Mahindra XUV-300(S201) unveiled

The most awaited compact SUV from Mahindra & Mahindra code named as S201 finally, get's the official name today the XUV-300. XUV-300 is expected to launch in Feb 2019, Mahindra claimed that this SUV is feature loaded, has lot of features and some of them like, 7 airbags and dual zone climate control are segment first. Compact SUV is currently the hot segment in Indian market, Mahindra tried earlier in this segment by introducing TUV-300, but failed vary badly. But this time with XUV-300 the Mahindra is all set to increase their sale numbers in this segment.

Mahindra claims that this is the most safest compact SUV in it's segment, even safer than Nexon (who gets 5-star ratings recently). Well this claim is obvious as the XUV-300 is based on the Sangyong Tivoli's global platform which is one of the safest car in Korea. For the one who doesn't know Sangyong, well Sangyong is a Korean based automobile company and is one of the subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra India.

The competition in compact SUV segment is quite strong and has the strong players like Maruti Suzuki Breza, Tata Nexon, Ford Ecosport and Honda WR-V. But XUV-300 has it's trump cards like long list of features and it's looks.

Car will come with both, the petrol and the diesel engine. Diesel engine being the 1.5 litter producing 120Hp and 300N-m of torque and petrol engine is also expected to be 1.5 litter. It gets the features like dual zone climate control, first in class 7 airbags, disk brakes for all four wheels, 6-speed manual transmission (the automatic transmission is expected in the future), touch screen, android auto,apple car play, reverse parking camera, sun-roof, 17 inch diamond cut wheels, cruise control, push stop/start button and many more.

This is looking as a very good package and if company manages to price it aggressively then this might give a real tough fight to it's competition.

TATA HARRIER

Tata Motor's new SUV Harrier is set to launch in jan 2019. Many of us are excited about this car. This car was showcased in the Indian Auto Expo 2018. Tata had recently done a media drive of Harrier in Rajasthan where the entire car is revealed. The car looks 80% similar to is prototype showcased in auto expo,as promised by Tata Motors. It is famous for it's looks. This is the most handsome looking TATA till now. Harrier has a lot of things to offer in the Indian market apart from it's looks.

Harrier is based on the Land Rover's D9 OMEGA platform which is used to build the Land Rover Discover. It has the 2.0 Multi jet diesel engine sourced from Fiat. It is the same engine which powers the Jeep Compass, but Tata have tuned it in order to match the Harrier dynamics. Despite of same engine Harrier produces 138 hp power and 350 N-m of torque,whereas Compass produces 171 hp power and 350 N-m torque. Since the power in the Harrier is less, it is less punchy than Compass. But on the other hand the media drive in the Rajasthan revealed the real world mileage of Harrier which is comparatively more than Compass. Although Tata haven't revealed the Harrier's ARAI Mileage.


Harrier will basically compete with XUV-500, Jeep Compass and Hyundai Creta when consider the price segment. In this list all are 5 seater except the XUV-500 which is 7 seater. Harrier has another plus point when it comes to dimensions, it is the longer suv than all of these mentioned, even longer than XUV-500, therefore one can expect the good road presence as well as huge legroom at rear from Harrier.

Harrier has a first in class half digital and half analog instrument cluster which looks up-market. The tacometer,fuel gauge,engine temperature meter and other driver information like door ajar warnings, modes,etc are displayed on the instrument cluster screen. Harrier also has 8.8 touchscreen infotainment screen along with nine speakers. The infotainment screen and instrument cluster screen are linked together to share some of the information on the instrument screen.
Just like the exterior the interiors also look up-market and the quality of materials are top notch. Harrier also provides 3 drive modes namely eco,city and sport just like other tata cars, apart from this it also offers the 3 terrain response modes namely normal,wet and rough.

Harrier offers a lot when it comes to safety, it has 6 airbags, ABS,EBD,hill hold,decent control,traction control,isofix child mount,rollover mitigation,rear parking sensors and camera. whereas Harrier misses out some of the features like sunroof,electrical adjustable driver seats and wireless charging which is offered by it's competitors.

Harrier will not come with the petrol engine and the all wheel drive option in any of it's variant.
When it comes to pricing, well there is no such official news from Tata Motors, but it is expected to be from 16-21 lakhs, which is slightly expensive that Creta, less expensive than Compass and goes hand in hand with XUV-500 with minor difference.

Overall Tata Harrier is a very good package in the current Indian automobile market, but I personally feel that if Tata manage to launch at slightly lower price, then it will be the cherry on the cake. Anyways, this car will rock in the market once launch.