[praveen_n]

Originally Posted by PPS

Prado is already launched in India at an astronomical price of Rs 85 lakh!!
Audi Q7 & Merc GL would be cheaper to buy than the Prado.

I know.. Its priced very high in India and in other parts of the world is less that half of that and qualitywise its not better than a santafe

[praveen_n]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

though what you say is true - but Santa Fe is Korean where as Fortuner is Japanese. And no matter what - it is slightly difficult to justify a korean to be more expensive than a Jap only because it has more features

Don't you feel the Koran / Japanese comparison is little old? I do not see much of a difference in quality between a jap and Koreans..
Also the price hike is not just for the features .. its also about how it rides..
Santa fe offers a much composed drive except for offroading where a safari or fortuner may be much better.

[samyakmodi]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

How does Micromax and Apple figure on same comparison? They are nowhere close.

Why not try comparing Apple with Samsung? People buy the Samsung which has far more features than the iPhone and is slightly more expensive for a couple of the models.

Micromax and Apple is like comparing BMW X5 with Mahindra XUV500.

hmmmm

maybe - but how many people do you think are actually gonna buy a korean which borders on a 30 lac segment??
as far as i know none of the hyundai cars ever did well above the 15 lac segment until the new fluidic elantra came in (not sure whether it has set the sales charts on fire or not)

you would be amazed by the "SHABBY" built quality of a hyundai vehicle. be it a simple santro or slightly more expensive a tucson.
you don't expect a car to start rotting away only because it is 10 years old (santro) and has only done about 30k kms. (and no - the car is no where near a sea or a humid area) the roof's, bonnet's, door's and boot's colour started coming off. the doors have been eaten away by rust. it's disastrous.
with the newer tucson which is used more regularly you can see the doors changing colors, the plastic cladding changing colours all the way from white to matt black. considering the tucson is barely 5 odd years old - the detoriation is a disaster.
my 11 year old type 2 city has less damage (rust wise) than the tucson. and the city has done more than a couple of lacs kms

[manishk123]

Originally Posted by praveen_n

would you compare a Tata manza with a corolla or an Elantra just because all these vehicles are sedans? Just because Toyota does not have any other SUV other than fortuner in India at the moment does not validate comparing a fortuner to Santafe. Toyota should have launched Prado in India and then comparison would have been fair.

It does not matter how you personally perceive the two vehicles, we are talking of the general customer who when looking to buy an SUV is sure to compare the Fortuner and the Santa FE. Whereas a corolla customer does not look at a Manza, so your comparison does not make sense.


Moreover please read the thread again and you will see several people here have opted for the Fortuner after hearing about the ridiculous pricing of the Santafe inspite of waiting for it for months.

[kewlferrari]

Moreover please read the thread again and you will see several people here have opted for the Fortuner after hearing about the ridiculous pricing of the Santafe inspite of waiting for it for months.[/quote]

I am one, who's now seriously contemplating the Fortuner even with it's bouncy ride. The Sante Fe has made the Fortuner even more value for money. But I do know a friend of mine who's going ahead with the Sante Fe. So I guess it's a very personal decision, whether 30+ lacs make sense for a Hyundai SUV.

[shatrughna]

After the reduction of excise duty , the prices have been reduced by almost Rs 1.35 Lakhs for Santa Fe, resulting into some additional savings in Insurance and registration. As per a dealer, the price of top end trim 4wd AT would be approx. , 40-45k costlier than the original anticipated prices ( based on old Santa Fe prices). Test drive vehicle is expected in the showroom by 25th Feb evening / 26th Feb morning in Thane/ Navi Mumbai dealerships.

Personally , I feel absence of gps navigation system and sunroof will be criticised by many prospective customers in otherwise an excellent package.

Interestingly, none of the competition SUVs in the similar price bracket have either- eg Koleos, Pajero Sport, T Fort , Yeti etc. Ford endeavour offers gps navigation with 4wd AT trim but no sunroof and so does paejrosport anniversary edition offers gps navigation but only 4wd MT. Captiva is offered with Sunroof but no gps navigation.

Santa Fe offers, 4wd AT which neither is available with Tfort nor pajerosport nor Yeti. Only Koleos and Captiva have 4wd AT option in the Rs 30 lakh bracket other than Santa Fe ( diesel powered- CRV ommitted). There is some news about pajerosport AT expected by April and so is the news for Yeti AT, Aria AT and XUV AT within a period of next few months to next year. However, it is possible that all the four ( Pajerosport, Yeti , XUV and Aria may be offered in 2wd AT trims and not 4wd AT to keep prices low).

Overall- it is really difficult to pick out any one among the above as the best all rounder as all of these have some or the other positives and negatives and none of these vehicles offer everything in one package in the price range of Rs. 30 Lakhs.

Freelander 2 - is offered with 4wd AT, sunroof navigation etc in the range of Rs 50- 56 lakhs on road price .

Some of the options that are ticked ' right' with a Freelander 2 are -4wd, 6 speed AT, bi-xenon lamps, sunroof, navigation system, powered driver seats with lumbar support, reasonably capabale - good onroad and offroad handling, performance as far as specs on paper go however poor after sales support network makes one hesitates in deciding for a FL2.

Santa Fe - has great after sales service network as compared to any of the above and has all the features except for gps and sunroof.

Would anyone like to share the price reduction for TFort after excise duty and any news on Freelander 2 prices getting updated, please.

[Sarvodaya]

Originally Posted by shatrughna

Interestingly, none of the competition SUVs in the similar price bracket have either- eg Koleos, Pajero Sport, T Fort , Yeti etc. Ford endeavour offers gps navigation with 4wd AT trim but no sunroof and so does paejrosport anniversary edition offers gps navigation but only 4wd MT. Captiva is offered with Sunroof but no gps navigation.

You forgot about Rexton? It comes with GPS Navigation, Sun Roof, Five Speed AT, Disc Brakes front and rear. At 21.5 Lakhs it is about 7.5 lakhs cheaper than the top end Santa F. In equipment department it is on par with Santa FE. In Santa Fe forget about the third row of seats, only fit for kids.

[praveen_n]

Originally Posted by manishk123

It does not matter how you personally perceive the two vehicles, we are talking of the general customer who when looking to buy an SUV is sure to compare the Fortuner and the Santa FE. Whereas a corolla customer does not look at a Manza, so your comparison does not make sense.

Moreover please read the thread again and you will see several people here have opted for the Fortuner after hearing about the ridiculous pricing of the Santafe inspite of waiting for it for months.

I do understand people preferring fortuner over santafe but what I am trying to mention is that both these vehicle fall in different segments.just because these are suv's does not logically validate the comparison.
Outside India these two vehicles fall in different segments.

[shatrughna]

Originally Posted by Sarvodaya

You forgot about Rexton? It comes with GPS Navigation, Sun Roof, Five Speed AT, Disc Brakes front and rear. At 21.5 Lakhs it is about 7.5 lakhs cheaper than the top end Santa F. In equipment department it is on par with Santa FE. In Santa Fe forget about the third row of seats, only fit for kids.

Thanks . Rexton really skipped from my mind when writing. Rexton AT is currently waiving VFM flag and no wonder - 2 senior exexutives in my company have picked it up. It has incredible ground clearance and features. But handling on broken tarmac is really poor IMHO. It could be a problem with the test drive vehicle that I drove apart from poor FE as compared to others but price difference compensates well. However, its not comparable with the new Santa Fe for several reasons including quality, ride and handling.

[rogercharlie]

Mod Note: Team-BHP's Santa Fe Review has been uploaded at this link. Please continue the discussion over on the review thread. Thanks!

Took an extensive test drive of the Santa Fe AWDAT. Superb ride quality, really solid build and the 4WDAT is kitted out to the hilt.

Frankly I could not see any perceptible difference compared to the European badged SUVs.

Its your money guys, if you choose to blow it for the logo, and not the contents, be my guest ;-)

Time we did the Coke Pepsi blindfold tests equivalents here too!