Test drove... XUV 500 today W8 2 wheel drive

Test drove, XUV 500 today. Excellent looks, great design, infact it WOW'd me. But the reality started to sink in slowly, performance sluggish. 2 liter engine was OK, but no match to the TDI engine from Skoda's. Worst part was the interiors. It has almost all features you could ask for. Front and side air bags for driver and passengers, both front and rear. But the plastics are cheap. so cheap that I felt even my Santro has better grade plastics. The so called leather seats felt like cheap grade Rexin. I wanted to see the inside after folding the rear seats and the more skeletons came out. Material used for seat cover backs felt like cheap rug material stiched onto the seat covers. When I opened and closed the doors. didnt get the feeling as if I am dealing with a SUV. it sounded somewhat like what you feel in a Tata SUMO. Then checked out the the rubber on door edges, which reminded me Ambassador. Phew.

Now the road experience, Felt nice and comfortable (note that I was driving in mid town city road. so no scope to really push the gas). Felt a little sluggish on 4th gear. Need to do more or highway driving before I comment more on driving performance. GPS navigation is good and nicely placed. didnt use it though. I've been told it has voice prompts as well.

Overall. great car for looks from outside. especially the LED lamps under the head lamps gives the look of a top end vehicle. But when I am paying 14lakhs, i expect to be treated with more respect and not with cheap grade plastic. Sales guy tells me that they got a certificate from some agency on 15kmpl mileage on highway. So I am not expecting more than 13 on highway and city roads easily around 10kmpl.

Final Words I went with great excitement after watching all the reviews on TV and reading the comments on web. but came back dissappointed.

Areas of improvement Materials used for interirors are real cheap. I wonder how much does it cost for you to use better material. They want to save money on this???. Companies really need to start treating its customers with more respect.

Excellent looks, great design, infact it WOW'd me...Very very cheap material for interiors and plastics. Cheap rexin used in seat covers.