Honest review of my XUV700 after driving 50,000 km in just 19 months
If I drive this SUV sedately, it will put some of the hatchbacks to shame with its fuel efficiency.
BHPian abirnale recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Summary of ownership for 50K Kms
It’s been 19+ months with #TheRedSparkle and we just crossed over to the 50,000 Kms mark. This is actually the fastest 50K km I ever clocked on any of my cars till date. This itself talks scores about the car and its usage. Although I want to say “my car is the best car”, you know that’s a plain lie. That’s right – just see it for yourself, the summary of my ASC visits that were documented in the M&M WYH app officially: 24 visits in about 19 months! That’s more than one each month, almost one visit every 500Kms.
I would be again lying if I only stopped at the above statements: my car never stayed in the workshop for more than 4 hours, except when we were investigating the ESP blinking phenomenon (which actually is not an issue) in the early days during which MRV folks and others did some drives and needed the car for more than a day. I would also be not right if I didn’t tell you that – 25% of these visits were essential visits and the rest could have been simply either avoided or clubbed with mandatory visits. Bunch of recalls/service actions and proactive work was the primary reason and software updates top this chart. I am glad that none of the visits to service stations were related to repairs initiated due to my usage or accidents or something similar: knock-on-wood!
In the hindsight, I want to make two important points here:
- What this brand new M&M product threw at me, ASCs covered for the nuisance. Chrome is a torch-bearer ideal ASC on how to treat customers and how to perfectly carry out the work.
- M&M did a lot of proactive work on the car – didn’t wait for me to complain. Be it warranty replacements, updates, timely notifications or even arranging to explain why something is the way it is in the car! Kudos to them.
Having said above – M&M still has a long way to go. They are getting better with every passing day. I am not sure if I will own anything in M&M again – not because I am unhappy but because my wishes have grown out of their segment. I also feel that their focus on 7OO was much much more than they did 5OO. Much lesser niggles, much more refined package overall. When I bit the bullet to be one of the early customers, I had expected the worst – and I am glad, it all turned out to be better.
Safety and VFM
The one prominent thing I want to state about this car and its ownership is that this car mechanically is near perfect for its value/segment/classification. Nothing comes closer to it. Talking only about VFM – this is the first time I have experienced a car appreciating its value since it was purchased! I got the current top-end variant at 29.05 laks on road in Bangalore. The same variant with some irritant things (like that hybrid start-stop feature) today costs almost 5 lakhs more! 7OO is less of a mechanical car and more of the electronics and M&M so far hasn’t given me a chance to blame them for their support, focus and general quality of this car. I read a lot of horror stories on 7OO and I am not sure how much of that is truth vs exaggeration, but I have seen a lot of accidental cars in the service center that had zero blood stains or fatality-associated accidents: the point I want to make is, this car is proven to be safe for many families for sure (I have some videos of broken 7OOs in accidents but I do not have permission to post them).
About Tire Options:
While I am stating the obvious, there is one thing that is currently irritating me the most: lack of A/T tire options for 7OO – TheRedSparkle is an AWD, and I do not hesitate to collect scratches, venture on bad roads, gravel surfaces and terrain where grip is a must – I don’t have economic tires that suit this need. I hear people saying their car tires last for 60-70 K Kms and here I am with all care and caution, nothing lasts beyond 30-35K! Either I am doing something wrong or my choices about tires are wrong.
What could have been better?
- The brake pads have such a small life
- The DEF availability outside ASC is an important need – we should be able to use DEF from the fuel station
- The ICE is good but it isn’t the best. The Apple CarPlay is very poorly integrated. If you need to know what’s the best – head to Jeep Compass ICE. If everyone else in the industry is able to make it trouble-free, without issues, what makes M&M not do it? I have myself been a mobile apps and solution engineer for many decades – can’t digest this mediocrity.
- Missing niceties – they must have kept it for the facelift version but why not make them at least available to us as accessories? Be it auto-dimming IRVM or a functional and good looking roof carrier for those overlanding trips or a simple LED bulb in the boot.
To summarise, there are a lot of small things that M&M could consider for their upcoming AX9 or facelift versions that are missing from the current line-up. Now instead of looking at half glass being empty, I want to draw attention to the half portion of the glass that is filled.
Every time you take this car out for a spin, there is a wicked smile on your face. I have driven this car in all possible manners (my skills are average and limited) and it has always exceeded my expectations. If I drive this car in the economy band (80-110kmph, less braking – in other words, sane driving), it will put some of the hatchback makers to shame with its FE. A 2.2 ltr engine with 16-17 KMPL – how much more greedy do you want to be?
And hey – if the car is really running like an SUV should, what is it with those DEF issues people talk about? Haven’t seen a single issue with DEF on my car and I am almost certain that it will not happen with TheRedSparkle! This I deduce after 1000km slow runs for three months in the city alone. If it wasn’t for the forced rest I was made to take, TheRedSparkle would have easily piled up another 10K kms in July-Aug-Sept.
By the way, I am just an average IT Joe – none of my schedule/work demands that I drive extensively. And I don’t drive my car as a taxi too Everything that is driven so far is purely for fun, holidays, visiting parents and exploring around.
Now if you have survived this entire text and read through it – you get the point I assume: My car is NOT the best car!
A clean and shining car looks great only in the Garage: hoping to gather some muck from the drives!
I am resuming my drives and #TheRedSparkle travel stories will start flowing again. Thank you for reading and your best wishes/inspiration for driving #TheRedSparkle more. Stay tuned for more fun stories and pictures.
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