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-   -   Mahindra XUV700 Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/240680-mahindra-xuv700-review-147.html)

Yes I feel that XUV's suspension is a bit stiff especially in the second row. It isn't unbearable but you can feel the bumps. The ride quality in first row is much better. The Safari on the other hand, had a better suspension setup in my opinion. It was comfortable over bad patches and felt settled on the highway. Safari trumps the XUV700 in this department.

I have only done a short test drive within the track which was prepared by the dealer. But this track had some rough surfaces and speed breakers (smaller type) to provide some idea on the ride quality at slow speeds.
When I drove the petrol variant, I slowed down for the humps but in diesel I went over the humps with certain speed (may be around 30 kmph) and the car absorbed the shock and smoothened it out.
With similar humps, I would have come to crawling speed on Ford Fusion which I owned in the past (could be very similar to Ecosport). I would have gone over the hump with the same speed in the Forester (another car I owned) but it would result in a thud (Forester is a car which was hailed for a great balance between ride and handling by pundits).
I tend to think that the XUV has good low speed ride, may be with a hint of firmness. This was AX7 with the 18 inchers and the lower variants with 17 inchers should be even better.

Edit: My wife who was sitting in the second row was totally satisfied with the ride she experienced in this short drive. Normally she hates to sit in the back because of the bumpy nature when you go over humps.

There's the catch. No one seems to have driven the variants with 17 inch alloys/steel wheels. Even in that video I had shared the person compared with a Harrier that has 17 inch wheels which would have influenced what he experienced right ? (especially when he says it's only a minute difference). That person also compared the front seat experience and not the rear.

With M&M not having dispatched even one car in the country with 17 inch wheels for TD, how can people know ? This is so unfair that they've given only AX7 for TDs.

The problem I have with the Harrier twins is that it isnt available in Petrol. It seems that I have to go for a sedan in this case :sadface, since ride comfort is the main criteria which I thought I could get along with the size of a SUV, with the 700. It is surprising and disappointing that the 700s suspension is getting mixed reviews, when I expected it to be the best in segment. Maybe I might have a totally different opinion once I take the drive.

Finally took a short drive of the XUV7OO. Many of the details have already been shared by fellow bhpians, so here are my thoughts comparing it to the XUV5OO that I own. I drove a full option petrol automatic.

Looks: Great looks, great presence. Other road users seem overwhelmingly interested in the car. One thing that I noticed that while the 5OO had the macho SUV vibe to it, the 7OO is a kinda crossoverish. It has gone a bit softer, but I'm not complaining. Especially since Mahindra has decided to tone down the exaggerated lines running through the 5OO's body.

Interiors: The interiors are really a major step up from the 5OO. Things do feel well put together. In the 5OO, applying slight pressure over the dashboard plastics make you overestimate your own strength. Here they are visibly better. The rough edges (literally) that was present in the 5OO seem to have given way for more polished ones. The screen is absolutely gorgeous, with crisp graphics and a plethora of information. The doors close with a reassuring sound and the insulation from outside has definitely gone up. The switch gear seems good, especially the ones on the center console. The 5OO and even the Harrier had switches that were kinda wobbly.

Steering wheel is smaller than my 5OO and feels great in the hand (but not Kia great. Gosh! I just love their steering). It is much lighter than the 5OO, but isn't the most direct. There's some artificial feel to it, but nothing major. The pedals are well spaced out and the arm rest is really usable. The auto retracting seats got me by surprise. It's fun to see the car making adjustments on its own to welcome you. The 360 camera could have been better. It isn't as good as say a Seltos, especially coming to resolution and frame rates. The feed does look a bit choppy at times. The sun roof is a show stopper. Even passengers in the second row can get a great view of the skies above. The AC is a chiller. Space all around is great as is expected from this class of vehicle. The seats are well cushioned and offer superior comfort compared to the 5OO. Overall, the interiors are really a great step up. If I were to nitpick, I would have loved to have a bit more soft touch materials around the cabin, especially on the doors.
Coming to the second row, space is aplenty. Seats are well contoured. The seats do recline quite a fair bit. The AC vents at the center could eat away wee bit of knee room for the central passenger. But, overall it's a great experience there as well. The third row isn't as spacious. It's very similar to the 5OO. Boot space seems to have increased a bit when all 3 rows are up.

Drive: I was driving a AX7L Petrol. Engine is silent and smooth. The amount of noise insulation is clearly felt, once you roll up all windows. The first thing that you notice when rolling off is that the 7OO seem to wrap itself around the driver. The size of the car just isn't evident when you're sitting behind the wheel. The commanding view, visible bonnet, huge glass area, light steering all play their part. It isn't as cumbersome as a 5OO to maneuver around, inspite of the 7OO being larger. Tap the throttle and the car lunges forward. There's no doubting the 200bhp motor, but the low and mid end is where all the action lies. The engine pulls like anything and you are doing silly speeds before you know it. Gearshifts are really good. Even in the 5OO, the engine-gearbox combo was really good. With the 7OO, Mahindra has just taken it a few steps further. Although, I drove the petrol, I expect the 2.2 L diesel mill from Mahindra to be very refined as in my 5OO, if not better, and not as boomy as the 2.0 MJDs of its rivals. In the 5OO diesel auto, the engine would rev up unnecessarily in first and second gears. That doesn't seem to be the case here. The small knob which was present in the 5OO gear lever has been finally rested in place of a proper triptronic gearbox. Brakes are confidence inspiring. The lane change cameras could have been better. The quality of the feed isn't very good and the area allotted in the central MID is also rather small. Mahindra could take a leaf from Kia's book to see how this system is integrated rather well in the Seltos. From the driver's seat, the 7OO really does make you feel like a King.

Now, coming to the most important improvement, the ride quality. It was a sigh of relief to see that the earlier bouncy ride quality of the 5OO has been corrected to a large extent. It rides much better and potholes and bumps are dismissed with ease. It is still not a Hexa, but driving the 5OO and 7OO back to back makes you realise the drastic change. While spending some time in the second row during the drive, I could feel a slight bobbing, which I think could be attributed to the overinflated tyres. The suspension is what I believe is the biggest improvement that Mahindra have made. Handling is good for a vehicle with such a high centre of gravity, but you will feel the body roll when taking curves at speed. But it's not too unnerving.

Also talking about the dealership experience, I went to Eram motors, Thrissur to get my 5OO serviced. Checked the 7OO in between and while talking to the customer exec, I mentioned that we are not immediately looking at a purchase. But the exec arranged a test drive (albeit a short one) within a short span of time and me and my dad came out thoroughly impressed with the car. This was in stark contrast to our experience with Tata motors when I went for a TD of the Harrier at a showroom in Ernakulam. The exec was not convinced that we were serious customers and kept on making excuses for not providing a test drive. I always had a soft corner for Harrier and Safari, but the showroom experience was rather disappointing. Watch and learn Tata! This is how you market a ground-breaking product at grass root level. Mahindra really deserves this blockbuster success. Now hoping that all the initial niggles be sorted in one or two years so that I can pick one up too:D

If you're looking at ride comfort or being chauffeured around in the rear, XUV 700 would disappoint. I witnessed the backseat experience when the test driver held the steering wheel. My observations here are with respect to my 07 Civic,

1. The second row seat recline angle is quite upright in the XUV 700. Even given the option to adjust, I couldn't find the desired position to make me feel home
2. The seat buckets aren't contoured enough to offer me a snug and secure feel
3. I've travelled by a Xylo cab before. Trust me, the stiff ride at the rear is felt here as well

Further, you can refer to my observations post the test drive,

I drive a sedan (2017 Honda City) and the ride comfort of the XUV 700 is miles better. The area around the showroom where I took a test drive was full of pot holes and even a patch of unpaved road so I got a pretty good idea about how its suspension setup compares to my city.

I wouldn't even dare to take the honda over some of the larger pot holes, the XUV handled them easily. Smaller potholes are almost imperceptible. I haven't driven any other SUVs in this segment so my point of reference w.r.t. comfort is purely with a sedan, other SUVs might offer similar/better ride quality.

I highly suggest you take a TD yourself and decide.

Another national record broken by Mahindra.



They have mentioned that the car was averaging 170-180kmph, which makes me believe they performed the test on a track and not on public roads!

The tweet says " In another first, the #XUV700 has shattered the National 24-Hours Endurance Record by clocking more than 4000 kms.

Four XUV700s drove at average speeds of 170-180 km/h, making it India's First vehicle to break the record. "

Below is the information from our Senior BHPian on a different thread


Four XUV700s entered the endurance run that was held at the Mahindra SUV Proving Track (MSPT) near Chennai. All four vehicles recorded over 4,000 km with the Diesel MT variant leading the pack with 4,384.73 km, Diesel AT clocking 4,256.12 km, Petrol MT doing 4,232.01 km and Petrol AT reaching 4,155.65 km.


The XUV700 beat the previous record of 3,161 km set in 2016. Besides the 24-hour endurance record, the SUV also broke a total of 80 records during the challenge.

The cars were driven for 24 hours at a stretch at high speed with quick stopovers for fuel and driver change.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ce-record.html

Don't see much of a point in this. We all know modern cars can be driven non-stop for a long period of time. As to doing 170kph, this is not something one does in any kind of road in India. For modern turbo engines, such high speeds will not translate to that much higher load/strain, as the RPMs do not go up all that much. The Official Team-bhp review says 120 kph comes up at 2000 rpm on the petrol version, I would guess the engine is spinning at say 2750 - 2900 rpm at 170 kph. This is not all that high to put a sufficient strain on the engine to make this an endurance test! If it were an NA engine, the engine will be operating in the higher reaches of its rpm band and it would probably be a more meaningful endurance test.

One more XUV 700 rear-ended. An Ambulance hit the XUV700 from behind.








Seems like a high-speed impact. Not sure if this was caused due to sudden braking by ADAS.

There's been quite a few XUV 700 rear end accidents in the news already. Quite surprising since there are no sales yet! I hope these are not due to stupid drivers / overeager salesmen trying to demonstrate ADAS capabilities by tailgating too close to other road users.

On a lighter note, perhaps it's time to update this age old sticker for the new age ADAS equipped cars to "Keep Distance Auto Brakes"
s"

I just hope they've done their homework with the ADAS. whats worrying me is when 50,000 of these come on road with ADAS and they start braking on their own because someone decided to move an inch in front of it. I wouldn't want to trail one of these for some time till I'm sure they're not braking magically.

Meanwhile got this from Mahindra Customer Care upon a query regarding the Safety Ratings on twitter.

Would be interesting to know the fuel efficiency they were averaging. Can anyone access the telemetry data? Or at least the pitstop logs?

With a Tank of 60L, There should have been at least 5 pitstops. Probably 7. Hope it was not more than that.

rl: Considering fuel prices, the drive would have cost Mahindra at least 1.2 Lakhs in fuel alone.