Automatic XUV500 will keep its owners happy

The Mahindra XUV500 Automatic has been launched in India with a new 6-speed automatic transmission sourced from Aisin.

The new transmission fixes a major handicap for the Indian automaker in its best selling crossover.

Faisal Khan, MotorBeam.com, tests whether the new XUV500 with an automatic gearbox is actually worthy of a Rs 20 lakh price tag or not.

The Mahindra XUV500 was a revolutionary product, which successfully exemplified what Indians love in a car - head-turning style, long feature list and a reasonable price.

The refresh in May 2015 solved many issues of the car with a new infotainment system, sunroof and some plastic panel changes.

Now with increasing competition in the segment, Mahindra decided to play ball and finally fitted the vehicle with a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Here is a detailed look at the car in its latest avatar.

The exterior of the vehicle received a major rejig in the 2015 facelift.

The car received ample amount of chrome garnishing on the front along with new pair of headlights and refreshed tail lamps, new bumpers, redesigned grille and bonnet, and some more minor tit-bits.

The new automatic variant shares the same exact style except for the addition of the Automatic badging on the boot lid.

The XUV500 automatic is offered in the same colours as the manual variant.

The interior of the new automatic variant of the car is almost the same as that of its manual variant, except for the big silver automatic drive selector and the absence of the push-button start-stop system.

The plastic quality is good and generous use of soft touch plastic and leather makes the cabin feel plush, though the fit and finish of the plastics is still Mahindra-grade.

The car is loaded with features like 6-way electronically adjustable driver seat, a nice big sunroof and a 7-inch touch screen infotainment system.

The Mahindra XUV500 automatic is powered by the same 2.2-litre mHawk diesel engine.

The powerplant puts out 140 BHP of power at 3750 RPM and 330 Nm of torque between 1600-2800 RPM and is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission from Aisin.

The engine has a free revving nature and the XUV500 is quick on its feet with minimal turbo-lag.

But once the turbo starts spooling in from above 1500 RPM, the motor gets super aggressive, resulting in a lot of wheelspin and torque steer while taking off on full throttle.

Talking about the gearbox, it is very smooth in its operations and shifts gears quickly.

The car does not come with paddle-shifters though manual mode can be operated through the buttons provided on the gear lever itself.

With regular driving, the gearbox upshifts at 1500 RPM while if you drive with full throttle, the gearbox is likely to shift gears at a notch below the 4000 RPM mark.

The Mahindra XUV500 offers good and absorbent ride quality but it isn’t the best one out there though and could have been better.

The SUV is built on a monocoque chassis and has good handling characteristics although there is some body roll present too due to the bulk of the vehicle.

The SUV does stay nicely planted at high speeds but the steering feedback is inconsistent.

Braking performance is also more than satisfactory on the XUV500.

The Mahindra XUV500 is equipped with safety features like dual front, side and curtain airbags, ABS, ESP, Rollover Mitigation, Hill Hold and Hill Descent Control.

The vehicle also secured a 4-star rating in the Australian NCAP.

The automatic gearbox results in a steep dive in the fuel efficiency figures though, as our test car returned around 9 km/l under mixed driving conditions.

The Mahindra XUV500 is an excellent vehicle and the addition of the automatic gearbox is like a cherry on the cake.