OK, so what do we have here? This doesn’t seem like a Mahindra from any angle. Preceding to the launch, If its badges were pulled off, nobody other than any of the Mahindra engineers would have recognized it.
I can debate on its looks in five one-thousand word essays, but the crux is simple.
When I first saw the Mahindra Xylo with all of my friends in the Indian motoring journalism community, I recollect some staring at it in disbelief. Some of the leading journalists did not prefer it for its looks.
I’ve come to know that a car’s appearance is entirely determined by the nature of its environment. In the family MPV segment today in India, there are a few vehicles which come to my mind. However, a year later, things will be very different. Tata would have launched their Indicruz, Maruti would have introduced a bigger vehicle and several others would have joined the bandwagon by then.
When you account for all those vehicles in the equation, the Xylo will appear very different. Very different to how it looks now once further competition enters the playing field.
It is easy to imitate the Innova’s design to gain applause and acceptance, like how ICML took the Qualis route. Full marks to Mahindra for putting forward an unconventional product in terms of design, which has achieved a lot of popularity with Indian sedan/MPV buyers.
The heart of the matter-
The catch word is ‘big.’ Get in and there is space all around. You could run a golf tournament inside the Xylo. The huge windscreen and windows give a voluminous feel to the cabin. The steering wheel is awkwardly placed until you sit and get the setting right. We have the E6 variant with us and therefore provision for steering angle adjustment is present. On the base version, I would have found it a lot tougher to get in and drive.
The seats furnish ample support but are on the firmer side. Fit and finish are better than the Scorpio and Bolero, Mahindra should be complimented for the effort gone into improving on its earlier performance.
The dash is well laid out with a nice Nippon stereo sitting in the centre playing my favorite tracks on my iPod through good quality speakers. Good quality speakers are unknown to many who have never considered incorporating in the factory car. The sound system adds to the delight of driving the Xylo.
The gear lever is a bit far from my reach but the chunky knob averts me from complaining too much.We would have liked an all-time parking assistance module with front and the side sensors ( the Xylo has just for the reverse) which works only when the reverse gear is engaged.
We’ve hardly clocked twenty kilometers, and we’ve already beginning to get a little worked up with the soft suspension setting. Over a stretch of bad road, we drove hard, and the tendency of it to bounce a bit more than its competition is evident.
Once we have done a few hundred kilometers over different terrains, our opinion might be different. It’s still early days with our twin color Xylo that is finding a friend in our camera. Watch out for our comprehensive report in the near future. I can tell you, this car looks like a competent MPV giving you more for the same buck as any of its peers
- For more updates on this topic, subscribe via email or RSS Feed -
[...] I expected the Xylo to be another Mahindra product like the Bolero and Armada. To my surprise initially the Xylo didn’t look anything like a Mahindra, looked much different and up market, the design not so conventional, the tall stance hinted it was a vehicle bigger than the Scorpio. I won’t stress much on that as I have done it already in the initial report. [...]
A simple and neat review.
I have clocked 6000 kms on my Xylo E6 and am quite satisfied with my buy. Moreover I should say I am bowled over by the customer care at Mahindra. I guess the guys at Mahindra are very serious with the Xylo and are taking no chance to soil their image.
I had a crash with the Xylo and had it sent to the dealer to have the rear door and bumpers fixed. This was at Ootacamund, otherwise known as Ooty.
I had to wait for a while to get the spares as the vehicle was a new launch and I felt like a fool to be the first probable customer to replace the door after a crash, the wait was fine and fair. There was no other option.
After collecting the vehicle I noticed that the dealer had done his best to ruin it. The door was wavy and did not match the shade with the rest of the body. There were dents in two areas, bumper was not aligned, rear glass embedded antenna failed to pick up signals and the clear coat had been painted on the side doors as they had not masked the body.
I spoke to the service manager and he reasoned accordingly,
the dents were punch marks from the company- absurd.
the paint matches- absurd again.
clear coat can be removed by polish and a teflon coat for which I had to pay- absurd again and again.
I left the matter at that as he was a very nice person who I have known for some time and did not wish to practice my vocabulary upon. So I sent a mail to the Mahindra customer care.
They replied to my mail in fifteen minutes, they arranged a call from a dealer at Coimbatore who asked me to take my vehicle to them and have the issue sorted.
Further Mr. Arif Rizway a very kind gentleman from Mahindra called me up to get the first hand report of the incident and also arranged for me to have an alternate vehicle until i get delivery after my repairs.
All said and done, the MPV was given to me in 3 days time with a new door and a rear glass. This is a good move from Mahindra towards the positive side.
Its astonishing that when other manufacturers and dealers of reputed European and Japanese brands take customers for a ride irrespective of the fact that they would have paid more than me for their luxury sedans and otherwise that Mahindra were very professional and dedicated to have my issue sorted without any hassle.
A positive side to the otherwise crooked dealers.
Cheers,
Benny John
Good review. Mahindra Xylo is undeniably a good vehicle and it has proved itself by giving other brands, especially Toyota Innova, a run for their money. It has scored in terms of its practicality at much lower price than its competition.
I just went to the Xylo website and found out that a Xylo Colour Contest is going on. You just have to choose your favourite Xylo colour and complete a slogan and you can win holiday packages from Mahindra Holidays. If anyone wants to try out their luck they can go to http://www.mahindraxylo.co.in/shoppe_contest.asp#
Very nice review – is this the first one of a long term road test of the XYLO ? Cant wait to read more about it.
@TAI – Thank you for your kind comments. We’re striving to give you the best possible product and we’re glad that we are getting there.
@Dean – Thanks mate, watch out for the next part this week.
This was entertaining, all the necessary details for a first impression
Great Job Shrawan and hats off to Mr. Ritesh Madhok for his excellent photography!