Mahindra Axe review, road test

Stepping off-road, onto an off-road path filled with deep ruts, dried-up pools and completely broken sections, is when we get a measure of the brilliance of the Axe. For a start, we roll off a sharp edge of the tarmac and onto the much lower shoulder, a foot-and-a-half below the road, without the car even acknowledging the change in gradient. It rides like a limo! 

Gearbox placed in manually selectable mode and right foot to the floor, we take off down this wide path. Soon we’re doing seemingly insane speeds, the Axe taking to the path like the thoroughbred it is. On this road you could do no more than 50kph without breaking something on your SUV, but the Axe is charging ahead and steamrolling the path below it at speeds of over 100kph. And still it’s no sweat.

It glides over massive potholes, seldom loses its composure and skips through deeply-rutted sections of the road without the suspension registering a blip. It’s all down to the stiff chassis, the massive suspension travel, the variable dampers and the high-profile tyres that together help it glide over, or even sponge up the road like a leaping hovercraft.

And it corners too. Remember we’re talking almost 2.5 tonnes of flying metal here. The trick racing dampers help firm up the suspension around corners and the Axe holds its composure and can be steered on the throttle in the dirt like an agile racer. The key to this massive speed off-road, of course, is the composure the Axe possesses. Both pitch and roll are present in small quantities, but they are so well kept in check that we soon begin to drive the Axe harder and harder. The massive 300mm disc brakes work superbly too.

A trip to the Himalayas in this thing, or a romp along a desert path, would be sheer bliss. We did, however, feel the ABS needed some fine-tuning for it was cutting in too early and the steering does feel very light at high speeds.

 The Axe also has the ability to go off the road almost anywhere, and clamber over or through some impossible terrain. Be it climbing up a mound of rocks, stepping over a field full of others that are knee-high or powering through slush you could almost drown in, this is just another level. You truly have to double the boundaries of what is conventionally possible in a very good off-roader. And then that is just about enough.