[vid6639]

I just thought of posting this since I drive my office bus pretty often.

Exteriors:
Very basic exteriors. Not much to say about it. I think everyone has seen one. The external ORVMS are huge and give good visibility. The tyres are 215/70-15. The newer models come with radials but the older ones have the cross ply's. The doors are very heavy and close with a heavy thud.

Interiors:
It is available as 2 models 14+1 and long wheelbase 17+1. i drove the 14+1 model which is the most popular. The seating can be all individual buckets or 1+2 config. The seats are pretty comfy in the bench config. The buckets take up more space and the legroom decreases. You can fall off to sleep easily on the bench seats while travelling on hosur road.

The drivers seat can be pushed a long way back so tall drivers have no problem. I usually pushed it full back on other cars but for this that was too far. The steering is so big so it will always be in your reach.

The clutch pedal is too far away from the brake and accelerator. The accelerator is organ type floor mounted type. The gears have a very long throw and have huge play when slotted in their positions. The gear shifts are like a M800's only longer throw. The gears are a little different with one down and 2 on top.

The insrumentation is just speedo fuel and temp and other tell tale lights. The interior mirrors are day/night which was surprising since most cars dont have these.

Engine:
It has 2.7L naturally aspirated engine. This engine puts out 68bhp. For the psychotic drivers which these this is more than enough. You will regularly see it hitting 3 digits on empty stretches of hosur road and ring road.

Suspension:
The suspension on the front I dont know but at the rear it is basic leaf springs. They are not too bad and the ride isn't that bad.

Driving Impression:
The clucth is real heavy and needs a lot of effort to press it in. you need to wait for the coil to heat up before cranking it up. Once you crank it up the idling is real bad and it vibrates quite when cold once warm it's better. I doubt there is any NVH as the engine is next to your left leg covered by a plasticky cover.

Once you start moving it's much more smoother. You generally dont need 1st gear at all unless your on full load going up an incline. That's why the 1st gear is on the bottom separately whereas second is on top to the right of 1st. Effectively you have only 4 forward gears.

The initial acceleration is very good in second gear and you dont have to slip the clutch much either. You can easily keep up with the traffic. Pretty impressive for the size and engine. The brakes are power assisted and pretty powerful.

The steering is really heavy since not power steering. It turns many many times lock to lock I couldnt count how many. The advantage is the feedback is more accurate but overtime develops play.

It can touch 80-90kmph pretty easily, beyond that it struggles not for power but for gears as the gearing is too short. your in 5th gear which is effectively 4th since 1st is unusable most of the times.

Ride & Handling:
The ride is ok ok. nothing to write home about. If you sit at the back most bench and you have a mad driver be ready to be thrown off your seats. The other seats are ok and it can absorb all large potholes without worry.

The handling was a surprise to me. It handles very good. I would rate it much better than the sumo which is a much smaller vehicle. The body roll is lesser and feels more together while cornering.

Verdict:
Overall a fun experience. My bus driver lets me drive and I jump at the opportunity. It's a good feeling driving a vehicle this big and seeing all 2 wheelers, autos and cars make way for you.