When you start driving, what surprises you immediately is the refinement of this motor.

Mahindra XUV 3XO Engine & Performance

The Mahindra XUV 3XO comes with the choice of three engines. A base 1.2 3 cylinder turbo petrol putting out 111 horsepower and 200 Nm torque, a 3 cylinder TGDI turbo petrol good for 130 hp and 230Nm and a 1.5 litre 4 cylinder diesel putting out 117 hp and 300 Nm of torque. A six speed manual is offered across the engine range. As far as automatic options go, the diesel gets the AMT, while the petrols get a new Aisin sourced 6 speed torque converter auto box.

I got my hands on the TGDI petrol with the 6 speed torque converter AT. When you start driving, what surprises you immediately is the refinement of this motor. It doesn’t give you the feeling that you are driving a 3 pot motor at all. The acceleration is smooth and the motor has a strong mid range. You also love the linear way how it picks up pace. In city drive is piece of cake, lag is masked well and the compact size makes it easy to move around. Shifts from the 6 speed Aisin box are silky smooth. I’m very used to this box since it’s the same one used in the Thar. The shifts really cant be noticed when driving. You will even enjoy it on the open road. There’s enough power on and you will find yourself reaching triple digit speeds. Overtaking other vehicles is a breeze and you can get going with just a tap on the accelerator. Just like its bigger siblings the 3XO comes with three drive modes :Zip, Zap & Zoom. These alter the throttle and steering response.

Mahindra XUV 3XO Ride & Handling

The XUV 3XO uses an independent MacPherson strut suspension at the front and a semi-independent twist beam suspension setup at the rear. The ride quality is quite impressive though a bit on the stiffer side. The XUV 3XO just glides over uneven roads and you don’t feel the bad patches at low and moderate speeds. Only the large potholes make their presence felt in the cabin.

The XUV 300 was always a good handler and this is no different. The wide stance and the excellent chassis inspire confidence when going into fast corners. I didn’t feel even a hint or nervousness at any given point of time. Steering could have done with better feedback though during spirited driving. At city speeds it feels light and easy to use. It gets disc brakes for all four wheels and coming to a stop emergency braking is handled drama free.