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Among these four which (used) car is better to drive in rainy period .
mostly 2 will be in the car . im looking for SAFE driving during rainy days .
Thanks.

Indica XETA(Petrol) will be the most safe car.Coz there is a flood near my house, and every car (zen,wagonR, etc is weak to go through the water{after some time they stall}). But my indica never stalls.The water is full length of a bus's tyre.So the tata logo in front of my Indica is in waters, still it didnt stall in the last to days.There was thick somke comming out from the bonnet.Nothing serious,the water touched the hot parts so... . I have ensured and checked this up in my nearest service sentre( the tata service centre is in my lane)

hi... generally diesel cars have a start up prob durin monsoons..i drive a santro n i m pretty happy wid it. its ground clearence is pretty high as compared to da zen..so it goes well when there is water logging..

The replies in this thread are going to be interesting.

However, i feel all these cars are more or less same. And i dont think its wise to buy a car JUST for monsoons. :)

Umm no such monsoon issues for diesel cars.
Though I feel buying a car just taking monsoon's into consideration is not a good idea, but I guess you have to live through the torture of floods year after year to really understand how important it becomes.
A car will survive waterlogging if the engine air inlet, and the electronics are not submerged. The engine block itself can be in water, but as long as the electronics, the spark plugs and air inlet are kept out of water you are safe.
So the water should not get into engine, and the electronics should be dry during water wading.

Matiz has the lowest air intake point, just above the bumper. I have driven the Matiz with water at door level

When driving through water, don't make the mistake of going only by depth of water. Usually, the passage of vehicles (especially buses and trucks) causes huge waves and these are to be watched, they are often higher than the water level (and turbulent) and can lead to water ingress into the air intake.

shapath I do not know why you are thinking of buying a car only keeping the monsoons in mind. This is definitely not the best strategy. However during the monsoons, you have to ensure a few things and these have been more or less clearly enunciated by Tsk in his post below. In fact HVK also has a very valid point in his second post about the danger that the waves pose to the car.

If you are buying an old car probably an equally important pointer (if not more) is to check all the sealing rubber gaskets on the doors are in good state. The muffler does not have a crack or is not in a badly rusted state that may crack open in the water etc. No loose wire or socket is hanging low in the engine bay. This I learnt when in the last rains one of my friends' car went kaput. Later on it was diagnosed as a shortcircuit and apparently happened because on of those spare connector sockets came loose and was hangining very low. Water splashed into this socket and cause the electricals to fry up.

So in general be cautious about the state of the car.

Hmmm.... This is getting interesting indeed. Apart from the engine air intake part, do consider which car's passenger compartment will get flooded easily.

I guess for zen it will be low.... Last time I saw a water wading exercise, my friend took his zen out on seeing that a qualis went through a water logged area. He soon got his passenger area flooded with lot of drain water. It took him a lot of money to get that odour removed and stains cleaned.

regards,

lsjey

[COLOR=black]The criteria for choosing car keeping only monsoon in mind are not absolutely correct. Some old champs have already given very good suggestions and advices for monsoon season. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=black] [/COLOR]
I’m using 2000 model carb Zen, & have been in to all type of weathers by now… touch wood it never let me down… so I feel till the time your electrical circuits/ electronics parts are safe….

But I differ in one point here as mentioned by HVKumar…. I have always practiced to follow the same lane (exactly same track) of any big vehicle ahead me, just for the reason as the water is forced far off by that vehicle so I get low water level… which I feel is still better…. If I follow the exact same lane behind any big vehicle (as breakdown chances are less due to water) …. Please correct if I’m wrong…..[COLOR=black][/COLOR]

You may have a point there, but at the same time, the water turbulence can be considerable and once the vehicle ahead goes through, the water will close in again.

Plus, I prefer to follow a smaller vehicle (equivalent to mine) so that I get a better bearing since with the larger vehicle, I cannot make a proper judgement of the depth of the water.

The biggest problem is that if the large vehicle ahead of you stops for any reason, you will also have to stop and that is the dangerous situation if you conk off.

I always try to go on the middle of the water-logged road because (a) lesser chances of open manholes and road damage, (b) roads normally slope to sides and are highest in the centre, and (c) I may get some idea of depth from the extent to which the road divider is submerged.

I have driven my Santro in heavy rains on the Mumbai-Pune route in the last two years; this is my third monsoon season on this route. The car is very safe to drive, and had no problems with any breakdowns except on one occasion the silencer and tail pipe fell off due to rusting (my fault, as I neglected exhaust leakage sound for several months). The car has good ground clearance and is very easy to drive.

On a couple of occasions, when I was driving with worn-out tubed S322 tyres and with slightly bent steel rims, the car pulled sharply to the right after hitting water sheets on the Expressway at 80-90 kmph. Both times I could correct the car with the steering; the response was instantaneous.

Now with wider 5" alloy wheels, tubeless tyres and proper tyre/wheel maintenance, the car does not pull to one side after hitting water patches at speed. One needs to take care of tyre rotation/wheel alignment/balancing and also keep correct tyre pressures in order to get good handling at high speeds. Nowadays there are very strong gusts of wind, especially just prior to thundershowers; in such heavy winds, the car does weave about a little at higher speeds. Some steering effort is needed to keep the car going in a straight line, but steering response is outstanding in the Santro.

Whichever car you select, it is important to get to know your car and understand its limits and drive accordingly. Then any of the cars mentioned can be driven safely.

I have driven my Zen through water upto my window level. No water seepage issues and of course the vehicle didn't stall. If you are buying a used vehicle make sure to change the rubber lining of the doors from an authorised place. And obviously, the floor should not have pin holes.

Have personally driven the Santro through some very flooded roads... water up to the bonnet, buses and SUVs stalling around me... u get the idea.
Car behaved magnificently... didn't stall (guess I can take some credit there :) ) and there were no negative after effects either, except a stinking cabin and a LOT of crud around the axle & engine bay. I got the engine oils changed to be on the safe side.

I dunno about the Zen, Indica or Matiz but the Santro has my full approval.

just to clarify my POV.
I consider the RAINY season at the same time i also consider other things in/about the car's choice. Thanks for the all the responses/suggestion. i hope others will also add their POV .Thanks a lot .