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-   -   Do SUVs decrease driving fatigue? How? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/109067-do-suvs-decrease-driving-fatigue-how-8.html)

Quality of roads matter a lot.

I faced more fatigue in my Scorpio on undulating highway roads towards Tirupati (due to getting more tossed around), compared to the longer drive towards Mumbai on the flat, smooth and excellent roads all through.

So my decision?
Use my Esteem for the Tirupati trips, wherein the low travel suspension results in lesser tossing around, and I get good comfort on the butter smooth, but undulating roads.
But the same Esteem can cramp me up due to lesser cabin space on the long highway runs to Mumbai !

In the end, I go by my own analysis based on experience, while selecting my car for the next trip :)

My experience says, you are more stressed driving an SUV than a sedan. Twice I have driven a Scorpio on long drives and I have felt more fatigued thanks to the body roll of the SUV. The sedans are more planted on the road and hence less stress and fatigue for the driver and passengers.

May be, the experience would be different for an SUV built on monocoque construction.

Cheers,

I have driven the i10 1.2 Magna, Safari 2.0EX, Fiesta 1.4TDCi, Beat LS, Dzire VDi extensively in highways. My take on this:
1) Whenever I drove the small hatchbacks on a long journey, it was stessfull. First of all the power output of the engine. To tavel at high speeds, I was staining the engine, and it showed on my driving pattern. It was not at all relaxing. Compared this to the Safari, travelling at the same speed means cruising at a more relaxed manner.

2) More importanatly, travelling in an SUV means to not give that much importance to the road conditions. In a hatchbak, I need to be constantly be aware off all the potholes and other unevenness of the road. But in an SUV, I can just glide along. Thanks to the suspension and the big wheels.

3) The Psycological factor added with the high seating position.

4) I have noticed, if you travel inside a larger volume, the effect of distance an dspeed is greatly reduced so much so that it feels that we are sitting in a living room (slighlty exaggareted to make a point). Consider travlling in a train, then a Volvo bus, then a SUV and then sedan and a hatchback.

These are my views on this topic.

Bad seats definitely causes terrible discomfort, but that may differ from person to person and their current back condition. For example, my back used to fall asleep in a particular Palio seat while nothing used to happen to the owner. At the end, many of these type of analyses are pretty subjective.

Agreed. I got back ache in my Scorpio and it has vanished with the advent of the Yeti.

I am not sure about other cars but when i compare 5 hours journey in Santro, Accent and Safari, i get less tired in Safari then the others.

Depends on what kind of roads. On good roads, I can't see how SUVs can offer less fatigue than Sedans. And I drive a SUV.

Indians SUVs haven't got their bad-road suspension entirely right until now. They make it soft and it results in tossing/pitching the passengers on undulating roads. Weirdly enough, Gurkha is lot better than the mainstream SUVs in that regard. But it is hard to discuss it without owners getting too defensive about it.:)

You have a Vitara right? Thought it had a very refined ride quality & handling package.

Well, as you said, the kind of roads make a good difference. Now there is two ends to it;

1. If you are driving on a good road, both SUVs & Sedans should be comfortable
2. If we have bad roads with pot holes, I prefer an SUV for better comfort as it can gobble pot holes better than sedans
3. If the roads have undulating surface, sedans should be better.

But in this case(3rd) as well, if the sedan has a soft suspension, it is bound to pitch up & down too much right? but less than an SUV ?

I have both types , ie., sedan and crossover and as it might be self evident , both are Mazdas. Driving here in US , you somehow feel more secure in a bigger vehicle and dont get dwarfed by a pickup / truck , but for shorter runs sedans are more cost effective.

I dont have the required stats to back this arguement , but , my feeling is that , on interstates more people drive SUVs than sedans ( atleast here in Arizona).

To me personally, the logic of 'SUV's are more comfortable when there is a bad patch of road' seems to be flawed. Because inevitably i end up slowing down on bad patch of road, irrespective if its an SUV or a Swift.

Personally i find SUV's a lot more exhausting primarily attributed to the high ground clearance resulting in nervous edgy balance while cornering / bad patches etc.

As lousy as this may sound, I am more comfortable in a hatchback in a bad patch of road (The ones with pimples not with craters), than i am in an SUV. The handling superiority gives me the confidence to go faster. Couple this with superior handling, makes it for an interesting drive - Every single time!

I am not really sure if SUV’s offer fatigue-free drive in comparison with a regular sedan/hatchback, especially if compared in the same price point. IMHO, sedans offer better NVH, lesser body roll etc. Just as an example, I personally feel a VW Jetta keeps the occupants more comfortable in comparison with a SUV in the same range, say a Fortuner or an Endeavour.

That said, I feel crossovers like the Yeti maybe the right compromise for our road conditions.

Spot on. It's not fair to compare say, an i10 with a Safari. It makes more sense to compare sedans or hatchbacks at a similar price point.

Also, It would be interesting to note the observations of people who are tall and/or well built. All factors considered, cabin space should be a significant factor IMO.

You thought right. It does. That is how I am able to drive the Shiradi ghats twice a month and still keep my sanity.

Quite right.

This is not necessarily true. It depends on the suspension tuning. For example, I found Skoda Rapid TDi better on undulating road than the Vitara at speeds higher than 40kmph.

If you are considering ride comfort, it depends on suspension tuning.

Well, SUV doesn't have to slowdown as much as a sedan/hatch. For example, when Shiradi is at its worst condition, I can still do Sakleshpur-Gundya in one hour, when sedan/hatch take 1.5 hours. Then again, it doesn't mean all SUVs will provide same ride comfort while doing that, some of them toss the passengers all over in such roads.

Again, it depends on suspension tuning.

You are pretty much right, however, the extra space in an SUV, especially with the rear bench occupied increases the comfort factor to an immense extent. For example, 4 people sitting in a Fortuner/Endeavor would have much more space, a recline-able sitting angle and a better feeling of visibility compared to 4 people in a Jetta.

In fact, add a 5th person to the vehicle and SUVs would definitely be the preferred choice.

Coming to driver fatigue, a higher seating position, more space in the footwell, better visibility and most of all the psychological comfort of being able to ignore potholes, speed breakers and bad roads, IMO contribute to decreasing driver fatigue to a significant extent.

To be honest a SUV given its stance and tyre size etc. ideally should be more comfortable than a low slung car. However, the driving style would make the most of the difference, for me. I like to sail over the puddles, potholes and low speedbreakers without pausing so invarabley the ride quality suffers. At high speeds SUV's are always difficuly to manage on account of high body roll.