I thought that the ADAS features would be useful but I was wrong. However, I’d say that the XUV700 is overall a better SUV than the Fortuner, Innova & Harrier.
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Hi everyone,
I just completed 1100 km Nagpur to Bangalore drive, with a stopover at Hyderabad in an XUV 700 P AT. I travelled with my wife & 2.5 yr old son. I drove 100% of the way. Here are my observations.
Performance & handling
- Absolutely phenomenal. Power is always available & overtakes are easy.
- The car easily cruises at 120 kmph with the engine at 2k rpm.
- Engine is barely audible.
- Highway curves are handled easily while giving full confidence to the driver. Body roll is well contained.
- Absolutely in love with the car & did not feel tired even after 1100+ kms of driving. Max speed I went to was 120, that too when the road was open & obstruction-free for a long way ahead.
- High-speed comfort is good, and potholes are well absorbed. Though some potholes do filter in at times, and it is unpredictable which potholes will be absorbed & which will filter through. At speeds of 110+ a mild vibration was felt in the front section of the vehicle, not sure if it is due to a balancing problem or suspension passing on the road undulation. Please let me know if anyone else felt these vibrations at high speeds. This was more prominent when tyre temperature was 55+ & pressure was 36+ due to the high temperature.
Mileage
- Though not important, I had reset the trip just before the start.
- MID showed 13.5 kmpl till Hyderabad, 12.5 before entering Bangalore & 11.7 when I reached home. Sunday Ugadi traffic was at its peak & airport to Bellandur took me 2 hours.
- Did not test with tankful method. But I am satisfied with the numbers. Most of the journey was done at speeds of 100-110 kmph.
Comfort
- Seats are accomodating & comfortable. Tyre noise could have been better.
- The only sore point is the AC vents in the second row, they are too low & woefully inadequate. While the overall AC is powerful, second row occupants are left wanting due to the poor blower design.
ADAS
- I was of the opinion that ADAS would be useful on such a long highway drive. But, boy was I wrong.
- Lane Keep Assist – just does not work on a 4 lane highway system where no one follows the lane discipline. It keeps beeping & correcting too often. Switched it off in the first 30 mins.
- ACC – Cruise control works well for the most part. But when it detects a slow-moving vehicle up ahead, it applies brakes pretty hard. Making the ride uncomfortable.
- Also, if the smart pilot assist is tick marked, lane keep assist automatically turns on during cruise control. I had to take a second stop to figure this out & disable it.
- ACC needs to be disabled every time there are slow-moving vehicles in both the lanes, otherwise, ACC applied hard brakes on detecting the vehicle up ahead.
- Overall, a lot of juggleries are required to make ACC work. There were times when I just decided to drive without ACC, as I did not want to do all the jugglery.
- ADAS features work well on expressways. Like Hyderabad ORR, on that road, I could switch on all features & relax a bit while driving.
Overall summary
XUV 700 is a fantastic vehicle, which an entire family will love. Having driven Harrier, Innova & Fortuner in the past, I would say XUV is better than all of them in terms of power, space, comfort & refinement as an overall package. Yes, even the Fortuner (may be an unpopular opinion).
Keyword: Mahindra XUV700 review after a 1,100 km long highway drive