2023 Mahindra Scorpio

With all three rows in use, the boot of the Scorpio isn’t all that practical but it will easily fit the week’s grocery or a couple of small carry on suitcases. Fold the third row flat and you will get a substantial 686L of luggage space.

This is where Mahindra is sure to be hit with an unfavourable score from Australia’s New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) because the Scorpio in its current iteration misses out on autonomous emergency braking (AEB). This feature has become mandatory in Australia since March 2023, after the Scorpio was launched.

For those of you who don’t know what AEB does, it’s basically a system that is always looking to see what is ahead of the vehicle and then applying the brakes automatically in case the driver is not paying attention. Is it useful? Absolutely. Is it critical? Absolutely not.

For now the only authority that has tested the vehicle and released the results is the Global New Car Assessment (GNCAP), which has given the Mahindra Scorpio five out of five stars, meaning that when it comes to actually having a crash, the Scorpio is very, very safe.

Don’t forget Mahindra is a steel producer (Scorpio is built with 73 per cent high-strength steel) and, as mentioned before, even supplies Airbus with military hardware, so it’s not here making tin boxes.

In time, ANCAP will undoubtedly come out with its usual sensationalist headline around cars like the Scorpio missing out on AEB, but for most buyers who just want a safe, feature-packed vehicle that is affordable, has a seven-year warranty and will serve their needs, take solace in its GNCAP safety score because that is far more relevant in the real world than ANCAP’s nonsensical system.

In fact, the boss of Global NCAP, Alejandro Furas, said of the Scorpio after the crash test (in December 2022): “Global NCAP congratulates Mahindra on its continuing commitment to safety, achieving five stars for adult occupant protection under our new, more demanding crash test protocols.”

Mahindra says the Scorpio will use 7.2 litres per 100km of diesel, though you’d likely be over 8L/100km in the real world. The Scorpio has a 57-litre fuel tank and also uses AdBlue.

All Mahindra Scorpio’s need servicing every 12 Months months or 10,000km km, whichever comes first.

Mahindra could have gone cheap and produced a product more befitting of the price, but the Scorpio’s suspension setup is the same a the Ford Everest, thanks to its double wishbone setup at the front and Watt’s link system at the rear.

We took the Scorpio for a solid drive around Brisbane’s inner-city and suburban roads while also giving it a genuinely solid go off-road – on both occasions, the Scorpio never missed a beat.

The Scorpio can go places most owners would never intend to take it. In other words, it’s more capable off-road than the average buyer will ever need.

However, if you’re not into off-roading, we deem it best you freshen up on an introductory course before you take your Mahindra to the outback, but for a trip to Fraser Island or your local beach, the Scorpio won’t miss a beat.

For the 99.99 per cent of use cases on-road, the engine and transmission work seamlessly for a driving experience that never feels inadequate or lacking in go, while the ride and compliance over bumpy roads is arguably better than some more expensive rivals in the segment.

The road handling capabilities of the Scorpio are also as you would expect from a vehicle its size. It steers and goes without feeling heavy or learning into corners more than desired. It also has a modern dual-pinion electronic power steering system, making parking a far easier job than more old-fashioned systems found in some rivals.

The Scorpio utilises a system that Mahindra calls ‘Frequency Dependent Damping’, which sees it remain largely composed over both a singular bump with high damping force and bumpier roads with low damping force.

The Mahindra Scorpio is the first model to be covered by the brand’s new factory-backed seven-year, 150,000km warranty for private buyers.

The Mahindra Scorpio deserves a lot more consideration from buyers than it currently gets. It’s a solid SUV with a great interior that drives with confidence and comfort at an unbeatably low price.

It’s an excellent choice for families of four that would appreciate the great 2+2 setup in the first two rows. It comes with a solid warranty and a five-star safety rating from GNCAP, which validates its real-world crashworthiness.

It has some annoying features that we are hopeful can be fixed with a software update that all owners can get in time, but even without, it’s a solid offering that should – at the very least – make it to your test drive list to see what your money can actually get you compared to its significantly more expensive rivals.