MY EXPERIENCE WITH MAHINDRA QUANTO,TEST DRIVE REVIEW

Exterior MY EXPERIENCE WITH MAHINDRA QUANTO SUV,A TEST DRIVE REVIEW·

War for hatch backs is picking up pace and atmosphere is every time charged up for the launch of the new cars every now and then with india being the prospective market for brand leaders like Toytota, suzuki, chevrolet honda and renault jumping in to the drag race for revealing their new products in the indian market. Market fot SUV is touching sky in view of the balance of convenience shiftring towards the use of diesel oil burners owing to the ever increasing hike in the petrol prices. It may not be out of place to mention the indian car makers like Mahindra and Tata are neck to neck in competition with exotic car manufacturers and in a process of time have come up with SUVS" like safari, scorpio, XUV 500, xylo and Aria being at the fore front. Car makers like toyota has already tasted the success of their popular brand Toyota innova, tata with their safari and mahindra with their scorpio have been the attractions of prospective indian byers who rely upon the concept of more car per car.It may be apt to mention that despite of the success and competition thrown, segment leaders are ever hungry for the release of their new products, particularly when the concept of compact hatch is gaining attention and for that matter Renault, french car manufacturer has come up with their new compact SUV called duster. Skoda too has launched its mini SUV called yeti in the market. But with all this the point to make here is as to whether they are able to give us the vehicle, light on pocket to purchase. If price is to be considered these SUVS are priced high with respective price tag of 10 lakh and 14 lakh respectively. Every time the question would arise as to whether any of the auto makers would come up with a compact SUV in the lower price bracket. Mahindra in a bid to muster its strength has come up with its first compact SUV called Mahindra quanto, which though is a xylo made short with very minute changes to take note of. So this car has been recently launched in india with the price tag of 6.24 lakh rupees for base variant and up to 7.76 lakhs for the top C8 version which comes fully equipped with ABS, EBD, and air bags, both for pessenger and the driver seats. In response to it I decided to proceed ahead towards my nearest local Mahindra dealer to have a glimpse and to examine this new SUV with lesser price tag suited for my pocket though. I rushed straight away to the nearest dealer in srinagar, shuhul automobiles on bye pass road to see as to whether the vehicle is reasonably justified for its price or not. Reaching the main gate and parking my car there was followed by my sight catching the attention of this new launch from Mahindra stable, as it was parked right inside the permises of the show room. Without wasting any time, I initially took some snaps of the car and headed with its examination. External appearence of the car is nothing to talk about,as it is a xylo which has been shortened at the back to avail the excise benefits and to keep the pricing very low. The car measures 3985 mm in length. This sub four meter SUV is slightly modified at the back without any significant and noticable change as tail is slightly different from its predecessor, the xylo. The front look of the car is totally unchanged and is an xylo in front, while as rest other dimensions have also been unchanged. the built quality of the car is not up to the mark, as to make it cost effective the material used is light and cheap which makes the car as not to appear sturdy and well built. Interior quality too has suffered as the dash resembles the one used in xylo but the plastic quality here is pathetic and looks and feels cheap, but how ever the light biege trim gives it a more airy feel. The dash assembly has lot of panel gaps and it appears that console and the dash has been layed hurriedly, lacking fit and finish. It is no way at par with the likes of Renault duster, and for that matter other SUVS", but now the again the price is very low on that count. Except for some bottle holders there is no such space available to keep ur daily stuff while on a trip. Seats are only fabric and even the highest variant of this SUV lacks leather upholestery. Now coming towards the drive train, the engine is a three cylinder twin turbo oil burner under the hood which churns out 99 bhp of power at 4000 rpm. Starting the car makes engine to appear noisy a bit with clatters seeping in even when the windows were rolled up,but the idling noise subsided after some time and engine felt a bit calm. This 1.5 littre DCI unit,has low end torque delivery, but is noisy in ist two gear shifts but feels quite decent and refined after that in higher gears, and the acceleration is rather linear, though turbo lag is evident below 1500 rpm, but then engine comes to life and pulls decently when reved above 2500 rpm. This is the point where I could feel turbo kicks in again and mid range torque is available right from that point till 3700 RPM, when engine feels out of breath after that point. So to keep engine alive after that is a hefty process and on high ways to manouver this Suv, needs frequent gear shifts to make an over take ventures. Still the performance if not outright is not bad though, keeping in mind that I was driving a 3 cylinder 1.5 litre DCI unit.What else I could have expected from this engine from Bosch. The car does not handle well at the corners and reflects lot of body roll particularly when thrown around the corners, which can be bit risky on speedy drives, and steering feels light and not composed with the gush of the gas pedal.More specefic to say, city driving would be an ease on this compact SUV, but lacks high way composure.Over all at this price tag, the vehicle is justified for the price tag I think.For the customers who intend to purchase this SUV I would like to suggest them C6 variant which comes with price tag of 6.71 lakh, and purchasing any variant above it would be unjustified, since c8 top variant is priced at 7.76 lakh and for that price one is very near to likes of scorpio and safari, which start at the price just above 8 lakh or so for the base variant, which I feel would be a sensible buy then.

Ride Quality & Handling It is too pathetic.

Final Words Still better for price tag it has.

Areas of improvement  Mahindra needs to work on ride and handling of this SUV,and interior fit and finish too.

GOOD LOOKING,BIT REFINED ENGINE AND CHEAP WITH DECENT FUEL ECONOMYPATHETIC BUILT QUALITY,INSIDE,POOR FIT AND FINISH,LACKS PUNCH ON HIGHWAYS AND LOT OF BODY ROLL