Replaced my Harrier with a XUV700 AX5: 1st impressions after the change

The Tata Harrier is wider, but somehow XUV700 feels more spacious inside.

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Took Delivery of My XUV 700 – AX5 D AT 7 str

I made a lateral Upgrade from Harrier XZA to XUV 700 AX 5 D AT. At the offset, I would like to thank BHPians sbm and tp_dominator for their input and constant support. It was a difficult decision for me to make as my Harrier was just a year old but some issues became a bit of a deal-breaker for me to continue with the car.

I was fortunate enough to get the car of my choice within a week.

Coming to my new acquisition

I will post a detailed comparison of Harrier with XUV 700 once I put a few kilometres on XUV which should hopefully happen soon as I have a few long trips lined up.

Initial observations:

I will start with the biggest upgrade for me – the steering wheel. Oh, man! What a relief it is. It’s feather-light in the city yet you know where the car is going and it weighs up well on high speed which makes you feel confident and not nervous. This was my biggest gripe with Harrier. The steering behaviour.

Harrier has this rugged vibe to it. You can confidently put that car on a rough trail and you know it will take it on without breaking a sweat. Tata has its ride quality sorted and it shows. However, at slower speeds, the harrier would become unsettled on sharp bumps which I haven’t observed for XUV so far. However, a longer run with XUV is needed to further comment on the suspension setup and its capabilities.

The extra 100 nm torque and 18 bhp make their presence felt and how! Every tap of the A pedal is bringing a big grin to my face and zap mode itself is sufficient to make you smile like an idiot.

Harrier is wider but somehow XUV feels more spacious than Harrier.

The tank is 10 ltrs bigger than Harrier and it’s reflecting in the expected range. I think I will need fewer refuelling breaks with XUV.

My legs are thanking me due to lots of space available in the footwell and I finally have decent under-thigh support.

The MID and Infotainment are huge upgrades for me over the ones I had in Harrier. I spent a good 30 mins or so fidgeting around with it.

The stock music system is just sad in XUV 700 regardless of the variant. Harrier had a much better-sounding speaker setup. I am going to upgrade the audio system ASAP.

My wife observed that rear seat space and comfort were better in Harrier when compared to XUV.

XUV has a bigger boot when compared to Harrier.

XUV does miss out on 2 basic features which should have been a part of AX5. Folding mirrors and auto-dimming irvm. I don’t need cruise control or auto headlamps or rain-sensing wipers but folding mirrors are a must on a car this size.

The rear camera provided by Mahindra is smooth and I didn’t observe any slow frame rates. The quality is acceptable at best.

XUV700 has a better braking performance compared to my Harrier. It’s more sure-footed and stops confidently.

The paint quality on XUV feels better than that of Harrier. I also have not encountered any fit and finish issues so far on XUV however the plastic quality is okayish I feel. My harrier had soft-touch material in most places.

I drove the car for 100 kms today and so far wireless Apple CarPlay seems to be working flawlessly. Time will tell how stable the connection will be.

I still have no idea what to do with a sunroof. Ideas please?

Mahindra can offer variants with and without sunroof which will enable buyers who aren’t interested in sunroof to trade it off with a better feature set.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

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