Introduction

Mahindra is offering the XUV500 automatic for prices starting at Rs 15.53 lakh (ex-Delhi). The company was planning the move for a while, but was waiting for the new six-speed transmission from Aisin AW of Japan. Here is a quick download on the XUV500 AT and our first impressions from a short spin inside the Mahindra facility.

Facts

This is a new six-speed gearbox and not the one that is used in the Scorpio. Mahindra and SsangYong will jointly use this transmission with the diesel powertrains in large cars, in fact, it is already offered globally with the SsangYong Tivoli and the Korando C.

The transmission uses a torque convertor and has a manual mode with buttons on the gear stick to shift gears. The gearbox omits the winter/ wet mode that is available on the Scorpio transmission. The SUV with the automatic transmission weighs between 5 kg to 8 kg more depending upon the variants. There is also a creep mode to keep moving in bumper to bumper traffic.

There are no cosmetic changes to the Mahindra XUV500 AT. The variants with the new transmission have ‘automatic’ written at the rear, below the badging. Also the instrument cluster has been modified to display the driving modes.

The XUV500 AT is available in three variants – W8 2WD priced at R 15.53 lakh, W10 2WD priced at RS 16.36 lakh and W10 AWD priced at Rs 17.36 lakh.

First Impression

The car gets off the line cleanly; there is no lag between the throttle input and response from the engine. At least at city speeds, the transmission feels refined, the revs build gradually. There is neither any rubber band effect nor does it get noisy at least up to 3,500rpm.

With a very light foot on the throttle, the XUV500 AT shifts gears at around 2,000rpm; go heavier on the pedal and the shifting point moves to 3,000rpm. The ECU overrides the manual mode for both upshifts and downshifts, if the car is not within the ideal rev range. Using the Manual mode isn’t the best way of driving the car, it takes a lot of time to shift gears and hardly offers any engine braking during downshifts. The car also misses out on a sport mode, which is common on vehicles in this segment. Also the transmission is tuned for efficiency and the rpm drops to idling the moment you get the foot off the throttle, even in the manual mode, which isn’t the ideal way of operating. The ARAI efficiency of the automatic is 13 per cent lower than the manual version, rated at 13.86 kmpl.

Mahindra XUV500 AT is the only seven-seater automatic SUV in the segment, at the moment. It costs Rs 1.7 lakh more than the Hyundai Creta AT, but offers a bigger engine and more cabin space with two extra seats.