महिंद्रा मराज़ो

The name Marazzo is derived from the Basque word for shark and it’s this legendary fish that the Marazzo’s design is reportedly based on. Mahindra’s design team have taken inspiration for the front grill, the fog lamps, the antena and the rear tail lamps from the apex predator. The teeth on the front grill do give the otherwise happy face a menacing look and combine nicely with the smoked projector headlamps. The proportions are very MUV with a bonnet line that does flow smoothly into the roof line through the front windshield in a very van-like manner, but the accent lines on the side give it a nice aggressive canted forward stance that’s quite sporty. The machine cut 17-inch alloys are also anything but boring and add a further dollop of flair to the side profile. At the rear, the real standouts are those large taillights that mimic a shark’s tail in shape and size complimented with a large chrome strip that runs across the entire rear hatch.

Unlike the in the TVC, the Marazzo actually looks quite attractive in the flesh. At 4585mm long, it’s larger than the diminutive Renault Lodgy or the Maruti Ertiga, similar in stature to the Toyota Innova (which is 150mm longer) and feels a lot smaller than the mighty 4788mm long Tata Hexa.

The interiors of the Marazzo which were designed in collaboration with inhouse design studio Pininfarina, were a pleasant surprise. Our first impressions were that there was a lot of space on offer in all three rows and a proper road test, with the captain-seat version filled to capacity, proved that this is quite true. Let’s start with the front row, where the seats are nice and comfortable even if they are lacking slightly in under-thigh support. The tall driving position gives the driver a good view of the road and the light coloured interiors help enhance that feeling of space. The design of the dash and instrument cluster is also modern and quite attractive, especially the way everything lights up in purple post sunset.

The seats in the second row like the front are comfortable but sport a 20mm longer seat base, taking care of the shortage of under thigh support in the first row. The roof-mounted AC vents are fully adjustable and you can even close off the venting completely, but the icing on the cake is the diffuse mode. On a hot day, once the cabin has cooled down completely, or on a normal even drive, switching to diffuse mode distributes the airflow evenly around the cabin so you’re not troubled with an extra cold spot where the blower is pointing. One complaint for the second row though is that the door storage is nearly impossible to reach with the door closed. So things like water bottles and other nicknacks will have to be accessed only when you’re parked on the side of the road. Another miss is the number of charging points as there is just one 12v socket in the front row with 2 USB ports and just one USB in the second row for charging.

The third row also fits fully grown adults in comfort. Though three abreast is a squeeze on account of the rear mounted secondary AC unit taking up space on the right hand side of the car, two adults will be comfortable in this space even on longer road trips.

The one question everyone had after our first drive was how the 1.5-litre engine would manage this full sized MUV when it’s fully loaded. And we’re quite happy to say that in town and on the highway, loaded up with seven passengers, it faced no problems at all. In town, it’s completely at ease even when fully loaded, with the 300Nm of torque cleanly pulling anything we could throw at it at city speeds. It’s also happy to hold triple-digit speeds on the highway with enough grunt to keep up with regular traffic and even pull off the odd overtaking manoeuvre when necessary. The only place where you need to start working the gearbox, using 2nd and 3rd gear more, is when climbing a ghat. Thankfully, the six-speed gearbox is smooth in operation and driving up slopes was never a problem with the the shorter lower ratios giving the engine good drive.

• Mahindra Marazzo vs Toyota Innova Crysta vs Maruti Ertiga & Others: Spec Comparison

This new D15 engine is also quite a refined mill that stays fairly quiet at idle, though it does make its presence audibly felt when revs rise. Its power delivery is delightful - there’s a friendly, linear spread of torque and barely any spike in drive when the turbo kicks in. In our performance tests, the Marazzo managed the sprint to 100kmph in 15 seconds which isn't shabby for an MUV of this size. The advantages of the new D15’s smaller cubic capacity is reaped in the efficiency department. In the city, the Marazzo managed a very respectable 14.86kmpl and nearly 17kmpl on the highway.

Acceleration

0-100kmph - 15.00 seconds

Quarter mile - 20.05 seconds/116.30kmph

Braking

100-0kmph - 43.81m

80-0kmph - 27.41m

Fuel efficiency

City: 14.86kmpl

Highway: 16.96kmpl

All variants of the Marazzo are equipped with dual airbags, ABS with EBD, disc brakes on all four wheels, ISOFIX child seats, impact and speed-sensing auto door lock/unlock, door ajar warnings and a speed warning at 80kmph. Parking sensors are available in the M6 variant and the top of the line M8 variant gets both parking sensors and a reversing camera with bending lines. One possible miss is that the top-end variant also gets just two airbags, when compared to other people movers like the Innova (7 airbags) or the Hexa (6 airbags). And even though their top-end variants exist in a different price bracket, this may keep some buyers away from the top-end M8 variant.   

There are four variants of the Mahindra Marazzo, namely the M2, M4, M6 and M8. The M2, M4 and M6 are available in both seven- and eight-seater options, while the M8 is only available in a seven-seat configuration.