New Mahindra XUV500 W3 Base trim undercuts the base price of the Tata Harrier which has taken the XUV500’s best selling mid-size SUV honour.
The Mahindra XUV500 has been on the Indian roads for a very long time now and although a ageing product, it has been the best selling product in its segment. Well, not any more so, after the launch of the Tata Harrier. The Tata Harrier has outsold the XUV500 in the last two months after its launch to become the best selling mid-sized SUV. The base variants of both the cars are just Rs. 20,000 apart, the Harrier being the cheaper of the two.
As a counter move, Mahindra has now launched the XUV500 in a new base trim called the W3 undercuts the base variant of the Tata Harrier by quite a margin. The W3 being a base trim, of course loses out on quite some features like you would expect.
Up front, the face looks much more plain in the Mahindra XUV500 W3 base trim with no touches of chrome anywhere. The chrome inserts on the grille and the chrome surrounds have been replaced with grey plastic bits. Although the headlamps still remain projector units, the DRLs are gone along with fog lamps down below. The chrome garnish around the fog lamp cluster has also been replaced by black plastic. The bumper now comes in a single-tone color instead of the two-tone found in the higher trims.
The W3 variant does not however look much different from the W5, the previous base variant apart from a few changes. The side-pillars are now body colored instead of being blacked out like in the W5 and at the rear, the W3 misses out on the wash wiper. Also the W3 wear 17 inch bare steel wheels without any wheel cap while the W5 variant at least got wheel caps. The W3 however does not lose the mirror mounted turn indicators.
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On the interiors, Mahindra has draped the XUV500 W3 in all black color scheme. Also, its pretty bare bones but that should not come about as a surprise considering its price point and that it’s a base trim. The center console just gets the AC controls – certainly not automatic ones – and in place of the double-din audio system as in the W5, the W3 gets black plastic cladding all around. In fact, most surfaces that you touch and see are just hard plastics.
It has however retained the instrument cluster, the steering wheel, powered windows on all four doors, engine start-stop button, powered ORVMs, central locking, remote flip key and height adjustable seats along with armrests for both front and rear seats. Such convenience features are surely much appreciated.
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The current W5 base variant is priced at Rs. 12.87 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi) and the Tata Harrier base variant is priced at Rs. 12.69 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi). With Mahindra aiming to undercut the Harrier quite aggressively, the W3 variant has been launched at a price of Rs. 12.23 lakhs (ex-showroom, Mumbai). Will this move help the XUV500 to get back to the top of the game again? Well, time will tell.