Very good car with some very petty problems. Review on Mahindra Xylo mHawk

Resident of Chandigarh which is close to himachal Pradesh and like any other Chandigarh person very fond of travelling in the hills. So had to buy vehicle with good ground clearance and good comfort too. Out of Innova and Mahindra why did I pick up a Xylo? Here are the reasons:

1. Price : Top end Xylo is much more economical to buy than the top end Innova

2.  Mahindra has a wide service network in the interiors of himachal Pradesh

1. Space inside the xylo is more, even in the third row

   
   




2. The ground clearance and particularly the gradient clearance angle is much better. So I finally bought the xylo E8 in march 2009. Took it to some of the toughest terrains in himachal. Ill attach picture of my drive from Manali to Bijli mahadev which was comparable to a trip to Leh or even worse as I have been to Leh in a Santro with relative ease. It handled that terrain with relative ease and I was very impressed with the ability of the vehicle.

   
   

Highway Drive: Travel to Delhi often and if I drive around 80 or so I almost every time get a mileage of 15 kmpl. In a single tank fill I have driven from Chandigarh to delhi and back with a lot of travel with in delhi and still the mileage was 15.

The travel to chamba and kangra, and I am talking about the furthest points in Chamba…Bharmour, crossing khadamukh and some kucha roads leading to small hydro projects, got a mileage of around 12, as the road between khadamukh and bharmour is virtually non existant.

We  We work in the area of small hydro so often the car has to go to locations of these small hydro projects where the road means the hill has been cut and no tarmac. The Xylo has never given any problem. Infact we had some more people travelling with us in Innova and I was able to put a gap of 5 minutes in between us on the 4 km kutcha road which went to the village.

Now it has done over 35000 kms. Here are the 2 primary problems with the vehicle.

1.  The door rattle which primarily originates from the poor plastic locks on the door panel. This started with in first month of the car purchase and it bothers you almost every few weeks. Mahindra needs to look into this.

2.  The clutch issue. The clutch started giving problem around 32000 kms where in the pedal would  go down and would not come back. The dealer did acknowledge that number of vehicles have faced this problem. The part that was to be replaced was not available with any dealer or any supplier in the city. That’s bad but what is good is that it still did the Bharmour Chamba trip without any major hitch. The dealer did change the part under warranty once I was back from this place.  The other good thing is that even my wife drove the vehicle on that route without any hassle, talks well about its handling.

1. The tube in the fog lamp is the other thing that had to be changed once around 30, 000 kms. Not much expenditure on maintenance except the regular service which costs around 2000 except once when my sister took the car for service. The dealer as usual fleeced her into getting the spray for decarbonization and some fuel additive which I never allow. Almost all the manufacturers need to look into this practice of their dealers where in they try to convince customers into getting these things done.

   
   




2. The stereo needs to be given some additional power as the output is not adequate. For me it is actually very poor as I prefer listening to metal and rock. The base in the stereo is literally non existent. I think even a pre amp would suffice for people like us who want good output.

   
   

My advice is that before going for service open the booklet and look at the service details mentioned. It clearly says what needs to be checked and what needs to be changed.

There was one interesting thing that I saw as I had to get the vehicle serviced from a small service station of Mahindra in Himachal for the 35000 service. There was at least 1 inch thick layer of dust on the air filter which I don’t think is right since I get it checked and serviced every mentioned interval. This lead me to arrive at the conclusion that the city dealer had not cleaned the air filter in previous service. So I did get the filter changed again at 35000kms which is pretty normal considering the area I take my vehicle to.

My suggestion is buy this vehicle and suggestion to Mahindra is, put better panel locks in the door. Even tata cars don’t rattle that much. People tend to think that it’s the doors and poor quality body work. Don’t think spending another 50 rupees for better door panel locks would make much dent in your profits.

 Ok now an update on the vehicle over 2.5 years down the line. Its done over 37500 kms.

    The problems that were faced in the last 2500 kms.

   The clutch pedal would not come back. So dealer had to change the delivery system (now they dont   use wires anymore for clutch the system is hydraulic and the hydraulics had leaked) The part was not available but was changed when they received it and changed it under warranty.

 The clutch was still giving problems and took it back to dealer a couple of times which they "fixed". I think they tampered with the settings as with in next 2000 kms the pressure plates and clutch plate and bearing wore out.

Took it to dealer and he said ahh its not our fault you must be driving with foot on clutch. (Ive driven a maruti 800 for 80, 000kms and that did not have this problem when there is no foot support next to clutch in m800)

  So the dealer wants 10, 000 to change these.

   Check from the market the genuine mahindra pressure plate clutch plate costs 3200 and bearing 800. Total cost of 4000 and add to that a labour of 2200 quote by dealer staff, comes to 6200.

    Called mahindra support and told them I want to speak to someone technical. Answer " sir you will get a call back with in 24 hours".

  Waiting for the 24 hours to complete.

   Update: 45000 kilometers. The tyres would have lasted another 5000 kms  but I changed them anyways because the bridgestones have become way too  hard and problematic. Changed to mrf wanderer. Which has its own  interesting story. Tyre was not available anywhere in mumbai or navi  mumbai hence called up local sales office followed by call to VP in  corporate office. Two days later 5 tires were delivered to the dealer in  vashi navi mumbai. Will post separate review for wanderer later.

    Tried to contact mahindra again to find out if I can go for bigger tyres again no response. But MRF.. well these people are good at hiring staff. The VP took out more than 15 minutes to explain why I should not go for bigger tires and what problem I will face. I was buying only 5 tyres worth 25000 rupees and the VP is kind enough to take out time and explain the problems and consequences.

While changing tires the head told me specifically that the pivot arm  on the right needs to be changed. So after rough use of the vehicle.  Another expense of around 7-8000 rs. 5000 will be for the pivot arm and  2500 is expected for the bush kit which needs change anyways and if you  drive around the places like I do, you should be happy you are not  changing them every 10000 kms.

A rat had managed to enter the  car, donno from where and lead to chewing to some electrical cables.  Hence the power to stereo is gone and the come home lights dont work  now. Fixed stereo.

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