Truth be told, when we first caught sight of camouflaged pictures of the Mahindra TUV300 doing the rounds on the internet, ‘impressive’ wouldn’t be the right term to describe the emotion that resounded back in the office. It looked like an offspring of Frankenstein and a shoebox. Now, with the drapes done away with, what stood before us was a car that still stood boxy, yet, didn’t look as dreadful as perceived originally.
Okay fine, so the heavy jaw-line teamed-up with the thick grille-slats up front might give the TUV300 very low-budget Grand Cherokee-look. And once we walked around the SUV, which the company claims to have drawn inspiration from some battle tank, could certainly see where Mahindra was going with this one. There are hard lines all over the sub-four meter car that give the little Mahindra an imposingly, albeit compressed, stubby stance.
Specs
1493cc, 3-cyl, 5M/5AT, 82.5bhp, 230Nm, 0-100kph in 18.61s, 30-50kph in 3rd: 3.42s, 30-50kph in 4th: 4.91s, 50-70kph in 5th: 5.63s, 80-0kph: 25.23m/2.30s, city kpl: 9.8, highway kpl: 13.3, Boot: 384-720litres; Fuel tank: 60litres; Ground clearance: 184mm