RATED 3X

The thoroughly competent XUV 300 has a new name, a new face and posterior and loads more features. What does all this add up to?

- Pablo Chaterji.

The XUV300 nee shortened Ssanyong Tivoli has always been the most sorted vehicle in the Mahindra stable, in my opinion. It ticks a lot of boxes - dynamics, safety, features - comes with a bunch of pretty decent engine/ transmission options and is a thoroughly pleasant car to drive.

There's nothing truly exhilerating about it, but then no car in this segment can claim to be so. The buying public appears to agree with me, having voted for it with their wallets to the tune of around 2.5 lakh units sold since its launch in February 2019, with demand remaining strong.

Any manufacturer would be happy with these numbers, but when they realise that the Maruti Suzuki Brezza consistently shifts three times the XUV300's avergae monthly sales figures (with more than 10 lakh units sold in total since launch), they know that there's a lot more they can try and do. In Mahindra's case, that 'lot more' is the updated XUV 3XO, so let me hold forth about it without further ado.

Despite being a (comprehensive) update, the 3XO looks all-new in the design department - I'll give it that much. The older car had a pleasing front end and a curiously muddled posterior and the 3XO is the exact opposite. It's not often that a car looks best from the rear three-quarters, but that's the case here.

The most prominent design feature on its rump is the unmissable connected-strip LED tail light cluster, which seems to be all the rage with designers these days; equally prominent is the XUV 3XO badging on the boot. The tail lights are C-shaped and extend to the car's C-pillars and there are inverted Cs below the lights on the bumper, to add some cohesion; various bits of sculpting and creasing provide additional elements, and on the bumper there are diamond-shaped patterns and a faux skid plate, too.