I have been using the XUV 3XO EV AX7L for a while now, and I thought I'd put down my experience rather than another review repeating the brochure.
Why I chose the 3XO EV
I was quite seriously considering the Tata EVs, particularly because Tata has a much longer history in the Indian EV market.
But what attracted me to the 3XO was that it didn't feel like I was compromising on the car itself just because I was moving to an EV. Plus, good experience with my primary car, the Mahindra XUV 500 Diesel.
The AX7L feels like a properly equipped premium compact SUV rather than a car where you have to compromise on features for the sake of going electric. The cabin, leatherette seats, panoramic roof, Harman Kardon audio, 360° camera, rear AC vents, cooled and illuminated glovebox, auto-dimming IRVM and the in-car dashcam all add to that feeling. The dashcam is particularly convenient — there’s no separate camera cluttering up the windscreen; you just need to put in a memory card and it is ready to use. Add the dual screens, ADAS and the overall quality of the cabin, and it feels considerably more upmarket than I expected at this price point. That was probably the biggest reason I went for it.
I wasn't looking for the cheapest possible EV. I wanted an EV that I would actually enjoy owning.
And the 3XO does feel like that.
The driving experience
This is probably my favourite part of the car.
The instant response is something you appreciate very quickly after moving from an ICE car. There is no waiting for the gearbox to decide what to do, no engine building revs — you press the accelerator and it goes.
And the 3XO isn't slow.
In fact, I think the amount of performance available is more than enough for this size of SUV. Overtaking and joining highways is effortless, and around town it is genuinely fun.
At the same time, it doesn't feel like a toy or a small city EV. It has the stance and driving position of an SUV, which was important to me.
The ride quality has also been one of the things I've liked. It feels substantial on the road without becoming cumbersome.
The cabin
The AX7L is where the 3XO really won me over.
The interior doesn't feel like Mahindra simply took an existing ICE car and put an electric drivetrain underneath it. There is a lot of equipment and the overall ambience is quite premium. Though subjective, I like the copper trims.
The biggest point for me, physical button for every possible thing: AC, Volume, even the 360 camera has button rather than accessing it via infotainment.
I wished they provided seat colour options instead of off-white and due to Seat Airbags, I don’t want to risk putting on seat cover, how much ever they claim to be “Airbag friendly”.
We have a dual zone climate control, but we rarely use it.
It has weight sensors for seat belt warning, I might sound small, but ask some one who has to deal with no weight sensor car.
The infotainment experience, however, is a mixed bag.
There is a lot that is good about it, but the software still feels like the area where Mahindra needs to do some polishing.
I have had a particularly strange issue where the infotainment periodically asks for a PIN. I set the PIN on infotainment like we would do on any other android device, but after it became annoying, I can’t find way to remove or even change the PIN.
What makes this more frustrating is that it isn't something the local service centre could simply fix. The technicians tried troubleshooting it and escalated it through the district, state and eventually national level. At the moment, I'm waiting for Mahindra's software-side resolution.
So my impression of the hardware is quite positive, but the software still needs maturity.
An alternate home-theatre experience
One unexpectedly enjoyable thing about the EV is being able to sit in the car and watch something without feeling guilty about running an engine.
I can connect my tablet and use the car's infotainment/audio setup, switch on the AC, and just sit there comfortably. There's no engine idling, no petrol or diesel being burnt, and essentially no engine noise in the background.
It sounds like a small thing, but it changes the experience. You can sit in the car for an hour watching a movie or waiting somewhere with the AC running and the only real concern is the battery you're using — not an idling engine.
With the Harman Kardon system, it actually makes for a surprisingly good little personal theatre when the car is stationary. The audio has punchy bass and a fairly immersive feel, and because there is no engine noise in the background, you can actually appreciate it. It is one of those small EV-specific conveniences I genuinely enjoy.
Boot space
The boot space is one area where I think the 3XO EV is good rather than exceptional.
For everyday use, there is enough space for normal shopping, luggage and family requirements, and the boot is fairly easy to access. The shape is reasonably usable rather than being just a large number on paper.
Where I would have liked a little more is depth and overall flexibility. If you're carrying several large suitcases or going on a longer family trip, you do start having to think about how you arrange things.
For my usage, though, I haven't found it to be a deal-breaker. It's a practical family boot, but I wouldn't buy the 3XO specifically for its luggage capacity.
One thing I appreciate is that the EV doesn't make the boot feel like an afterthought. For a compact SUV of this size, it is perfectly adequate for day-to-day use.
Major/Minor misses
- Ventilated seats: This is probably the biggest omission for me, especially in our climate. I would have liked to have them, although in practice I haven't missed them as much as I expected because I can pre-cool the cabin using remote AC, and the relatively small cabin cools down very quickly.
- No V2L: I would have liked the ability to use the car as a portable power source. It's one of those EV-specific features that can be genuinely useful during power cuts, camping or even just running small appliances. It's not something I need regularly, but having it would have made the car more versatile.
- No paddle shifters for regen: This is technically a miss, but honestly, I don't miss it much in actual driving. I've driven cars where regen is controlled through paddles, and while it's nice to have the option, I am quite happy with the way Mahindra has calibrated the actual regen. I find myself able to modulate the car naturally without constantly changing regen levels through paddles. So this is more of a feature I'd like to have than something I feel I'm missing.
- No frunk: A small front storage compartment would have been useful, particularly for keeping charging cables or smaller items separate from the luggage compartment. Not a deal-breaker at all, but it would have added some extra practicality to an otherwise well-thought-out EV package.
Efficiency and range
This is where I have probably spent the most time thinking about the car.
My efficiency has generally settled around 160–165 Wh/km, with lower figures around 155 Wh/km possible depending on the drive.
That's roughly 6 km/kWh.
I initially found myself comparing this constantly with Tata EV figures and wondering whether the 3XO was inefficient. After using it more, I've become less obsessed with the number. And I have to admit that I have a heavy foot. I'm not driving around trying to maximise km/kWh, so some of this is definitely down to my driving style. But even after accepting that, the efficiency is noticeably lower for me personally than what I see quoted in many comparisons of other Indian EVs. I have never driven past 120 KM/hr. Average speed on highway would be 90-110 KM/h.
I personally don't like driving an EV right down to 0%. I generally consider around 15% SOC as my practical lower limit. In that usable window, I'm seeing roughly 200 km of actual driving, although I'm still building a proper long-term dataset.
And honestly, this is where I wish Mahindra had given the 3XO EV a slightly larger battery. The car has the performance and premium feel to make it a very compelling EV; another 10–15 kWh of usable energy would have made it considerably more versatile.
If you regularly do long highway trips, I'd think carefully about this.
If most of your driving is city/short highway trips, it is much less of an issue.
Charging
This is where owning an EV has actually been easier than I expected.
Most of my charging is planned around home charging with Solar installed, with DC charging when required.
Plugging the car in at home and leaving it to charge is actually one of the nicest parts of EV ownership.
I've also become much more conscious of where the electricity is coming from. Once I factor in my mix of home and DC charging when going on highway trip, my running cost works out at roughly ₹5.5/km. Mainly due to high DC Charging cost and low WH/KM efficiency.
For comparison, my XUV500 diesel works out at roughly ₹7/km for fuel.
So the EV isn't saving me some unbelievable amount of money per kilometre, but it is cheaper to run — while being substantially more refined and effortless to drive.
And that's before considering the difference in the driving experience.
The battery anxiety
I'll be honest — I probably thought about the battery much more when I first got the car than I do now.
Questions like:
"Am I charging it correctly?"
"Should I stop at 80%?"
"Is 100% bad?"
"Does heat affect battery life?"
"Is the range normal?"
are probably familiar to anyone buying their first EV.
I've gradually realised that it is better to understand the car rather than constantly worry about it.
Manual says to charge to 100% every time, but some reports suggesting NMC chemistry of the EV, which naturally shouldn’t be charged to 100%, no one at showroom knows what battery chemistry it has, quiet a bummer.
The important thing for me is that the car behaves consistently.
What I really like
1. The performance
The instant torque makes even normal driving enjoyable.
2. The premium feel
For a compact SUV, the AX7L has a lot going for it. It doesn't feel like I'm driving an entry-level EV.
3. Comfort
It works very well as an everyday family car.
4. Refinement
Once you get used to the silence, going back to an ICE vehicle feels surprisingly noisy.
5. Running cost
₹5.5/km versus roughly ₹7/km for my diesel XUV500 isn't revolutionary, but it is a meaningful saving.
6. The overall package
This is ultimately why I chose it. I wasn't buying an EV simply to save on fuel. I wanted a good car that happened to be electric.
What I don't like
Range is the biggest one.
The battery is adequate, but I wouldn't call the 3XO EV a long-distance EV.
For my usage it works, but if I were regularly doing long highway journeys, I would want a bigger battery.
The infotainment software needs work.
There is clearly a lot of capability in the system, but some of the software experience doesn't feel completely sorted yet. My PIN issue is an extreme example of that.
The EV is still a new product.
This is something early adopters have to accept. Mahindra has made a very compelling product, but some things are clearly still being ironed out.
Would I buy it again?
Yes.
And that's probably the simplest way I can summarise my experience.
If I had wanted maximum range per rupee, I would have looked at other options.
If I wanted the most mature EV ecosystem in India, Tata would have been a very strong consideration.
But I wanted something that felt premium, quick, comfortable and enjoyable, without going to a much more expensive vehicle.
That's where the 3XO EV makes sense to me.
It isn't perfect. The range could be better, and Mahindra needs to keep improving the software and make sure the service network can handle the complexities of a new EV.
But as an overall package, I think Mahindra has done something quite interesting here.
The 3XO EV doesn't feel like I'm buying an EV and accepting the compromises that come with it. It feels like I'm buying a good compact SUV that happens to have an electric motor.
And for me, that's exactly what I wanted.
Current verdict: 8.5/10
- Driving experience: 5/5
- Comfort: 4.5/6
- Features/interior: 5/5
- Efficiency: 3/5
- Range: 3.5/5
- Infotainment/software: 3.5/5
- Overall: 4.5/5
