[GTO]

Why the heck does the Indian consumer care ONLY about fuel economy so much? Of course it is important and Indians are among the most value conscious around the world. But is it the only gauge of a good car versus a bad car?

India has terrible roads - There are potholes everywhere, and some of the roads could give the craters on the moon a run for their money!! Instead of fuel economy, the focus should be on a better suspension, comfortable interiors, a modern chassis and the ability to soak up bad roads effectively.

India has no road manners in practice, half the streets dont have proper street lighting, driving licences are given out at random, breaking signals / traffic rules is not unusual - Bottomline? Our roads are outright dangerous!! Instead of fuel economy, the focus must be on safety - Both active and passive. But how often do you hear of people checking for rear seat belts, ticking the air-bag options or going for better and grippier rubber?

When you go to buy a shirt, do you focus only on the price? Or are you willing to pay a premium for something that looks and feels better? Instead of fuel economy, the focus must be on other tangibles/intangibles : The feel good factor, longer life etc. I have seen people who drive their Mondeos and City Vtecs with an extremely light foot just to get that 10% more fuel economy!! Whats the point? Forget such performance cars. I have also witnessed Zen MPFi owners never going above 1500 rpm to get the maximum mileage. Thats a great car to drive too. Why dont you just go and buy a diesel instead if thats all you care about?

This exclusive focus on fuel economy has reached such ghastly proportions that even manufacturers are intentionally under-sizing their tyres. The 85 bhp Mpfi esteem has acceleration that can shame a Mercedes C Class but Maruti offered it with 155mm tyres!! What kind of grip, handling and braking do you expect out of puny 155 tyres? Its not only stupid - its outright dangerous!! Not only to the person whos driving the Esteem but to everyone else on the road and highway too.

Indians behave as if the fuel economy is the most expensive part of owning a car!! Wake up, its depreciation that is. Not fuel economy. In some cases its maintenance costing, not fuel economy. As a component of total ownership cost, fuel economy is only one. Theres depreciation, cost of maintainence, insurance and so on. How often do you hear of a person who shopped around for a better deal on his insurance?

Of course, if there is like a major difference where one car is giving you 6 kmpl and the other is delivering 12. Then FE can become a talking point. Buttttttttttttttt really well-engineered, safer and more modern cars are being side lined by the Indian consumer because it gives you 10 - 15% less fuel economy.

Dont get me wrong. I am not saying that caring about fuel economy sucks, but there are other things that count also. Safety, ride quality, comfort, interior room..all count toward a pleasurable ownership experience. As long as my cars give me an acceptable level of fuel efficiency, it is fine with me.

And if you do care so much about saving money on petrol, get a better car and install an alternative fuel system on it (Auto LPG?). It will save you more money in the long run.

The value of life is really not too much in our country. Else with such pathetic driving conditions, you would expect people to focus on safety/ride quality and not fuel economy as the "be all" of buying an Indian car. I have actually heard some ignorant idiots saying "Yeah, it gives 11 kmpl in the city. It's a great car. That other one gives only 9 - its horrible". The typical Indian car buyer would rather run the risk of getting permanently injured (or much worse fatally injured) in a car accident than see that all important fuel gauge go down sooner than expected.

Sad but true

GTO