So, after so much reading and bugging some of the patient BHPians, I finally went out and got myself a Silver TDCI Ecosport Titanium+. I'm going to write a little about my whole experience in brief here instead of starting a whole thread for it.
As some of you (victims of my harassment) might know, my choices were all over the place. That's because I found that for every particular requirement, there was one car that was excellent at it but there's no car, at least in my budget that, that satisfied all my requirements. I finally decided to get the car that attracted me from the beginning in spite of its few drawbacks.
I pestered Mody Ford A LOT and managed to get the car within 4 days of booking. (To give credit to Vibrant ford, they also were also willing to do the same but in different colors that I didn't like). VIN number tells me Aug 2016 manufactured, so hopefully there's nothing fishy there. My family, I, the showroom guys and the bank loan officer stayed in office till 9:30PM so that I get the car on the day I was promised it would be delivered. Kudos to all of them!
I've driven around 50 kms in the first day. My following initial impressions were exactly as expected as I had read SO much about the car already and done multiple test drives. By the way.
very important point: I realized we need to take all reviews with a pinch of salt. People have to mention all aspects of a product and they feel that they HAVE to categorize everything into positive or negative. This can be detrimental to a prospective buyer who's already liked the car for its other features. For example: for the SUV/mini-SUVs I was looking at, if the suspension is a little hard, they mention it as "stiff suspension" under cons. If it is a little plush, they mention that the SUV drives more like a car than an SUV. Try it yourself to see if it's a pro or con is my opinion.
The below points are very personal views of mine as someone who's only driven a bare minimal petrol i10 era for 7 years, who's 6 feet tall with relatively long legs, who's been suffering with on and off chronic back pain.
What I like:
1. Higher riding position.
2. Excellent lumbar supported seating.
3. Solid build of the car, or at least the feel of it.
4. Having all the advanced features it has that weren't in my i10 era, which is basically everything. Auto headlight proved itself useful already in a basement parking.
5. OEM music system is satisfying enough to hold back the upgrade for an year or two.
6. Yes, the suspension is harder than sedans like Honda City but I see even some City owners complaining about the suspension. For me, I can see that the Ecosport eliminates at least 30-40% of the discomfort I have had on bad roads with my i10. I can only pray for better roads in the near future. When someone mentions that a particular car is not good or not made for Indian roads, I don't blame the car. It's an insult for our governments to make bad roads as a standard expectation.
7. The fold and collapse type rear seats with 60-40 split that I can think of using in many different ways. Which is why I personally think Sedans boot space is no use for me as it is isolated.
Where I have to compromise.
1. Tyre noise with the MRFs I got. I am not sure what is a safe upgrade path for the tyres to get over this and may be give me a little better comfort.
2. I've already had close calls where an auto-folding OVRM would have been very helpful.
3. Being tall in a tall car, I would have loved for the base of the seat to be longer to provide thigh support. I hope this won't mess up my knee in the long run.
4. Not being able to modify the seat covers because of the airbags. I would have liked a little more foam and a combination of lighter and darker colors.
Where I am unsure:
1. The driving experience with a diesel car coming from a petrol car is something to get used to. Different power and driving experience at different gears between the two cars.
2. The diesel engine sound, no matter how less, is very evident and I need to learn to ignore it.
3. No grab handles on a bumpy car because of air bags? Yet to see how my family rolls (pun).
4. Power outlets always on. Not sure about that feature because I have a USB charger with LED lights. I also may forgetfully plug something in for long when away from the car.
I could have stretched my budget and got any of the below cars but I found that even after spending a couple of lakhs more for certain features, they lack in something else that Ecosport was offering.
- Honda City: Excellent suspension and rich feel but I hate crouching for Sedans and don't like the low seating and the fact that there is no telescoping steering at almost 3 lakhs more.
- Verna: Decent suspension, loaded with features but when I took the test drive on the bad roads I need to take to office, the sales exec was very nervous about the front scraping against something. Also, the rear arm rests are weird and uncomfortable. Again, don't like sedans much.
- Duster: Very nice suspension. Inside feels not worth the high cost whether feature wise, or seating comfort.
- Linea: Would have been my first choice if there was some strong ray of sunshine for the future of the company for the many years to come. Really solid car and solid comfort.
- Creta: Very nice car but no matter how you look at it, it's expensive than what it needs to be. Also, some of the owners complaining about bad lumbar support was a big red flag.
I am hoping I made the right choice. With all the right care taking and proper upgrades, I am hoping I'll make this decision work. Lots of thanks to everyone who's contributed on the all the threads I've been browsing and a big thanks to
ArunPhilip for patiently answering every question I threw at him!