Alphabet Soup: XUV Amt

The XUV300 is undoubtedly an impressive product, and with the addition of an automatic it becomes an even more complete vehicle. But is this AMT any good?

- Ravi Ved

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, Mahindra finally has an attractive and wholesome sub-4 metre SUV in the XUV300. Of course, they’ve taken substantial help from their Korean subsidiary, but there’s nothing wrong with asking family for help, is there?

At the time of its launch in February, the only thing missing in the XUV300 was the option of an automatic transmission. But now, Mahindra has ticked this box by fitting an AMT transmission to the diesel variant. While the diesel motor with the manual transmission is quite tractable, what’s it like when paired with an AMT?

Swapping three pedals for two

Although the XUV300 comes with both petrol and diesel engines, Mahindra has only offered an AMT in the latter. It’s powered by the same 1.5-litre 4-cylinder motor that develops 115bhp and 300Nm. The 6-speed AMT performs smoothly for the most part. In the auto mode, both upshifts and downshifts are impressive, especially at moderate to high speeds. At lower speeds, however, the transmission tends to make its presence known somewhat – which is what we’ve come to expect with AMTs though. And while we didn’t get to drive it in heavy traffic, we feel that the twitchiness shouldn’t be too troublesome.

Unlike some other AMTs, this one doesn’t seem overeager to upshift. But it’s best to leave it to its own devices. The minute you put in manual mode, the nosedive during shifts becomes a lot more prominent – especially when you’re a little generous with the accelerator pedal.