December Holiday Road-Trip Review: 2023 Mahindra XUV700 2.0T AX7 L

Every year, from around springtime, members of the South African motoring media scramble for December cars, and the criteria are usually the following: It has to be spacious enough for lots of luggage, very fuel-efficient, and it should not be too much of a schlepp to drive around in peak hour traffic, which is almost 24/7 in the Western Cape's coastal areas over December.

This year, Mahindra's XUV700 would be our trusty holiday steed, since my husband and I co-created two sets of offspring from our first marriages and we always get them all together over Christmas. Therefore, a seven-seater is always a must, and the AX7 and AX7 L variants have space for two more sets of bottoms at the back.

Related: Mahindra XUV700 - First Drive Review

Styling

The XUV700 is a handsome vehicle; price-wise, it may not be in the same playing field as the much-more-expensive Ford Everests, Kia Sorentos, and Toyota Fortuners, but it looks stylish enough to blend in with them.

The XUV700's exterior styling has a bit of Toyota Prado, a bit of Peugeot, and a bit of Renault all mixed together, but it works!

 

 

From a design perspective, it's probably not the easiest task to make a seven-seater look elegant, but I think Mahindra did well in this department, especially since it's their first foray into the large, luxury SUV landscape. 

The Mahindra XUV700's side profile is chiselled and muscular, and the floating roof is a nice touch too.

 

Search AutoTrader here for new and used Mahindra XUV700 SUVs

The arrow-shaped rear light signature's 3D effect enhances the overall ambience of the XUV's tail-end.

 

XUV700 interior, comfort, and convenience

When you unlock the doors so that the flush-fitted, Range Rover-esque 'smart' door handles become graspable, you're greeted with a predominantly off-white, upmarket interior with black accents on the upper dashboard, front fascia, and centre tunnel. Switchgear is black and silver-coloured, while the air vents feature a brushed chrome-effect. 

Doesn't look very Mahindra-esque, does it? The XUV700's cabin feels way more premium than its older counterparts.

The perforation pattern on the electrically adjustable seats has an ombré design, while the elongated black screen (which displays separate views) looks slick and modern. Friends who peered inside loved the overall design and layout and thought it all looked very 'fancy'.

The smart doors also allow for quick unlocking if you have the key in your pocket or handbag. You just touch the dots and out comes the handle.

The XUV700's interior displays a clear influence of a variety of European and Japanese automakers.

 

Other nice-to-haves include climate control, two USB ports in the front and one USB Type C in row two, but the charging pad up front for a phone was of little use. It mostly made my iPhone really hot and it took 20 minutes for an additional 1% of power.

As white as the driven snow! Pity about the lap belt in the centre. Rearmost seats have 2 x 3-point seatbelts.

 

As for the white faux leather interior, you would think that it would be a problem when you're an active family who uses the XUV700 for leisure activities that involve water, but this was not the case. Children in wet, brightly coloured bathing suits and parents in dark denim jeans were unable to stain the vinyl. In premium vehicles with lightly coloured seats, I often notice that the pale leather looks dirty after a few thousand kilometres. 

Does the Mahindra XUV700 have a sunroof?

(View the key features of this model here on the Mahindra SA website.)

The electronic seats' settings and memory functions look almost identical to Mercedes-Benz'.

 

Space and boot size

With six on board, us two adults and all four kids had enough room, and entry to the rearmost seats is easy because the middle row tumbles forward completely. The tallest child (who is six feet tall) rode in the third row on more than one occasion to test this out. 

The middle seat is wide enough for another adult and the floor in the middle is quite flat.

It's also worth mentioning that the second row seat is wide enough to seat three adults side by side, and the central person's feet will be comfortable as the floor is raised only slightly in the middle.

Related: What is the best, large, family SUV in South Africa?

Carpooling parents will be quite pleased with the price of this seven-seater, especially the entry-level model.

When all seven seats are upright, however, there is hardly any boot space left. We managed to stack two boogie boards and a compact beach umbrella sideways against the rear seatbacks and thankfully, we could still close the boot. The large beach bag had to ride with the big kids in row two.

Stow the sixth and seventh seats, and there's space for days.

For our trip with just two of the four kids to Bloemfontein, we flattened the additional two seats in the boot for luggage space. If we wanted to go on holiday with all four kids as a family of 6 or even 7, we would have to tow a trailer to bring any baggage at all. But, with the rearmost seats stowed, there is more than enough space.

Infotainment and tech

Despite the sexy touchscreen's premium appearance, it isn't as user-friendly as we had hoped and it seemingly gets confused when you try to connect your iPhone to access functions in the system via Apple CarPlay. At first, it works perfectly, but after a few minutes of use, the entire system shuts off and goes black (not ideal when you're using Apple Maps to find your way to your accommodation after dark, or when you want to see the digital speedometer). It then starts up again, but without CarPlay. Nothing could resolve this issue. 

The system looks great but can be a bit temperamental.

 

 

We hoped Android Auto would work better, but it didn't want to connect with my husband's Samsung phone. We had no choice but to use plain ol' Bluetooth, which worked well. At least the Sony sound system is decent, but I missed my large Apple CarPlay icons on the screen and the Siri functionality that goes along with it. We tried it again later with Spotify, but it just stopped playing, the screen froze, and we had to restart and connect via Bluetooth again. Using the rotary controller and surrounding buttons had no effect either. When we went back to using only Bluetooth, all functionality seemed to be restored.

Sometimes Apple CarPlay would surprise us and function properly.

 

Where the tech in the XUV700 is commendable is the semi-autonomous ADAS system, which combines adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assistance, high-beam assist and traffic sign recognition, as well as automatic emergency braking that will stop pedestrians or other traffic if it senses that an accident or collision is imminent. You also have the bonus of 360-degree view cameras, and when you want to change direction, you'll see the view behind you on the digital instrument cluster. 

If you don't like having these systems help you, they can all be deactivated. And even if you have them on, the beeping is never intrusive, not like what we heard in the Omoda C5, for example (but these can also be switched off). 

For our two mega-roadtrips, we kept most assistance systems active to reduce driver fatigue and road rage, and it served us well. When my husband relieved me of driving duties, I could see he remained more relaxed, as his face didn't change colour (much).

Functions on-screen can also be controlled via the rotary dial and surrounding buttons.

Drive and Performance of the XUV700

The XUV700's punchy engine was one of the main attractions when selecting a car for Christmas, and I can gladly report that the 149 kW and 380 Nm of torque produced by the 2.0-litre turbopetrol made overtaking trucks on the N1 a walk in the park. (If you don't like the N1, Route 62 is highly recommended.)

De Rusty Farm just outside De Rust on Route 62, provided excellent budget accommodation and a hearty meal.

There's a fair amount of body roll, however, so when you're performing the manoeuvre of swerving to the right to overtake after you've accelerated, you do feel the sway. In order to test a car's stability when swerving, in some overseas countries a *moose test is conducted, and I couldn't help but wonder how the XUV700 would fare. (In the moose test, a car has to swerve into the opposite lane as if it were trying to avoid something, then quickly regain control and swerve back into its lane, safely.)

Kamdebo Stall deserves a special mention for its cheap and yummy food. 

 

The steering is a tad over-assisted and there's a lot of play around the centre point, so you have to continuously make corrections to the steering wheel, which gets annoying. The solution? Use the on-board self-driving technology, and the system will take care of the steering.

I also have to applaud the way the XUV700 handled muddy and corrugated dirt roads. I much prefer its suspension to that of the Scorpio-N, but the XUV700 has a unibody construction as opposed to the ladder frame chassis of its stablemate.

Safety 

Global NCAP awarded the XUV700 a full five stars for adult occupant protection and four stars for child occupants. The XUV700 is also the first Indian car to receive the ADAS system, but bear in mind it's not available on the entry-level model. Read more on the crash test here.

The N1 has a turnoff to Matjiesfontein, which is well worth a visit (but don't expect fuel from these decorative pumps)!

 

Fuel Economy 

For a two-ton, seven-seat SUV, fuel economy from the 2.0-litre turbopetrol can be excellent, okay, or not bad at all, it just depends on how you drive. For our first leg of the journey to Bloemfontein, our very best highway consumption came to 12.4 kilometres per litre, but was later reduced to about 9,8 over hilly terrain. On average, the XUV700 gave us about 11-12 km on one litre on our first leg, which is about 8.5 - 9.5 litres per 100 km. 

We thought this was pretty good, but then it got even better. (Photo by my husband.)

 

On the way back, however, we decided to take things slow, and drive on the N1, which is a straighter and more level road for most of the journey. Our fuel consumption kept dropping lower and lower as both my husband and I drove in a kind of hypermiling style. We basically stuck to about 105 - 115 km/h, didn't accelerate too fast, pulled over for faster traffic when it was safe to do so, and didn't employ cruise control as our earlier experiments showed increased fuel usage. The end result? Stellar fuel consumption of 16.8 kilometres per one litre, or if you convert it, a surprisingly impressive 5.9 litres per 100 km!

Photographic evidence. It actually came to 16.9 km/l but then I took over the driving again and started chasing daylight, so it went back down to about 14.

Price 

One of the XUV700's biggest selling points is its price, and at under R500k for the entry-level model, you get a lot of car. Here's the pricing of the entire South African line-up at present (December 2023):

Competitors 

The XUV700's practical interior and zesty performance are two of its strongest points.

Since the AX7 L model at R569 999 is the priciest in the range, it is squarely pitted against the Haval H6 2.0GDIT 4WD (R560 950) and Mazda XC-5 2.0 Dynamic (R575 000), along with the Proton X90 1.5T Standard (R559 900).

Haval H6 HEV 1.5T Ultra Luxury 2023 Review

The Hyundai Tucson 2.0 Premium comes in at R584 500, and the Opel Grandland 1.6T carries a price tag of R599 900. Then there's also the BAIC B40 Plus 2.0TDi at R574 500. 

The only seven-seaters here are the Haval H6 and Proton X90 (the X90 actually seats only 6. The Grandland, Tucson, CX-5 and B40 don't allow for additional seating.) 

Proton X70 vs Mahindra XUV700 vs Mazda CX-5: Here's our winner

Verdict 

The XUV700 is not perfect, and there are niggles that got on my nerves, but the price tag makes it worth your while, considering that the semi-autonomous driving tech really takes the bite out of long-distance driving, and the cabin is spacious, comfortable, and ergonomic for all passengers. And fuel consumption can be excellent if you drive with care.

The Mahindra XUV700 is great for long-distance travel and its suspension just gobbles up dirt roads!

If I had to choose between an established Indian brand and a 'new' or rather, reinvented (in SA) Chinese brand like Proton that hasn't shown its mettle yet, I would probably go with Mahinra. In 2021, Mahindra launched their #GreatValueGreatService campaign so that customers could have peace of mind. See below:

Does Mahindra still honour their promise two years down the line? We recommend chatting with other owners of newer Mahindra vehicles to find out if they've been happy with the Indian brand's after-sales service.

 

So, in conclusion, and based on my month with this SUV, I would still choose the XUV700 over its competitors—if only Mahindra could get the infotainment system right. I also recommend keeping an eye on fluid levels, especially if you plan on undertaking lengthy journeys.

Wondering what my colleagues thought of the XUV700? Read Taye's review here.