[teamveevee]

Considering all the criteria you outlined, Tata Winger is the right choice. Tata Venture is another option. But in my opinion, keeping a sperate vehicle for grocery shopping etc will be better. You dont want to dirty the seats and the vehicle carrying groceries (and home imporvement materials). For the shopping trips a hard top Bolero ( a second hand one should be just fine) will work fine. Also if needed you could alter the Winger to be wheel chair accessible ( another USP). Check the Winger platinum edition also...In either case, please let us know what you decided to go with finally and why..

[psathya]

Hi all thank you for your suggestions. Am traveling. Will begin testing on Monday and keep you posted
Rgds sathya

[OffDaBeemer]

Tata Winger porbably fits your bill perfectly. It is becoming the vehicle of choice for travel agencies supporting BPO firms(which move the people a lot), comes in multiple configurations to accommodate upto 14 people and can be slightly modified to double it up as an ambulance. There is actually an ambulance version but i guess getting a regular one and modifying it slightly is more practical.

I would suggest sticking one vehicle rather than multiples. It will be better utilized, easy to maintain and easy on your pocket.

There might be situations when you need to move people at the same time go grocery shopping and take some one to hospital...but the probability is very very low..you will be better off hiring for exceptional needs rather than spending few lakhs on a second vehicle

[informmaha]

First and foremost thing, congratulations and hats off to your initiative sathya

Originally Posted by roy_libran

Hang On! Have you considered the Force Cruiser Toofan for your list?

It suits your space requirements to the 'T', is reliable, long-lasting, comes with loooooong warranty, is comfortable and quite cheap. Moreover, spares are cheap and easily available in your part of the world.
After you buy it, you can spend some money to customize the seating etc. in a way, that can accommodate a bed, with flexi-seating options.
I'd highly recommend this for your purpose.

Originally Posted by mac187

+1

You should check out Cruiser Toofan, it has lots of space and can easily fit a stretcher if you opt of the side seating variant.

Definitely I would also recommend force toofan vehicle since we tried this recently for a full day trip, in dandeli (karnataka), not similar to nilgris hills, but I definitely can judge that this vehicle has the capability to do terrains with ease. Many would not know about this vehicle since there are hardly any adv's for this. But if you go to any hill station you can find this. It has loadsssss of space and should be cheap as well. Parts and maintanance would be same as that of tata winger. But definitely you need to do a seat modification to suit your requirement. Definitely Force toofan and TATA winger would be the best choice. To add lights on Eeco, its is only a petrol and the FE in that vehicle is pathetic.

[psathya]

Thanks to all of you who posted your suggestion and opinions.

I sat through with my think tank group over the issue and came up with our basic requirements.

1. Medical emergency vehicle (ambulance)

2. Regular pickup and drop vehicle.

There was idea of using the same vehicle. However after much consideration realised that if the emergency vehicle was busy with other work it would not be available during the emergency. So we decided on a two vehicle strategy. This simplified things.

So our criteria for the medical emergency vehicle was to be able to transport a lying person (oops that should be a person in lying position) about 10 Km to the hospital. This vehicle is envisaged to be parked in ready state around 95% of the time. After a lot of debate and discussion Maruti Omni was chosen as the correct choice because it offered
a) Ability to transport a stretcher person
b) Low capital investment
c) High Reliability - My friend's 15 year old omni is running just fine.
d) Easy to maintain.

Cons:
Not much safety especially for those in front. However considering that this would be driven only 10 KM and that to not at very high speeds, we felt this could be taken care of. There was suggestion of using bull bars in the front.

Coming to the second vehicle for transport, we decided to fill in three criteria from the user's perspective and from operator's perspective. Our survey revealed the following
User's wanted
a) Ease of entry and exit - very high priority for elder persons.
b) Comfortable seating
c) Safety

As an operator we wanted
a) Lower Capital Cost
b) Lower Operational Cost - Fuel and Spares
c) Long life (strong structure)

On operator side there is another condition. We want only 7 seats as more than that will mean we will have to have a yellow board and that causes its own set of problems with cops and inspections and permits etc.

We are now left with a budget of 5 Lakhs for the second vehicle.

We are at a cross roads. Should we go in for a used high quality vehicle like a tempo traveller or go in for a new but lesser quality vehicle like tata magic or lower end venture.

Our research is on and will keep the postings going.

Thanks

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by psathya

We are at a cross roads. Should we go in for a used high quality vehicle like a tempo traveller or go in for a new but lesser quality vehicle like tata magic or lower end venture.

If you cannot stretch the budget, then new Tata Venture will be a better choice. I personally, cannot accept Omni as an ambulance. Normally ambulances are driven at very high speeds (even though the distance is less) and Omni does not offer any protection for the passengers (lying person).
Also the institution will get a better image among the public, as your vehicles will be bearing the name of the institution, so i think the extra money you spent on vehicles will pay off in the long run.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by psathya

Coming to the second vehicle for transport, we decided to fill in three criteria from the user's perspective and from operator's perspective. Our survey revealed the following
User's wanted
a) Ease of entry and exit - very high priority for elder persons.
b) Comfortable seating
c) Safety

As an operator we wanted
a) Lower Capital Cost
b) Lower Operational Cost - Fuel and Spares
c) Long life (strong structure)

May I suggest the Eeco?
- Easy entry and exit, as it's not so tall as the Tata Winger or Traveller.
- Being a Maruti, maintenance costs and spares would never be a problem
- It costs less than 4L for the 7-seater version with AC, so lower capital cost

If you buy two of them (one for the Ambulance, instead of the Omni, and the other one for logistics) you can haggle a bit with the dealer for a better deal. Stocking consumables for your vehicles would also be easier.

A second option would be Tata Venture. Again, buy two. For similar reasons. However, I don't know about the servicing part, so cannot comment on that.

[sumitkalindi]

With the Petrol Prices as they are, try to get a Diesel vehicle for the second job, since the medical emergency will not occur every time, IMHO an Omni will do just fine.

[benu9714]

I volunteer for a NGO that provides free accommodation, rations, teaching etc to cancer-afflicted children and their parents.

We need to replace an aging Maruti Eeco at our Thakurpukur, Kolkata Center, used to ferry kids and parents to-fro Center(accommodation) and hospital. Short trips, 5 a day, 1 KM each way.

Basic requirements :
- D + 10 seats (stretchers not needed)
- AirCon
- Safety (seat belts preferred)
- Easy ingress/egress
- Narrow access road - Scorpio goes, not Winger

Capital cost (donor) is secondary to maintenance cost.

Can someone please help me choose?

Thanks in advance.

[riteshritesh]

We use a Force Motors Trax Cruiser for our office staff transport use. However I am not sure, if the same is available with AC. Then you have the Tempo Traveler, which comes with AC option and varied seating options.


Else check in the Mahindra Portfolio. They have Bolero's in 8/9 seater options.



Just for your knowledge, we have spent a lot on the Trax's maintenance. Everything, apart from the Engine must have been replaced due to wear and tear and/or failure, but then it has done 2 Lakhs ++ kilometres in 4 years.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by benu9714

Can someone please help me choose?

If you say a Scorpio goes, but not a Winger (width 1820 and 1905mm respectively), the Force traveller is out of the contention (1975mm). For a proper D+10 seater, I would recommend only Winger (easy ingress) or Force Traveller Super 3050. Other SUVs like Scorpio, Xylo (side seats), TUV300 Plus are not proper 9 seaters. The only car that I can recommend is a Xylo or an Innova Crysta with forward facing seats. But it will be an 7+D configuration.

Since you are doing 5 trips a day with 10 pax, you'll need 7-8 trips to transport same amount of people. If you are willing to adjust on this, an Innova makes the right choice hands down, you can even get a well maintained one for good price. Maintenance wise as well Toyota is good and would be easy on the pocket. The other Mahindra too would be decent on the pocket.

[SCORPION]

Your best bet, considering the conditions you have mentioned, seems to be the Force Cruiser -Deluxe version. Comes in 9+D and 12+D configuration. Or the Trax Toofan Deluxe which comes in 11+D. Both apparently have dual AC technology. Width is 1790 mm, slightly lesser than the Scorpio. Your running doesn't seem to be much, so maintenance shouldn't be an issue.

There doesn't seem to be any other offering in the Indian market that meets your criteria.

Please check out the links below for specs and more details.

http://www.forcemotors.com/vehicle/trax-cruiser-deluxe
http://www.forcemotors.com/vehicle/trax-toofan-deluxe