[blackasta]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

Nope. Ambassador Mk3 had them. Available as standard in India until the 70's.

Really! I narrowly missed it then as my uncle had a Mk4 as his office ride.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by blackasta

The most severe cost cutting that I notice in Indian cars is on the safety front - ABS and Airbags are treated like manna from heaven and reserved for only the top variant. Guess only a government mandate can change this.
Also under-equipping and under-tiring are common practice in India.

+1. Safety and equipment are the easiest avenues for the manufacturers to do cost cutting. On the safety front, the Europeans does better by offering basic safety features as standard across all trims. On the Asian side, I guess only Honda does that. And cutting on equipments – almost all of them does that, even on the topend variant (maybe Hyundai is an exception here).

But then, they are catering to the their customers. Unless mandated by government, general public will go for the less safer version, with cost as a reason.

[beejay]

Alto,

Not design flaws but serious cost cutting.

1. No external key on the passenger side.
2. No temperature gauge.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Beejay, no temperature gauge? Which car is that? I'm surprised to hear this.

Spike

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Beejay, no temperature gauge? Which car is that? I'm surprised to hear this.

Spike

Spike, you will be astonished at the number of modern cars that do not come with an essential instrumentation as the temperature gauge.
In fact there is thread for the subject too.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ge-yes-no.html

[KiloAlpha]

I think my pet peeve with the Figo can make it into the "bad design" list - especially since it can be so easy to design it right.

I am talking about the sweep of the wipers. The left wiper ends up vertical on top of its upward sweep, and leaves a 3cm vertical line of water that will not be wiped down by the right side wiper on its downward sweep. This bit of water trickles down, extremely irritatingly, bang in the middle of the driver's line of sight!

Had the same problem with the US version of Ford Focus too.

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Spike, you will be astonished at the number of modern cars that do not come with an essential instrumentation as the temperature gauge.
In fact there is thread for the subject too.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ge-yes-no.html

May be because I am a bit old school. This is pathetic and unjustifiable from the part of manufacturers. I am thinking of scenarios when the gauge comes in very handy. I hope they don't get away with the coolant temperature sensors too!

Spike

[beejay]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Beejay, no temperature gauge? Which car is that? I'm surprised to hear this.

Spike

The new BSIV Alto. I was driving uphill and suddenly it occurred to me that there was no temperature gauge.

I reached home and checked the manual and it said, if temp indicator blinks car is running hot and if the light remains lit, its overheating.

[Trust_In_Thrust]

The I20 has the same steering wheel as I10 in many models.
The power windows switches are very similar in verna fluidic and I20 .

[charthom]

Friends,

Plenty of cost cutting in the Etios-disguised as innovative design.The single reverse lamp,centrally mounted console,just a cloth to separate the boot from the cabin.And of course,the rear windows roll only half way down.

There is no lining inside the boot lid of ANHC-another innovation!

A wagon R of a friend-there are no door shut/open indicators for rear doors-the magnetic contacts are only for the front doors.

Rgds,charthom

[simplyself]

Originally Posted by blackasta

The most severe cost cutting that I notice in Indian cars is on the safety front - ABS and Airbags are treated like manna from heaven and reserved for only the top variant. Guess only a government mandate can change this.
Also under-equipping and under-tiring are common practice in India.

Yes. What I feel is even the base versions should be offered with ABS and /or Airbags as optional.

Now it has become a case of ramming down one's throat even when the customer isnt willing - an example :- Vista Aura model has been discontinued and in its place Aura ABS has been introduced. If any one is averse to buy a lesser version - Terra / Aqua - ( the only external difference is the black side cladding, door handles and rear view mirror in Tera and Aqua as against body coloured ones in Aura, and Fog lamps) and wants Aura, then that person is forced to go for Aura ABS whereas a buyer who would like to go for base version Terra with the safety equipment, he doesnt have a choice.

Even the side cladding is a big tool used by the companies to veer customers to higher end models. Indica V2 didnt have a side cladding initially. Later on that was introduced and the lesser model was given a black one). Now the new V2/eV2 do not sport any.

Ditto with Swift.

Actually the body coloured bumpers/ door handles etc do not cost that much even as the maker charges higher amount. Clubbing a few of the features like this, they charge hefty premiums.

The Logan's wiper configuration and stalk location too was a matter of concern. When the company launched the supposedly low cost product for India, it sure knew the wiper configuration is wrong. But they simply went along with it.

[AvonA7]

Originally Posted by RaguHolla

If you have a child in back, you must engage child lock. This is available in all cars (If not please let us know). With child lock on, one can't open from inside, it can only be opened from outside. There is no point in arguing what if child gets urge to open, etc. Not engaging child lock on both rear doors is only your stupidity. One might ask what happens in case of accidents, one can't open from outside as well as inside with both child lock and central locking engaged. But cars now a days come up with auto disengaging of central locking in case of a accident, which will dis-engage central locking. I am not sure if child lock also disengages (I think it won't, but I might be wrong)?

Responding to an Old post -

Yes child lock is present in Polo. From your post it seems you are not aware of the mechanism of engaging the same. Once you know, it would be clear to you, I believe, as to why for some Polo owners it seems as a cost cutting measure.

-----

Cars without LHS ORVM is one of the most extreme cost cutting measure, IMO. Considering our (Indian) traffic sense - this is one of the most basic safety features one must have in car.

[RaguHolla]

Originally Posted by AvonA7

Responding to an Old post -

Yes child lock is present in Polo. From your post it seems you are not aware of the mechanism of engaging the same. Once you know, it would be clear to you, I believe, as to why for some Polo owners it seems as a cost cutting measure.

If you go back to my reply, It wasn't talking about how to engage child lock, rather than by engaging child lock how you can prevent rare passengers from opening the doors (particularly children, which you mentioned). I don't own polo. But child lock is standard feature in most cars, one must take a time to read his/her owners manual and learn how to use child lock.

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by simplyself

Actually the body coloured bumpers/ door handles etc do not cost that much even as the maker charges higher amount. Clubbing a few of the features like this, they charge hefty premiums.

Can you believe that a car that costs almost the price of a 2BHK doesn't have body coloured door/ boot handles?

It's the Merc C-class Executive variant.

[honeybee]

I was intrigued by the thread title and browsed through all the posts, which range from serious to hilarious. What I perceive is we are bashing the manufacturers without first defining what is a design flaw and what is cost cutting.

Missing LHORVMs, missing power windows at the rear, rear windows not rolling down, stalks positioned on the left / right ... There are no laws which mandate all vehicles must conform to a particular set of design. How do we distinguish between these variations?