Quote:
Originally Posted by jaaz Congrats!! SUV's are best suited either in White or Black Colour. Waiting for your initial observations of your prized possession.
You get spare wheel an Alloy or Steel? And is it the same Size? |
Thank you. The Sport variant comes with Steel wheels but they look pretty decent, infact Jeep calls them "Stylized" steel wheels. So the white color goes pretty well with the black wheels. And yeah obviously spare is Steel (same on the Limited trim too i guess). But in Sport, spare is the same size as regular tyres i.e., 215/65/16. For the other trims spare is 215/65/16 and regular is 225/60/17.
Initial observations:
Coming from a Palio multijet - i don't see much of a difference in terms of the engine refinement infact. When i start the engine, entire front portion of the car kind of shudders (like a tractor) but then it settles down nicely after that. I hope this disappears after the first service. And once i start AC, it seems a secondary fan kicks in which is extremely loud externally, this is very similar to the palio which makes a huge racket whenever AC is on due to this additional fan. But sitting inside, i didn't really pick up this noise until my wife gestured from outside. So i'd say NVH levels are decent. In palios i could hear that racket from inside.
Driveability: First gear is extremely short, so the car begs you to upshift pretty soon, and then in the 2nd and 3rd i upshifted around 1600-1700 RPM most times. The advantage of a larger engine - it never seems out of breath while going at 80-100 in the top gear and there is always power on tap for overtaking which makes the whole driving experience on the highways so much more relaxing.
Ergonomics: It is a typical American car in India with wiper controls on the right and turn indicators on the left. The distance from driver armrest to gear knob seems a bit far for my arm (I am 5'8"), i am just able to rest my elbow. Even on the right, i couldn't rest my elbow on the door pad while holding the steering at the bottom. I will try and adjust the steering for reach and see. But my initial impression is that this suits slightly taller people with longer arms namely Americans :P
I am still getting used to the elevated driving position. Getting into the car seems to be pretty effortless, it is at the right height where i don't need to climb in. My 5'6" wife said she had to climb in but not so much as in a regular SUV like Fortuner it seems. I will share more observations on the suspension and ride quality in a couple of days, i want to check it out under different load and road conditions before finalizing my opinions (felt it is a tad bit soft for my liking sometimes).
My wife will be driving this today or tomorrow and i will share her observations on the clutch and ergonomics for shorter people. Her regular ride is a Brio which is a fun car to drive, she loves zipping around in it.
Minor observations:
Though sport variant doesn't come with start/stop button, you still have to press clutch while cranking to get the engine started.
To disengage parking brake manually, first of all your foot should be on the brake pedal.
And yes, people give way to a beefy looking car (am reluctant to call this an SUV) like this and it grabs eye balls! Wifey is pretty nervous and insisted on going to the temple right away due to this :P