In the world of medium sized 7 seater SUV's there are a number of choices currently available. The Mahindra XUV500 certainly fits into this category offering many of the features and advantages, all at a relative bargain price.
The reputation for toughness and reliability has been earned over many years and kilometers both in India and, more recently, South Africa. This is especially important with Mahindra's declaration that SA is their 2nd home after opening their assembly plant outside Durban in 2018.
The XUV500 is powered by the same MHawk 2.2L 4 cylinder turbodiesel engine that has proven itself in the PikUp range over the years. 103kW and 330Nm outputs are more than adequate for this large vehicle and provide for excellent cruising ability especially on the open road. Overall fuel economy of 9L/ 100km during our test period that included a lot of commuting as well as a weekend cruise. This may increase a bit if limited to city driving but is a perfectly acceptable overall figure.
All versions are powered by the same engine with a choice of 6 speed manual or automatic transmissions. The top spec W10 version as tested is auto only and all are front wheel drive. The automatic transmission is very smooth in general operation with my only gripe being that it tended to hunt between 5th and 6th gears while cruising, especially if even the slightest incline is encountered.
The large body and long wheelbase contribute to a very smooth ride over all surfaces and handling generally is very light and easy for a large vehicle of this type. Both middle and 3rd row seats have good legroom and headroom with the bonus of separate aircon controls for the rearmost passengers. The 3rd row is accessed by folding and tumbling the smaller section of the middle seat. This is an easy operation although the seat is quite heavy to tumble forward.
As the top model, the W10 includes many features like full leather seating, sunroof, 6 airbags, (very small) touchscreen with reverse camera and many more.
The XUV500 range is showing it's age a bit with the instrumentation being basic and driving info only available on the centre screen. Also the small screen and button fest below for operating the system are rather dated. Having experienced the much newer XUV300 last year, I am certain that a facelift or new model cannot be far away and if that follows the 300, then this will be remedied and vastly improved to the extremely high standard that has been shown in the 300.
Typically for this type of vehicle, boot space is virtually non-existent in 7 seater format. The flexibility of only using 5 or 6 seats are options if load space is needed.
The XUV 500 range is priced from R320 000 to R337 900 for the model tested. A 5 year/ 100 000km service plan is included.
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