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Guess it makes sense from a business POV considering they expect 25,000+ bookings at launch and have ~10,000 vehicles for delivery. Might as well maximize sales of the most high end variant considering the limited supply of chips than use the chips for middle / lower end and reduce overall topline. A way for them to push the ADAS chipsets they have through the system and get user feedback to optimize supply chain

I differ with you on this. The 3rd row of the XUV 5OO has less space than the Ertiga/XL6 duo. The Safari is in a different league altogether with 3rd row space on par with the Crysta.

I finally managed to get a glimpse of the XUV700 at Sirish Mahindra near Silkboard.
Since it was already dark by the time I went there, I could not judge all the colours but under the lights, silver stood out for me.
Some quick observations:

• Getting in and out is a bit of a 'climb' compared to the other Soft-roaders (like CRV or Tiguan)
• Fit and finish looked very good under the limited lighting at the place
• Bonnet was not visible from the passenger seat
• Place was bit noisy (being on the service road next to Hosur road) but inspite of all diesel cars had their engines running, one could not hear the typical idling noise of the diesel from outside. There was next to no noise inside the cabin (doors were open). This could be very different if the environment outside is quiet.
• Gentleman who was explaining the features was incorrectly telling people that all seats are 'ventilated'
• Middle row was not as comfortable as I expected it to be. I found the seat base a bit tall, not sloping enough towards back and the default backrest position to be too upright. When you recline the backrest, portion which supports the lower back was bulging out more than necessary. Under-thigh support could have been bit more (tall people may feel it)
• Logo base plastic plate at the rear looks really bad and I want to remove it and put the logo directly on the body if I buy this car.
• One of the showroom guy who had taken the car for a short drive was telling the Freedom Drive folks how the emergency brake came in to play when he nearly missed a person crossing.
• Fake wood inserts on the door-pads looked as bad as in the pictures and this would be another thing I want to change If I buy the car.

The vehicle looks great except that the overdone front lamps work hard to spoil the overall appearance. I wonder if there is any way to change the walrus-tusk extenders of the front lamps that swoop down. These are so garish and bring back a flood of bad memories of Mahindra's "wild-life inspired" designs of SUVs. I hope some after market solution is found to mute out these extensions and keep the core area of the lamp alone in play. Rest of the car is acceptable in terms of design as the worst wildlife temptations of M&M designers, to have Cheetahs, Hyenas and Leopards making appearances all over the car, have been kept in check by some higher force. The tail lamps though are still way too large. I am sure Pratap Bose can work some magic to remove some of the clownish elements in a early/mid-life refresh.

For the upcoming Scorpio, I would suggest M&M pauses and gets a review of exteriors done by Pratap. In any case, M&M are not going to be able to produce enough volume to satisfy even the demand for XUV700 and Thar in 2022, so might as well not launch yet another vehicle and increase frustration of buyers not able to get one for months and months. A thorough review will identify and iron out the wildlife pangs of erstwhile M&M designers that have made it intro the current iteration of the new Scorpio (the current team should all be fired, IMO, by Pratap, so that the design team can be cleaned up and re-built with people from his old Tata team and some expats from Pininfarina). Some body panels may need changes and this is OK, as M&M can easily take a year and launch the Scorpio near Diwali 2022 with no dent on overall company sales, given the already heavy backlogs of the Thar and the definite backlogs on the XUV 700 plus the parts shortages which will not go away any time soon. We could than have a tough macho SUV, with simple and elegant looks and beastly performance and off-road capability that will rock! Imagine the power of the XUV700 and the off-road capability of the new Thar in one package! For inspiration, Pratap should take his designers to the JLR showrooms to have a detailed look at the Land Rover Defender - so that its simplicity, elegance and visual toughness can inspire them, instead of taking them on a wildlife safari (as was probably done previously), to make notes of what traits of the animals you see there needs to be force-fitted into the already over-designed body or nose of the next SUV the designers had to come up with :D

I beg to differ on this view that limiting AT (which is nothing new or luxurious as say ADAS, even for vehicles 1 or 2 segments below) to the topmost variant would benefit the company. I believe it would actually record lesser bookings than what they expected, because there would already be many like me, who would have been calculating the benefits of extending their budgets by a bit to accomodate for the AX5 (even with the optional pack), who would now (if AT isn't provided) either go for another car in the same range with AT (since nothing else can substitute for the comfort of AT) or think of saving money and going for AX3. I believe AT for AX5 makes more sense than alloy wheels or skyroof, because lack of AT can be a much bigger deal breaker than the attraction of LED headlamps, Skyroof etc.

I have been following this tread extensively and waiting for the bookings to open soon. I some how was not interested in safari so booked Alcazar and have placed it on hold post revealing of XUV700 and likely to cancel it.

My preference is a diesel 7 seater, manual transmission, comfortable front 2 rows with tall driver(was a compromise with Alcazar with the tray table eating up more space), smooth driving experience and safe car.

AX5 fits my needs perfectly, I would not like to be an early adopter of ADAS and skeptical on real life use, also not a fan of white/ivory leather seats as it is a pain to maintain on AX7. I would definitely prefer 360 parking cam.

Information on the features to expect on AX5 has been scarce. Considering this to be 2nd top variant equivalent to W9 variant of XUV500 here are few expectations which must be part of the feature list.
1. Normal cruise control if not adaptive CC.
2. Engine start stop button.
3. Sunglass holder.
4. ESP and hill hold.
5. Reverse parking camera.

I have not come across any credible images of AX5 to confirm on the above list which are available on W9 variant, but one important observation from the image of AX5 on official website seems to be missing reverse parking camera, attaching the image for reference.

You do understand that the Scorpio's metal stamped parts are ready, which means the tools and the die blocks are ready too? And if you really want to scrap most of these tools at this stage of the program and redesign the styling, who does the validation of all these new parts? And if we also spend one more year to validate and launch it again, can Mahindra pass on the added costs of an extra set of tooling and additional validation to the customers? It makes no business case at all.

Also, I am sorry but I don't think it is respectful to comment that the entire Mahindra design team has to be fired. The XUV700 is no where as bad, and the Scorpio is yet to be unveiled!

Reverse parking camera is such a basic/essential feature, even AX3 should not miss it. Small hatchbacks like Grand Nios costing 8/9 lakhs have this right from their mid variant.

They know that if they give you that, you will not consider the next variant. Car makers do this purposely. Always leave something important out

Maybe they've left the position vacant for fitting the reverse camera only for the optional variants of the Ax5 which would have 360° camera as well.
I think it makes more sense to opt for 360° camera instead of just the reverse cam, especially if one's driving such a bulky vehicle for the first time or drives mostly in the city.

The last time similar crackdowns happened in Bengaluru, it was clarified that one would only be fined if the cycle protrudes beyond the vehicle's width; unfortunately, most full-size cycles would. IIRC, the police also said there would be no fines if we have RTO approval for installing the racks.


Sorry for taking the thread off-topic. Back to the XUV7OO now.

I have received invitation from Dealer for Hyderabad Freedom drive. Looks like the cars would be lined up and taken on a procession across the city. I will be going to Kondapur (12 pm) to check the colors and finalize one!

Anybody knows the procession route for Bangalore, since it is for tomorrow? Dealers are just not talking to customers. No call-back either. Looks like they are seriously inundated

Saw this XUV700 being driven around in Pune by who seemed like a Mahindra executive. Going by the amount of dust and grime on car seems like it has been through some highway drives recently. :)

Bangalore is already done on Saturday I think!