town. The AEB (auto emergency brake) and the Lane Keep Assist facility works fine. The system applies the emergency brakes even if a pedestrian accidentally comes in front of the car.

After driving the under powered Linea for 10 years, though I had re-mapped the Linea from Wolf, I am really enjoying the power available on tap in the XUV. The XUV gains speed in moments and the speed is not felt by the passengers. The thick A-pillar creates a hinderance by blocking the view and once a cycle came too close to the car before I could spot it.

d. Service experience :
During the delivery the dealership did not update the latest software version. The software version at the time of delivery :-



During the feedback call from the dealership I had reported the above fact along with a request to explain the features once again. Problem was that the service centre timing and my office timing are the same and hence I was not able to take the car to the service centre. There was some monsoon camp at the dealership and the service centre was open on 10-07-2022 (Sunday). On Saturday the CRM called and requested me to visit the service centre on Sunday and a appointment was booked accordingly. It was raining from the morning but still I reached the service centre at around half-past-ten. The security guard, shouting from his cabin told me that the centre is closed and they are not taking any new cars. I sat there for 5 - 7 minutes requesting him to open the gates but he refused to open. Frustrated and irritated I came back home. After lunch I narrated the days incident to Mr. Anand Mahindra on his Twitter handle along with a copy of the acknowledgement of appointment. Within a couple of hours got a call from the HQ enquiring about the incident. The guy somehow was of the impression that it was a fault of the Sales team and next day morning I was patched with the GM-Sales. After I told them that this is not related to Sales but after-sales services and the incident happened at the service centre (which incidentally is at a distance from the showroom), I was patched with the GM-Services and the ball was set rolling for greivance redressal.

I politely refused to their proposal of handing over the car to any technician, as I require the car everyday for my official duty and I was also not to keen to bunk office and visit the service centre only to resolve the issue. The car would anyhow go for the first service at 1000 KM and I intended to defer the updation till then - moreover there was no issues or problems that I encountered. But the GM-Services may be under pressure from HQ to close the ticket and he started calling me every alternate day. I finally decided to end his misery and took the car to the service centre after office hours. The software was updated with the latest version, the features were all explained to me once again and the car was given a complimentary wash and finally returned home at half-past-eight. The concerned technicians and washing guys were held back after normal duty hours for this purpose. Submitted a satisfactory report on Twitter and closed the issue.

After software updation -




After a week the car again visited the service centre for the first service. Called the GM-Services and made an arrangement to come in the post lunch session for the servicing. This time the nut-bolts in the supension etc. were tightened, all fluid levels checked, air filter cleaned, alert history was checked and cleared, nitrogen filled in all the four tyres, car washed and handed over after three hours.

Discussed with a senior person about the service recalls and I was told that M&M or the service centre would contact the respective customers in case their vehicle falls under the recall category. Anyway there is a facility to check whether your vehicle is covered under any service advisory from the "With You Hamesha". One has to enter the last eight digits of the VIN along with RMN and email ID to check.


Observations after the first service :
The service centre is huge and services all sort of M&M vehicles - commercial vehicles, fleet owners and private owners. The waiting room is not commensurate with the number to customers waiting to get their respective vehicles serviced each day. Rather than trying to find a place in the cramped waiting room I preferred to wait near my car or roam aroung the service floor. It was here I noticed that random technicians would hop into the car (including the uncovered front passenger seat) and start playing with Alexa and it happened with my car.

Felt M&M should seriously think about differentiating between the premium customers and the commercial vehicle owners and drivers/ fleet owners.

[Sommos]

Some more pictures of the ORION :

[Sommos]

Exterior Looks, Built Quality, Fit & Finish :

XUV 700 does not have the butch and imposing looks of the Fortuner/ Endeavour but rather looks like a matured, comfortable urban SUV. The lack of chrome both at the front and at the back makes the appearance look more soothing. From the side it resembles the XUV 500 to a large extent. The 18” diamond cut rims with 235/60 Bridgestone Ecopia tyres looks nice and proportionate. The cladding on the bulging wheel arches enhances overall looks of the car. The doors opens and closes in two stages unlike the three stages in the European cars and the door closes with a solid thud. The bonnet is also heavy and would require both the hands to lift – there is no hydraulic struts to lift and hold the bonnet. All these combined gives the feeling of a solidly built car that can withstand abuse (not off-roading types) and still age well.

The paint quality is not comparable with the Europeans but M&M has made some decent progress in the paint department. I have heard or read that the paint is provided by Asian Paints. Panel gaps are uniform all over and nothing glaring or an eye-sore. The glass area is wide and the window line has a chrome strip right from the A pillar to the D pillar. The window line rises slightly at the C pillar over the rear wheel arch.

The unique door handles are beautifully integrated with the body. The doors can be opened either from the unlock button of the key fob or a gentle push on the driver side door handle. The handles auto close at a speed of 10 KMPH (as per manual) but I feel it closes slightly before that. The handles feel sturdy but dust will surely accumulate at the front ends of the handle, which would be difficult to clean.

There are many 700s on the road now but still it attracts a lot of attention on the road.

The ground clearance is said to be 200 MM.


Personal observation :

M&M has overdone the front headlight in dragging down the DRLs so low below the headlamps. Otherwise the headlamp could have been a slim futuristic unit. Changing such a big compact unit in the future would be costly.

M&M should have provided A/T tyres on the AWD variant. Also the under-sized spare tyre is a big thumbs-down for Mahindra after charging 23 Lakhs (ex-showroom).

The arrow head tail lamps looks very beautiful at night and I sorely miss the rear sequential lights. Hope M&M provides the same quickly, though there is no commitment from M&M on the timelines. M&M has also recently discontinued this feature in all variants below the luxury models for vehicles manufactured after June/ July even for the customers who have booked earlier.

The roofline tapers down at the rear and this is very similar to the 500. However, it eats up the head room for the rear seat.

The 700 does not come with factory fitted side steps and the OEM accessory is double the cost of other varieties available in the market. But the out market ones fits lower and reduces the GC; thus fitted the OEM side steps.

A view of the bottom - rear.


The engine compartment gets protection.


Engine bay - the heart of the car.



Internal design /looks, quality and comfort :

The driver seat has a welcome function and slides back to make way. The ingress-egress in the driver seat is easy – one neither climbs up or seats down onto the driver seat it is simple walk into. But the same cannot be said about the passenger seat. I find it difficult to get into the passenger side even when the seat is fully pushed back. If I try a straight entry my head bumps into the roof line, so I have to bent forward and push my body in. The passenger seat does not have height adjustment facility. The black and white combination looks classy but the white seats would be difficult to maintain – specially for families with young kids.

The dash looks clean and simple yet premium and the big infotainment screen is the centre of attraction. The soft white leatherette pad stretches across the length of the dash and integrates with the doors. This contrast in colour in the otherwise black dash board looks really good. There is a brushed silver strip below this that houses the centre aircon vents and the start/stop button. The white colour fabric of the seats gives a feel of roominess. The presence of the EPB (in place of the manual handbrake) gives a clean and uncomplicated feel to the centre fascia. I would have loved a rotary type gear in place of the traditional one here. Overall cabin quality feels good for me.

The front seats are wide and very comfortable with ample amount of side bolstering that embraces my torso perfectly and holds me at place even on sharp turns. The depth of the seat is also perfect and provides sufficient amount of under thigh support for the long drives. The driver seat gets 8-way electronic control with three memory settings (the top button in the setup is dummy) and manual adjustment for the lumber support while the passenger seat gets manual control. The steering wheel has both tilt and telescopic adjustment. With all these features finding the perfect driving position is easy. The comfort level is further enhanced by the wide arm rest, which for me, is placed at the perfect height. It can be pulled forward and gives the feeling of sitting in a comfortable arm chair.

The flat bottom steering wheel feels meaty and nice to touch with contours for the thumb. The control buttons on the steering wheel are easily reachable and respond at soft touch. The phone and audio buttons are placed on the left side while the cruise control and setting buttons are placed on the right. The EPS conceals the feeling of driving such a big vehicle and is very easy to manoevour in tight positions. But after driving an European sedan for a decade I find the steering bland and devoid of feel and any amount of feedback.

The illuminated glove box is adequate and has a separate slot for a book or tablet. The wireless charger has another slot above it for the second mobile. There is a decent storage space below the arm rest which is air cooled. It also comes with a small tray to keep the key fob – a rather strange place to keep the key fob, I would say, specially due to the humidity inside caused by the aircon vent. The passenger side sun blind houses the mirror and yes this one is illuminated - the driver side blind does not get the mirror. What I miss is a small tray sort of facility to store loose coins etc.

The 700 comes with dual zone AC control for the driver and front passenger. The middle row gets a separate aircon vent (with no speed control) with a C-type charging port and a slot to store the mobile. The third row also gets two separate aircon vents at the side along with speed control knob. The real test of the AC would only happen in the harsh summer months but for now the cooling seems adequate.

Just like the front seats, the second row seat is also very comfortable with loads of space in the front to spread the legs. The seat is amply contoured to add to the comfort level and the under thigh support is also adequate. The second row seats also has reclining facility for added comfort during the long drives. The third row seats remain folded in my case and hence no comments on this. The lack of proper illumination in the third row and boot area is sorely felt.

I have lived with the OEM audio system of the Linea for 10 years. Coming from that background, the 12 speaker audio and music system of Sony seems like heaven to me. The different configurations of the music system is tried out by my son when he comes home and being in the fourth year of his engineering course, such instances would be rare.

The ORION has 7 airbags – two front, two for side impact, two rear curtain airbags and a knee airbag.

More than anybody else in the family, the sunroof (or the Skyroof as M&M calls it) is being enjoyed by my wife.


Personal observation :

The following things are sorely missed in the 700 :-
a. OEM sun blinds, and b. Proper illumination in the boot.

A view of the dash board.


The clean central fascia.


The VIN is engraved below the driver seat. Notice the insulation below the mat.


Head room - front passenger seat, for a six feet person.


Head room - second row seat.


Third row gets AC vents on both sides with fan speed control.


Door panel controls - for ORVM, windows and central locking.


Emergency fuel lid opener in the boot left side.


8-way driver seat control switch with memory function. Top button is dummy.


This is one place where dust will accumulate in the long run.


Only sticker that have been allowed - son is against putting the yellow "Live to Drive" sticker on the dark colour.

[Sommos]

Engine, driving dynamics and ride comfort :

The Orion has Mahindra’s 2.2 L turbo diesel mHawk engine in it’s heart that produces peak power of 136KW/ 182 BHP @ 3500 RPM and max torque of 450NM @ 1750 RPM. On pressing the start button the engine starts with a muted grunt and settles down to idle at 900 RPM. No vibration is felt on the gear lever of the AT. The engine noise is very well controlled even on the outside and inside the cabin the engine noise is not heard. Even though the gear is shifted to R/ D, the EPB remains engaged and the car does not make a move till the A pedal is pressed. If all the doors are not closed properly or the driver seat belt is not worn, the car would give a message and remain defiant. Only when all it’s condition are fulfilled, the car makes the first movement with a slight jerk (maybe because of the EPB release - I'm not sure) but otherwise the movement is smooth and seamless. Once started, the car can crawl at a speed of 8 KMPH without any accelerator input and this provides great relief in bumper-to-bumper movement.

I have not tried the Zip/ Eco mode and I did not get any opportunity to venture long distance on the highway so the Zoom/ Sport mode has also not been used. The car has been driven 100% on the default Zap mode and inside the city except for two airport commute to Raipur (Durg-Raipur expressway is extremely conjested) and once to Dongargarh (major part is through village road) and the mileage obtained is 11.74 KMPL by tankful method. Considering that this is an AT with AWD, I am satidfied with the mileage.

The peak torque being available at 1750 RPM and with the power of 182 horses at disposal, power lag is not felt. The engine responds well to mild taps on the A pedal and cruising around in the city at decent speeds is smooth and silent. On the open highway as you press the accelerator the gear shifts happen smoothly and in no time the car crosses triple digit figures. The engine does not revv unnecessarily and gear shifts happen at low RPM. The acceleration happens in a linear fashion and there is no push back to the seats. The speed of the car is not felt by the occupants and it does not give any nervous feeling. The engine noise is very well controlled inside the cabin. The tyre noise and other road noises from heavy trucks moving around is not felt within the cabin.

The six speed torque convertor from Aisin does a pretty decent job and should be acceptable to majority of users. It is neither too aggressive nor too slow – rather a middle of the path and does it’s job smoothly without any fuss. The AT does have a manual mode but never felt the need to test it. Paddle shifters may be missed by the more enthusiast drivers.

Mahindra has fitted McPherson Strut independent suspension with FSD & stabiliser bar at the front and Multi-link independent suspension with FSD & stabiliser bar at the rear. Whatever this means in technical terms the result is impressive. In broken roads, whether the car is at crawling speed or at high speed the occupants are very well protected from any sideways or upward movement. From the inside the ride is very comfortable. But when the roads are not so broken i.e. only the top layer has been washed off and there are no deep potholes, there I can hear a muted thud noise from the tyres.

The car has crossed 1500 KM.

With so much negative report on the 700 in the social media, what I can say is that (touchwood) I have not encounterd any, till now, neither in the software area nor in the mechanical area except for one instance momentarily. One day I crossed a hump at somewhat more speed than I would normally do. Just after crossing the hump I felt loss of power for a couple of seconds. Saw the ESP telltale sign on the MID in yellow. Just as I pressed the accelerator again, the sign disappeared and the car moved on fine. I cross this hump everyday on my way to the office and I have tried to re-create the situation many times but nothing happened again.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[fazalmirza]

Wow... Brilliant writeup and must say beautiful pictures.

[abyaym]

Congratulations for your Orion!!! Thanks for the nice and concise writeup. Expecting some AWD justifiable travelog in future.

[Tanmay007]

Congratulations on finally getting it and great write-up! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Looking forward to your future experiences. No matter how many reviews I read about this beauty, can't seem to get enough of it!

Originally Posted by Sommos

I understand that I would loose the cashless facility from the dealer workshop.

It's a misconception that buying insurance from dealership is mandatory for cashless claims. Every insurance company has it's own publicly available list of cashless garages. Simply search the internet for "company name + cashless garages".

You could have alternatively asked the dealership to match outside quotes, getting quotes is easy these days since they're instantly available online. My dealer too quoted around ~1.2L for insurance but matched outside quote from TATA at ₹76k.

As for cancelling existing policy, it can be done however you will not get full refund and it will be done on a pro-rata basis. You can talk with the insurance agent of the new company and he will help you out with all the details.

[Mathan1130]

May your every ride be full of excitement and bring a great experience.

[ampere]

Congrats on your new drive! I remember many of us referring to your post either for Linea for driving across Central India! I hope the 7OO will carry that baton!

[Dibyendu Bose]

Congrats on your new acquisition and thanks for the very comprehensive review.
You need not worry about years of habit with a MT…from my experience..even if you have two vehicles, one MT and the other AT, you will seamlessly toggle between the two on a single day.
One more point struck a chord with me was the limited leg space Safari had. I am a 6 footer and i also faced the problem of my knee rubbing the dash during the TD. Harrier also has the same problem so you didn’t miss anything.

[damodar]

Originally Posted by Dibyendu Bose

One more point struck a chord with me was the limited leg space Safari had. I am a 6 footer and i also faced the problem of my knee rubbing the dash during the TD. Harrier also has the same problem so you didn’t miss anything.

Did you try adjusting the telescopic steering by pulling it out to the max? It's got a fair amount of travel. At the same time do try lowering the seat a bit that should solve the knee hitting the dashboard problem.

[Dibyendu Bose]

Thanks .. while it was more than a year back, what i remember is that i tried everything available under the sun but the discomfort remained. While one may at a later date get used to the inconvenience, I didn’t want to take a risk. In fact, this aspect is so different in a comparatively smaller vehicle like Jeep Compass. A 6 feet 4 inch guy can sit comfortably in Compass. TaMo needs to improve on its ergonomics.

[haribalram]

Originally Posted by Dibyendu Bose

One more point struck a chord with me was the limited leg space Safari had. I am a 6 footer and i also faced the problem of my knee rubbing the dash during the TD. Harrier also has the same problem so you didn’t miss anything.

I am 5.6 and I had the same issue of the knee hitting the dash on the Harrier. It was an irritant even during the 30 mins of TD. From the driver seat comfort of a Scorpio, it wasn't a compromise I was willing to make.