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@CrAzY dRiVeR - Great post. Very thorough!

I am wondering if there was an unintentional benefit: reduction of drag, with the addition of a boot to the hatchback. Any hard data?

From Wikipedia

Thats excellent point.

Another benefit of the extra boot is better ride quality.

Coming back to your point, i remember reading somewhere that the DZire gives better fuel efficiency and 0-100 figures than the Swift.

Even with the Xcent, i feel the car gives better efficiencty than the Grand i10.

I read somewhere (in the case of the recently outdated jazz) that it costs more to make the corresponding hatchback than the sedan, because of the complexities involved in weight balance, rear suspension stiffening, cost of the hatch door, the bay for the rear suspension etc. if thats the case these cs must be super profitable

I had not put cost in to the equation, just the looks. Now that you mention it, it makes no sense to pay that much more for the big Nissan.

The Micra drives a lot better than the barge for sure. Engines are not the same. 1.2 and 1.5 petrol. Diesel is the same mill, albeit, in a different state of tune between the cars.


I have not paid close attention to the point you highlighted. I will, the next time I see one. There are not too many of these on the road yet. I see more Hyundai Elite i20's over the TATA even though the latter was launched some time ago.

Good presentation but the part about estates being a dying breed is not correct. Here in Europe at least on the motorways, the estate versions of Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, VW (I can go on) far outnumber the sedans. The reason being they offer more practical usable space. Europeans in the part of Europe I live in have very outdoor life and the extra cargo space helps.

Swift (16722) + Grand i10 (8856) + Brio (1642) + Bolt (1118) = 28,338 cars.
DZire (17971) + Xcent (4500) + Amaze (8128) + Zest (2653) = 33,252 cars.

We know who is the odd man(or car) which caused this debate. Brio never clicked for Honda and it seems to be the most overpriced hatchback for the features it offers(Atleast it feels so)

Apart from Brio which is not selling all other hatchbacks are doing good business.

Did the manufacturers really increase sales of their cars by giving it in two flavors ? I dont think so.
A hyundai grand i10 buyer would have bought it even otherwise, but since they have Xcent, a portion of their sales get converted to Xcent. Same with other cars too.

Other possibility is that when you can retain a perspective buyer from upgrading inside the car family by sticking a boot which doesnt require huge investment

Well I have been using a Santro AT for my city drives & my Petrol Octavia for office & long distance drives and was one among the enthusiasts who hated these CS sedans. But a recent drive of about 1000 km of a diesel Dezire quite changed all that. Practically the CS seemed midway in size and if I were to go for a SINGLE car in the future and continue to live in a crowded city I guess a CS would make sense. The larger regular sedans like the corolla, civic, fiesta are also just too wide for our narrow roads and too long ( like my Octavia) to parallel park easily.

Nice thought provoking thread. :)

Personally I would never get a CS but I see no reason to stop someone from getting one too. The only problem I have is the word 'aspirational value'(I see it in this thread as well) attached to Compact Sedans.

The reasons to get a CS should be:
i> Better family-man interiors compared to hatchbacks at a not so steep premium
ii> Better family-man suspension setup compared to stiffer hatchbacks
iii> More equipments (not always though)

Now coming to the infamous 'aspirational value' , yes if you aspire to project yourself as a family-man who can take care of beige interiors and loves cruising at not more than 100KMPH and also save money by not getting a bigger sedan...look no further than a CS.

Nice thread. I've owned all 3 body type cars in the last 8yrs, a CS with the Indigo CS, a Wagon R hatchback and a full size sedan.
I sold the CS and bought a full size sedan, mostly due to lack of good options to the Indigo CS at the time.
I find the hatchback the most practical for weekend driving within mumbai & thane where I am not assured of a parking space esp near station areas.
I find the sedan most comfortable for highway drives and office commute (where i'm assured of parking).

In hindsight, I felt that the Indigo CS to be the best compromise. It can usually fit into 90% of the spaces that the WagonR can and yet had a much better ride quality.
It felt almost as spacious as my full size sedan, yet with a small car footprint. It even used to pack in a couple of large suitcases for the occasional airport runs.

So from the practicality point of view, compact sedans get full marks from me. Will I buy one? I don't know. For me it comes down to good looking designs. And on this front there isn't any CS on the market which impressed me overall for proportionate design, I still think the old Indigo CS was a much more proportional design than most of the CS's on the market today.

I believe that for most people this is the reason for buying a CS rather than "status". Also not everyone has 2 parking spots, esp. those living in inner city or older apartments. In many places, one compact hatchback was such a squeeze.

I think of myself as a driving enthusiast, I hated Compact Sedans, till I bought the Petrol Tata Zest clap:

Brilliant responsive engine, drives very well around curves & great suspension. Very well designed frame too, doesnt feel like a boot stuck onto a hatchback at all.

India is a very diverse country and the reason behind buying a CS can vary from person to person. It could be utility for some, status symbol for others. However, in my opinion, status symbol/owning a big car is an all time favourite dream of us Indians.

I believe that the manufacturers have very well gauged the mentality of Indian consumers. It is a known fact that sedans have always been a status symbol in India right from the days of Contessa and Maruti 1000. With the Honda Citys and Accents (now Verna from the Hyundai stable) priced a lot more than it used to be, manufacturers decide to bring back the 'sedan' within the common man's reach by introducing the CS segment. And Bazingaa!!! Its a hit. It had to be because hatchback are getting expensive and 'sedans' are becoming cheaper and now people can buy the 'big car' for less money.

Personally, I would never buy a CS. I would anyday prefer an i20 to an Xcent. Reason being,
1. Ugly looks
2. Poor interiors
3. lack of features
4. Performance is not that great either

The problem with the indian market is, the available premium hatches arent good enough. The polo and punto are tiny in size. The only car which has enough rear space, is the i20. And, coming from a family of hardcore drivers, nobody was convinced on the dead light steering of the i20 petrol( yes strictly petrolheads).. Otherwise wouldve ended up with 2 i20 astas in different colors. Instead ended up with a Honda Amaze, thanks to the sorted engine and comfortable seating, and a preowned 2014 vento petrol..
I was someone strictly against a CS, but practicality and lack of options made me go there. I wanted to wait for launch of the jazz, but the uncertainty over launch made me go for the amaze.

Please check in Point No. 2&3. Xcent has best in class interiors and is feature laden.

When I bought my xcent as second car in last August, i20 was just launched and I too was bowled over. But lack of auto option forced me to stick to Xcent Auto version. So far it has been a good experience and no reason to complain.

I wonder what made Hyundai not launch auto version of i20. They could have easily sweeped sub 10L auto hatch market.

I own an i20 so I know how good hyundai is with features and interiors. I gave a general view for all CS.

Looks are always subjective. In my opinion xcent might not qualify for pt. 2 and 3 but it definitely does for pt. 1.

Auto version of i20 would have been priced at 9 and close to 10 lakes for petrol and diesel respectively. Also, the previous auto version has failed as well. Maybe that's why they are not too keen to bring the auto transmission.