How & why I ended up booking the Mahindra XUV300 AMT

After all the test drives, we were tied between Brezza and XUV300. However, the ride quality, performance and safety trumped over mileage and reliability, and we zeroed down on XUV300.

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My XUV300 buying experience

Before I share my experience here, first a big shout-out to this forum, it's creators and members. For without them, it would be difficult making choices and gathering information related to these mean machines. A big thank you to all the contributors.

So, the search for a new car started as offices have started opening gradually and day to day commute was getting difficult with increased unpredictability of cab aggregators (read multiple cancellations, longer waiting time etc.) Thus, the decision to buy our own car.

Our search criteria:

• A sub-4 m SUV (since we already have hatchbacks and sedans in the family and have driven them enough).

• Budget of max 15 Lakhs.

• Automatic, since majority of our driving is going to be in the city, and Pune being one city where we can sometime find speed breakers at an interval of every 100 meters. (Not kidding here. It's true for many parts of the city, though not everywhere.)

• Petrol car (since we don’t yet know how much we are going to run as its our first car in the city). It would be used mostly for office commute and occasional out station trips.

The cars under consideration were Maruti Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Tata Nexon, Kia Sonet and Mahindra XUV300. I will share my opinion about each one of them based solely on my test drive(s).

Brezza AT:

No of test drives taken: 4

Likes:

• Very refined and reliable 1.5L NA Petrol engine
• Good mileage, all thanks to the smart hybrid system
• Feature rich car (ZXi & ZXi+ variants)
• Comfortable seats & Good cabin space

Didn’t like much:

• I felt it struggled in the mid-range. The power delivery was not immediate due to NA engine.
• Suspension not smooth enough in the bumpy roads.
• Long waiting period up to 5-6 months for AT transmission (Though the sales executive said it could be delivered in 3-4 months, still too much for me). Hence this was a deal breaker.

Venue DCT:

No of test drives taken: 3

Likes:

• Really loved the 1.0 L Turbo engine
• Quick power delivery
• Ample features with most options (all possible combinations of iMT, DCT, Petrol, Diesel)
• Smooth gear shifts due to DCT

Didn’t like much:

• Seats were not comfortable enough for me.
• Cabin is not very spacious compared to the competitors.
• Not enough room in the rear seat for 3 people.
• Poor ride quality as the suspension didn’t absorb the undulations on the road well. This was the deal breaker here.
• I didn’t test drive Sonet considering it similar to Venue based on multiple reviews & discussions on different forum.

Nexon:

No of test drives taken: 0

My cousin owns this car, and I don’t really like the stance of the car. I feel it looks more like a raised hatch back. Also, headroom in the rear seat appears to be less. The AMT transmission and engine refinement is not up to the mark. The showroom visit experience was poor as the sales people appeared least interested in attending to the customers. Upon arrival, we were asked to wait for 30 mins till a sales advisor could see us. We could see many sales people roaming around here and there and just chatting with each other but no one came to attend to a waiting customer. Probably a typical show of Tata’s sales team. We ultimately walked out of the showroom expecting a call back since we had filled the enquiry form but that never happened. However, I have heard from a lot of people that it is the most value for money car in this segment.

XUV300 AMT:

No of test drives taken: 5

Likes:

• 1.2 L Turbo engine with best in segment torque
• Best in segment wheelbase which leads to comfortable seating space in second row
• Best in segment safety
• Most comfortable ride quality with sufficient features
• Proper SUV like stance.

Didn’t like much:

• Lowest in segment boot space. Manageable for me.
• AMT features in 2nd base and top trim only. Its not available in 2nd top trim.
• Limited color options to choose from (just 3 in AMT)
• Excessive omission of features despite the price rise in lower variants.

After all the test drives, we were tied between Brezza and XUV300. However, the ride quality, performance and safety trumped over mileage and reliability, and we zeroed down on XUV300. I know AMT is a compromise here since the lower gear shifts are not very smooth and it appears confused sometimes. I hope we can get used to it with time. Cutting down of features in W6 (2nd base) variant was a huge disappointment. Some important features such as adjustable head rest for rear passengers, rear spoiler, 60:40 split rear seats and touchscreen infotainment system have been removed. Absence of height adjustable driver’s seat is a major miss. So, we had no choice but to opt for W8 (O) variant which is on the higher side of the price spectrum. And even this variant hasn’t been spared the feature omissions: 3-point seat belt for 2nd row middle passenger, request sensor on passenger side front door, ajar lamp on door etc. have been removed. Don’t really know what Mahindra was thinking while removing them. But I fell for its ride quality and comfort. No other car comes close to it in the segment.

So, from this car hunting experience what I have learnt is that no car is perfect. None. We just need to find the right compromise based on what we are looking for. XUV300 ticket majority of our checkboxes and we booked the W8(O) Petrol AMT on 10 January, 2023 and awaiting the delivery. The sales team said the official waiting period in Pune is 7 weeks, but they would try to deliver it as soon as they can. I hope my experience would help someone the way someone else’s helped me. Delivery and drive experience to follow.

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