5 min read

The Mahindra XUV 7XO packs in all the reasons why customers loved the XUV700, and then adds some more goodies on top.

Launched in 2021, the XUV700 became a runaway hit. Spacious, comfortable, techy and loaded, there was little to not like or miss. The XUV700 took the game that had been started in the seven-seater monocoque SUV market with the XUV500 and kicked it up several notches. There’s not a shred of doubt that the Mahindra XUV700 is a very desirable product. Believe it or not, the new XUV 7XO improves upon the already very desirable XUV700.

Segment first features on the XUV 7XO

The XUV 7XO is a comprehensive evolution of the XUV700 and that means it continues to pack in the strengths of a formula that has made these SUVs a sales hit in the past. The design has been updated considerably but the silhouette that people love hasn’t changed.

Where a majority of the differences can be noticed are inside the cabin, with the XUV 7XO getting a coast-to-coast 12.3-inch triple-screen setup which includes a display for the passengers, an infotainment screen in the centre and digital instrument cluster for the driver. This setup is offered as standard on all variants of the SUV, and the XUV 7XO is also equipped with a first-in-segment 16-speaker Harman Kardon sound system with Dolby Vision

In addition to these features, the XUV 7XO is equipped with a two-spoke steering wheel, ventilation for the first and second row of seats, two slots for BYOD devices and a pair of 65W fast charging ports. There’s also a four-way electrically operated boss mode function for the front passenger seat that allows the passenger in the second row to move the seat forward and adjust the tilt of the seat back.

What are the DAVINCI dampers and how do they work?

The XUV700 had a superb balance between ride and handling. Thanks to Frequency Dependent Damping and a penta-link rear suspension, the XUV700 inspired massive confidence to a driver while also ensuring the comfort offered to the passengers was lovely.

The new XUV 7XO takes this experience up a notch by offering the DAVINCI dampers as standard across the range. These are one of the biggest updates that we made to the XUV 7XO over the XUV700, offering major improvements in both ride quality and handling. Conventional dampers don’t allow us to separately tune the comfort and dynamics of a vehicle and the result ends up as a compromise between the two.

Compared to a conventional damper, the DAVINCI dampers are more compliant for low piston velocities, and mid-range piston velocities offer strong balance between body control and comfort, while at really high piston velocities (like a sharp bump) the damping is less than on a conventional damper and allows those hits to feel less jarring. This allows it to filter out a lot of the smaller ripples and smaller bumps and imperfections in the road at lower speeds, without transferring it to the body.

However, once past this lower threshold, the damper firms up significantly — for example, if you hit the lip of a massive pothole at speed, the dampers will be firmer and ensure the wheel is not moving uncontrollably on impact. But that said, at extreme forces that stretch the dampers to its limit, it remains more compliant than a conventional damper. The cost advantage of DAVINCI These DAVINCI dampers are completely passive units. In the case of the DAVINCI damper, the whole thing is a mechanical unit with the valves controlling the damping forces independently — there’s no sensors and controllers managing the suspension – making it cost effective. This system is also modular. While it has debuted on the XUV 7XO, you can expect a whole range of Mahindra vehicles to feature them in the future.

ADAS and safety features on the Mahindras

Safety was always one of the biggest USPs of the Mahindra XUV700 and part of the safety kit on the SUV was the ADAS system, a first-in-class feature in 2021, which included adaptive cruise control – allowing you to set a speed and the SUV would accelerate, brake (even to a complete stop) and accelerate back up again to the speed set by the user depending on the traffic ahead. You also got lane keep assist, a Smart Pilot Assist to keep you in the centre of a lane, a collision alert which also included full emergency braking when it sensed an imminent accident. To better this was no doubt a tall order but the XUV 7XO is equipped with a Level 2 ADAS with Sense+ which manages to pack in even more functionality and features to keep the Mahindra at the top of its game when it comes to the subject of safety.

Democratising technology has always been a goal of ours at Mahindra, and while we did it first with the XUV700, the XUV 7XO only takes those lessons and moves the segment benchmarks ahead. While the basic principles unchanged, the XUV 7XO continues to be all the better for it, especially since this consumer-winning formula is what made the Mahindra SUV a success in the first place.