Good morning and welcome our new video at PowerDrift.
You know what we're going to talk about today,
it's the new Mahindra XUV700. Now, a little later, I'm going to drive the car,
but it's not going to be a very in-depth drive,
so I'm not going to talk about how it drives in the details,
but, I did put out a question on social media asking you about what you wanted to know,
and I have put all those questions on my phone, and I'm going to answer the main chunk of questions
that you guys have asked, you guys.
That's what's going to drive the review today.
First big question, of course, is how does it look?
Now let me tell you straight off the bat that the XUV700 is a much nicer looking
car in the metal or in the flesh as compared to what you've seen so far in pictures
or in videos, because honestly, just one of those cars that looks better in real life
and the first thing obviously, that you're going to actually notice are the, the new Twin Peaks logo
and I know there are going to be references made, we just let that slide.
First things first, though, it's a very upright, we've gotten massive street presence when
you actually put it against other cars on the road, it does stand out.
Now obviously, there are going to be references and throwbacks to the XUV500
like, for example, these C-shaped LED daytime running lights, so a big homage or a throwback
to the C-shaped XUV500 designed elements,
or just the fact the grill is massive, and it's in-your-face.
And even moving to the side profile, one of the things that's going to be really talked about is
obviously going to be these flush door handles because it's all been done in segment above that
or above that, or even above that,
so when people talk about their car with their friends, when they want to have a little bit
of a flex, this is the kind of stuff they're going to talk about
and this is the kind of stuff that's going to make this car sell.
Now honestly, in terms of profile, looks, there are some again, throwbacks to the XUV500,
but it's good, it's like an evolutionary design.
So this, for example, this whole section is very... or even the front arch, for example
and you know, these big wheels, they are all a bit of a throwback to the 500
and my favourite bit though, is the rear.
It looks almost European, doesn't it?
It has some really nicely placed creases, and muscular bits everywhere and the LED tail lamps,
they look really premium when they're turned on.
You know what, when people start looking at this car on the street more and more and more
and get used to it, especially in a colour like this,
it looks almost like a BMW, doesn't it? People are going to start liking it even more
and I think it's going to be a bit of a torrent of bookings once people start actually seeing
them on the road, Mahindra, you better be prepared for that.
Before we actually get into more detail, though, we have to talk about the pricing because
that's what truly grabbed all the headlines, the base petrol price is 11.99 lakh rupees
and the base diesel, 12.49 lakh rupees and that's really shaken everybody up
and I have no doubt that a fair few automakers will have more than a few sleepless nights.
Top-spec petrol and diesel auto, well, the prices aren't out just yet
but I predict a price point of 19.99 lakh rupees
and of course, a little more for the all-wheel drive version.
That's bang, slap in the middle of all the action.
Right, so now that we've talked about prices, it's time to talk about safety
that's something everybody seems to be talking about now, because safer cars save lives,
so that's a great thing, isn't it?
Let's talk about airbags first,
this top-of-the-line version has seven airbags, including a knee airbag.
And that's not it, Mahindra has actually made some improvements and
the curtain airbag, which sort of comes on the side,
that extends all the way to the third row.
Normally you get curtain airbag extending only to the second row,
so this case, if you have passengers in the third row, and god forbid, if you do get into
a crash, those third row passengers will have this blanket of safety around them too.
It also gets active safety features like traction control, hill descent control and hill hold
and even torque vectoring.
And then you get to ADAS or active driver assistance systems like, adaptive cruise control
or emergency braking in which the car senses a collision and brakes itself and trust me,
this works.
It's time to get some horsepower under our right foot, so let's talk about engine.
The headline figure on the petrol first.
It's a 2.0-litre engine, turbocharged four cylinder of course, and our headline figure 200hp,
is this the cheapest 200hp car you can buy? Yes, it is! 380Nm of torque
you get a manual or an automatic gearbox and that engine is pretty much standard
over every single variant.
So if you want to get the entry-level model, you can still get that engine in it.
The diesel on the other hand and there is still a big market,
especially in this sort of segment, this sort of size of SUV with a diesel preference.
Safari, for example, only diesel, the Alcazar gets a diesel engine as well but,
hear these figures okay, 2.2-litre engine, of course, something that we've been sort
of used to now with Mahindra, 185hp, 420Nm of torque in the manual
and 450Nm of torque in this automatic,
that's performance car territory you're heading into there.
450Nm essentially is also 100 more Nm than the Safari
and 200 more Nm of torque as compared to the Alcazar.
That's huge, that's a big jump up, the Alcazar is 250Nm,
this is 450Nm of torque, you will feel that performance when you actually drive it
First Impression, the petrol automatic, it's quiet, it's smooth,
it's really, really smooth in fact, and the NVH levels are great too.
Do straight up feel that 200hp, well, not really,
but when you look down at the speedometer console, you're actually doing much faster speeds
than what the car leads you to believe and that's actually a good thing,
it's doing it quietly, it's doing it subtly, it's not shouting and screaming about.
And incidentally, that 200hp gives it a top speed of 200 kilometres per hour
and coincidentally, we just pulled up at Mahindra's new test facility where we can do
200 kilometres per hour, fun days ahead.
So, what I'm going to do is pull over to the side here and do a very quick 0-100 run.
3...2...1
40
50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and the 100.
That's quick.
So, it's very, very smooth, the gearbox almost feels like a CVT.
It's almost as if Mahindra's real DNA where they want to make an explosive, fun, enthusiast
driven engine, has been toned down just a little bit
and they have thought that, let's make a more comfortable SUV this time around
instead of just making something that makes people smile.
But what about the diesel, you may ask?
Well, from the little that I did get to drive it, I can safely tell you, that you can feel every
one of those 450Nm of torque and if you expect it to be noisy and loud,
boy, boy, are you dead wrong, unless you absolutely smash it,
the diesel is quiet and refined and truly, this 2.2-litre CRDe engine is a world class motor.
But again, it just doesn't feel as urgent as you'd expect
and that might be a bit putting off to people who expect an explosive level of performance.
The drive modes do make a difference, zip, zap, zoom as they're called
and yes, you might think that, that's a stupid name,
but that's just Mahindra having a bit of fun,
so let's give that to them, okay.
Now just like zip, zap, zoom, this might sound like a bit of a gimmick,
but again, this is just Mahindra's way of letting their hair down with a little speed beat that
comes on at 80 and then continuously at 120, something that we all hate.
You can actually record your, a little, custom voice note, maybe your wife or daughter or your son,
or frighten your dog barking at you asking to slow down.
A little hack though, what if I press that record button and say nothing? Will it play nothing?
Is there a little hack?
Sort of circumnavigate that beat.
Stay tuned to our social media,
I'm going to do that once I get the car back for slightly longer duration and see if it works.
Since we are talking about how it drives,
I'm sure many of you have questions on the ride and handling
and let me tell you, it is a big step up from the 500.
It is not as floaty as it used to be and on the highway,
you could feel the poise that this new platform brings about. Suspension veterans,
Koni had helped design some components and it shows, there's a hint of that stiffness
now in the overall ride but, not to the point where it is intrusive.
However we did largely drove over good roads so it would be rather unfair to judge how
it drives over our typically broken tarmac without putting it to the test.
We will bring that to you in an upcoming video very soon.
Now a lot of people have asked me about build quality and I must say this is a big step up
from anything we have seen in a Mahindra vehicle.
I particularly like this little piece of lite wood here, looks very Mercedes Benz like, doesn't it?
And to be very frank, the Mercedes Benz design elements are all the way across, so you get this
big bar which is leather wrapped that runs all the way across the dashboard, if the dashboard
itself, leather wrapped, nice and soft to touch, feels very premium and of course you've got
those big dual screens 10.25-inch instrument cluster, 10.25-inch infotainment screen
enclosed in this big, looks like a bar of glass or like a big iPhone or iPad
mounted on the screen and it looks premium.
I'm really glad that Mahindra hasn't over done things as they would do 10 years ago for example.
And that brings us to the gigantic list of features,
so let me just name a quick few, the obvious Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a gigantic
panoramic sunroof and wireless charging, oh and you get Alexa in-built to do your bidding
and a long list of connected car features with Mahindra's new AdrenoX infotainment package.
It does miss out on one big feature though, cool seats.
Although the driver's seat is electronically powered, and it has a memory function too,
and when you open the door, it does move back to allow you easy access.
You also get a 360-degree parking camera which is great because in recent times I have noticed
that people are parking more and more like utter morons and the finesse of parking a
car well, seems to have been lost because of our dependence on cameras and parking sensors.
Right, so now that we've spoken about everything else on the menu, we need to talk about whether
the XUV700 has enough space or not.
Now usually when I get into the back row of an SUV, a three row SUV, I have to act like
a contortionist, which I obviously am not, or I have to consider chopping my legs off
and donating them to charity.
In this case, I fit.
There's actual space in the back.
It's so refreshing to see this, there's actual leg space in fact it's like an inch and a half
maybe or more of space between the back of the seat and my knees and
I assure you that if I have a twin, and put him right here, there's still going to be
enough space, we might touch elbows a little bit, but there might still be enough space,
so, if I can fit into the back of this, most of you definitely can.
Unless of course you're taller than me, which in case,
even with my height 5'10", 5'10" and a half, there is no headroom here.
What I've done in this case is put the seat almost all the way back so that there is my
driving position and a lot more so in case you're a taller driver, you still have space
and this space here even though, enough headroom, enough legroom,
enough wiggle room, and these seats are really nice as well.
it feels nice and soft, it feels supple, they feel almost luxurious in a way that
a 40-45 lakh rupee car, maybe even a little bit more expensive would feel.
The leather is also soft to touch, which makes a lot of difference.
And you've got that wooden panel, which I like so much in the front, at the back here as well.
Okay, then, it's as simple as this,
this is probably Mahindra's most important car for a long, long, long time because
it puts Mahindra into a completely new playing field.
Now we know that they do engines really, really well,
they're world class engines, we know they do safety really, really well.
Now they've made a package that's genuinely going to be irresistible for a lot of people,
I mean, look at their pricing to begin with.
It's going to wipe out a whole bunch of cars in its category.
It's going to wipe out a whole bunch of cars in categories below it and definitely going to
wipe out a few cars in categories above because of just how much it offers.
I mean, it looks good, it drives well, it's got a tonne of space in the inside,
it's got great features, it's got ADAS, it's just got everything going for it.
Mahindra, you made a nearly irresistible SUV.
That's what this is.
And I'm not saying this as a fanboy I'm saying it because it's true
and that's a fact.
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And of course comment below what you think the XUV700's price will be
and what do you think about the SUV in general.
I'm about to have a great fun day,
I hope you have one too.
Ciao.