[vigneshkumar31]

One Car do All ?.

The first and the obvious question before jumping into the rabbit hole of a two car garage is whether One car could indeed, do all?

Why pay insurance, and maintenance on two depreciating assets when a single set of wheels could roll into any role you want?

If we ponder about which kind of cars would be suitable ‘jack of all trades’, then all roads lead to the bulked up breed of compact SUVs.

They were born and have blossomed into bountiful numbers precisely because of their flexibility in donning multiple hats. Well, some pull it off better than the others, and some just try really hard and fail. But the segment as such has been raking in rewards for marques, fetching fat margins for dealers and giving great options for buyers. The segment has slowly stretched and spanned itself across wide price brackets generously from budget options to premium offerings.

If you need a well built, premium 5 seater with a sorted ride on highways and still won’t shy away from off the road excursion trails, the shining image of a Jeep Compass is what flashes in front of me.

In its cheapest 4x4 avatar, the Limited variant costs about 27.19 lacs ex showroom (as of March 2022). That’s steep, but it still ticks most boxes. In being versatile, such jack of all trades are obviously masters of none. There are compromises that we accept to live with when we settle for one. And that’s perhaps why this breed, for all its benefits, never has quite excited me. It’s a matter of perspective, you can see it as being neither here nor there, or , you could see it as having a bit of both.

That presents the case for a second car, or to swing back to the topic - the ideal two car garage, for the budget, for you.

This is a peppy question that gets many folks excited, because the combinations are as varied as your garage’s requirements.

You want to supplement a beater hatch with an expensive sedan? You want a city slicker to complement your highway tourer? Or you want to do a GTO and keep an old school jeep and a beastly bimmer?

My Two Car Garage

In my pursuit to upgrade from my old Safari, I overlooked the option of settling for a single jack of all trades and ended up with two masters of one
(Two for the price of one? err..Maybe?).

My two are vastly different, and are literally from different planets. But they charmingly complement and complete each other very well.

The Hyundai is the range topping variant loaded to the gills with a laundry list of features and tech, while the Gurkha is honest in purpose and a simpleton which loves to be off the road. Both will be fishes out of water in each others terrain and territories but that’s exactly what makes the combination click.

After a day of sand roading at the beach, the Gurkha pastes a wide grin from ear to ear, while the premium hatch makes the night drive with the sunroof open as breezy as the beats out of its Bose speakers. No need to be afraid of soiling the simple but practical interiors of the Gurkha, while the Hyundai’s dashboard looks like alien tech in direct contrast.

No combination is perfect and there are indeed compromises. But this feels just about right for me, for my budget. My son can enjoy the setting sun through the panoramic window of the Force, or choose star gazing through the sunroof of the Korean. And both the drivers at home, my wife and myself, each get our favourite. (And simple pleasures of running sequence plates.)

What’s yours?

Let us know your two car garage,(real or dream) for your needs, at your budget.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[ObsessedByFIAT]

For me the best combo was Ford Ecosport diesel and a Tata Nano XTA. Perfect combo for city and highway drives.
The AMT unit of Nano gave away sometime last year and had to switch (unwillingly) to a Kwid easy-r.

Kwid itself is quite competent in its own right and I personally feel it is the spiritual successor to the Nano.

So right now my garage has an almost 8 year old Ecosport and a few months old Kwid.

[haisaikat]

We upgrade our car every 6-9 years but individual cars we intend to hold on to longer. What this means is our first car was a Hyundai Getz Prime and when it was 7 years old we got the i10. At that point the idea was to build redundancy for convenience considering family priorities.

When the i10 was 6 years old we replaced the Getz (12th year was running) and this time we decided to go beyond the just redundancy and aim for purpose, hence the i10 was put for daily driver for errands around the city with its size advantage for sneaking around any nook and corner. The new addition was the Crysta, aimed for longer tours to aid with comfort and space. I did not have any offroad requirement hence an AWD / 4x4 feature was not looked at but had it been in recent time I may have considered one with panoramic sun roof.

The combination has served us really well over last few years and if I have to get the next upgrade (for the i10) it will be another small hatch only but certainly automatic (like our Crysta) and may be hybrid or electric based on market trend and sentiment. However Crysta upgrade, if and when that happens, must be something with equal or better space but also having excellent ADAS.

[locusjag]

I used to maintain a 2 car garage...until I realized - this won't work in most apartment parking lots. I had to sell off my beater A Star this month with much sadness.

I was merely initiating a cordial conversation with the resident-secretary of the apartment (where I'm a renter); he viciously pounced on me out of the blue for having parked 2 cars. Here's the thing; my apartment's association is not even legally registered, let alone maintain a set of rules for residents. It was pure jealousy on his part; the man - who doesn't have a car - had been nursing resentment against me for having had 2 cars. And I quickly discovered the same sentiment in another resident as well. I hadn't caused any inconvenience whatsoever to anyone - for the record.

Here's more - I know of 2 other similar instances where apartment owners got into fights with fellow owners in apartment complexes for parking 2 cars, even though no one else was actually inconvenienced.

As automotive enthusiasts, we see the merit in having 2 cars. My erstwhile A Star was an urban utility vehicle and could be driven to places in the city where only 2 wheelers could otherwise ply. My TUV 300 on the other hand, is a safe, spacious and relaxed bet for roadtrips for my family. I was very happy with 2 cars...

But if you ask me, you're better off owning multiple cars only if you live in your own home (as opposed to an apartment, regardless of whether you're a renter or an owner). And even then - what's to say you're not attracting unwanted attention to your home?

My experiences have made me realize that owning even 1 car in our country is a bit like wearing flashy jewelry when you're out, walking in the public. I'm wary of the 2 car garage concept right now.

[pyrodrive]

Two car garage anyday. Need a small cheap car for those errands over narrow city bylanes and markets, and a regular car that will make you smile everytime you drive it.
It is like horses for courses, and my current stable is as varied as it gets.. A fast german sedan, the rugged thar crde and the dear old nano.

[motorworks]

For the last 14 years, we have always had two cars at home. And this is our third pair now.

My simple thought process has always been, one diesel and one petrol. And second, one big car and one small car. True for most folks who have two cars in their garage i think.

2008 to 2012– Maruti Suzuki Dzire diesel and Alto Lxi. We had just gotten married in 2008 and we needed a diesel car that would serve our frequent trips to our hometown ( Coimbatore ) from Bangalore. And the Fiat diesel was the flavour at that time, and well, the 1st Gen Dzire was quite ugly, but hugely practical for our hometown trips. And at the same time, my wife did not know how to drive, so we got the Suzuki Alto Lxi, and it was quite easy for her to learn.

2012-2018– The Dzire made way for the powerful 1.6 Rapid turbo diesel while the Alto was swapped for a Brio petrol. In the Dzire, I absolutely hated the braking, and it was worse because it did not even have ABS as standard. When I test drove the Rapid diesel, I just absolutely fell in love with its torquey diesel and its fantastic build quality.
Post buying the Rapid, we did retain the Alto for a bit, since my son was born in the same year-2012. So we didn’t really need to swap out the 2nd car immediately. Couple of years down the line, we swapped the Alto for a pre-loved sparingly used Brio, mainly because the alto had absolutely no safety features and at least the Brio had air bags. Anyway, the Brio was a fun little car, I usually took it out on the weekends, for short city runs and I found it to be extremely handy in tight parking spots.

The idea of the above combination was also to ensure that we have one trouble free car and one other slightly trouble prone one. And yes, you would have guessed it, the Skoda Rapid was the trouble prone one, in 6 years of ownership, the turbo went kaput, the EGR had to be changed, the steering rack and pinion also had to be changed. Luckily all under warranty from Skoda.



2018—Anyway, in 2018, I was on the look for a new pair. And believe me, back in 2018 we just did not have the choices we have today. So in the narrow list of cars available to me, I finally picked the 1.6 Creta turbo diesel, two reasons, few Diesel engines under 16-17 lakhs had this kind of power and torque delivery, and second, I wanted to swap to a slightly bigger car than my Rapid. I test drove everything under 16-17 lakhs and I finally made up my mind on the 1.6 Creta diesel.

In the same year, we sold the Brio and we were on the look out for a decent hatchback again, since the car was mainly being driven in the city, and that too primarily for school runs for my son. My wife tried the Tiago AMT, Grand i10 and the Elite i20. Did not even look at Suzuki Swift and Baleno.
I was tempted to convince my wife to buy the Polo, but I thought it was a needless risk, if there was any trouble, then I would be in trouble! Plus, at the point of time VW was offering the entry level polo only in a 1 litre 3 cylinder engine and it didn’t have good reviews. We also thought about the Ford Freestyle, but none of the dealers had mid variants in stock, so we left it at that. My wife and son had the final say and they decided on the Elite i20 petrol and so unexpectedly it’s been 2 Hyundais at home for the last 4 years! Certainly peaceful, but we haven’t driven them much due to the COVID scenario. So the next swap will have to wait for at least 2-3 years from now.

Regrets? Well, in the last changeover, one of the cars should have been an Automatic. It’s ok for my wife, her commute is not more than 7kms a day. But for me, spending 2 hours in Bangalore traffic, one automatic would have given my knees some relief at least on some days.

In mind, I have already decided that the next one replacing the Creta has to be an automatic, but the only question is, would it be diesel? Would I finally let go off diesels after 14 years for a turbo petrol automatic ? Most likely.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by vigneshkumar31

One Car do All ?.

I do not think one car can do it all, especially in the varied and challenging driving conditions and infrastructure we have in India. Therefore, I agree that a two car garage is a good idea for covering all the driving situations we face in India. In fact, one could even say you need a three car garage; but then the issues like lower utilization of all the cars etc would start coming in. Therefore, for most people, I believe a two car garage would indeed be a sweet spot.

For my driving needs and patterns, a two car solution is the optimal one. One car would not cover all my driving conditions, and three cars would mean that I severely underutilize the cars.

No combination is perfect and there are indeed compromises. But this feels just about right for me, for my budget. My son can enjoy the setting sun through the panoramic window of the Force, or choose star gazing through the sunroof of the Korean.

By the way, you have got a great two car garage. Those two cars complement each other quite well. Congratulations!

What’s yours?
Let us know your two car garage,(real or dream) for your needs, at your budget.

For me, the ideal two car garage would be one fast sedan (with good handling), and one proper SUV with 4x4 capabilities.

At this moment, I do not own that SUV with 4x4 capabilities (some day, for sure!), and therefore, I can not claim I have my ideal two car garage at this time. However, nonetheless, I am quite happy (for now) with the two cars I have. They serve their specific purposes and together cover most of my driving needs quite well. Thus, while not exactly ideal, I am quite happy with my own little two car garage.

Here are my two cars:

My BMW 320d for those fast highway drives and enjoying the corners of the hills and the ghats:



My Maruti SX4 which can take me anywhere and for use on those rough and tough drives where I do not want to abuse the BMW:


These cars complement each others well. One is a modern turbo-diesel with a lovely 8-speed AT (ZF8 is one of the best in business), and the other is a old-school NA petrol with a simple and sweet manual 5-speed gearbox which I still love. One important point for me is that although both these cars are quite different in their characteristics and purposes, they have one common quality that is very important to me: both the cars are extremely reliable! Both are simple, fuss-free ownership experiences. I do plenty of highway drives and I need my cars to be ready and in ship shape all the time for those impromptu 1000km drives which I love. And both these cars are perfect for those kind of drives.

[sunikkat]

Well, I have never been a fan of SUVs and crossovers mainly for its high driving position and I don’t think I will ever buy one in near future. Unless one of these is indeed so good to meet my requirements and changes my decision.

With this my ideal 2 car garage is always a fun to drive fast sedan for highway and fun drives and a comfortable hatchback.

My current garage is an Octavia 2 TDI manual with quiet a few mods (including remap) and an i20 IVT. Now this combination serves me well.

The only common thing between both are that they are spacious in their rights. Otherwise they are polar - while i20 is calm, comfortable and convenient it is also equally boring. Octavia on the other hand being a manual is something I would not want to drive in Bangalore traffic, but out on highways it’s totally different - very few cars can match up the versatility.

Now I always like the idea of having a 4*4 or AWD, but my use case doesn’t warrant one - or atleast until now. And for me any SUV / crossover which is not AWD minimum is merely an imposter.

[VWAllstar]

Always been a fan of 2 car garage. Currently own an Ameo Diesel DSG & a Ford Figo S TDCI. Idea was one Automatic and other a Manual, which got fulfilled. Would have preferred a Toyota, something like a platinum Etios Diesel and an Ameo DSG. Etios would have given me the peace of mind and lesser upkeep cost. Figo surprised me here as it is quite reliable (even post some abuse) and the service costs are quite low. However, its too soon to say whether it is in the league of Etios when it comes to reliability and longer ownership duration.

[TorqueMonster]

For me, my dream choice would be an off-roader and a sedan. So ideally for a budget of 40 lakhs, instead of buying a midsize SUV, I'll rather prefer to get a Thar for all the offroad and an Octavia for the sheer fun to drive nature and luxury. Both cars are decently specced and excellent at what they do.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by locusjag

But if you ask me, you're better off owning multiple cars only if you live in your own home (as opposed to an apartment, regardless of whether you're a renter or an owner). And even then - what's to say you're not attracting unwanted attention to your home?

It depends on the apartment complex. In my apartment building (built in 2005), plenty of flats have 2 parking slots. I only have one, so I have rented from someone who has 2 slots and just one car. I never have come across someone hating you for having two cars.

With two cars with combined age of 25 years, I am hardly a target of jealously.

[Dry Ice]

Going by the results of this poll https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...-team-bhp.html (Number of single-car vs multi-car households on Team-BHP) TBHP is skewed towards multi car ownership. Not surprising since we are a car forum.

The “beater” car theme is probably the most common one, where one relatively less expensive car serves as the jack of all trades in the house. Owners don’t bat an eyelid if its mishandled by adhoc drivers or suffers minor scuffs and scrapes while going about it’s chores. The other “nicer” car is reserved for specific duties only.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Owners don’t bat an eyelid if its mishandled by adhoc drivers or suffers minor scuffs and scrapes while going about it’s chores. The other “nicer” car is reserved for specific duties only.

My FIL maintained two cars for a very long time, until last year.

One smaller AT car for going everywhere on his business. Being in a small town, he needed a car that can wriggle through narrow streets and park anywhere. For that he had the i10 AT. Then he had the wedding car, only to be used to show up at weddings. That was a Honda City.

Last year when both cars crossed 10 years, he sold them both and bought the top end Kia Sonet saying it meets both needs. Premium hatches have finally removed his need for two cars.

[Excommunicado]

If one car has to do all, then in an ideal world where I am rich, I'd pick the 911 or G63 AMG.
In this current world, we have a C-Class and a recently sold i20 which is likely to be replaced by i20 N-Line or the Tiguan or the Taigun or maybe if some dealer can secretly give us XUV 7OO within 1 month. I don't know. Some thing with the calibre of T-Roc but at ₹10 lakh would've been perfect. I wish car prices in India were similar to that in U.S. The kind of cars we all could afford!