Nissan X-TRAIL vs Mahindra XUV700

What's the difference?

The Nissan X-Trail ST-L 7 Seat is easy to drive, has some great features and fit my family of three just fine. The on-road handling is solid and there’s enough power under the bonnet for longer road trips. On a car this size, I’m not sure those extra two seats are worth losing the boot space but if you occasionally need to ferry your kid's friend to a game or something, it will be worthwhile. There are a few little things that aren’t quite up to a standard I like to see but overall, we like this one and it gets a 7.5/10 from us.

We love a car which subverts expectations, and for the most part, the XUV700 has managed to. It feels like the brand has leapt over a few steps when it comes to design, quality, and particularly drivability, which bodes well when you combine it with a bargain price, a good equipment list and solid packaging.

The question is: Does the Australian market have room for yet another value player in a space already so well occupied by Chinese newcomers? Only time will tell.

There was something robustly charming about the previous X-Trail shape and while the overall size has been maintained, most of the squared edges have been softened in the new model.

It makes it appear far more modern and it should maintain its kerbside appeal for years to come.

There’s quite a lot of chrome on the grille, making it look enormous. However, the black plastic moulding that wraps the car at its base helps it look sportier than it has the right to look. As does the dark privacy glass at the rear.

The interior hosts soft touchpoints, synthetic leather trims and wood-like grey panelling to create an upmarket finish.

I'm not a massive fan of the brown/black two-toned trim on the dashboard and doors; it just doesn't land with me.

But it does create a bit of interest for the cabin space.

The XUV700 is a clean-sheet design on an all-new platform and it shows. There are still echoes of the past in this SUVs bodywork, with the raised rear haunches and traditional Mahindra-shaped grille, but it feels like it’s taken a massive leap into the 21st century this time around.

It has a strong modern flavour and presence on the road, which doesn’t feel more than a generation behind like previous Mahindra offerings. Gone are the awkward curves and frumpy edges of its predecessors, and instead we’re welcomed by a more refined face, nipped and tucked rear with sporty touches, tough haunches and a contemporary overall look.

Inside the most dramatic upgrades have been deployed, including the impressive digital suite, seemingly decent software with a quick, responsive, and customisable instrument cluster, a new more attractive steering wheel, and a much smoother flow and coherency to design which we haven’t seen before from the Indian giant.

There are only a handful of areas, like the dorky elongated shifter, some hard plastics in the doors and atop the shapely dash, and the manual handbrake in the base car to remind you of its bargain price-point and origins.

It’s nice these attributes unite for an uncontroversial and modern overall feel, and quality is feeling on-par, but it’s also hardly original.

The headlights and steering wheel look like they could be worn by any Renault, the tail-lights look like they belong on a Nissan, and the dual-screen dash and door-mounted electric seat controls are clearly meant to emulate Mercedes.

Actually, one for the switchgear nerds, the function stalks are from the SsangYong parts bin, a holdover from when Mahindra owned the Korean automaker. Still, if you’re going to take inspiration, I can think of worse places to take it from, and it’s frankly remarkable all these pieces of inspiration fall together so well.

For my little family’s needs this week, I found it to be fairly practical most of the time. The front and middle rows have loads of space and even taller passengers will find comfort with the legroom and headroom in both!

The third row should be considered as ’sometimes’ seats for kids because the legroom is very tight. Besides two cupholders, there are also no amenities back there. Adults will curse you if they get stuck back there for long.

The front row enjoys the most storage options with a deep middle console, a phone/utility tray and glove box. There are also large storage bins in each door and two deep cupholders. The sunglasses holder in the roof is a bonus, too!

The middle row gets a couple of map pockets, drink bottle holders in each door and a couple of cupholders in the fold-down middle seat, which doubles as an armrest. The practical, easy-to-clean trim on the back of the front seats is great, too.

The charging options are good for the first two rows, with each one getting an USB-A and USB-C port, while the front also gets a 12-volt socket.

It is easy enough to connect to the wired Apple CarPlay and the 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system is responsive.

I found the digital radio cuts in and out every few seconds, which makes that feature a bit useless. There’s no satellite navigation but with your smart phone attached, it’s easily forgotten.

My six-year old had no trouble getting in and out of the car and really enjoyed the tall seating position. He also liked having directional air vents and a reading light on our little road trip this week.

The boot is 465L and that puts it on the smaller side compared to its rivals, with only the CX-5 being smaller. I like the level load space and retractable cargo blind, but after my big grocery shop the boot was full.

You’d have to get strategic with gear loading on a full-scale road trip.

This has a temporary spare tyre but to access it, you have to remove the third row (after sliding the second row forward) and that would be an pain to access if you had a full car load of gear and child seats.

Being a lower grade this doesn’t have a powered tailgate and I did miss it this week because the boot is heavy to close.  

Low-cost options in the mid-size SUV space usually get a bunch of basic stuff wrong. Laggy, ugly software, for example, is prevalent in the MG HS, while clumsy switchgear takes away from the Haval H6, and a particularly awkward driving position is notable in the LDV D90.

Mahindra’s XUV700 does not fall into these traps. The front seat feels spacious and airy, the seating position is high but not unsettling, and the thing which took me aback the most is the way everything works.

It’s a little annoying the base car gets no telescopic adjust and misses out on a second bottle holder because of the manual handbrake, but other than this, the ergonomics in the cabin are solid. A centre dial, for example, can be switched from navigation controls to function as a volume dial if desired, and there are plenty of shortcut buttons for the multimedia and the dual-zone climate making it a breeze to adjust things on the move.

For storage there is a large bottle holder and map pocket in each door, a large bottle holder (two in the case of the AX7L) in the centre, a bay under the climate unit good for phones and wallets (it is a wireless charging pad in the AX7L), and there’s a deep armrest console box between the front occupants.

The second row is also airy and spacious, with a nearly flat floor making even the centre position seemingly suitable for an adult. Behind my own seating position I had plenty of space at 182cm tall, and there are a set of adjustable air vents plus a slot for a phone, a USB-C charging outlet, and large bottle holders in the doors.

The third row? It’s not bad, but I’ve sat in better. The left-hand side second-row seat folds up and rolls forward, making access better than some of its rivals, but behind the second row my knees are hard up against the seat in front, and my head is touching the roof. There’s decent amenity; a bottle holder on each side and an adjustable air vent with a fan controller, but this is a space best left for kids.

Mahindra doesn’t have an official boot capacity number to give us yet, but predicts it will be over 700 litres given the dimensions. With the third-row folded it looks cavernous, but with it deployed you’ll be lucky to get a day bag in behind.

For those interested in towing, the XUV700 can tow a 1500kg braked trailer (750kg unbraked) and there’s halfway decent ground clearance, at 196mm.

This car has its work cut out for it because the precedent for Mahindra SUVs in Australia isn’t great.

Back in 2018, this car’s predecessor, the XUV500 arrived to lacklustre reviews despite its similar market positioning. Back then, low-cost alone wasn’t enough to crack Australia’s heated mid-size SUV market, but now Mahindra is promising its all-new generation product is different and ready for a more global audience.

The pricing for the XUV700 is immediately impressive. Starting at $36,990 drive-away for the entry-point AX7, this car is now officially Australia’s cheapest seven-seat SUV, and this hasn’t come at the expense of standard equipment.

The price includes 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, dual 10.25-inch screens for the multimedia and digital instruments, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, synthetic leather interior trim, a six-way power adjustable driver’s seat, dual-zone climate control, push-start ignition, and even a panoramic sunroof.

Stepping up to the top-spec AX7L which commands a $3000 premium ($39,990 drive-away) adds some missing safety equipment like a blind spot view monitor, a more advanced adaptive cruise system (able to come to a full stop and re-start), as well as a 360-degree parking camera.

This version also scores electronically retracting door handles, a premium audio system, and a wireless phone charger.

Bizarrely, it also adds a seventh airbag for the driver’s knee and a telescopically adjustable steering column, and swaps out the manual lever handbrake for a digital switch.

These are things which would normally be expected as standard on many of its rivals, and it’s a shame to see safety items, particularly airbags, behind a paywall.

Regardless, the fact this car manages to significantly undercut established rivals like the entry-level seven-seat Nissan X-Trail, Mitsubishi Outlander, Honda CR-V and even the cut-price LDV D90, while providing similar equipment levels is pretty impressive.

There are no options for now bar several accessories. All five colour options are free, and Mahindra says there’s more to come in terms of spec levels and interior options if all goes well.

Excluding the ePower hybrid, the X-Trail shares the same 2.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine across its models. It has max outputs of 135kW and 244Nm, which means it’s not super powerful but it doesn’t really whine at you, either.

I’m not a massive fan of continuously variable transmissions and this one can get a little jerky when you put your foot down. It's smooth otherwise.

The part-time 4WD drivetrain is an interesting feature for this size SUV but I didn’t test its capabilities this week. You can choose between five modes - 'Auto', 'Eco', 'Sport', 'Snow' and 'Off-Road' but I kept it in Auto.

There’s just one engine for the XUV700 for now, a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder designed in-house at Mahindra.

Power outputs are comparatively impressive at 147kW/380Nm, especially when lined up against the old 2.5-litre non-turbo units powering some rivals.

The power is channelled to the front wheels via a six-speed Aisin-sourced traditional torque converter automatic. For a keen driver this is preferable to a CVT or a dual-clutch, so this sits well with us.

Overseas there is also the option of a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel (136kW/450Nm) with all-wheel drive, but this is yet to materialise for the Australian market.

The official combined cycle fuel figure is 7.8L/100km and real-world testing saw my average at 8.1L. That’s pretty good for an SUV of this size and it was after a lot of open road and urban driving (think school and grocery runs).

The X-Trail has a 55L fuel tank and based on the official combined figure, you should be able to get around 705km of driving range. Perfectly respectable for the odd road trip or family vacay.

Nissan recommends a minimum of 91 RON petrol and adds that it is E10 suitable.

Efficiency is officially rated at 8.3L/100km for both XUV700 grades, which is not bad but not great. Understandable for an SUV which weighs in excess of 1800kg powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine.

We didn’t pull an as-tested fuel number this time around as we were hopping in and out of different vehicles, so standby for a more detailed analysis when we have one for a week-long follow-up test.

The fuel tank comes in at 60 litres, for a theoretical range of roughly 723km.

Hoping to hold out for a hybrid? Don’t. Mahindra isn’t working on one. Look to its incoming fully-electric BE sub-brand instead.

The X-Trail ST-L delivered a solid performance in all the situations I put it in this week.

I was just as happy tackling the open-road as I was in stop-start traffic in the city.

It has enough power to get up to speed quickly and keep you there but you don’t feel like you have heaps left in reserve. The engine can sook a little when you get too aggressive with the accelerator but otherwise works without complaint.

The ride comfort is great! I took my dad on a road trip this week and he was singing its praises as a passenger. As a driver, I like how cushioned the suspension feels but it’s not at all floaty on the road.

The cabin space is very quiet, even at higher speeds. However, I wasn’t super impressed with the sound system and reckon it could be better.

Despite, looking like a big car, it doesn’t park like one. It’s actually stupidly easy to park and that’s a winning feature for me. Especially with the crisp 360-degree view camera, too. 

It’s good. Surprised? Me too.

The XUV700 is good to drive in a fundamental way which is not the case for its Chinese rivals. There’s no impending feel of understeer or clumsy dynamics on show. The XUV700 is controlled and solid on the road, with a surprising level of refinement in the cabin.

Visibility is plentiful, and while power from the turbo engine isn’t quite as urgent as the figures initially suggest, it’s more than enough for a family commuter. Even the six-speed transmission is smooth and unobtrusive, unlike many dual-clutch or CVT options in this space. There isn’t even any noisy engine surging, with the unit here feeling refined and distant.

It’s almost ready to duke it out with more established rivals, but there are still flaws. The steering, for example, is very light. This will make it easy to control in low-speed parking situations, but it lacks any kind of feel or feedback at speed.

The ride is comfortable, perfect for its family intentions. Mahindra utilises a multi-chamber system here to achieve unusually competent response over a host of different surfaces, especially rare for a vehicle at this price or in this category. Everything comes at a cost, though, and the cost of this system is a fair bit of body roll in the corners, and a bouncy nature over undulations. 

Fundamentally, though, this car is solid. Nothing proved this more than the brand letting us drive its family SUV on a track at speed. What seems like a silly stunt is an important vote of confidence in the way this car handles, because it’s at track speeds and conditions where all the ugly characteristics will come to the fore.

While it’s certainly no track hero, what was most impressive is despite its rolly suspension and ultra-light steering, there were no major red flags about this car which stood out. It’s solid, and Mahindra knows it. I’d dare MG or GWM to do the same with the HS or H6.

What does all this mean for you? The car has safe road holding and confident dynamics, as well as the comfort for your family. It’s not as razor-sharp as the Japanese or Korean competition, but it’s better than all of its low-cost rivals.

At least on paper, the XUV700 does well. Standard active equipment includes auto emergency braking (a first for the brand, which we were given the opportunity to test on a dummy - it definitely works), lane keep assist with lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and traffic sign recognition.

Only the top-spec AX7L gets stop and go function for the adaptive cruise, a 360-degree parking camera suite, and a laggy low-framerate blind spot camera in place of an actual blind spot sensor system, the latter being the standard throughout the industry.

The side curtains extend all the way to the third row, although, oddly, the AX7L is the only one to get a seventh airbag (for the driver’s knee).

The verdict is out on this car’s actual crash performance until it secures an ANCAP rating, which it is yet to do.

The X-Trail comes with the market standard five-year/unlimited km warranty term and you can pre-purchase three-, four- or five-year capped-price servicing plans. 

On the five-year pre-paid plan, services average $425 annually which is great for this class.

Servicing intervals are every 12 months or 10,000km, which could get a little annoying if you put a lot of kays on your car every year.

Seven years of warranty is a good start, and has Mahindra joining an increasingly large club of challenger brands which are following in the footsteps of Kia by offering above-average coverage in this department. Mahindra’s version only covers the first 150,000km of distance, but there’s seven-years of roadside assist, too.

At the time of writing, Mahindra was yet to land on service pricing. This could be the last piece of the puzzle for some buyers. The XUV700 needs to be serviced once every 12 months or 10,000km.