HARTBEESPOORT – It’s been four years since Indian automaker Mahindra launched its XUV in South Africa. A market leader in India (37% share of the automotive market), this was their first ever monocoque SUV and it was a smash hit on the subcontinent, selling over 150 000 units since 2011. The XUV has had its fans in South Africa too, where 5 000 units have been sold.
It’s also an SUV we have liked and testing it in our June 2012 issue we praised its interior space, ride and engine. The XUV 500 now receives a mid-cycle makeover to its four available derivatives – the W4, W6, W8, and W8 AWD. (There is only one engine in the range and different spec levels distinguish the derivatives.)
What’s changed then?
The most obvious one is to the front bumper which has sees the Bollywood dial turned down a few notches with those previous whiskers now blended together and housing a chrome-bezelled fog lamp. The grille is now also black with subtle chrome accents and the bonnet has been contoured to give it a higher shoulder line. The tailgate gets the chrome highlight too and there are new 10-spoke alloys. As revamps go, this is a pretty good one and the overall effect is of an exterior that is cleaner, less fussy and more aggressive.
Inside there’s a restyled dash and console, with a new all-black leather interior on the W6 and W8 models (the previous two-tone brown and beige one did it no favours). Available on the W8 is a new 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system that includes navigation and is fairly intuitive in its operation. There’s also a reverse camera on the higher spec derivatives, as well as access and egress lamps in the doors, and eight-way, manually adjustable driver’s seat, climate control (W6 and W8), and new “icy blue” ambient lighting.
Looks like there’s lots of space in there?
Indeed. The 2 700 mm wheelbase means there’s space for three rows of seats – though only kids will be comfortable sitting in the last two pews for any length of time. Mahindra didn’t provide any interior specs, but having tested the pre-facelift model, we can tell you there’s 40 dm3 boot space with the third row in place, 384 dm3 with it folded away, and 1 600 dm3 luggage space when the 60:40-split second row seats are folded. That’s sizey. The Toyota Fortuner, by way of example, has 1 360 dm3.
Safety requirements necessarily feature highly on any family vehicle and the XUV 500 comes with ABS and ESP, as well as front, thorax and curtain airbags.
What’s it like on the road then?
Pretty good actually. They’ve kept the torquey 2,2-litre “mHawk” turbodiesel and apart from a faint turbo whine, the engine is quiet, smooth and pulls heartily through the gears with what feels like considerably more guts than its 103 kW would suggest.
New ECU mapping and a change to the drivetrain ratios has, says Mahindra, made it more fuel efficient. They’re claiming a combined-cycle figure of 6,5 L/100 km. That, of course, is unrealistic in real-world conditions and on the predecessor our standard fuel run produced a figure of 8,1 L/100 km. The remapped engine should therefore be slightly better than that.
Power is delivered via a six-speed manual gearbox (no auto available) that’s not the slickest, but engagement feels nice and precise.
It’s the ride though that’s best part of this entire package. Mahindra’s engineers have made some changes to the suspension’s damping (MacPherson strut/front, Multi-link/rear) and you can tell. The ride is nice and supple without exhibiting much body roll. Part of our launch route was a 30 km stretch of gravel road that included some suspension-challenging cavities, all of which the XUV’s set-up handled admirably.
Thumbs up then?
I would say so yes… certainly as a value-for-money proposition. There are a few downsides: it’s obviously not as well-screwed together as the premium SUVs and we did experience a few interior squeaks; and the steering was a little light for my taste, especially when cornering at anything above 60 km/h. That said, the turn-in felt very good.
The XUV’s essential selling point is that it’s giving you a full-sized diesel SUV at the price of a light SUV. It’s a vehicle that does what it says on the box… a big, solidly-engineered SUV that provides lots of space, drives very well and offers excellent value for money.
Pricing
XUV500 W4 R262 995
XUV500 W6 R304 995
XUV500 W8 R339 995
XUV500 W8 AWD R359 995
