Mahindra XUV700 vs Toyota Fortuner Legender drag race: The 200hp club

What’s common between a Mahindra XUV700 petrol and a Toyota Fortuner Legender diesel? Both these 7-seater SUVs produce 200hp, and to find out which is quicker, we pit them against each other in a 402.34m drag race.

The XUV700’s 2.0-litre turbo-petrol automatic produces 200hp and 380Nm of torque; and its front wheels are driven by a 6-speed automatic transmission. The Fortuner Legender’s 2.8-litre diesel produces 204hp and 500Nm of torque; and its 6-speed torque converter drives the rear wheels (in 4x2 guise). So while the Toyota has the clear advantage on paper, being a ladder-frame construction, it is 333kg heavier than the monocoque XUV700.

Mahindra XUV700 vs Toyota Fortuner Legender quarter-mile race

As the lights turned green, both cars launched simultaneously, but it was the Fortuner that was in the lead for the first few metres. The XUV700’s front tyres struggled for grip initially, but once it gained traction, its turbo petrol’s relentless performance kept pulling away from the Fortuner, increasing the gap all the way to the finish line and completing the quarter-mile race in 16.62 seconds – one full second quicker than the Fortuner.

In the second race, the XUV’s launch was much cleaner, and right from the start, it left the big Toyota in its dust, dispatching the sprint in 16.59 seconds – this time with a lead of 1.12 seconds.

Incidentally, the XUV700 happens to be the quickest petrol-automatic this side of Rs 20 lakh in our quarter-mile drag races, bettering the Tata Nexon EV, the diesel-auto XUV700, and even cars with VW's 1.5 TSI engine.