A company known for tractors is gaining traction on Aussie roads

Some of the world’s fastest, finest cars have come from the makers of tractors. Tractor profits kept the famed Porsche car lines ticking over through the late-1950s and early-1960s.

Lamborghini built tractors before adding sports cars to the Italian concern’s catalogue. David Brown started out with tractors before buying into Aston Martin (that’s why Astons are designated DB through to DB12 and such).

And after starting out with a contract to build Willys’ Jeeps in 1947, the Indian conglomerate Mahindra has designed and built tractors since 1982 – just one element in a vast array of businesses.

Today, Mahindra is looking to further advance its car business in Australia.

While the ruggedly ugly Mahindra ute has been around for a while and while there’s been one or two Indian-designed and built SUVs to consider, the next chapter of the story begins with the Mahindra XUV 3XO: a cheap, yet quite substantial, compact SUV.

It looks good: contemporary and premium. It drives fine, arrives with a decent suite of comfort and safety features and has reasonable room for four adults – all this with retail prices starting at $23,990 driveaway.

There’s a $26,490 version with a few more gizmos such as full glass roof and very decent Harmon Kardon stereo.

Both bob-tailed Mahindras are just under four metres long with turbocharged, 1.2-litre, three-cylinder engine to drive the front wheels through a six-speed auto transmission.

There’s 82kW of power and 200Nm of torque here. Not huge numbers, yet quite adequate to have the Indian SUV stepping through the traffic with confidence and rolling down the freeway without any drama.

The factory reckons fuel consumption (on 91 octane petrol) should average around 6.5 litres per 100km but, despite the stop-start function, it can be heavier than that around the suburbs.

It needs a steady highway run to bring numbers down.

The premium exterior style is well complemented by the cabin layout, fit and finish. Allowing for some hard and scratch-likely plastic surfaces, the Mahindra impresses well beyond the price tag.

It is comfortable and packed with today’s mod-cons: 10.5-inch infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus reversing camera.

Then there’s the crowd of monitors  to warn drivers of stepping over the white line or not having everyone’s seatbelt buckled or parking too close to car-park bollards.

Most of these go about their business without too much fuss; some can be turned off.

So, there’s good room and comforts for four in this five-door hatchback. The boot area – with space-saver tyre below – is reasonable for a compact SUV.

And the Mahindra XUV 3X0 continues to impress. It drives, rides and handles as well as any sub-$30,000 car on the market.

Perhaps the interior trim may not forever look premium. Perhaps fuel economies could be better and perhaps the upmarket AX7 version’s glass roof may not suit Queensland drivers.

Yet, there is much to like about these compact SUVs.

Easy on the eye, easy to drive and very easy on the bank balance is this latest offering from Mahindra: a starter on any retiree’s or first buyer’s runabout shopping list, for sure.