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-   -   Renault Lodgy : Official Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/162480-renault-lodgy-official-review-12.html)

Went to check the car in person yesterday with a friend yesterday & this is a serious no-go.
Reasons:
1. middle row leg room is bad - even in a conservative driver seat position, my knees touch the front seat when I sit in the 2nd row (and I am not tall!). Sad part is that the seat cannot move / slide fwd/backward, making it rigid. This is not provided even in the high end version with captain seats in the 2nd row - joke!
2. The foot area for the driver is congested. that wall like pillar between the gearshift & dash and the clutch is not OK. My leg kept rubbing the wall just during the checks, assume how frustrating it can be during driving? God forbid, wt can happen if the drivers feet gets struck there
3. Back row seating is useless - seriously, even a kid wont be ready to sit there. In addition to the knees pointing upward position, there will be no under thigh support. All because of the raised floor at the rear. I don't think anyone can sit in that position, with knees folded at 60 deg angle and no thigh support for long distances.
4. back bootspace - length wise (not volume) is in fact less than ertiga based on our dirty measurement. With 3rd row folded, Ertiga gave 3.5 fullscape/A4 sheets length space. This one gave only 3. If the removable seat is taken out, you will get 3.5 sheets length.
5. Arm rests in the highend model is like those drooping skinny armrests which we had in movie theatres in the 1990s, which wdve bent downwards due to all the abuse.

These points made us walk out without even asking for a test ride. Was expecting it to be well rounded MUV learning from all others in India considering the delayed launch. I wonder how many would go for it. My friend's Xylo is better in many aspects here. Would be interesting to see how many can they sell!

I was excited to have a test drive of Lodgy and I could finally lay my hands on one last Sunday. Honestly, I was disappointed. My expectation was to drive something which can help me get out of the Innova Mindset but this failed again. I found Lodgy to be better than Mobilio and Ertiga but not Innova. The perfect combination would be Innova's Comfort and lodgy's refinement. I am hoping 2016 Innova will be a good product and my wait continues.

Renault have displayed the Lodgy at ITPL tech park. Took a look at it. This was the bench seat version. I don't think it is fair to compare the Lodgy to Toyota's Innova. If you love the Toyota, the replacement can only be another Innova. The difference in price for the top end specification is a shade over 5lac in my city. The Innova is bigger and better built in every way. What the Lodgy does offer is value. At 14.8 on road for the top end, you get a well equipped, efficient and roomy (Just about) car. Easy ingress and egress is one of the first things you notice, even for the folks getting in to the last row. The last row is not a great place to be though. The middle row is not a football field either. Nothing high grade on the interiors. Easy on the eye colors and what appears to be built to last plastics. I too prefer the phone and music controls on that little thing on the steering column. I do think the cheaper people mover from Suzuki offers better in appearance interiors. At the asking price, the top spec Lodgy seems to be aimed right at Mahindra's Xylo and nothing else. Between the two, I will be more inclined to the Renault for reasons that it should drive a lot better and will be more comfortable. Should be on top when it comes to reliability too.

Amazing Review:thumbs up. It cleared most of the questions about this.

I did check this car (bench version) at ITPL today, but could not explore in details as I would have liked. Too much crowd. I still found many similarities between this car and Honda Mobilio. The middle row seat is really a bench. A six footer driving the car, the middle leg room will cry for space.

I would love to have a MPV with
1. Body like the Innova
2. Engine like the Volkswagon Vento / Honda Mobilio
3. 16 / 17 inch tyres
4. A six seater (all captain seats)
5. A good ground clearance of 200mm minimum
6. All the standard features with Cruise control, auto sense brakes, auto drive (like the auto pilot)
7. Kitna deti hai, should be atleast 20.
8. Price, I am ok till 15L

this was exactly my opinion as well when i sat in the last row. Eritga's last row felt more practical though the knee room was better in the lodgy, but with that high floor, there was no way someone could sit for more than 20 mins in those seats.

i think its a bit too much imagination from some car magazines to have quoted this as the innova killer.. hope toyota guys don't raise innova's prices again seeing this strong contender lol:

I am quite happy to see the Lodgy launched in india, the looks are good enough when you see it personally. good to see a competition for the Innova, hope toyota fears this and reduce the insane pricing.

I agree that Innova prices are way too much for what they offer to Indian customers (e.g. for starters, no AT, like the have in other countries).

Also, I think Toyota may not reduce Innova prices just for Lodgy as competitor, as there will be many dissatisfied customers (those who purchased Innova at these prices) for Toyota. What Toyota could do instead, is that give a bit more 'goodies' (features) with the Innova keeping the same pricing.

But anyways, we all know the answer, Toyota will never do this (give more than the basic minimum to Indian customers) as the Indian market is really not that important to them. I say this since, I was visiting Singapore & Dubai in the recent past and saw some really nice Toyota Sedans / SUVs / MUVs (recent models) there, not to mention in the nice models with great features they give to the US market. Just got me thinking, wow, what a nice line up Toyota has, but look what the Indian market gets.

The name has a rather non premium, even downmarket, feel to it. 7 seater mpv and a name like "lodgy"? The various "maruti lodge" type places are what comes to mind when you start to say "lodg" :)

Innova is highly overpriced but what works in favour of Toyota is, absence of real competitor . They clearly have monopoly market. Lodgy seems capable but I still feel Lodgy will find it difficult to dent Innova sales. This months sales figure should give a good idea.
That said there are rumours of Toyota launching next gen Innova and plan to sell along with current gen Innova. They might strip down and reduce price of current Innova targeting fleet operators and new Innova for private registrations.

Finally after lot of deliberations, booked a 108 PS top end, royal orchid color. No offers as expected and costing around 13.8 on-road in Bangalore. Delivery in 2-3 weeks.

Congratulations on the booking ambujlal:thumbs up which showroom did you book in? Also can you post the breakup of the cost because I remember it was close to 14.5 lac on road here in Bangalore initially for the top end.

It does not matter which showroom. In Bangalore all are managed by Trident.

Not taking insurance from them, chucked out 4k for accessories as top end has everything plus few savings here and there. Plus selling old car through them so getting some benefits for it. Buying from Whitefield showroom.

Is it? I din't know that, thanks for the info ampere :thumbs up

What benefits did you get on selling your old car through them?

Primarily they have multiple showrooms (Palace Orchards, KR Puram, JP Nagar etc). But I think the services are only at ORR KR Puram and Mysore Road. There is a new service centre now at Madiwala.