I've learnt to drive in and owned a type 2 honda city for about 7 years now. The last 2 years, I've been driving the family S-Cross 1.3 and put about 30k kms on it. I'm an extremely enthusiastic driver that enjoys the low ground clearance dynamics of a sedan & have always been a hardcore sedan person I also live in bangalore, which means roads suck, and travel on state highways with unmarked speedbreakers every now and then. So the higher GC of a faux-SUV has started appealing to me.
Looking now to buy my first 'nice' car & wanting to spend around 25-26L otr, I've been trying to find the right car for almost a year now. At most could've pushed another 2L.
Sadly this space seems entirely barren for someone like me. Let me explain.
What do I want?
-Sedan like dynamics
-European mannerism at speed, independent rear suspension
-Fresh design & interior (not necessarily 0 buttons)
-Panoramic sunroof (will never be opened but the blind will never be shut. Also the girlfriend loves them so.)
-big boot for roadtrips with luggage for 4
-Power and torque of a step above the kia/hyundai 1.4
-Petrol preferred for the snappy feel, Diesel preferred for the mileage, so either will do
-Manual prefered over the automatic (I'm still young enough to use that clutch)
-Zero off-roading ability required
-comfy armrest
-Ability to hit an unexpected speed breaker little faster than ideal and shake it off is appreciated
Civic
Took a long hard look at the civic. Loved the interiors & exteriors. The CVT killed the petrol and the diesel was the only option, couldn't digest the 120hp but found that a stage 1 tune can add 30hp & 80nm. Didn't feel right to have to spend 26L, risk the warranty with a tune and still be stuck at 150hp. Honda helped with my decision and pulled the civic before I made up my mind. If we had the 1.5 turbo MT in India. It'd be parked at home right now.
City
Check our the new city. Looks very nice for the price from outside. But the second I sat inside, it almost felt claustrophobic. There was simple no breathing space between my shoulder and the window. I'm 5'11 with a slight heaver than average build. So nothing too far from the regular Joe. Also the talk of vertical movement at speed is little unnerving.
S-Cross
The S-Cross has spoilt me. I sit comfortably at high speeds on NHs. Limited mostly by the lack of power. I want & need a step up in road holding dynamics.
Elantra
The Elantra was never an option. Too old, looks too Korean on the inside. Doesn't drive well enough and underpowered, although affordable. Was offered 21L otr SXO blue in Bangalore for a 2019 car in Jan.
On an unrelated note, would love opinions on Honda city vs Elantra.
Compass
Then the compass facelift leaked!
Had driven a friend's petrol compass & loved the premium quality the car exuded but the interior just didn't do it for me. The facelift changed that. I love the new interiors.
With no sedan options at this point I considered it seriously. The variant for me would the middle of the road Limited O Diesel MT at 28L otr BLR before discounts. It got the white & tan interior I liked, it skipped the ungainly digital MID which I didn't like. Only real miss is ventilated seats, tpms and projector headlamps. The later 2 could be retrofit at a later date as well. I only wish the car offered atleast 50L more boot space. But I decided I could live with these. If I could snag it at 27L with some discounts I would be quite happy
Octavia
All this while, I waited patiently for the Octavia to come in, I'd watched all the European videos and knew everything about the car. I had high hopes and dreams and would even consider stretching to 29.9L otr if it had no compromises.
(Little known or mentioned fact. All YouTube reviews mention the Octavia sedan doesn't get a sunroof world over. False. A LWB version of the Octavia saloon called Octavia pro gets a regular non panosunroof in China.
It wouldn't take much to fit that sunroof on the Indian car)
I can understand why it's priced as such with inflation etc. But it really is too close to the superb imho. The superb looks more stately, the sportline version gets the matrix headlights, sexy interiors and a sunroof for the price of the L&K Octavia now. Just doesn't feel right to put your money on the Octavia. And I'm too young at 25 to get a superb.
The dream would be a Octavia 2.0 MT with all black interiors, semi-pansunroof, crystal element DRL & ventilated seats at 24L ex-showroom.
But after drooling at euro spec pictures and videos for months. This incredibly ugly beige & piano black fest made me want to puke. It looks like the inside of a house lizard, that colour. Why not a light grey/white like the compass ? Much classier than horrible beige. Or even tan like the alcazar. Skoda got it very wrong here. The beige looked okay on the previous gens but with the lower set piano black bar and black ac vents on the dash, this version looks bad.
And then the 'suedia' which will 100% be a nightmare that will bother me to no end because of how easy it will soil. Who wants to stress out every time your friend who you were hanging out with sitting on the grass doesn't dust off every bit of soil from their bottom before getting back into your car.. I noticed the side edges of the seat, near the memory buttons are a cheap looking CLOTH! Not leather not suedia or whatever they call it. But CLOTH. This cost cutting is just unacceptable.
I could've lived without the ventilated seats or the sunroof. But to not have both at 33L is a joke. The compass has the sunroof. Yes skoda's got a lovely powerful engine but the compass isn't too far off with 30nm more and 20hp less. Also I can get a MT!
The skoda MID is neat & ICE is better than the compass ICE, I also loose the large boot space and lower Centre of Gravity.
But I gain speed breaker ability, interiors I can digest, buttons for AC, nice real MID dials, a sunroof, diesel efficiency and 4-5L saved for fuel & ceramic coating etc.
While I'm sure a Sportline version will come along. I estimate ex-showroom will be around 27.5, even with discounts, it may mean about 5L over the compass I'm looking at. That's before I get a discount on the compass if I wait till December.
Also on my mind is that the compass while recently facelifted is towards the end of the generation. But i think it looks fresh enough to remain relevant for another 5 years atleast.
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Frustrating times/market/niche
The median Octavia/Superb buyer may be in their 40s and at that age I assume they can afford to shift budgets by 5 or even 10L to get the car they really want.
But for someone like me, that craves a car with solid dynamics & isn't quite as flexible with the budget. There simply is no real option within the 21-32L bracket. It seems I must remain content with a Creta or soon the Kushaq with it's Baleno sized boot, or up my spending by a whopping 50% or 10L to have some better options.
It's been incredibly frustrating that there are no options at the ~25L mark. Baring the compass. I simply fail to understand why there aren't anymore options here.
(Not considering t-roc. C'mon it's the just a nicer looking Taigun for 4L more? No thank you. And harrier? Reviewers seem to love it, but it's hardly the corner carver types)
Seems to me a Civic ZX 1.5 turbo MT would've been a great contender at around 26-27L otr Bangalore
The new skoda MQB-A0-IN Slavia seems very promising. But sharing platform and engine with the Kushaq, it will be priced similarly at 21L otr top end.
The question still remains. What is the enthu cutlet driver with 25-26L to do in today's market !
Maybe the only viable answer will be to eventually have a Octavia platform sharing Crossover localized upto 85% min. It would bring down costs significantly and I'd definitely put my money on that. Pls god let it have multi-link suspension in the rear.
Cheers, come at me with your thoughts, comments and opinions.
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All the youtubers have put out their Octavia drive reviews except for EVO India. Something tells me Evo's drive review of the Octavia which is not out yet, will explore this dynamic of octavia vs compass in greater detail.
Just waiting on their opinion of body roll, handling and dynamics, build quality & robustness between the two.
Last edited by vb-saan : 11th June 2021 at 08:45.
Reason: Highspeed reference, typos
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