Tata Xenon XT 4x4

An unladen rear end (the rear suspension has been designed to carry huge load), lots of torque and a tall body make for interesting dynamics for the Xenon. The steering offers a fair amount of feel and there is decent communication from the front end. The comparatively skinny tyres give you ample warning too, and you can feel the Xenon begin to slide in a controllable manner. Load up the rear with around 200kg and the ride settles down remarkably.

The choppiness in the rear subsides and that pogo effect, especially when you hit a speedbreaker or a sharp pothole, is less severe. On tarmac, the Xenon is very composed and easily manageable too. Off-road though, it isn’t as convincing. While the Xenon’s alloy chin protector for the intercooler looks good, sitting low down it’s quite vulnerable. Besides, the relative soft front has the nose diving agonisingly onto its bump stops. To select four-wheel drive, you need to operate the rather fiddly roller switch that is located behind the steering wheel, on the dashboard. The Xenon has a limited-slip differential though and in slippery conditions this will definitely be to its advantage, although it wasn’t really put to the test on the arid, rocky terrain we took it over.