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I agree that getting into the front seat is not as cumbersome as to the rear. It is quite cumbersome for the elderly who are below 5.5 feet tall to get into the rear seat.

Khan Saab

Which car/SUV as per you will clear the village roads? Because on those typical village roads, everything scrapes. I am unsure of the road conditions there.

If, a Wagon R can fulfill the needs, I would have gone for one.
# Petrol & a product from MUL
# Getting inside the car & getting out won't be a troubled affair for the elderly.
# Has decent space for the needs mentioned.

If a higher GC vehicle is required, I will skip the new m2DICR Bolero in whatever trim. It is not comfortable and a bit crude as well. For a driver driven car, it will make the cut, but only if everything else is beyond reach. I am not recommending Duster because of rust issues, might get worse in coastal areas.

Just 4 contenders, including Wagon R
# Wagon R
# Fiat Avventura (high GC, reasonable space, comfort)
# Ford EcoSport
# Mahindra Xylo/Scorpio

Ground clearance of Etios Cross is 174mm. Please correct me if I am wrong.

That 4mm is just marketing talk. The Etios Liva is supposed to have 170mm. Do you know if that's for the G or the V variant or the VX?

The G and V have 175/65-14 whereas the VX Liva and the Etios cross have 185/60-15. Just these 2 tyre sizes alone should result in a ground clearance increase of 10mm for the 185/60-15.

So if the 170mm is for the G and V then the Cross actually lost 6mm vs teh VX trim of Liva. If the 170mm is for the VX trim then the G and V trim actually have 160mm only and the Cross gets 4mm additional probably by changing some part in the under body.

The 4mm has nothing to do with suspension changes i.e. increase in ride height. It's just the lowest point in the underbody.

Classic example is Mahindra who reduced the ground clearance of XUV to avoid additional taxes by lowering the skid plate. No suspension changes were done. They just dropped the front skid plate lower.

Khan Sir, Keeping in mind your requirements My Choice would be Ritz ZDI.

To start with its a Maruti with a robust and very reliable diesel engine and also has decent space in the back seat. Also since the Ritz is not selling in huge numbers, good deals are available from dealers making it a very value for money proposition.

I would not recommend a petrol vehicle in the rural area for reasons best mentioned by you and also since the vehicle would be doing some highway runs, the added safety that the Ritz ZDI provides proves very crucial.

I would chose the Wagon R, simple mechanically, tried and tested, will keep on running forever and ever.

Second in my list would be an Eeco, if getting in and out is okay with them. High Ground Clearance, good ride quality, and robust to say the least.

I have seen a lot of Wagon R-s in Ladakh/Leh and Eeco is one of the taxi segment cars in that region. So if an EECO can take a Ladakh Leh day in day out, it can probably take anything on this planet.

Just to give you a perspective, If I did the Leh Pangong Lake circut, 3 to 4 times in my Swift Diesel, I would be looking at replacement of some of the suspension parts after getting back home. An EECO does it probably 3 to 4 times a week in these parts. Length wise, it stands at 3675 mm, a lot shorter than a Dzire so meets your size criteria too.

Zest AMT mid variant.

1. Ease of ingress/egress with wide opening doors
2. Comfy seats, specially rear
3. Ride comfort
4. Proven powertrain
5. AMT: No clutch pedal. Driver cannot "half-clutch" and drive to wreak havoc on the clutch pedal
6. Good Ground clearance
7. Tata service network is fairly widespread and also parts are available offline. Service quality, apparently has improved too.
8. Decent luggage room
9. FE
10. Value for money
11. T-Bhp car of the year

I agree with the above comments regarding the Ritz because we got the same for my parents in Kerala. The roads are mix of good and bad over there and my parents never complained. It has decent boot space and ingress/egress is really good for elderly people. The petrol engine is nice and efficient and it is not so bad to drive also. Apart from this, you get a much more solid feel than the Wagon-R. The ride is quite absorbent and we never managed to scrape the underbelly. So, I think it is a safe choice for the listed requirements.

WagonR- Eyes closed choice it is

Be it in space, reliability, abuse-handling ability, ease of ingress/egress, seating options and kat but not the last headroom with a large glass area leading to no claustrophobia to any of its occupants.

No one in this car sits crouching, it is a straight-up posture which doesn't strain any body part.

I did think of Bolero when ruggedness and reliability weer spoken about but ease of maneuverability would be difficult in hilly roads asking with the slight struggle for ingress/egress (keeping elders in mind).

Just wanted to point out Swift and Ritz are totally different beasts when it comes to enduring the abuse part. I have first hand experience of both.

Yes EECO is much simpler and robust but how will you sit inside. It's choppy as hell and will give you body pain, so i would not even consider going near it.

Bang on! We had a car that was used in the hills, mostly driven inside estate roads and sometimes even doing mild lugging duty, and all it needed was a full service and a good clean up job every year.

Another example used in city, banged around and abused like anything (this one Khan has seen), even after 3 years and just a clean up job later fetched a great resale price too. :eek: Now the owner feels the Ritz had much better build (rather endurance) compared to the Polo he owns lol

Trust me, Ritz has similar (read fuzz free) set up to Wagon R, but is "much much" more durable and comfortable.

I just counted, this is the 5th Ritz we have owned in our family lol! We are fanboy family indeed.

See, I had not missed mentioning how Better as a choice the Ritz can be when I responded in the beginning :).

Ride, Safety and Build will make Ritz an equally good (& Better) choice over the WagonR for a little more Vitamin-M.

I did want to mention the Ritz but many shrug the car saying it has a bad rear end design.

I love that car even more, read Fan-boy. :D A great car if design language isn't an issue.

Wagon R fits to the core, and yeah the rather "crooked backed" Ritz. Something seems amiss however, as see no response from our friend in quest, or am I turning blind due age!! Ooh

Thanks ton guys for your suggestions. That really helps & will assist in the decision making process. Wanted to collate the responses before commenting on the suggestions offered.

To be frank had not thought of buying pre-owned for parents for this particular need. But now that you folks have pointed out, will at least scan that option if some good deal comes through. This will also allow to get a better car in same budget. The budget is sub 10L (8-10L)

The key is reliability & maybe there can be good options available in used car market.

100% agree. That's the key criteria

The thought of Indica had crossed my mind but am not sure of the reliability part. Just a perception of the product and no first hand experience but perceptions do matter in our minds in the end. Wouldn't want parents to suffer here. But yes, standalone as a product it does have it's strong points.

Comments on few of vehicles suggested:

• Ritz as a choice wasn't even on my mind and will have to consider that option as well looking at suggestions here. Will keep it in mind alongside the WagonR. The rear shape of Ritz is not even an issue. What's important is reliability & practicality.
• Duster, yes, would love to but it's too big for the needs right now.
• Gypsy/Ecco While products are robust for rough use but not necessary for elderly where a reasonably smooth ride is needed. Gypsy I have a little bit of first hand experience to know how it is and wouldn't want my parents to break their back.
• Verito, yes a good option but a bit big/wide + not sure if M&M in small districts will be able to handle it.

Thanks again guys. Really appreciated for making me aware of Ritz as a viable option. :thumbs up

If you are not in a hurry you will definitely find some gems in the pre-owned market and that too through just online classifieds. Look at our own experiences. My last two purchases were A+ deals and first sighting was through the classifieds :)

All the very best.