Overall what works for the XUV400 is good suspension, more than just 2 front airbags, decent cabin & boot space – and that’s about it.
I have shortlisted the XUV400 as a contender as I’m looking at a decently sized (read spacious interior) and feature-rich EV under 23 lakhs OTR in Mumbai. I took test drives and spent good time observing the display model to see if it checks all our boxes. Booked it without thinking too much just to get the launch offer.
- Booking experience was smooth. Booked online within the first 5 minutes of the website opening up with no website issues or traffic choking the servers (wow, right?). I’m sure they have under-advertised this launch. Even the buzz in the showroom was nil to be honest. Initially, the booking acknowledgement email from them didn’t commit to the launch price assurance, but 15 days later the login on the website had it.
- As per the sales executive, this is a 100% Mahindra-managed allocation process (heard this too many times – we know better) and it includes a survey for a charger setup. He asked me to await their call. I wanted to know about chargers like how’s the setup, how much wiring they’ll provide, which brand, etc. But no information has been shared with the showrooms. No quotation for OTR price is available either at this stage.
- There is definitely no ESP. In addition, there is no hill hold or hill descend control of any sort. No auto hold either unless it’s on “L gear” for max regen. I observed roll back on minor slopes at signals during the TD as well. Whether this effects the driving experience depends on what you are used to, so I’m not getting into that. The discussion on Tiago EV thread fully applies here.
- Overall ride quality is good. M&M knows the suspension game well.
- For driving performance, my judgment is limited to 1-2 km test drives. Honestly, I felt the XUV400, ZS EV and Kona are almost at par, but the Nexon isn’t too far behind – especially in the city. In the age of charger uptime anxiety, who’s flooring EVs to utilise the 8 second 0-100 km/h time on highways anyway?
- There is shockingly no Android Auto & this has not been highlighted in any review. It’s there in the brochure and website but not in the infotainment menu. The sales executive mentioned that it’s not coming later either. It’s almost the biggest reason for me to cancel the booking! No Google maps is a deal breaker. I really hope this is not true, because it doesn’t make any sense to me.
- I wasn’t able to test Apple CarPlay without an iPhone, so I’m not sure if it’s available at launch or coming soon, but at least it’s there in the infotainment menu. If anyone else has a different experience on test drives, please do share.
- The music quality (not an audiophile) is average and nothing to speak much about. Preferred the Kona here.
- Biggest boot space, rear leg room, cabin width and roominess compared to Nexon & Kona, but also the most aged looking cabin.
- It’s missing out on many creature comforts which makes me want to cancel the booking – no auto dimming IVRM, 2010 era MID, no ventilated seats, no Android Auto, boring dashboard design, and of course, there’s the lack of confidence in a high-tech first-gen launch from M&M. Off topic – we got the XUV700 at launch but weren’t as concerned as we trust M&M with ICE drivetrains and are happy to report zero issues 1+ year later except for minor bugs in Adrenox, which is tolerable if your expectations aren’t super high. But with an EV, the whole drivetrain is what we become beta testers for. But, I must also say that I didn’t see any glitches in any XUV400 I checked out and they have time till the they start delivering in case any turn up. I have high hopes of reliability and wish the best to M&M and XUV400 customers for stress free ownership.
Overall what works for the XUV400 is good suspension, more than just 2 front airbags, decent cabin & boot space – and that’s about it. The Nexon or Kona wins on all other parameters! I strongly feel the performance on paper and range advantage is unlikely to woo customers away from the Tatas and MGs, as the real life difference is pretty minor and all the EVs are anyway far head of their ICE alternatives’ performance.
Keyword: Mahindra XUV 400: A prospective owner's detailed observations