Review: Mahindra Axe review, road test

This road test was originally published in the September 2007 issue of Autcar India.

Why don’t you try this one,” he says, egging us on gently. We glance over our shoulders to a steep climb that leads to a sort of ledge 10 feet above the dust path below. Obviously, we’ve misunderstood.

We look back at him, but he smiles, nods and gesticulates in the same direction, pointing to the top. Surely this ex-army man and tank commander has taken leave of his senses; probably the effect of all those high-velocity tank shells being fired only inches away from his head. All that pounding must have left a deep scar, because the only way we can get up that slope ourselves is on all fours! Still, he looks confident. Some head-scratching, soul-searching and dry gulps later, we gingerly point the Axe in the direction of the ridge.

There’s no fear of grounding the nose, as the angle of attack at the front is an almost wall-climbing 70 degrees and ground clearance is a lofty 350mm.

So we select four-wheel-drive low and power up the pile of rocks and shale, as the nose of the Axe points skywards, the motor rumbling and booming away. The Axe’s massive off-road tyres claw the earth and it edges forward. .  . but then stops. By now the angle of our ascent here is so steep, our weight is equally distributed between the backrest and the seat, and there’s nothing to see ahead, only sky!

“Use more power and more speed the next time,” yells our acting drill sergeant and this time the Axe does make it, like a big lizard clambering, scrambling up a rock face. This is an off-roader, sure, but no one said anything about rock climbing. Impressed? We were stunned! And this was only the beginning. Only one facet of this vehicle’s massive performance envelope.

In the past, Autocar India has tested our Indian-made Main Battle Tank, the Arjun and Hindustan Aeronautics’ Advanced Light Helicopter. This time we have something more terrestrial and familiar, but equally Indian. And don’t think this vehicle is any less exotic or beguiling in comparison. It may look like a cross between a taxi driver’s worst nightmare and the familiar American Humvee, and that’s what it is, but underneath its rough exterior is enough high-tech to make a Bentley blush.

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.  

 

Like any supercar, the Mahindra Axe is a revelation. A super off-roader that takes conventionally understood boundaries of what an off-roader should be capable of and totally demolishes them, a vehicle like the Axe is sure to provide the Indian Army a vital edge. Fantastic at high speeds, incredible across country and possessing great traction, the Axe has the right stuff. It could do with some more power, the steering may need a little more feel, and we think lockable differentials are essential when traction is a real problem. It will make a great scout car, assault vehicle or even mini-missile carrier.

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