Mahindra’s Parable of the XUV500

Buddha’s Parable of Kisotogami has been one famous story from Buddha and Buddhism. This is a tale of a girl called Kisotogami who was attacked by a cheetah and rescued by one of Rajah’s servant. An interesting tale where Gautam Buddha speaks about the cycle of life and death.

Once again, Mahindra connects Cheetah to the Buddh to give us another parable. This time around, the main characters of this tale include the Cheetah-inspired XUV500 and India’s only Formula 1 circuit, the Buddh International Circuit. Most people drive supercars or sports cars on a track day. But Mahindra had different thoughts. The utility-vehicle manufacturer invited journalists to drive their first World SUV around the track.

This was my third visit to the track in less than two months. Previously, I have driven the Fiesta and the AMG fleet from Mercedes-Benz, but an SUV? This will be my first attempt and this thought shuddered in my head. I have driven the XUV500 and always knew somewhere in my head that it wouldn’t let me down. So, I was up for this challenge. But somehow the high ground clearance stance and lots of body roll thoughts kept on hounding me. I did not forget about ESP, my guardian angel that will always alongside, as I wasn’t sure of how well things will shape up.

Finally, the day arrived. After slipping behind the wheel, I realized, this was my first go in a manual car around BIC- as the Fiesta was also an autobox. On the first slow-lap behind the pace car, I was very cautious about my moves, and my confidence augmented as laps elapsed. Body-roll! My biggest fear! Wasn’t of any trouble. But the SUV did suffer from massive under-steer and braking wasn’t the way I wished it to be. And that’s about it.

ESP was always there along me. Initially, I wasn’t driving faster than my guardian angel could fly but I did cut loose on the final two laps. The car’s handling did surprise me and this boosted my confidence. I further upped the ante on the last lap; however, things didn’t work as per plan. My co-driver was feeling giddy. Motion sickness had caught him with both its hands. I had no option but to reduce our pace and cruise back into the pits.

Driving high-performance cars on a track is bliss, but the fact that slower cars around a track being boring, is just a faf. You need a car that is a decent handler with a responsive engine, which the XUV500 is. A performance car might not reach its limit on the track. But the XUV500 does. This always keep you on the edge.