Oct 19, 2011 03:16 PM
11279 Views
I have been following this SUV since it was code named w201 and have been going through reviews for some time till it was officially announced as XUV5oo. I happened to get the first visit of the vehicle last week and opted for test drive today since it was very much crowded on my first visit.
On my first impression on the looks of the vehicle I was impressed with the design dynamics and curves the vehicle had in its outside. It was a excellent piece of work by designers at mahindra to recreate the cheetah kind of appearance to the vehicle.
Features attracted from the outside were the design of the vehicle, Headlamps of cheetah, Real day time running lights, Tail light style and design, cheetah paw type design for opening doors, Tubeless tyres, OVRM etc., One feature appeared that it could be developed better was the jaw of the cheetah. Looking from the front side I was feeling it was inclined upwards.
From the inside it was excellent with many advanced features inbuilt into this machine. The dynamics of the vehicle inside and outside was excellent with features like cruise control, blue tooth connectivity to your phone for answering calls at a touch of a button in the steering wheel, volume control, special lounge lighting, infotainment Panel, GPS, DVD Player were all feature that was icing on the cake. Hats off to Mahindra who has managed to pull the rabbit out of the hat and these will definitely give competitors a run for their money.
On the test drive part of it, I was offered W8 2WD by the dealer and my first after ignition was that this car is here to stay for long. There was no jerk from the hood of the engine at the ignition of the vehicle which I could notice in xylo / scorpio. The refinement is very good and drive was excellent. I felt like I was driving a petro car and was easily able to get myself between vehicles in traffic situations and create my own space there. Handling and drive was exceptionally good although I drove only say 5-6 Kms I was satisfied with the performance of the engine and there was absolutely no noise inside the cabin.
AC's was working very good in the first row I did not sit in the back side so no comments. Middle row seating was good and had ample leg space but felt the last row is of no use to adults. It can be only for children and lack of baggage space were some of the concerns I had noticed in this vehicle.
Moreover seats was excellent, positioning and comfort was at its best. The plastics quality inside was a ok ok type, where they have compromised and not of best quality, still I would say this is a better buy comparing to other players in the market for its VFM.
Overall I would rate 4.5 out of 5 for this vehicle and would say definitely its VFM. I am not surprised why mahindra was able to strike gold with this new vehicle with 8000 bookings with just 5 days.
sunil
