Mahindra is testing the Bharat Stage 6 (BS-VI) compliant engine variant of their latest offering XUV300. The test unit of the same was spotted in Chennai with a badging of BS-VI on the fuel cap of the SUV. Chennai is also the home to the R&D center of the company. However it is still unclear as to whether the car was a petrol or a diesel model. As of now, Mahindra offers their XUV300 in India in two engine variants -- a 1.2L turbocharged petrol and a 1.5L turbocharged diesel. There are expectations that the company will upgrade both the engine options to comply with the upcoming BS-Vi emission norms that are set to be enforced from 1 April 2020. Mahindra XUV300 locks horns with Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Tata Nexon, and the Honda WR-V and is itself based on the modified platform of Ssangyong Tivoli that is sold in the European markets.
As far as the time of launch of is concerned Mahindra took its time to enter the segment with XUV300. However, in order to distinguish its offering, Mahindra has taken the premium approach and loaded the XUV300 with features to the brim. The latest SUV from Mahindra comes with ambient lighting, electric sunroof, rain sensing wipers, automatic headlamps, touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 60:40 split rear seat and more. Moving on to safety features the XUV300 comes with 7 airbags, seat belt reminders for all five passengers, disc brakes on all four wheels, ABS, EBD, anti-roll over protection, electronic stability program, traction control, hill hold, cruise control and tyre pressure monitoring system.
Not just features, but the XUV300 is best in segment in the engine department as well. The 1.2 liter petrol engine leads the segment in torque output and produces 110 Bhp of power and 200 Nm of torque. While the 1.5 liter diesel engine is ahead of segment in power and produces 115 Bhp of power and 300 Nm of torque. All this does come at a price though and the XUV300 does become a bit pricier than other options in the segment as the base petrol model of the SUV starts from Rs. 7.9 lakhs whereas the base diesel commands a price of Rs. 8.5 lakhs. However, a department where the XUV300 currently lags is the transmission, while the other rivals come with automatics, for now Mahindra only offers a 6 speed manual gearbox with XUV300. Although the company has announced that an AMT version for both petrol and diesel model in being worked upon.
However, if the company decides to go ahead with an upgraded diesel engine for the BS-VI regime, the diesel model is likely to be priced much higher than the upgraded petrol model. The price difference can be very stark which would mean that most of the customers would favor the petrol model over the diesel one. Therefore the best time to get a diesel engine Mahindra XUV300 would be before April 1 2020.