A Car/SUV to conquer mountains and plains !!

[advaitlele]

There was one post which said Sx4 is coming in diesel soon. When?
I am looking to buy one and Sx4 would be my no 1 choice (Zx model); but not going for it mainly for driving costs - only negative i found for Sx4 - low mileage. If diesel is coming out soon I may be better off waiting for that. Any thread active on that on the forum?

[k2max6]

The production for SX4 has been halted at the Maruti plant from today.
The new SX4 with minor cosmetic changes and VVT-i petrol engine is expected in around 4 weeks while the diesel will be launched anytime in december.

[ashthedivx]

Looks like everyone is suggesting SUV that too Scorpio and Safari. Though I am bit hesitate for FE and maintaince part but still I would love to own one.

-It would be great if one can share service costs mileage wise like - Service Cost @ 1K, 5K, 10K... like wise and what is the major service period like 60K, 100K etc.
-Can one expect better fuel efficiency with sedate driving atleast in City with these mammoths ?? I am targeting a fuel efficiency of atleast 13-14Km/ltr, Am I over targeting ??

[tsk1979]

Can't say much about the scorpio, but with safari, high speed highway driving, without care for FE gives me 12. In city she gives 10-11, again no "feather" driving.
The best I have got on highway(driving 60-70kmph) is 17kmpl.

As for service costs.
I don't know about current batch, but service intervals are
1K, 15K,30K for mine.
For these on an average if there is an oil change you pay 2500-3000
30K service is the expensive one with 5-6K charge due to some complex filters involved.

In city if you go with feather touch driving 12 is what you will get from safari.
Stick to 80-90 on highways and you will see 14-15

[shankar.balan]

you could check the various reviews of these vehicles on this site - long term ownership reviews etc which will give you an idea of the servicing costs.
for example my Scorp is about 18 months old and for normal servicing until now I have only spent about 8000 or so. Ive finished the 25000km service because I follow the time intervals rather than the mileage intervals.

(It was vandalised some time ago and once a motorbike chap banged into me and those repair jobs cost me good money but this doesnt really come into maintenance because these costs were accident related and thus claimed from Insurance).

better FE can be achieved as discussed earlier if one drives sedately and sensibly with anticipation. However in my considered opinion an FE of 13-14kmpl in city with AC is a severe stretch target.

Originally Posted by ashthedivx

Looks like everyone is suggesting SUV that too Scorpio and Safari. Though I am bit hesitate for FE and maintaince part but still I would love to own one.

-It would be great if one can share service costs mileage wise like - Service Cost @ 1K, 5K, 10K... like wise and what is the major service period like 60K, 100K etc.
-Can one expect better fuel efficiency with sedate driving atleast in City with these mammoths ?? I am targeting a fuel efficiency of atleast 13-14Km/ltr, Am I over targeting ??

[.anshuman]

Our Scorpio VLX is quite decent when it comes to drinking,
City- 10-12kpl
Highway- 11-14kpl

With diesel this works out to be cheaper than most petrol hatchbacks.

[ashthedivx]

Thanks a lot for the input guys, was a bit engaged in official commitments.

I must say drinking habits of an suv ain't the one I am looking for, I am targeting a fuel average of atleast 14-15 when driven sedately.

I had read somewhere on the forum that xylo gives an easy FE of 14-15Km/lt.. is it so ? But ain't it carries the scorpio's heart i.e. mEagle engine which should give same FE that of Scorpio.

[ladak.imran]

This may not be what you had in mind, but how a bout picking up a used Maruti Gypsy for the Leh/Ladakh trip, in addition to a sedan for city use?

Also, once you're done with the trip, you could sell the gypsy off for a pretty decent price.

Although if you're planning to take the gypsy to Ladakh, with more than 1 passenger, things might get a little uncomfortable!

[ashthedivx]

Gypsy !!, Wife might be that happy to hear this idea

How's Manza anyone test driven it ??

[hondadude]

Originally Posted by ashthedivx

How's Manza anyone test driven it ??

A quick search and you would have found the following

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...-page-4-a.html (Tata Manza 1.3 diesel - First Drive Report. Edit: Pictures added on Page 4.)

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by ashthedivx

Gypsy !!, Wife might be that happy to hear this idea

How's Manza anyone test driven it ??

Very confused with your requirement.

You say you need to conquer the mountains and want to buy a Sedan,

You want a comfortable SUV and you say you need mileage and low maintenance.

SEDAN will never be a good idea to take it to conquer your mountain, i am not saying it cannot be done, lot of people have successfully done it on most puny cars available but wholly not a good idea, you must have to literally write-off the car once you are back from such adventures. It will be like a King riding on a Pony in the battlefield.

Go for an SUV, maybe a lightly cramped for space, but a peppy 4x4 Scorpio or a most spacious and comfortable 4x4 Safari GX/VX/EX, it will offer you a better package in terms of City driving / Highway Driving or conquering your desired Mountains. Maintenance is not that high as what you think it is. Its a different segment all together.

BTW Gypsy is a great off-roader, but low on mileage and the worst ever suspension when it comes to city or highway driving.

And Manza is a great VFM Sedan, not a good choice for off-road adventures.

Kinldy let us know your choice.

[phamilyman]

I am just completely bewildered at the kinda thoughts here!

Unless you wish to be a sudev/tsk a sedan will do just fine. Most sedans go out there and do the same route happily. Pavan's words are frankly exaggerated. You will only do 5% of your driving off the road, and less than 0.5% will ever require 4WD - esp if you want to take family.

Each car has a comfort zone. A sedan cannot happily fly over bad roads at 50 while maybe a Safari can. Point is that the sedan can do the rest of the trip much more fun/faster etc than the safari (in twisties, these vehicles are all at sea) and driven sensibly you'll come back with no issues.

Of course, critics will share Rudra's 2006 leh trip but frankly in most cases you can get away with regular cars - and that is what the reality is. This thread has a particular line of thought. The real world numbers tell you that sedans can do it all.

Now for a new Car/SUV my requirements are as following
1)Needs to run around 70-90 Kms/day in city i.e. Diesel preferred, will not mind picking up a petrol otherwise. If it suits my requirement.
2)Automatics transmission is preferred, but still manual transmission will be ok.
3)Should be comfortable for my huge built structure as my height is 6.4” and mostly the car will be driven by me only.
4)Should accommodate 5 people with ease during long trips.
5)I want it all i.e. should be loaded with latest features. Most important feature which I will not wish to miss anyhow is ABS in case if the loaded variant ain’t in my budget.

PS: FWIW, my car's done 29.3k km in its first year - of which 60% is high speed touring. The car has been to a snowlocked Jalori, went up no roads to Renuka Lake, also to Prashar Lake. It did it all just fine!

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I am just completely bewildered at the kinda thoughts here!

Unless you wish to be a sudev/tsk/Suman/adc/ etc.. etc a sedan will do just fine. Most sedans go out there and do the same route happily. Pavan's words are frankly exaggerated. You will only do 5% of your driving off the road, and less than 0.5% will ever require 4WD - esp if you want to take family.


PS: FWIW, my car's done 29.3k km in its first year - of which 60% is high speed touring. The car has been to a snowlocked Jalori, went up no roads to Renuka Lake, also to Prashar Lake. It did it all just fine!

Exaggerated buddy did you read the thread title.

I have posted my views as per his requirement, and why talk only about the Safari when i have even suggested a Scorpio.

I have given my opinion , and to each his own. And why debate over it, you have yours, go ahead and say it, i am not contradicting anyones views here apart from the thread starter.

[shankar.balan]

I just re-realized the gentleman is 6 ft 4 inches tall - in this case, the vehicles (*MUV/SUV category only and completely disregarding the budget angle) in which he will find the best leg room and comfort in the driver seat would probably be as follows -

1. Innova
2. Safari
3. Endy
4. Fortuner
5. Captiva
6. CRv
7. Outlander
8. Xylo
9. Scorpio

Xylo and Scorpio are good value no doubt but no way a 6ft 4 inch tall gent is going to find the legroom enough (driver seat).

as for handling terrible roads and so on goes - I personally have seen plenty of instances of the humble Maruti 800 car, omni and even the Zen being driven on some perfectly horrible terrain - in the hills and in the rural areas of India - so I would never underestimate their capabilities. After all, regular people also live in these far away places which have bad roads - not all of them can afford fancy SUV's but still need a decent means of transport. therefore I am pretty sure a regular sedan can also do the job.
possibly one can even consider blasting up the hills in the new Chevy Cruze LTZ top end which will give the necessary comfort, leg-room, refinement, power and the economy of diesel- all in one!

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

Very confused with your requirement.

You say you need to conquer the mountains and want to buy a Sedan,

You want a comfortable SUV and you say you need mileage and low maintenance.

SEDAN will never be a good idea to take it to conquer your mountain, i am not saying it cannot be done, lot of people have successfully done it on most puny cars available but wholly not a good idea, you must have to literally write-off the car once you are back from such adventures. It will be like a King riding on a Pony in the battlefield.

Go for an SUV, maybe a lightly cramped for space, but a peppy 4x4 Scorpio or a most spacious and comfortable 4x4 Safari GX/VX/EX, it will offer you a better package in terms of City driving / Highway Driving or conquering your desired Mountains. Maintenance is not that high as what you think it is. Its a different segment all together.

BTW Gypsy is a great off-roader, but low on mileage and the worst ever suspension when it comes to city or highway driving.

And Manza is a great VFM Sedan, not a good choice for off-road adventures.

Kinldy let us know your choice.

[phamilyman]

Shankar,

Thanks for your balanced suggestion - you covered the height bit - he already has an optra. I would suggest not investing and instead spending in petrol