Hyundai Kona owner test drives the Mahindra XEV 9e : First impressions

I think this is a great first time Born EV effort from Mahindra and many folks who are considering moving to an EV will find this a compelling proposition.

BHPian shankar.balan recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

My first impressions of the Mahindra XEV9E:

My father and I test drove the Mahindra XEV9E briefly today. Pack 3. 79KWH Battery.

The nearby Sireesh auto folks were very accommodating as always though we just wandered in on the off chance.

Though some random bloke barged in and wanted to sit in on the test drive I bluntly requested him to take his turn.

We ourselves had to wait for a long time for the previous test drive to finish. Nearly 30-40mins wait time.

I m willing to make some concessions considering Bangalore traffic. But we (my Dad and I) were very careful to finish our drive within 20mins so as not to hold others up.

Looks are very subjective. This car looks futuristic. And it is well designed (maybe a little Pratap Bose-y OTT cues) but pretty well put together.

I did not try many of the features this car has - the remote start and auto park mode and all that.

And nor did I even begin to explore the zillions of menu items on the touch screen.

Maybe I will do all that some time later.

For now it was only about the driving, so here goes;

Beautiful suspension, ride quality, and acceleration in all modes - Everyday Mode is clearly the Best. Range Mode feels a bit ‘throttled’. Race Mode is a bit mad. And Boost is not something one should be trying on traffic laden city roads.

Car feels planted at all speeds and I am deeply impressed by the suspension - very well controlled roll and sway and up and down movement. Except if one hits a speed hump which is positioned right at a curve, then one feels the monocoque ‘twist’ a bit, which is understandable in a vehicle measuring nearly 4700mm in length. The 207 mm GC though, gives a lot of confidence. The 245/55/19 sized tyres are from Goodyear and give a nice ride from what I could feel today. And the suspension is so good that mostly one simply doesn’t feel the horrible Bangalore roads. One can fearlessly drive this car fast over bad patches because it will soak up the potholes.

Nice RWD and the 380NM of Torque is delivered well. The paddle shifters (regen controllers) are good because they are positioned well and have 3 levels of regen but I found the Kona ones a little more tactile and the regen a bit better tuned. However this may be a bias because I own a Kona and am used to driving it.

The Brakes on the XEV are tight and very responsive. It will stop on a dime, to use an old cliche. And even if one smashes the brakes there is no nose diving and pitching. It has a very light steering. And the One Pedal driving mode is very handy in traffic.

Decent under thigh support for me at my 6.2 height. If it could have been given just one inch extra and it would have been as good as a big European Sedan.

The car has phenomenal sound insulation. Its Harman Kardon system and 16 speakers makes a big difference. I played some lovely ‘Blues’ and was ‘lost in the world of music’ - thoroughly insulated from the evil traffic around.

Sat in the back. No head hitting the roof problem. A pretty Big car which feels good. Massive boot space. (4 Golf Bags- easy!) And useful frunk too.

The things I didn’t like much in this tiny first impression are the vast screen which is distracting if someone else is watching youtube for example. The heads up display is also distracting. However it can be switched off, thankfully! The white/ light cream coloured seats are a pain. Full of brown fingerprints in the few days old Test drive car.

The controls which have to be handled from the screen is a bit of a pain- and is different from my Kona.

And the acres of piano black inside the car are a fingerprint magnet and dust collector. The piano black trims on the outside are bound to get scratches in our Indian conditions for sure.

The 79KWH Battery gives this car (I believe) a real world range of 500kms. This is fantastic (from my perspective) because one can get to Ooty from Bangalore in one charge.

In summary, I think this is a great first time Born EV effort from Mahindra.

With the Karnataka 10% Road Tax on EVs this thing will cost about 36 lacs on road in Bangalore.

This is a very decent price considering what the vehicle offers and when comparing the equivalent class of vehicles from other manufacturers.

I am sure therefore, that many folks who are considering moving to EV will find this a compelling proposition.

If at all I have a worry, it is how the Mahindra Service Centres will cope with the knowhow, knowledge transfer, availability of tools and diagnostics and parts etc, for the after sales service part. All their service centres are so crowded with multiple generations of ICE vehicles that they really should make dedicated EV servicing facilities I think.

Time will tell.

And now I am waiting to see and drive the BE6 EV too. I like its looks from the pictures and videos.

Let me wait to see it in the metal!

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