The Mamba- XUV 500 - The 1st Ownership Report

[mannubhai]

Hi Friends,

Yesssssssssssss . I have got the delivery of my XUV500, the earliest bird probably .. Am i Excited ?? Oh yes I AM. (Warning : I might end up over writing due to that )

The Flash Back

I have been driving an Indigo-LS for almost 6 years, clocking an ODO of 77000 kms. An excellent work horse and a very reliable one. But I always wanted an SUV. I drive 80% inside Bangalore city , so it had to be one which was city friendly too. I had my eyes on the Safari right from the day I started driving. No safari that passed me missed a stare of admiration coated with a pinch of Jealousy from me. I also had a liking towards the Scorpio for being the easy city ride it was. This dilly-dallying was going on.

29th Sept 2011.

The big news of XUV 500 launch came as a big surprise for me. All through these days, the XUV was to be a 15-20 lac monster thats going to take the fortuner market head on. It was never expected to be a sub 15 lac car and hence was not in contention for me. The car was launched at 10.8 lacs in Delhi. I called Syed, the SE from India Garage, Bangalore who was my contact point for the Scorpio. He told me that the car is expected to reach the show room on 30th by around noon. They have a big launch planned , and I can see it in flesh. I had applied for a loan with PNB with a tentitive quote of a Scorpio LX. I called the bank and told them that the loan might need to be extended to accommodate the XUV.That having done, the wait was on.

30th Sept 2011.

I could hardly wait, and the kiddish excitement was back into me. The so-near-yet-so-far mania was eating in. Around 12 noon, i called the SE and was told that the display would be at 3pm. I was there by 2pm . The display had been set and people were already in the showroom. Rather, it was infact crowded.

First Glance :
I was a little disappointed having missed the first glance advantage. Nevertheless, the first look bowled me over. This one had to be my car, I decided. Took a good one hour to see around the car, in ,out, under,over. I must admit Im not a techie when it comes to the car. So most of the looking around was in admiration and imagining me driving it.

Test Drive:
I didn't realize that the TD had started by then. SEs were running around with iPads and order forms.There was no one to talk to , no one knew who was in charge of TD, it was an absolute mayhem. Self help mode kicked in and I found the guy , booked the TD and by then i was Wait listed no 16.
I didn't get a long TD as the waiting list had grown to close to 40 by then. The short TD itself finalized my decision, and i walked in and paid the booking amount.

The Model
The only dispute was between a W8 FWD and W6. I chose the W6 cos all the features i wanted and more were present in a W6 and the only thing i felt i missed was the ESP ( which i admit is a major advantage) .The intuition was strongly towards the W6 and so the decision was made.
They gave me a 6 week delivery timeline and the M&M mail on the order tracking gave me a possible date of 2nd Nov. I was contend and the wait started.

18th Oct 2011

By the previous week, I was told that the car has reached Bangalore, to my pleasant surprise. I made the payments from the bank( loan component) and my contribution immediately. I contained my excitement as i didn't want a shady job on the delivery front, so told them to take their time. I was confirmed a delivery on 18th by noon.

The Delivery :

I could not do as PDI before the delivery date as i was out of town. I just left my hopes pinned to the fact that this is amongst the 1st cars to be delivered, so enough care would be taken for a non-goofup delivery. I reached the India Garage showroom by 12 noon. I saw the car being given the final wipe down before being driven down to the delivery stand . It was an eye catcher, the black beast. I had not seen it in black before, as all the display vehicles and TD vehicles were of other shades.
We finished the documentation in about 20 mins. The number plates had come and i gave a go ahead to install them.
They did the usual drama of covering it with a cloth making me undress it etc .. But I must admit that the entire showroom and the many visitors there were all excited as much as I was. I presented the SE with a good Hidesign wallet and i felt he deserved it for the pains he had taken to get me my car ahead of schedule.

Pleasantries exchanged, I undressed the car .. And there it was , in all its elegance and beauty. Not a single guy who passed that way could take his eyes of this black beast.

I was explained the basics of the car , the electronics , and in 15 minutes i was off and driving.

The ODO was 102 kms.

Why XUV

As mentioned it was a fight between the safari and scorpio to the finish.
The timed launch of XUV won me over

1) The Looks- Amazingly stylish. Honeycomb design in the front to the tail lamps, all echoed style.

2) The Goodish elements : I think they did a copy paste from almost all SUVs in the markets and picked the best ones

3) Space : I was out of space in a scorpio and had too much of it in safari. This had amazing space. Im 6 feet , and even after me adjusting the driving seat to the most comfy mode, another 6 feeter could easily sit with enough leg space behind the driver seat.

4) The Price : 10.9 ex-showroom for an SUV of this class was a steal. Im sure they will hike the price soon. My cost was 13.25 OTR ( I took the insurance from outside)

5) Early Bird/Exclusive : I was not sure if i wanted to drive around a car which was a decade old , read,safari/scorpio. This gave me the exclusivity factor plus the early bird advantage having booked first day first hour.

6) Convenience/Comfort: Though it looked a monster, its a well tamed one. Having had a tough time turning the safari and having cramped up inside the Scorpio, XUV was a welcome change. Loads of space and ease in driving. I feel the Mahindra engineers gave enough thought to all the minor niggles. Right from bottle holders in each seat to mood lighting, talks of the amount of work that has gone inside the XUV. With a turning radius of 5.4, its as good as a sedan, as long as u know u have a heavier butt.

7) Safety : ABS and the airbags does give you the comfort of being in safe hands. The ESP would have been an advantage which i have missed, having taken the W6.

8) VFM : It has everything I need and more. For once I feel I paid less for the value its offering. Ill call it thus, MVFLM ... More Value For Less Money.


Whats Lacking

1) The Luggage space :If all 7 seats are up, you can squeeze in an ipad at the best in the luggage space. This essentially is a 5 seater, as most of the time your back seats are going to be folded. If you intend a 7 seat drive, better be sure that you need an XUV. At best its a 6 seater with as much luggage space as in a small hatchback.

The Mamba -My XUV

Its a black beast. A W6 version. Has walnut interiors. I plan to run it on all stocks for the time being. The ICE seems pretty decent, may look at some enhancement in quality later on. May go for the alloys too.

Few clicks taken on the day of delivery. Will add on more pics of the interiors soon.

[555]

Congrats..

[silversteed]

Congratulations on being the owner of a beastly beauty, or a beautiful beast, mannubhai! Do update this thread frequently with your impressions, experiences, etc etc.

Rated 5* for explaining your delivery experience and those good pics. Post more pics of the interiors too

[Godfather]

Congratulations on being the First person on GH and i guess in BLR to have a XUV.

[Evolution88]

First of all Congrats mannubhai for your new acquisition.

I have been following you in the other threads & came to know about the acquisition before this thread.
But this thread will be helpful for all those who want to know more about the XUV 5OO.
Looking forward for updates from you.

If all 7 seats are up, you can squeeze in an ipad at the best in the luggage space.

With 7 seats up luggage space is very limited. I saw the pics & felt like hardly 2/3 Backpack's can fit in there. :-(

So on which road can we meet Mamba?

[tadukuttan]

Congrats mannubhai!

Now all you need to do is, come for a meet so all of us can see/feel the car as well!

[Evolution88]

come for a meet so all of us can see/feel the car as well!

Yeah...

[venbab]

Congrats mannubhai, expecting more posts on the ownership experience.

i guess in BLR to have a XUV.

Definitely not the first person in BLR as I have seen 3 registered vehicles last week.

[Babbanji Franklin]

Superb beast you have in there !!

[quicksilver]

mannubhai, Congrats on your buy. you can rest assured of exclusivity for at least another 3-4 months as the bookings have closed mostly and that too, only in the metros.

Looks fabulous in black! Good call on running it stock for a while. You probably know it already, but I will say it anyway... do not do "Teflon coating", no matter what the dealer tells you.

Enjoy your car and the attention you get Cheers!