[josepeter]

Originally Posted by motorworks

So why would an average joe buy a bolero, drive it in the city and take if for long drives in the 4 lane roads that we have now? In metro cities people drive 20-30km every day and spend a good 2 hrsin traffic , just imagin driving a bolero in these conditions.

Don't stop at "imagine" Sirji; have a TD and see for yourself. You might be pleasantly surpised!

[GTO]

Note from Mod : This is NOT a Bolero vs others thread. Please stick to the topic.

[raj_5004]

The last car (sedan) we had was an Opel Astra. It was damn comfortable & all that. but all of us are tall & it was kind of cramped for us. Also, the low slung seats were a pain for us.

But then when my brother got married, we bought a scorpio (Gen 1). That is when we realized the true virtues of an SUV. We never used the 3rd row seats but in some instances, the car was even packed with 10 adults. Then my bro bought himself a safari 2.2, a sedan was not even considered. then we sold off the opel & bought an innova. the corolla was considered but easily ruled out. finally we bought the scorpio mHawk & even this time, nothing else was considered.

Now we are planning to buy a new vehicle & the contenders are Santa Fe, Fortuner, Captiva or Mahindra W201 & Pajero Sport, if launched. No sedans for us. Once an SUV, always an SUV (atleast a softroader!)

For me, its fun driving an SUV, even in cities. I never feel its a pain to park or drive. Seating is high, erect & comfortable. The only area when sedans have an upper hand over SUVs, i feel, is high speed handling. We can easily compromise that for all the other advantages the SUV offers.

[shankar.balan]

This is my humble submission - from an average joe who likes SUV's better than cars/ sedans - at least to own and drive as a daily vehicle.

My choice of the Scorpio was dictated by the luggage space, utility and overall comfort requirement for my daily drive as well as my long distance driving holidays and for the occasional visit to the vet with my pets.

It is a vehicle that is priced very well from an average Indian Joe (like me) 's perspective and has so far proven itself to be a great value vehicle, which is a priority for me since I believe in extracting a good amount of bang for my buck.

I also appreciate the value of a Diesel vehicle because I dont have to think twice before embarking on a long drive - the price of Diesel is certainly a reasonably important factor for me. Petrol is becoming quite ridiculously priced in my opinion.

My Scorpio over the last 2 years and 8 months that I have owned it, has been consistently returning 10-10.5kmpl in city and 12-12.5kmpl on the highways+hills with my driving style. I think this is very decent indeed. The emissions are well under control. The engine doesnt belch black smoke and with my judicious usage of fuel additives like System D, I do believe the engine efficiency has been kept at optimum levels.

Maintenance costs are not unbearable. Spare parts are reasonably priced.

In my experience, the Scorpio is easy to drive around and park etc. It is nice and responsive and I love the Turbo Surge/ Whine while accelerating on highways. It handles our Bangalore broken roads with ease.
Ease of servicing and overall experience with after sales service in my case has been very good. The vehicle is very tough and in my experience has been very reliable, typical of a Mahindra.

My only regret was at the time I bought it there was no option with Airbags and ABS yet. That got launched within a month/ few months of my buying. I would certainly have considered the 2.2 Mhawk VLX 4WD with ABS and Airbags had it been available at the time.

Overall if I am to make a choice on my next upgrade, given the pricing, VFM and so on, I would certainly consider buying the newly refreshed VLX 4WD Scorpio fully loaded with safety features such as Airbags and ABS. An extra plus is that the ride and handling seem to be ever-improving - which is a very good thing in my opinion.

Else I would consider buying the Mahindra W201 whenever it comes out.

I do tend to trust the Mahindra brand a little more than others simply because we've had some kind of Mahindra at all times over the last 30 odd years and they have been good, solid, tough and reliable in our experience atleast. And now, with the huge strides they have made in comfort and equipment and technology etc, I see no reason why I should not continue to patronize them.

For me it is pretty clear - an SUV it is and an SUV it shall be, as long as I have the choice before me and the financial power to afford the same.

Originally Posted by NFS

Today there are lot of discussions on making diesel prices at par with Petrol or at least take away the subsidy. Truly for me, I do NOT think my choice of Scorpio was because it runs on Diesel. Of course 5-6 will be too poor for a vehicle and may be I will think of what Honorable Minister Jairam Ramesh said. Highway ~13 City ~11 should be good.

[pratim]

Last year, when I was contemplating to buy a new vehicle, I was in a great dilemma. One constraint was automatic transmission. The last two contenders were Scorpio AT and the ANHC AT. Here is a short write-up on my experiences:

Scorpio AT: Made a hell lot of sense for a) its brilliant engine, and its diesel b) six speed auto transmission c) good discounts from the dealer; it was within 50k upwards from the City, the other vehicle I was considering d) its utilitarian nature: seating for more than five persons -- good for the entire family to travel together, upright, comfortable seating with a clear view of the road, relatively lower cost of maintenance, luggeage space, if third row is not used et al. Wife was sold on it, more on its utilitarian nature. Can carry a large family and all that stuff. I was almost decided. I took at least three long TDs, sometimes alone, sometimes with wife, sometimes with entire family (parents & in-laws included) to see if this beast of a vehicle does suit my requirements and then some more. It came in flying colours, save only in driving dynamics department, where I find it significantly lacking in some of the things. At least, that's what I felt; no offence meant to ayone, particularly the owners, these are strictly my experiences:

a) It nose dives under a little harder, slightly more than normal braking
b) the steering wheel, why it was so light, I had to be very careful not to hit someone sideways while speeding and changing the lane slightly. In fact I came close to doing so once.
c) Under a bit of spirited driving and crisp manuevours it swayed a bit more than our liking (family opinion), and that was not very confidence inspiring.

I know that all these can be kept in check if it is driven carefully, by knowing the limits of the vehicle. However, I like my vehicle to be little engaging, so there it is.

The City AT, on the other hand, has a gem of an engine, those beautiful paddle shifts and light but precise and adequately weighted steering (that suited me). Though it was not in the same league as that of Linea in suspension and dynamics department, it was way better when compared to Scorpio.

This led to my thoughts, that how many times I will drive alone and how many times with my extended family (my parents/in-laws are not in Bangalore)? And anyways, I have a small family here and if only parents are with me, still I can manage with a sedan, space wise.

So, with a heavy heart, I had to bid adieu to the mighty Scorpio and bought the City. Had it been a large family (like, more than five freqently), Scorpio would have been the choice, but my concerns as listed above would have been still valid.

Now when I look back, do I regret? Nope. But, if a Scorpio passes through, I still manage to steal a look at it! Talk about duality!

-Pratim

[mooza]

@Pratim, yes, SUVs look good from far, but are far from good when it comes to handling and ride comfort in comparison to sedans, as you have experienced for yourself ! However, in my opinion this is the only negative against SUVs, against a whole lot of positives that have already been discussed here.

You have done the right thing from your perspective of needs, enjoy your sedan

[venkateshkm]

People will eventually want to own both these types of vehicles. Sedans or even a hatch for city use and SUVs for the highways. No doubt Sedans are more comfortable on the highways and are more stable and present more comforts, but an SUV seems very reassuring by the sheer road visibility that it provides due to its high seating, the seating space it offers and most importantly by their imposing size.

[Dr.Abhi]

Crossovers can be of any size, but due to their monocoque construstion, are generally lighter than the true BOF SUV counterparts and hence more fuel efficient and manouverable
Along with SUV traits like Imposing stance and good Ground clearance.
As you can see from my choice, its now defunct Ford Fusion, best of both world. It makes you go through most of real world difficult conditions with the help of momentum, for which you need enough ground clearance. Yes, you should not take deliberate pangas, for which you need 4x4.
Enough said, mini crossovers are the best IMO.

[shankar.balan]

well my further two bits;

i went on a driving holiday break to ooty last weekend.

I once again thoroughly enjoyed the power, luggage space, speed, driving position, stance and GC of my Scorpio.

Navigating the horrible stretch of road between Mysore and Nanjangud I thanked my stars that I own a Scorpio and not a Sedan. I went confidently where the other vehicles on the road were treading tentatively. No worries at all.

This just reinforces the point that as long as we have such inconsistencies in quality in our road system and highway system, there is nothing quite like an SUV.

[getsurya]

My decision will always be an SUV! I have driven Sedans for long and the reasons I took to an SUV seven years ago were/are:

1. In city traffic conditions protecting my Sedan was becoming a pain from all the sundry on the road.(considering I like to maintain my cars neat!)
2. Less stress driving in city and highways(in fact driving an SUV in city is far less stressful than driving an sedan, other vehicles on the road think twice before 'pushing' on to an SUV than on an sedan!)
3. Volume & visibility comfort
4. Ability to take on pot hole ridden roads, no laid down road detours when highway traffic jams occur, water clogged roads in rainy season
5. Higher respect quotient incity & highways

[DMehta]

My decision too, will stick with the suv's.
I own both suv's and sedans. But in a country with roads like india, suv's are far more superior than sedans. A car like the civic, or the cruze are prone to scrapping as they have really low ground clearance. An suv on the other hand, does not have any such problems and has much more road presence which people crave for in india.

[McLaren Rulez]

I was wondering what exactly makes an SUV better than a sedan when it comes to handling bad roads. Usually, sedans provide better ride comfort and as long as the potholes aren't bad enough so that the sedan scrapes its bottom, is there a good reason why one would go for an SUV?

[2500cc]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

I was wondering what exactly makes an SUV better than a sedan when it comes to handling bad roads. Usually, sedans provide better ride comfort and as long as the potholes aren't bad enough so that the sedan scrapes its bottom, is there a good reason why one would go for an SUV?

The boldened point is your actual answer, On good/straight roads the ride comfort is more or less the same.

"is there a good reason why one would go for an SUV?"
Other point has already been in this thread. Space, Space, more Space., image, no need of worrying whether there is a road ahead or not, etc,

[McLaren Rulez]

Perhaps I should make myself clearer. The "bad stretches" that we see may consist of potholes and broken patches but still need not require the GC of an SUV. In fact, one could say that this is the sort of road that one commonly encounters on long trips. Bad roads? Yes. But definitely not moonscape with gigantic craters. A classic case for those in Karnataka would be the stretch from Mysore to Nanjangud. Terrible road, but sedans would never scrape their bellies on that bit.

So, for that sort of road, would an SUV be of any advantage?

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by 2500cc

The boldened point is your actual answer, On good/straight roads the ride comfort is more or less the same.

"is there a good reason why one would go for an SUV?"
Other point has already been in this thread. Space, Space, more Space., image, no need of worrying whether there is a road ahead or not, etc,

OK. GC and space. But, is that all that you would consider while buying a car? In all SUVs, you are made to sit upright. Would you prefer to sit like that on your sofa in your living room? And, what fun is there if your car could topple at the twitch of your hand, while doing 100kmph?

And, I have asked this question before: How many times have you encountered a road that a sedan cannot handle? On a daily drive, you never do. I agree, there are bad roads, but rarely one that a sedan's springs cannot handle. The only advantage you have when on an SUV is that you can zoom past the sedans on bad roads, where the sedans would be doing 20kmph.

I honk at the Scorpios on highways, because they honk at me when I am going over the bumps. Wait a minute, what use are the bumps anyway, if you can zoom over them at 40kmph?