Mahindra XEV 9e First Drive Review

Mahindra has jumped headfirst into the born electric age with the car that you see in the photos. It’s called the XEV 9e (pronounced as nine) and is a coupe SUV (a first for Mahindra). Announced in 2022, its transition from concept to reality has been a minor jump giving us a glimpse of what the Mahindra car of the future will look like in terms of exterior design.

Mahindra cars have always been about presence and this one at 4.7-meters is a massive car by any standard. Up front, you get the low set headlamps, large connected LED DRLs and the large grille(less) face which in this red does stand out.

In profile, the most visible element is the coupe SUV roofline which tapers to the back and gives the car its signature appearance. Some of the other major highlights include the 20-inch diamond cut wheels, flared wheel arches and pop-out door handles made famous by its ICE sibling the XUV700.

Head out back and you can the actual way the coupe SUV roofline flows into the massive boot lid and the way it lifts the whole rear profile of the car to give its unique appearance. Some of the other major elements here include the infinity logo and the connected tail lamps which are symmetrical to the LED DRLs on the front of the car. As we said, presence is one of Mahindra’s central tenets and in this case, it has espoused quite well in the age of the born electric vehicles.

While the outside is a complete revolution (for Mahindra at least) the cabin is a bit of a safer bet but looks and feels like nothing that has ever been fitted to a Mahindra before this car came along. Dominating the dashboard is a three-screen display, one of the first in this part of the car to offer such a setup. The displays are high quality with really nice graphics and good ergonomics but had a tendency to lag when shuffling through multiple functions. What’s more, in a bid to keep the design clean, Mahindra has crammed some major functions into the screen which can be cumbersome and at times you have to scroll quite a bit to get to a specific function. At the time of writing this review, Mahindra had said that the vehicles we drove were still prototypes and that any issues of such kind would be rectified in the version that would be sold to the public.

Up front, the space is more than enough and both the front occupants get the individual zones thanks to the large centre console. Everything looks and feels nice to touch with decent ergonomics but is somewhat let down by average front visibility and poor rear visibility.

Move over to the second row and there is more than enough space for two occupants to sit in great comfort and three if the central occupant is ready to contend with centrally mounted AC vents. The seats themselves are spacious but have average under-thigh support due to the high floor. The rear seats recline and can be folded down for additional cargo space.

One of the other big party pieces for the 9e is the presence of a massive glass roof. At the time of writing this review, it was unclear if this roof would be present on all three variants or just the top-spec model alone. Combined with the various shades of beige, it adds a massive dose of airiness to the cabin and has an illuminated infinity logo built into it. Finally, the boot is long and deep but due to the way the car is designed it has a high loading lip. However, you do have enough room to pack in quite a few bags and it is power-operated with a swipe function.

On the features front, the car that we drove has bells and whistles the likes of which include climate control with rear AC vents, triple screen display, 5G connected car technology, powered driver’s seat, rear window blinds, folding second-row seat back with recline function and a full LED light package. On the safety front, all versions get six airbags, ABS with EBD, traction control programme, ISOFIX child seat mounting points, level-2 ADAS, 360-degree camera and Highline TPMS.

Let’s lay out some of the big numbers that Mahindra has given the XEV 9e just to give you an idea of what you are getting into with the car.

The XEV 9e can be had with either a 59kWh battery pack or a 79kWh battery pack paired with an electric motor for the rear wheels. The motor mated to a 59kWh battery pack produces 228bhp and 380Nm. The model is claimed to return a range of 542km on a single full charge. The motor mated to a 79kWh battery pack produces 284bhp and 380Nm and has a claimed range of 656km on a single full charge. The battery can be recharged from 20-80 per cent in just 20 minutes via a 140kW DC fast charger and it can sprint from 0-100kmph in 6.8 seconds.

As a car to drive, the powertrain is well, powerful and addictive. It is instantly responsive even in the low-fat Range mode and you are never short of performance. There is also a high level of interactivity with the powertrain in the form of drive modes altering the response of the throttle and the traction control program. They have also included controllable regen and a function switch the driving between a power mode and a regen mode. In the highest regen setting and with the regen mode enabled the retardation is pretty hard and should be more than capable of adding charge to the batteries. Lastly, Mahindra has also included a button for one-pedal driving which is useful in heavy traffic.

Mahindra has also worked on developing a new steering system that ties in well with the powertrain. It masks the weight of the car at low speeds but weighs up very well as you pick up speed. It’s quite responsive and gives you the confidence to push the car if the opportunity presents itself.

One of the places, the XEV shines is in the ride quality department. The ride is on the firmer side thanks to compensating for the weight of the battery pack but you don’t feel that instead, it has the ability to eat up whatever our roads throw up in terms of bumps, potholes, imperfections and of course massive speed breakers. With a 207mm ground clearance and massive tyres, you are pretty much sailing over everything without having to take your foot off the accelerator pedal.

As Mahindra’s first-ever venture into the land of Born Electric Vehicles, the XEV 9e makes a very good case for itself. It is fast, rides beautifully, is well-appointed, spacious and has the presence that we have come to expect when buying a Mahindra SUV.

On the flip side, the all-around visibility is not particularly great, there are too many virtual controls in the infotainment system and the BEV nature means the floor is high affecting ingress egress as well as under thigh support.

A new battlefront will open in the 18 lakh plus EV segment. It will be populated with players like the Hyundai Creta EV, Kia Carens EV, Honda Elevate EV, Tata Curvv EV, MG ZS EV, Maruti e Vitara and the equivalent Toyota model throughout 2025. These are all big names even in the nascent EV battleground and with a product like the XEV 9e, it looks like Mahindra has brought its A-game to the field.

Photography: Kapil Angane