BackTaking the SUV for a spin
Taking the SUV for a spin
PremiumVolkswagen Touareg: The SUV’s 4Motion all-wheel drive manages rough terrain and ditches with aplomb
It’s been a few days where I have coincidentally had the chance to test a slew of new sports utility vehicles, or SUVs, in quick succession. And each one belongs to a different segment—which once again reminds me just how much the market has grown, so we have segments within the SUV space.
VW’s new Touareg set for launch
It was a rather interesting setting, when I was invited to the Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh (close to the Maharashtra border) to test the second-generation Volkswagen Touareg. The Touareg has gained itself a reputation of being typically German, and therefore well-built, fairly rugged and reasonably pretty too. These attributes have carried through to the second-generation Touareg too.
The Touareg is an off-roader though and manages rough terrain, ditches and climbs with aplomb. Volkswagen’s 4Motion all-wheel drive (AWD) system is standard, as is an adaptive air suspension. This allows the car to be raised or lowered depending on the driving surface. The system allows a 160-300mm ground clearance, with the normal mode giving you 205mm. Just the rear can also be lowered in case you need to load something bulky into the boot.
I was happy to find no discernable turbo lag and a very good response from the car’s engine, and found the eight-speed gearbox to be fun and smooth—both on the even highways and the uneven jungle tracks I drove through. In fact, the agility of the Touareg along with its effortless glide over bumpy roads—despite its bulk—is the SUVs big USP.
XUV fever continues
Speaking of smooth and effortless—it’s how the Mahindra XUV500 was when I recently had the chance to drive it from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. Now you may wonder why I am speaking of a car that launched last year. Well it is already being called one of the biggest hits of all time, and it was also the longest highway drive I had the chance to undertake on an XUV500. The reason I’m mentioning this is because the drive was surprisingly smooth and effortless. The road itself is superb by the way (especially from Pokhran to Jaisalmer) and the XUV performed beautifully—minimal body roll, great cruising character, though the slightly sluggish braking remains the chink in the vehicle’s armour. Mahindra has now decided who gets the second batch of XUVs through a draw. And once it has manufactured and delivered the 7,200 vehicles that make up phase two of bookings, it plans to reopen bookings a third time, around May—though it remains unclear if that too will be restricted to 19 cities and a draw system will be used.
I also tested the face-lifted Xylo, but since I planned to stick to SUVs (Xylo is an MUV, or multi utility vehicle), I shall only say that its new E9 variant (Rs 10.25 lakh), which sports the mHawk engine, is a big plus indeed. The mHawk is the same engine range that powers the XUV500.
New engine from Volvo
So what is D3? It’s essentially a 5-cylinder, 2-litre diesel engine, which has 163 bhp of power. The premise of using this engine on the smaller (and lighter) S60 sedan made sense to me, but I was worried it may seem a touch inadequate on the SUV. My fears were misplaced, as I found the D3 version of the XC60 to be fun, responsive and in no way underpowered. Of course, Volvo has removed the AWD system on the D3 variants, and offers only two-wheel drive as standard now. This is because the company believes most buyers would have primarily urban and therefore on-road requirements, and it helps bring prices down as well. You can still buy the ₹ 39.5 lakh D5 variant which has AWD in case you have any serious off-road requirements.
The XC60 is well-built, is loaded with lots of gadgets, gizmos, and features (everything from a panoramic sunroof to reverse camera), and is now priced rather attractively. Of course, Volvo still needs to beef up its network, which currently stands at a meagre seven dealerships, but it promises to double this next year. Volvo wants to be among the top three luxury carmakers in India by 2020. With Audi and BMW battling for No. 1 position and Mercedes-Benz promising a second coming, this will be an interesting contest to watch. And as always—we shall benefit—with a slew of products coming our way at more attractive prices than ever before.
Siddharth Vinayak Patankar is Editor (Auto) NDTV.
Write to Siddharth at roadrunner@livemint.com
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