Mahindra XUV 400 Electric SUV Review

The automaker has unveiled the xuv400, a car that, in its concept, form was first seen at the auto expo 2020, while the actual launch is still some time away. We got to spend some time with the upcoming electric compact suv compared to the xuv300. The face of the xb40 is quite different. There you have engines, so you need a grill here, thats, not the case, so the company has taken its liberties in giving you a nice looking face on the car. You look at these arrow patterns with a satin. Copper finish: look nice same finish on the twin peaks logo as well: saturn, copper on the bumper on the profile on the rear on the roof as well its everywhere. So mahindra is trying to use this color to give the electric car a different identity. Then you look at the nice. Looking slim led projector headlamps with familiar looking drls, add to the overall sporty appeal of the car come to the profile you get more sporty appeal on the xuv400. The big circular wheel, arches, look good and sporty. They gel well with these nice. Looking 16 inch alloy wheels this by the way, has a charging socket inside from where you can charge the car you come further down, and then you see body cladding, as the certain copper finish i spoke about, you have roof rails as well, and overall, this car Is much longer than the 300, so total length is four thousand two hundred millimeters wheelbase, two thousand six hundred millimeters that only guarantees more space inside the cabin well come to that in a bit.

Yes, the car does look big and imposing, in fact, its also bigger than some of the compact electric suvs that are on sale in the indian market. Right now. Looking at the silhouette, you just get an impression that the xuv300 has grown considerably on the rear. The highlight are the new led tail lamps, which also help in differentiating this car from 300. In all, there are five color options and we got to sample the galaxy grey. All the colors can be chosen with the satin copper roof or in monotone Music. The cabin somewhat reminds you of the xuv300, though the colors used here are different, so you get an all black theme on the dash and on the seats which look quite sporty and add to the sporty feel of the vehicle. Uh saturn copper is used inside cabin as well on a lot of places so on the ac, which you see it on the buttons uh below the touchscreen uh on the climate controls as well on the gay lever on the twin peaks logo on the steering wheel. As well so again generous use of saturn copper here, the cluster is a part analog part digital, somewhat, similar to the 300. But instead of the rpm meter, you get a different meter which gives you some idea of economy and how you drive in the car. So if it needs a power boost or if the batteries are charging thats it you can see on this meter, then you have the eight inch touchscreen system similar to the three double.

Oh, it is compatible with apple carplay and android. Auto, though theyre wired, not wireless, you also get blue sense plus connected car technique here, which gives you access to more than 60 connected car features, many of which you can also control through a remote location, so thats, nice overall ergonomically, this cabin hasnt been bad before So that continues here on this car as well good storage options both on the front row as well as on the second row. However, it seems mahindra did miss a trick by not making this cabin less stated and more feature rich. The modern day consumer may not really approve of a relatively smaller screen, as well as the absence of a full digital cluster on the upside presence of a sunroof makes the cabin feel airier, and the increased length has certainly resulted in a more spacious second row when Compared to other electric compact suvs, whats missing here are ac vents and a three point seat belt for the middle passenger. So you do get a center armrest. The second row gets the option of a 60 40 split to offer more practicality. Another advantage of the increased length of this car is the higher boot space. The xuv400 gets 378 liters of luggage space and, if measured to the roof, it stands at 418 meters, Music after driving the xuv700. Here, a year ago, we were back at the mahindra suv, proving track on the outskirts of chennai to sample the xgv400.

This track offered a mix of highway and city driving, as well as a high speed track with banking on either ends Music. Now lets begin with the numbers: the xuv400 runs on a ‘.4 kilowatt hour, lithium ion battery pack. Now it may not sound too big in size, but the numbers here are quite impressive: it gives you a maximum power of 147 bhp and a peak top figure of 310 newton meters. That, of course, is the all important number of range mahindra says the ar ai tested figure on this particular car is 456 kilometers thats the maximum limit to which this car can go on a single charge. Now this number is higher than the nexon evmax, which runs 437 kilometers on a single charge, but a little lower than mgcs ev, which runs for 461 kilometers on one charge. Then you have different levels of region on this car. You have driving modes right below the touch screen. You can press a button and change them. They are called fun fast and fearless, so different levels of regen, depending on how much range is left in the car. How much more response you want from the setup? You can change these modes and have more fun. So a fun in fact, is a little more subtle and fearless is the one you can actually have the most amount of fun on this car and then you have another mode, which is called the lively mode.

So here the switch of the lever you put this car in l mode and then single pedal driving gets activated on the xuv400, so running short of range. You have to cover a slightly higher distance. You can switch to this mode uh. The performance will be rather low, but you will be unsure of a higher range on this car. The interesting thing is that, as you switch between these modes, the character of the car completely changes, so you switch from fun to fast or fast to fearless, especially, you can feel that the setup is responding in a very different way. It becomes more enthusiastic and this does not depend on the inputs that youre giving inputs remain the same, but you can see the car runs faster. It feels lighter, it feels more energetic, so your force will have more fun and maximum fun driving in the fearless mode. In this car, but as i said that will also ensure that your batteries get drained faster when youre driving in this particular mode. Mahindra says, apart from region levels, change in driving modes, tunes the response of steering as well as throttle. Now we all know the best part about electric cars right you get all the torque right from the beginning, so at 25, rpm only youre getting all the torque of 310 newton meters and here on the high speed test track of mspt, is where you enjoy this Car, the most because the acceleration is really fast, so you hit 60 kilometers per hour in just four seconds 100 kilometers per hour in around 8.

3 seconds. So this car is quick. So get that fast! Initial acceleration that you really like you need an empty road for that, and we got that today. According to mahindra, the inertia of the battery should not amplify the vibrations coming from the road. Thankfully, this is a cabin where exterior disturbances are largely controlled from coming in, be it unwanted, sounds or vibrations onto the right quality and mahindra says that the rear suspension has not been changed when you compare it to the xuv300. So the floor has been significantly modified because of the batteries. So, overall, you get a good combination of ride and handling, because even in the 300, there were not really any complaints about the right quality and thats. The case on the 400 as well, and though this is a tall car, but it is wide as well and that aids, in somewhat decent handling that you get on the xv400, so you dont really get thrown around in this vehicle and you get a fairly confident Drive by driving it even on high speeds, the suv gets a ground clearance of 190 millimeters, which will enable it to tackle bad roads easily talking about safety just like the 300. Even the 400 gets as many as six airbags. The car also gets disc brakes on all four wheels. Mahindra says extensive use of high strength. Steel has made its structure crash compliant now we know that the xuv300 is one of the safest cars in india when it comes to crash test ratings, and it will be interesting to see how this electric suv fares in that department.

The car also gets ip67 rated ingress protection for motor and battery pack. Another important thing is, of course, the charging time so using an ac charger. 7.2 kilowatt. You can charge this car fully in around six and a half hours, but if you use a 16 ampere normal socket that you use in your house, the charging could take up to 13 hours on the xuv400 and then, of course, you also have the fast charge Option so youre using a 50 kilowatt dc fast charger, you can do from zero to 80 charge in approximately 50 minutes thats a good number if youre looking to add some range to your car quickly, Music, the launch of the xuv400 is still a few months away. Mahindra says the car will be launched in january next year and deliveries will begin later that month, looking at the prices of its main rivals like the mg zs ev and tata nexon evmax, the xuv400 could be launched at starting price of 18 lakh rupees ex showroom. An aggressive price tag will certainly help in overcoming some negatives like a cabin that feels neither modern nor feature rich, but theres enough and more that works for the 400, including its dynamics as well as design. If the range stays true, the latest xuv could be in.