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-   -   Mahindra XUV300 : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/208487-mahindra-xuv300-official-review-12.html)

So last month when I was looking for a sub-4m CSUV(by trading in my 8-year old Honda City), I was starting to take the TD of various options available in that segment. Along with my dad, I walked into a Rajshree Mahindra that was closest to me and to my bewilderment, half the lights were switched off. The showroomw as darker than it was supposed to be(and there wasn't a power cut- I got that clarified). We were left unattended for at least 10 minutes after which a sales executive walked to us. I told him that I'm here to take a TD of the petrol XUV300 and I also mentioned that I've taken TDs of Venue and Ecosport so that he understands that I'm a potential customer and shows more interest. Unfortunately, that didn't help.

The SA told me that the petrol XUV300 has gone out for another TD and that isn't available. But I clearly saw two demo XUV300s standing outside the showroom and asked him about it. He responded by saying that both of them were diesel. So then we asked him if the diesel is available for a TD so that we can get an overall experience of the car, it's dimensions and ride quality. He refused saying that both the vehicles have been booked for a TD and will be leaving soon. At this point, his disinterest was obviously greater than my interest, so we gave him my number for a TD appointment and left the showroom. On the way out, we checked out that one of the 2 demo cars had 'PETROL' clearly written on the fuel cap. So Mahindra is not getting my money.

As expected, I never received a call back from the SA. If this was the sales poeple's attitude, I can't imagine the attitude of the service advisors(which I'd have to experience very frequently, given Mahindra's reputation). I wonder if he would have shown interest if I had walked in with a cheque to pay for the car immediately.

Cars can't sell by themselves, however good they are built to be. Mahindra needs to do a lot of work to compete with the giants in PC business.

10 days later, I happily drove a new EcoSport S out of the Ford showroom.

Superb and detailed review Aditya clap:.
Mahindra is able to deliver great package at this price point.
Power wise looks competent but the interior is still looks clumsy and contested. I feel Nexon and WRV have better interior compared to this.

That's quite an experience you had in a Mahindra showroom. Am not sure why, but we seem to run into these sort of experiences always once in a while. Maybe the SEs are just plain bored to death dealing with large number of walk-in customers, exhaustion maybe? staff shortage? we will never know for sure !

But given the price tag of Cars in general these days, and the state of the industry, the dealers do not have any business dealing with customers the way they do.

Yeah, I guess we’ll never know. But my friend who bought an XUV300 a couple of months back from Bangalore experienced the opposite. His buying experience was very pleasant and when he went for the car’s first service, he was treated like a homecoming king. It was because of him that I started considering the XUV300. He’s very happy with his car.

Noticed today that the XUV300 rear door and front door handles aren't in line. Some drivers can miss this while judging clearances in traffic.

I thought the old Swift had the same issue but no.

agree:

I stepped into the Shayadri Motors (Baner, Pune) Showroom yesterday and have had experienced the same thing.

Mahindra is really lethargic about selling the XUV300 and above it their SA tells me that their monthly sales targets are getting completed easily and hence are not really pushing the sales anyways.

My money is not going to Mahindra either!

Seeing a lot of the XUV 300s on the road lately. From the front it looks gorgeous. Wide bodied, just the right height and right amount of chrome. Even the sides look ok, just as you are warming up to the car, blast, you see that ugly back. Chopped off so abruptly and unfashionably, with garishly deigned tail lamps resting like eye sores on the awkward back-side. You feel completely deflated and wish you had never seen the front in the first place. How I wish Mahindra had left the original Ssangyoung Tivoli’s back untouched. If MG can bring such a large and powerful car as the Hector at a slightly higher price point, why can’t Mahindra bring the full Tivoli which is two sizes smaller than the Hector, at the existing XUV price point, which is quite generous? Once the Seltos comes in, with a big overlap in price points with the XUV, all this initial euphoria and arrogance around the XUV 300 will disappear and Mahindra hopefully will see some sense.

I went to Mahindra showroom in Viman Nagar, Pune today, to be greeted by a dozy salesman who clearly wasn't interested to sell anything. The cost sheet was not available, no test drives on Sunday, nothing. This was second such experience in this showroom. I don't think I will consider Mahindra vehicles anymore. Attitude and the over the top pricing will make sure that customers will stay away. 16.5 lakh tentative price (out of the memory of the salesman) for sub 4M AMT vehicle makes the Creta seems like absolute steal of a deal.

I found that the rear seats are set too low, so you can't sit like in a chair without your knees in front of your chest. You have to sit cross legged, like how one sits on third seats of BRV or Ergita. Also the headroom was surprisingly very less in both front or rear seat for an average height guy. Wonder why.

I just had opposite (in a good way) experience at Silver Jubilee Cantt. SA promptly attended me and explained all the features and arranged a test drive of Petrol model which I was thinking of replacing my Scross 1.6 with.

Till day best experience at any dealership including Nexa.

Coming to test drive, I didn't like how the petrol drives.

Petrol is not a revv happy unit, you get a good turbo kick and nothing much after that. Power band is narrow and it does not rev freely. I had high expectation from this motor please:

Mahindra should take notice of this and take action. Many dealers still have commercial vehicles and passenger cars under the same roof. With the XUV300 and the Alturas, they’ve entered into the premium passenger cars segment and a customer visiting to buy it can not tolerate if he’s treated like one who comes to buy a Mahindra Jeeto!

Good for you! I guess it’s really a hit or miss. My other friend had an amazing experience from his dealer in Bangalore(sales and service).

I’ve been hearing many good things about this car and I’m really interested in driving it once. Too bad, I don’t see myself going back to the dealer asking for a TD ever again. So here’s me hoping that one of my friends will buy one :D

This won't be an issue when the ORVMs are opened, which is the right way to drive. May times I look at the protruding sidestep and that is my instant reaction too, but invariably it will be the mirrors that will decide the clearance required.

After some decent test drives of Nexon AMT, Venue DCT and XUV W8(O) AMT on good and very bad roads, I finally booked the XUV300 W8 (O) AMT version (Red Rage) at Zulaikha Motors Chennai yesterday. The OTR is Rs 15.39 Lakhs. Though the wait time is expected to be around 2 months for the red color, the dealer expects it to come a bit earlier and will be notifying me on the exact date in a couple of days. They had a white and aquamarine in stock ready for delivery but family's choice was red. They claim to have got 10 bookings so far in the last 2 weeks.

Venue was very nice to drive, with a much stiffer ride for a Hyundai and it scored much better on the quality front. The unavailability of auto in the top trim was a dampener but my family ruled it out due to lack of leg room and rear space. Their comment was that our current Swift (2012 ZDI) has better leg room than the venue while the width was similar.

If left to me, I would have picked up Nexon AMT or ecosport Titanium AT for their VFM but my family vetoed it stating that for Rs 2L more, I get Sunroof, 5 more airbags, TPMS, front sensors, a bit more space, a slightly plusher ride, much better head room at the rear while loosing out on a good music system, boot space and rear a/c. Plus I had owned a Tata (Manza) earlier and wanted to try a different manufacturer this time. Hoping to rely more on tiptronic shifts while my wife will be using the Auto mode

That's a lot for a sub 4 meter car!!:eek::eek:

Why haven't you considered a full option Hyundai Verna Diesel TC instead? The difference will be just around Rs.50000 more but you get a better gearbox, a more powerful engine, more boot space, more interior space and Hyundai reliability.

The kind of roads I get to drive, GC is a major criteria and have seen Verna and City bottoming out. We also have a requirement of a car where our parents can walk into it rather than sitting down into a car. Off course, the SUV fetish that is hitting everyone these days. Hence, we ruled Sedans out.

Test drove the XUV300 AMT today.

A good car. Most AMT problems evident on the Brezza are non-existent. It does have ample torque, though some jerk is evident on full throttle especially on launch, along with a good second's delay. It goes up to 80 km/h smoothly. Progress after that is slow in 5th gear, but it has 40-80 km/h cruiseability. Turbo kick is non existent, hence I am a bit disappointed.

Only problems
- White seats
- Mix of materials in the trim not to my taste
- Rough steering leather
- Small elbow support
- Seats are okay for the segment, but small
- Non-existent boot.