In our short period with a Mahindra XUV 3XO at the media drive event, we found it to be the most premium-feeling vehicle in the B-segment cars
Almost halfway into 2024, Mahindra is giving XUV300 a major update in the form of a facelift. Changes are so profound, that this facelift almost feels like a whole new generation. Also adding to that effect is a new name. This is not XUV3 “O” “O” anymore. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the new Mahindra XUV 3X “O”.
At the media drive event, we sampled top-spec AX7L with TGDi 1.2L 130 PS powertrain mated to an all-new Aisin-sourced torque converter gearbox. Mahindra calls XUV 3XO “The New Disruptor” and is set to take on its prior rivals like Tata Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, Nissan Magnite and Renault Kiger. Even though XUV 3XO is a major upgrade over the XUV300, we felt the car is almost there to perfection. Here’s why.
Mahindra XUV 3XO First Drive Review
For starters, Mahindra has got the pricing right. They range between Rs. 7.49 lakh for base variant going all the way to Rs. 15.49 lakh for the most expensive variant. Trim hierarchy takes a similar approach to Mahindra XUV700’s. We now have MX1 at the base level, MX2, MX2 Pro, MX3, MX3 Pro, MX5, AX5, AX5L, AX7 and AX7L. Powertrain options include the same 1.2L Turbo Petrol and 1.5L Turbo Diesel mated to both manual and automatic gearbox options.
If you’re not living under a rock, you must have seen an XUV300 around you by now. XUV 3XO gets an all-new fascia. This is a lot wilder and a lot meaner than what XUV300 aspired to look. We have reservations about car’s grill with vertical slats, but everything else falls into place nicely. Mahindra has taken design inspiration for the fascia from its upcoming BE and XUV.e range of vehicles. There is no split headlight design with XUV 3XO and lighting elements are vertically laid out in a massive housing. This is a breath of fresh air as most OEMs are offering split headlights with sleek horizontal DRLs.
Twin Peaks logo sits proudly in the centre. We like interesting patterns on the grill and bumper. XUV 3XO’s DRLs take a C-shaped theme and extend to almost half of the fascia vertically. Illumination is taken care of by LEDs, backed by projectors for low beam and reflectors for high beam. There are no fog lights. Hence the question of cornering lights just flew out of the window.
While front doesn’t follow what most other OEMs are currently chasing, rear does. We’re talking about connected LED tail lights that seem to be the norm now. They run across the width of XUV 3XO. Other notable elements include faux skid plates, twin reflectors, bold XUV 3XO lettering, rear defogger, rear washer and wiper and LED number plate lights. Side profile is where the car retains most of its XUV300 identity. Except for 17-inch alloy wheels, there aren’t any significant changes here. That means XUV 3XO still has quirky and stubby proportions and continues to split opinions.
Interior updates
On the top, we now get a panoramic dual-pane sunroof. Something not seen on XUV400 or any other mainstream sub 4m vehicles ever. Glass elements extend from the front all the way to car’s rear, lending a large viewing area. A ton of light enters this cabin and feels a lot airy and less claustrophobic. There are radical changes on the inside, coming from XUV300. That said, we have seen these new elements on recently launched XUV400 EL Pro.
Listing changes from XUV300, centre of the dashboard is all new with a free-standing 10.25-inch infotainment screen with a few physical controls, redesigned AC vents and an all-new and mature-looking dual-zone climate control panel. Leather-wrapped steering wheel is nice, and so is the 10.2-inch fully digital instrument screen. Centre console now packs an electronic parking brake, a wireless charging pad and a 65W Type-C fast charging port.
We can see a lot of piano black elements on the inside that ups the ambience. Speaking of ambience, interior lighting is taken care of entirely by LEDs. Front passenger vanity light and rear passenger reading lights are LEDs too. Heck, even the boot light is LED. Vanity mirror is not only largest in segment, but it might be one of the largest among mainstream cars in general. No vanity mirror and light for driver, though.
What is an absolute highlight on XUV 3XO’s interior has to be the soft-touch plastics. The car feels significantly more premium than what its price suggests, all thanks to soft-touch plastics used extensively on top half of dashboard, top parts of all four doors and elbow pads on all doors. Tata Indica Vista in 2008 had same amount of soft-touch plastics on the inside and it is good to see Mahindra bringing it back.
XUV 3XO’s overall cabin ambience puts its rivals and even many compact SUVs from a segment above to shame. What we didn’t like on the inside is the extensive use of white colour on dashboard and leatherette seat upholstery. I personally drive a car with white plastics and white leather seats and they have turned off-white permanently. Speaking of seats, the driver’s seat is height adjustable. However, I found the seat height very low for a vehicle marketed as an SUV.
Maybe I’m spoiled with the ridiculously high truck-like seat height on my Renault Captur. Rear seat ergos are the same and overall comfort is vastly improved with addition of rear AC vents. This was a much-needed add-on considering sunny Indian climatic conditions. Also much-needed are USB ports for rear passengers. Transition from SsangYong Tivoli to XUV300 took the biggest hit with boot space at just 257L of cargo volume. XUV 3XO’s boot space is slightly higher on paper at 295L. But this is achieved with a dinky little 135-section space-saver spare tyre.
Gizmos & Safety
There are a lot of Gizmos on offer with the XUV 3XO. Starting from the outside, XUV 3XO gets auto headlights and rain-sensing wipers, LED headlights and tail lights, LED DRLs and LED turn indicators, front parking sensors, a 360-degree camera, keyless entry, request sensor on driver’s side door and tailgate only, rear washer and wiper, and more. On the inside, gizmos include a new 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment, Harman Kardon audio system with a subwoofer, a 10.2-inch instrument cluster, electronic parking brake, wireless charging pad, 65W fast charger, dual-zone auto AC, steering modes, drive modes, cooled glovebox, TPMS, Adrenox connectivity suite, a sleek and bezel-less auto-dimming IRVM (only on AX7L), dual-pane panoramic sunroof and the main highlight, camera-based Level-2 ADAS.
The 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment screen supports wired Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto. Unit given to us didn’t support wireless Android Auto for some reason. The new 10.2-inch instrument screen was not legible in direct sunlight at all and it was not very intuitive to use as well. Menus were horizontally laid out, but buttons to control them only moved vertically (up and down). On paper, this instrument screen should show full-screen navigation data. There’s only real-time turn-by-turn navigation in a sq-inch real estate, while the map was stuck to a world-view highlighting African continent.
Main highlight of XUV 3XO, something Mahindra should pat itself on the back for, is the first-in-segment Level-2 ADAS suite that is a cut above the Level-1 ADAS rivals offer. We get 10 Level-2 ADAS features including Forwad Collision warning, Lane keep assist, Auto emergency braking, Adaptive cruise control, High beam assist, Traffic sign recognition and others. We say camera-based and not just Level-2 ADAS because XUV 3XO’s ADAS features don’t work as seamlessly as they would, on a radar-based system.
For instance, there were multiple instances of AEB triggering even though there was enough distance for an elephant to dance around. When I wanted AEB to trigger in traffic and on the highway, it mostly didn’t. When AEB kicks in, it makes a lot of brake judder sounds and we didn’t find an option to turn it off. Considering Indian road conditions filled with infinite idiocies, I wished ADAS systems could be switched off. Maybe it can be switched off, but we didn’t find the option in the limited time we had.
Talking about other safety attributes, Mahindra XUV 3XO is built on the same platform as XUV300, which scored 5 star global NCAP crash rating. New XUV3XO gets more safety credentials and comes with 35 standard safety features, including 6 airbags, a comprehensive ESP package, all 4 disc brakes, etc.
How does it drive?
Before talking about how it drives, we have to get powertrain options out of the way. Engine options from XUV300 are carried over as they were. We have a 1.2L 3-cylinder Turbo Petrol engine and a 1.5L 4-cylinder Turbo Diesel engine. Unlike XUV300 with a more powerful TurboSport version, XUV 3XO gets T-GDi engine with higher state of tune only with higher-spec petrol variants. AX5L and above. Performance metrics include 130 horses and 230 torques at their respective peaks for TGDi and 110 horses and 200 Nm with lower-spec petrol variants with TC MPFi engine. The trusty ol’ 1.5L 4-cylinder Turbo Diesel is retained with the same performance as before, which is 115 horses and 300 torques. Both engines get a 6-speed manual gearbox option along with automatic.
This makes XUV 3XO the most powerful offering in sub 4m SUV space by some margin. When mated to the all-new Aisin-sourced 6-speed torque converter, 0-60 km/h sprint on TGDi is claimed to be in just 4.4 seconds. Fuel efficiency is the highest with diesel engine at 20.6 km/l and interestingly, fuel efficiency is 20.1 km/l with the higher-spec TGDi engine.
130 horses, 230 torques, all four disc brakes, semi independent rear suspension and other attributes might look promising for an exhilarating drive. We sampled the TGDi engine with new Aisin-sourced 6-speed automatic gearbox and it let the whole experience down. We say this because this gearbox doesn’t feel well-calibrated with this engine and it hesitates to put the power down in a proper manner.
This gearbox doesn’t do a good job in analysing the speed and selecting an optimum gear. There is a pronounced hesitation when you floor the pedal before gearbox comes to life and does its thing. Immediate rivals offer quick-shifting 7-speed DCTs that are much better. Maybe the manual gearbox on XUV 3XO would have proved more exciting than the Automatic.
On paper, Mahindra XUV 3XO is a monocoque vehicle with FWD layout just like every single one of its rivals marketed as SUVs. Being a Mahindra, we were expecting well-judged suspension with plush ride quality. The ride is plush, but it could have been plusher. Bump absorption was decent and nothing to write home about. Maybe a 215/60-17 tyre would have fared better. This is not a sporty car and you can’t hustle it through the corners. If you do, you will be met with a ton of body roll. If you’re spoiled with excellent suspension on mainstream cars like I am, you will be left wanting for more.
Conclusion
Concluding the XUV 3XO, we can see Mahindra’s efforts in bringing its sub 4m offering to modern times in keeping with buyer trends. Mahindra has gone out of its limbs to offer segment-first features too. Most prominent of them is the Level-2 ADAS. Further cementing Mahindra’s far-sightedness in regards to vehicular safety.
No car is perfect and Mahindra XUV 3XO is no different. We wished Mahindra rather spent the development cost for panoramic sunroof on more useful features like ventilated seats and a HUD. Also, the TFT instrument screen could have been brighter and legible under sunlight and had more functionalities. We wish there was a bigger boot and the car had a proper spare tyre instead of a space saver. We wish there were more interior colour options other than white. Coming from a Mahindra, we wish XUV 3XO had better ride quality. The Level-2 ADAS features need more polishing. Aisin-sourced 6-speed torque converter needs better calibration.
That said, the sheer opulence that Mahindra XUV 3XO brings to the table, is unbeatable. Extensive use of soft-touch plastics, decent fit and finish, LED lighting for most parts (inside and out), the new aesthetics, excellent safety proposition, decent NVH, good space and comfort for occupants and new features are appreciable. If you want the most premium-feeling B-segment car, Mahindra XUV 3XO is that vehicle. Hands-down.
