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Initial ownership review: My Mahindra XUV300 W6 petrol AMT

2nd February 2022, 14:01 by Dev Shah

The acceleration will put a big smile on your face, specifically for those who are coming from a 1 or 1.2 litre NA engine.

BHPian RakeshMX3 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I have been reading the Team BHP forum for the past 4 years and never thought of writing down a post until now. My relationship with four wheels started in the year 2013 when I bought a Maruti Suzuki Zen Estilo. I have recently taken delivery of a XUV300 and thought of sharing my experience on this forum.

Adding an index for the ease of readers:

Background.
Hunting:

First Attempt (the Year 2019).

Second Attempt (the Year 2021).

Initial ownership.
Modifications.

Background:

I currently own a Maruti Zen Estilo, bought in Jan 2013. I love this vehicle, it’s easy to maintain, never broke in the past 9 years and has been very fuel-efficient. The engine (K10) is reasonably quiet and has a decent mid-range. However, the vibrations do enter in the cabin specifically on the gear lever and doors when idling. It’s a very trusted horse but now more than 9 years old. Hence, I decided to buy a new car which would offer better safety, performance, and interior space. I didn’t want to sell the Estilo and decided to give it to my brother, who now uses it to travel in and around my hometown.

Hunting:

Thanks to Covid, my hunting spanned across two phases: The year 2019 and the year 2021.

First attempt (the year 2019):

My hunt began around August 2019. I set a budget of 8.5 lakhs and wanted a good-looking petrol sub-compact SUV/Crossover. With this budget in 2019, I considered the Venue (S-MT 1.2 petrol), EcoSport (Ambiente 1.5 petrol), Honda WR-V (S 1.2 petrol) and Tata Nexon (XM 1.2 petrol). I had gone through all the available reviews and videos available back then, and started taking test drives. Here are my drive impression based on the test drives:

Honda WR-V:

Big on space, would put some of its competitors to shame on sheer rear seat space.
Fuss free ownership, reliable petrol engine.
Good in-showroom experience.
Looks small like a hatchback.

Tata Nexon:

Went to a showroom in Hadapsar, Pune (now closed). When I stepped in, I could read the showroom staff’s facial expression. Everyone looked pissed off with the sheer idea of explaining a product to a customer for a big 10 minutes.
Sat there for 10 mins, everyone was on their mobile phone pretending busy. Went to the receptionist again asked her if someone can attend to me.
A sales rep, with an extremely casual dress code then attended me (I am cool with any attire, just mentioning as every other showroom ensured their staff is decently dressed). I asked for a test drive. The sales rep wasn’t very aware of the product.
I took the car out of the showroom, the sales rep told me to take left after merely 500 mtrs, then one more left and then one more left and voila we are back in showroom parking. I asked for a long test drive to which the sales rep said they are expecting one more customer for a test drive, they will arrange a long test drive for a later day. I never received a callback.
The car felt very solidly put together, the interior felt better than the WR-V. Drivability was much better as well.
I didn’t like the exterior styling though.

Ford EcoSport:

Went to a Ford showroom on the same day.
Totally different experience compared to the Tata showroom. It was very packed, still, I was immediately attended to.
Took a long test drive. Loved the drive. Felt well put together, steering setup was something I never experienced before (my Estilo has very vague steering).
Driveability was better than Nexon – maybe because it was the naturally aspirated engine. Space was very limited compared to the Nexon though.
I loved this vehicle but didn’t finalize it then because around Sept 2019, I read 2-3 articles about Ford planning to wrap up their India business (which eventually turned true). My Estilo was also a discontinued product (Maruti pulled the plug in late 2013) hence I don’t want to buy one more product that may be discontinued.

Hyundai Venue:

Was just launched then. Loved the design, looked handsome.
The Turbo was beyond my budget and hence considered the S 1.2 variant.
Somehow felt the space better than in the Ecosport (width).
1.2 was not available for a test drive.

In Sept 2019, almost decided to finalize Venue S1.2. Spoke with the Hyundai sales rep, they had no offers/discounts on the Venue being a new launch. However, they offered to match the policy bazaar insurance quote (10 thousand less).

In the last week of Sept, I had to travel for business to Spain for 2 weeks. There I got a hint that I may have to travel again for a longer period this time. This made me cancel the booking. After 2 months, Spain saw a huge wave of Covid infections putting a question mark on international travel. Later, Covid became a pandemic putting an end to my travel and car buying.

Second attempt (Dec 2021):

After 2 Covid waves, in late 2021, it became evident that this pandemic may continue for the next one/two years. Around Aug, major IT companies started announcing ‘back-to-office’ and that was enough trigger for me to start my new car hunt again. From Sept 2019 to Aug 2021, I became a very frequent Team BHP reader. This forum helped me broaden my understanding of automobiles.

This time around, my priorities were safety (> 4 Star), driveability and automatic transmission. My budget was 12 lakhs on road and I evaluated the Mahindra XUV300, Tata Nexon and Vitara Brezza, as these were the three offerings in the subcompact SUVs with 4-star crash ratings.

XUV300 AMT:

Pros:

5-star safety rating.
Turbo petrol engine packs a great punch. Acceleration is superb irrespective any gear.
Spacious interior, can sit 3 adults.
Feels premium and has great road presence.

Cons:

Since its an AMT, the gear shift can be felt though its quicker than the Nexon. The AMT pause is there till 3 gear, post that the gear shifts are smooth.
Steering isn’t very direct.
Suspension is good, but not as great as Nexon.
Boot space and lesser ground clearance (compared to Nexon and Brezza).

Nexon AMT:

Pros:

5-star safety rating.
Great steering set up. Although XUV300 has sports steering mode, it feels very artificial and still it’s no match to Nexon.
Suspension is great.
Ground clearance and reasonable boot space.
Extremely comfortable seats.

Cons:

Engine is good, but isn’t as punchy as XUV300.
The gear shift pause is more pronounced than the XUV300.
I still don't like the rear looks.
Average showroom experience. Even this time, the test drive was less than 2 kms. Never received a call back from the showroom after the test drive.

Vitara Brezza AT:

I wanted to test drive the Brezza only after I am done with XUV and Nexon test drives. as both are AMT and then I would be in a better position to differentiate between the AT and AMT experience. But later, I saw some auto news about a facelift Brezza around the corner. My Estilo was discontinued by Maruti soon after I bought it and hence, I didn’t want to buy another car whose facelift will be available within 4-5 months after purchasing it. That's why I dropped the Brezza.

Initial ownership:

I took a test drive from Silver Jubilee, Pune but they didn’t have W6 AMT variant available with them. Later I enquired with Unnati Motors and they had one petrol W6 AMT in white colour. The vehicle was freshly baked – manufactured on 27th Nov. I made the booking instantly, and initiated the loan procedure with HDFC. The registration happened around Dec 14th and I got a call from the showroom that I can take delivery on Dec 16th.

The showroom arranged a small pooja and celebration. I went there alone considering the Covid situation in Pune. The car was clean and was ready to hit the road. I completed the pooja and other formalities and started driving back home. That’s where the ‘Distance to empty’ starts to show 4 km. Drove down straight to the petrol pump and got the tank full.

Till now completed 1000 km which includes 70% highway driving from Pune to my hometown. My initial impressions are:

On the highway, the AMT works brilliantly, except for the gear shift from 1st to 2nd, you would hardly experience the AMT delay.
At parking speed, the performance feels spikey, making you nervous about maneuvering the car in tight parking spots.
Must be extra careful in applying throttle at low speeds. Sometimes the car moves quickly.
Cornering up to 70 kmph on a moderate bend feels confident.
As per the MID, the overall fuel efficiency is 16.3 kmpl for the first 1000 kms which includes 70% highway drive. Wasn’t expecting this good an FE, very happy.
Gear changes happen at 2000 rpm. For me, 100 kmph in 6th year came at around 2100 rpm.
The acceleration will put a big smile on your face, specifically for those who are coming from a 1 or 1.2 litre NA engine.