Mahindra XUV700 Engine & Performance

There are two engine options for XUV7OO – 2.0L Turbo GDi Petrol Engine producing 200 horsepower at 380 Nm Torque. This motor can be paired with a 6 MT or AT transmission. The other option 2.2L Turbo Crdi Diesel Engine churning out 185 horsepower at 420Nm torque from MT transmission and stunning 450Nm torque from AT transmission. Important to note that the diesel makes 155 horsepower in the MX variant.

The engine option we drove all day was the Petrol Automatic. The engine is super smooth. We experienced the same engine in the Thar but obviously a less tuned version. The petrol engine is super smooth and has a good low-end torque. This 200 hp engine is the perfect match to pull a 2-tonne vehicle. The power delivery from any speed is clean, be it slow moving traffic or short burst of speed on highway runs. The power delivery is continuous and no hiccups whatsoever. We had a limited real world running and majority was on the Mahindra new Track facility. Since it’s a Torque Convertor, do not expect performance like a DCT/DSG. But by no means this is a slouch. The third gen Aisin gearbox is a delight to use. There are very small pauses between gear changes but not jerky. The car was always in the right gear all the time. It will be a boon in bumper-to-bumper traffic thanks to good low end.  In a closed and controlled environment of the Mahindra Test Facility we clocked over 170 kmph and it was composed at that speed. Cruising at triple digit speeds all day long will be peanuts for the XUV700. The gearbox does come with a manual mode but unfortunately it misses out on paddle shifters.

We briefly drove the diesel manual variant as well. The motor is very refined as expected from Mahindra. It gets a bit noisy at higher revs. Torque figures such as 420 Nm and 450 Nm are serious figures and very evident when its driven. The gearbox isn’t the slickest but nothing to really complain about. Again, like the petrol engine, diesel motor can do triple digits all day long.

There are four drive modes available in the diesel engine – Zip, Zap, Zoom and Custom. We feel they should have continued with the “usual” mode names like Eco, City, and Sport. Zip reduces the power from 185 to 155 hp; this mode is preferred for relaxed driving. Zap and Zoom gets to utilize the full 185 horses. Zoom Mode is more eager than Zap. Personally, we liked Zap Mode as it offers balanced performance. Custom will let you create your own set of performance mix. Petrol powered cars doesn’t get any modes.

Mahindra didn’t reveal fuel efficiency figures but they say it will be class leading as well. However we expect the petrol to be on the thirstier side in real world conditions.