[aaggoswami]

What is required as an absolute necessity:
1) ABS, Airbags as an option on cars that do not have these two things as standard equipment.
2) Convenience features like Electrically adjustable ORVM.
3) Power windows.
4) Temperature Gauge. This is somehow missing in many new cars.
5) More linear fuel gauge, is possible, digital meter also inside analog fuel gauge.
6) 3-point seatbelts for all passengers.

What should have been there, atleast considering the cost of cars ( in the price range of Rs. 5 lakh and above ).
7) IRS. Remember, even the first generation Indica had this, so price is not a big issue. IMHO, rear McPhreson Strut suspension is the best bet, or trailing arm like in Mitsubishi lancer that was launched earlier.
8) ACC. Swift has it. This is a feature that helps on long drives.
9) Less cost of spares, specially headlights, ORVM, bumpers, etc. Moreover, in many cars ( to the best of my knowledge ), if the ORVM mirror is stolen, one has to replace entire assembly. I am sure about this, but if the cost of spares are reduced, this theft will go down.


What GOI must do:
10) The exam for getting license must be very tough.
11) Fuel quality.
12) Tax on fuel must go down drastically.
13) Tax on cars must go down.

[rahul18348]

Must have: power steering, power windows, powerful ac (manual/ACC), ABS, min. 185 GC for all vehicles, central locking, immobilizer.
May Have: 03/05 year term comprehensive insurance instead of 01 year, tubeless puncture kits, hefty fines for people driving with ORVMs closed.

[kadanaJ]

Originally Posted by vikrantj

A must have features for Indian car consumers :

1. Strict license law. Today any monkey behind a wheel can get a license.
2. Traffic rules and road safety education. Looking at a way some people drive I think they do not even comprehend the meaning of traffic lights.
3. ABS+airbags
4. Power steering.
5. Power windows.

---Vikrant

I agree with the first 2 points but you cant really expect the last 3 for small hatches like 800 or Nano.
Putting features like that will only raise the price of the car, possibly putting it out of the budget of a lot of people, and it's a lot safer to drive a car without ABS and Airbags than driving a 2 wheeler, especially if you have a family.

[good.car-ma]

these points mentioned are all absolutely right. what about some unique ones? for instance, most indians like to store some coins to pay parking attendants, so a coin box may be useful. something like that which we need but OEMs havent thought of yet

[Minardi]

Asking to make ABS/air-bags is ridiculous. A bike is more dangerous than a non-ABS, no-airbag car. Then why not 2-wheelers?

What the govt. can do is force the manufacturer to give it as options, so those wanting can buy them.

[Thad E Ginathom]

A bike is more dangerous than a non-ABS, no-airbag car. Then why not 2-wheelers?

No, that is no argument at all. I'm sure the intellectuals have a name for that kind of fallacious logic, but fallacious it is. A bike/rider should have all reasonable safety equipment: a car should have all reasonable safety equipment.

If we followed that logic, we'd ban pedestrians!

Hmmm... come to think of it...

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by good.car-ma

Do we need Follow me home headlamps? And do we really need 6 speed INT wipers?? For that matter, does a push button start help us

I have follow me home and I know I have used it 5-6 times. DIS in my car is of great help, it gives me mileage, Distance to empty, average speed, speed warning and some more information. I don't calculate FE in the old style anymore! Of course couple of times I showed these features off to my Maruti friends

No point having a thread like this.

Whatever additional features I get in my car (be it follow me home, push button start or whatever) is always welcome and is just great to have than having a LDi/LXi kind of bare minimum features for the money I spend.

Indian customers must know about such little but useful features can be part of their car! In that way, our popular car makers will be forced to make cars with better features rather than just depriving customers off even front power windows!!

[rjalihal]

Things that I would look for in a car, which MUST be there:-

1. Power windows on all 4 doors.
2. Climatronic AC.
3. ABS
4. Seat belt with pre-tensioners

All else is an added bonus!

[HammerHead]

As a customer all that I need (with reference to cars) is US spec. cars with price tag which will be direct conversion of $ to INR!!

To fix all the safety issues we should have something like EuroNCAP which can evaluate and validate passenger and pedestrian safety.

Here are few small things I would like in my car. Some of them may sound stupid but still mentioning
1. MID should show in which gear the car is.
2. MID should show how much fuel is left in the tank in units i.e 'liters'.
3. Auto-release clutch (for the 1st gear), meaning press the clutch, slot in the gear and lift the foot from the clutch totally and the clutch will be released smoothly without stalling the car.
4. Scratch-less bumpers and OVRM covers.
5. Auto-up all windows once the car is locked.
6. One more switch on the key which will unlock just the driver's door.

That's all my sleepy brain can think of right now

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'd like a MID!

Fuel gauges certainly need attention. It would be nice to know actual quantities, as well as estimated distance to run, and the sort of advanced stuff that comes with a multi-function display, but even with a more old-fashioned dial-type --- wouldn't it be nice if half-way actually meant half a tank? I don't think I've ever seen a fuel gauge where there was a linear relationship from F to E.

Clutch... well, I think such devices exist, but we can drive, right? And If I get it wrong and stall a couple of times a year, doesn't take long to turn to the key. Mind you: I am a fan of automatic gearboxes!

Is it possible to make those parts scratch-less? Wouldn't they have to be harder than anything else, or, alternatively, rubbery, squidgy and self-healing? What annoys me, is that the bumper, which is supposed to be a sacrificial part, and used to be a thin strip at the front of car, is now designed to take up more and more of the front of a car, and, being bigger, is more and more expensive to replace, and then, Indian Insurers have this weird idea about not paying for plastic...

I'd like auto-up and auto-down on at least the two front windows. At least, on the driver's side. There are many situations in which we need to open and close the window when driving --- and I'd go for your close on locking too.

My Swift does the door locks exactly opposite to what you say: driver's door unlocks all, passenger's door only unlocks one door. A driver in any threatening/insecure situation wants to be able to get into their car quickly, without opening up all the locks.



EDIT: I've posted often enough about the dangers of bull bars --- and, a few minutes after posting this, I realised that we can't have old-fashioned bumpers for the same reason that they would be dangerous to pedestrians. I just wish the designers would consider economical repalcement as a priority, though.

[Positron]

1. All the features I have now (6/8 airbags, abs, climate control, blah blah)
2. 170 bhp or more.
3. Room for dog in the back - so an Estate may be.
4. 17 / 18 " wheels without compromising on ride comfort
5. Cruise control
6. Lane assist, and may be collision avoidance thing
7. Built-in GPS / navigation + entertainment system
8. Better noise isolation
9. Remote start


That's all - I am not greedy!

[blue_pulsar]

1. A nice TFT-screen odometer with features like present mileage, DTE, 6-trip meters as standard. The odo should display at-least 4 lines of data instead of a single line

2. A nice audio player with a TFT multi-information display like inside temp, outside temp, seatbelt info for all 5 seats, Bluetooth sync, etc, GPS with updateable maps and compatible with Garmin maps.

Come on all you manufacturers, all these electronics are so cheap nowadays. Should be integrated even in a 4-5 lac car.

3. ABS and airbags. A manufacturer like Maruti or Hyundai who is a volumes player should be able to manufacture Airbags and ABS for less than half the price. Should be made standard in all cars and all versions.


4. The "1.2 Madness" should be atleast "1.6 madness"

[sandygordon]

1.4 litre turbocharged petrol/1.6 litre turbo common rail diesel
No turbo-lag in diesel
ABS,EBD,Airbags
Large supportive front seats
SQ ICE with 3 pre-outs
Steering wheel height adjustment
Dead pedal

[ramzsys]

Cars of the present has reasonable features to keep the driver happy and the passengers entertained. The need of the hour is "the must have qualities in me for the next drive".

It is of no use to make the exam for getting license tougher: it is the attitude that matters here("hell ya, i am on my spanking new sportz(sic) hatch, and why is that 40k worth M800 worthless not giving me way")

My next car, perhaps another Fiat model, will have AT, cruise control, ESP and hill-slope drive features.