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We’ve been living with the new Mahindra XUV 3XO for the past three months to see how Mahindra’s new entry-level model stacks up as a daily driver at the cut-price end of the small SUV market.
Those who have not heard of the brand, Mahindra has been in the Australian market since the ’90s – when it sold two variants of a slightly modernised version of Willys CJ-3B civilian Jeep with parts manufactured in India.
Globally and locally, the brand has a massive footprint in tractors and built a great reputation on its Pik-Up ute with farmers, before moving into the SUV market with numerous models including the Scorpio off-road SUV, the XUV700 mid-size SUV, and the XUV 3XO compact SUV we are testing here.
The lineup of XUV 3XO models for our market is simple, with only two variants (AX5L and AX7L) that both use the same 1 in each model. With a six-speed automatic transmission driving the front wheels of an engine with 2-litre three engines, 4-cylinder turbo-petrol engine is . It sells the car nationwide through the Indian brand’s network of more than 70 dealers in its chain.
That puts it squarely in the same conversation as the Chery Tiggo 4, which is the closest match on price and positioning, and is offered in Urban and Ultimate grades. GWM also offers the Haval Jolion for a similar price.
Having now covered more than 5000km in our Galaxy Grey AX7L over the last three months, we have come to appreciate the little Mahindra’s charms and certainly feel that it is an attractive choice for those looking for a cheap reliable car but by no means perfect.
How much does the Mahindra XUV 3XO cost?
Mahindra sells the XUV 3XO with national drive-away pricing, and it’s available in two grades: AX5L and AX7L.
| Model | Drive-away pricing |
| — | — |
| 2026 Mahindra XUV 3XO AX5L | $23,990 |
| 2026 Mahindra XUV 3XO AX7L | $26,990 |
Everest White is the only no-cost paint finish. Every other colour attracts a $495 surcharge (metallic paint).
A point of reference is that the Chery Tiggo 4 costs from $23,990 drive-away for the Urban and $26,990 Drive-Away for The Ultimate, which matches with Mahindra’s pricing walk.
To see how the Mahindra XUV 3XO lines up against the competition, check out our
comparison tool
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What is the Mahindra XUV 3XO like on the inside?
Its basic cabin layout is similar to dual 10 and both variants are based on the same standard of . A 25-inch digital screens (a touchscreen for the infotainment and another for an instrument cluster), wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, plus wireless audio play and a smartphone auto.
Although the range is largely uncomplicated, Mahindra has made significant differences in between the AX5L and Ax7L inside The base model of this line-up model (black cloth upholstery) with a smaller traditional sunroof covering the front seats; higher grade switches to black leatherette and enlarged panoramic ‘sky roof’ as well as arguably better Harman & Kardon audio system.
Second row is a 6040-split/folding bench with three top-tether points and four ISOFIX anchors for child seats. There’s also a space-saver spare wheel under the boot floor, which is also used as.
But from a day-to-day usability point of view, it’s worth marking two things that are easy to overlook at this price. The Mahindra is a first-hand climate control (rather than forcing everything into the touchscreen), and it also has rear air vents, as well as rear-seat charging points (12V and USB) which many used cars at this price point don’t offer.
This is a very expensive price point for ‘the interior, which seems to be quite upmarket in the car. All the plastics on the door and dash are soft, with a great touch to it. For what you pay, it’s a pretty damn good fit and finish of the car for your money. This is not the first time that the Apple CarPlay wireless connection has been out; screen and infotainment system are very responsive, easy to see even in direct sunlight.
Similarly, the digital instrument cluster is well-designed with easy to fly menus and an accurate speedometer. We would like to see the company provide a standard indicator sound, but at least in the 3XO you can reduce volume and pick ‘less annoying’ sound than that of Mahindras.
It’s one of the fastest chargers we have tested for a car (the Hyundai Ioniq 9 is faster than $100k), meaning your dead iPhone (17 Pro) will be back to – 50 per cent charge in. 20- and 25-minute commute to work at its top 45W charging rate, which means that it has been returned to an average cost of over $100K by working with euthan pro). You can even charge a MacBook with it,’ s.
And maybe this is perhaps the most surprising surprise at this price point, 340W seven-speaker Harman Kardon audio system with its own dedicated amplifier and sub-woofer. It’s a truly amazing sound system and, given the target audience of young or first-time car buyers here, we think it’d be incredibly well priced for this market fit and certainly helps to upgrade the XUV 3XO and its features above its Chery equivalent.
On the whole, a 3-XO interior feels perfectly fit for purpose as it is expensive. No slang-feeling in the car and the air-conditioning and media controls all work as it is expected, without any problems that we have faced so far.
The boot is a very reasonable 364 litres of the boot, perhaps our only frustration with the interior (or at least one point) but the button for its release from outside is rather small and well buried. Mahindra would be nice if she placed an appropriate button in the remote key fob so that boot can be opened, or moved to a more accessible location where the boot opening mechanism is available.
| Dimensions | Mahindra XUV3XO |
| — | — |
| Length | 3990mm |
| Width | 1821mm |
| Height | 1647mm |
| Wheelbase | 2600mm |
| Cargo capacity | 364L (rear seats up) |
To see how the Mahindra XUV 3XO lines up against the competition, check out our
comparison tool
What’s under the bonnet?
Australia has only one powertrain in place of . The company’s 1 is a lower-spec version of its . Two litres three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine (mStallion TCMPFi) are .
| Specifications | Mahindra XUV 3XO |
| — | — |
| Engine | 1.2L 3cyl turbo-petrol |
| Power | 82kW @ 5000rpm |
| Torque | 200Nm @ 1500-3550rpm |
| Transmission | 6-speed automatic |
| Drive type | Front-wheel drive |
| Weight | 1392kg (AX5L) / 1410kg (AX7L) |
| 0-100km/h (claimed) | N/A (not quoted) |
| Fuel economy (claimed) | 6.5L/100km (combined) |
| Fuel economy (as tested) | 10L/100km |
| Fuel tank capacity | 42L |
| Fuel requirement | 91-octane regular unleaded |
| CO2 emissions | 137g/km |
| Emissions standard | Euro 6 |
To see how the Mahindra XUV 3XO lines up against the competition, check out our
comparison tool
How does the Mahindra XUV 3XO drive?
This little Mahindra is a city car made for ultra-urban use.
It’s technically an SUV, but it’t the sort of thing you would ever take anywhere that requires off-roading capability. It is true that Mahindra has good off-road credentials with its other models, but it doesn’t extend to the 3XO.
If you buy this type of car for your kids as their first vehicle (or the second car in the family) to get to the shops or do a quick drive around town, it’s the kind of one that is what you think about your children getting.
The powertrain is working and easy to live with, we have driven it around Brisbane and surrounding suburbs for three months. It’s pretty a nice ride and handling, especially when it comes to dealing with bumps and poorly surfaced roads. But it’s not too harsh and has a fairly balanced tone.
In a place where it needs some improvement, an idle stop-start system (which disables the engine to save fuel when it should be turned off), which causes jerky take-off when turning back on and our car had ‘a bad front parking sensor’ that would sometimes activate when there was no obstacle ahead of us.
The power and torque of it is 82kW, but with only 200Nm that gives you sporty drive; this’s just shy of Chery’. It has its larger 1 (a little more than the one in which she offers). Tiggo 4 5-litre unit with . However, in our three months of testing it we never felt inadequate or lacking punch.
I think this is certainly a powertrain for city and urban driving, and the six-speed automatic does exactly what it takes to extract best out of the power train with 0-60km/h time of 4? 6 seconds – . Although this can certainly betray you on a city-bound highway, it is also more powerful than the road to overtake large trucks or road trains that you frequent.
We want the drivetrain to be improved, but it seems like there is no care about how hot it is outside. When you stop, the 3XO turns off to save fuel every time you go down even if the cabin has not cooled enough.
A button to the right of steering wheel turns system off very easily, thankfully for s there is a button on it but this would be great if Mahindra could make things work so that when the cabin is already at the desired temperature then turn off.
Mahindra has three driving modes – ‘Zip’,. ’Zap’ and – & Zoom ‘. They’re not really useful, and we have tried zip, zap and zoom.
One of the most interesting things to note is that when we tested the fuel economy readout, it showed about 10L/100km (not the 6L / 100km). Manufacturers quote 5L/100km for. Sadly, this car has lived in a very hilly area and spent some of its time going up and down hills in traffic (which would severely affect its fuel economy)
That’s a good example of how well-requited this is for context, as we test figures for the Chery Tiggo 4 so don’t be surprised if you fill your 3XO more often than you think it will.
| Specification | Mahindra XUV 3XO |
| — | — |
| Ground clearance | 201mm (unladen) |
| Approach angle | 23.4° |
| Departure angle | 39.6° |
To see how the Mahindra XUV 3XO lines up against the competition, check out our
comparison tool
What do you get?
Both variants are well-specified to be the money’s currency, but AX7L is the ‘nice-to-haves’ of both variant the panoramic roof, new audio and extra parking hardware.
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2026 Mahindra XUV 3XO AX5L equipment highlights:
- 16-inch alloy wheels
- Space-saver spare
- Automatic LED headlights with LED daytime running lights
- Automatic high-beam
- Rear LED light bar
- Fixed roof rails
- Sunroof
- Keyless entry and push-button engine start
- Black cloth upholstery
- Power windows with one-touch auto up/down for driver
- Leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter
- Height and reach adjustable steering wheel
- Electric parking brake with auto hold
- Cooled glovebox
- Rain-sensing wipers
- 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster
- 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- Wireless and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- DAB+ digital radio
- 2 x front USB outlets
- 1 x rear USB outlet
- 1 x rear 12V outlet
- 6-speaker sound system
The AX7L adds:
- 17-inch alloy wheels
- Contrasting black exterior roof
- Front LED fog lights
- Black leatherette upholstery
- Leatherette dash and door trim
- Larger ‘Sky roof’ sunroof
- Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
- 1 x front 65W USB-C outlet
- 1 x front USB outlet
- Harman Kardon premium audio with amplifier and sub-woofer
- Cooled glovebox with illumination
To see how the Mahindra XUV 3XO lines up against the competition, check out our
comparison tool
Colours
Everest White exterior paint is standard, with metallic and premium finishes costing an extra $495.
Colours available on AX5L:
- Everest White (no extra cost)
- Tango Red
- Galaxy Grey
- Stealth Black
The AX5L has black cloth upholstery.
Colours available on AX7L:
- Everest White with Stealth Black roof (no extra cost)
- Tango Red with Stealth Black roof
- Galaxy Grey with Stealth Black roof
- Citrine Yellow with Stealth Black roof
The AX7L has black leatherette upholstery.
To see how the Mahindra XUV 3XO lines up against the competition, check out our
comparison tool
Is the Mahindra XUV 3XO safe?
ANCAP has not rated the Mahindra XUV 3XO, which does not have an official independent safety rating in Australia.
Standard safety features include:
- 6 airbags incl. side curtains
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Pedestrian detection
- Adaptive cruise control with stop/go
- up to 60km/h
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Lane-keep assist
- Lane departure warning
- Rear parking sensors
- Surround-view cameras
- Traffic sign recognition
- Tyre pressure monitoring
Mahindra Australia has also flagged equipment updates in 2026, tied to new ANCAP test protocols.
To see how the Mahindra XUV 3XO lines up against the competition, check out our
comparison tool
How much does the Mahindra XUV 3XO cost to run?
Mahindra covers the XUV 3XO with a seven-year, 150,000km warranty and seven years of roadside assistance.
| Servicing and Warranty | Mahindra XUV 3XO (AX5L/AX7L) |
| — | — |
| Warranty | 7 years or 150,000km |
| Roadside assistance | 7 years |
| Service intervals | 12 months or 15,000km |
| Average annual service cost | $332.33 (calculated from $1994 over 6 years) ($279, $279, $349, $299, $389, and $399) |
| Total capped-price service cost | $1994 – 6 years or 85,000km |
Compared with its main rival, the Chery Tiggo 4 has seven-year unlimited kilometers warranty, service-activated roadside assistance (up to seven years), and capped-price servicing total of $2071. a total of 18 more than seven years/105,000km, or over the course of his career.
To see how the Mahindra XUV 3XO lines up against the competition, check out our
comparison tool
childcareman.xyz’s Take on the Mahindra XUV 3XO
The Mahindra XUV 3XO is a great first car or an ideal second family car for shorter trips.
A good value proposition at this price point is required if you are looking for the 3XO on your shopping list.
It is primarily because the Chery Tiggo 4 is the same price and appeals to the buyer types listed above, so that the little SUV is not as popular as it should be.
The warranty is slightly longer and it arguably better powertrain, but does not provide much of the creature comforts in the Mahindra (such as the sound system) or even more.
If you think about s we would recommend driving them back to back, with the Haval Jolion and the MG 3 hatch.
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