2023 Mahindra Scorpio Z8L: Long-term review

Following the Australian launch of Mahindra’s fifth-generation Scorpio 4x4 wagon – and having also sampled it in India – we were keen to put some more kilometres on one as a daily driver and weekend tripper, so we grabbed a Scorpio Z8L for a month.

Our Scorpio arrived with 9000km on the clock, and as one of the earliest cars in the country it wasn’t equipped with Apple CarPlay. Once you’ve used CarPlay regularly, you can’t live without it – so we headed straight to the Mahindra dealer to have it installed, along with a few other computer updates.

It only took a short time to install and it all works well, and the trip gave us a chance to hit some backroads in the Scorpio. Earlier drives with the new wagon already told us the engineers had done an impressive job with the suspension, and hitting some roads that were in pretty poor condition reaffirmed those beliefs. The Scorpio handles well for a body-on-frame vehicle with excellent body control and dynamics.

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The 2.2-litre diesel engine and six-speed automatic transmission combination delivers surprisingly quiet and refined performance, but with just 129kW and 400Nm on offer it is no rocket ship and you need to plan overtaking manoeuvres.

Our only complaint with the driveline is some backlash driving at low speeds when on and off the throttle, and this is all too common in stop-start Melbourne traffic.

The Scorpio is not a big wagon and could be compared to the old XJ Jeep Cherokee in both its size and rugged construction. It’s comparable to a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, but not as big as an Isuzu MU-X or Ford Everest.

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It’s sold in Australia as a six-seater, with comfortable leather-covered bucket seats for the first and second rows and a two-seat pew across the back. While this configuration provides extra shoulder room for second-row passengers, the third-row seat is not a great fit and it massively eats into the cargo space.

We imagine many owners removing that third-row seat, and we feel the Scorpio would be better sold as a conventional two-row five-seater.

The Scorpio cabin is comfortable for the driver, as it’s easy to use and well-equipped, but it is missing a few essentials like the rear-row airbags and reach adjustment for the steering column.

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There’s no AEB, lane-keeping assist or radar cruise control, normally considered essential safety features. The Scorpio has a five-star Global NCAP rating, but the omission of these features will prevent it from achieving this on the ANCAP standard and might keep it off the shopping lists of some family buyers.

The Scorpio is a great value-for-money package

Over our month with the Scorpio it has been used by a few members of the 4X4 Australia team, with a common theme being that, after initial concerns with a relatively unknown brand, most drivers liked the vehicle the more time they spent driving it. This usage included on- and off-road driving, chasing other test cars around on photo shoots, and general family use.

Overall, the Scorpio is a great value-for-money package, but needs those now commonplace safety features and some small refinements to make it a true competitor in the 4x4 wagon market.

RRP: $45,990
Average fuel use: 11.2L/100km