Re: Why should one buy a 4WD (4X4 system)/ AWD as against a 4x2? My friend in Coorg who bought my 2WD Scorpio uses it largely because he needs the space as a people and luggage carrier. He goes into his estate in it too, but since it is 2WD cannot use it to haul loads up steep inclines on loose surfaces or in the wet weather. For that kind of thing one definitely needs 4WD.
When one's daily life involves agricultural and other pursuits that need one to go off the beaten track, there is nothing to beat a proper 4x4. To this end, the new Scorpio LX 4x4 should be a perfect fit because it is still manageable in the rough, unlike say, the Safari which may be too big for those narrow tracks.
But as a working vehicle in a situation like that, most people would simply buy a Mahindra Major or Thar or MM540/550 or Gypsy (converted to LPG) and employ someone to do the hauling. In India, there is relatively no shortage of paid help so there is always likely to be someone whom one can employ as a driver to handle these things.
Abroad, people need to do their own work or employ others who are pretty much their equals, to help them. Hence the comfortable and safe SUV'/ Crossovers found a more ready market there for the journeys with produce, to and from their farms. For the actual agricultural hard pursuits those guys tend to use AWD ATV's as I saw in Ireland and Scotland because they are light and can literally go anywhere any time! Of course, the well off chaps there will always have their land rovers and range rovers etc but the regular joes who need these types of vehicles tend to buy Japanese or budget European SUVs. Vehicles like the Yeti etc find favour there on account of regular snow and ice conditions when 4x4 and traction control can help you and pull you out of trouble. In India, the need for these is dictated by a need for high GC to handle our terrible roads even in our cities.
Increasingly the city dwellers who want these real serious 4x4 vehicles for image, also have to live with the euphemism "Chelsea Tractor" or "Beverly Hills Tractor". In our case it will probably be "Pedder Road" Tractor or "Palace Orchard" tractor!
India is also developing rapidly in this new direction - labour and help of the kind we are used to is only going to become increasingly scarce and hence, this revolution is happening here as well.
If an owner has to do his work himself, then it is more likely that he will invest in a comfortable and safe SUV, rather than if he were just buying one for its functional aspects and employing some other chap to do the "dirty work" so to say. Whether we like it or not, we still are pretty feudal and have different standards for ourselves and for others who are employed to do a job as described above.Another person I know in Coorg who manages several plantations, does his entire daily round in an AT 4WD Scorpio -which he takes everywhere and uses for everything, every day. It works well for him, but he also spends a lot of money on maintenance and so on.
Another friend in the Nilgiris uses an old Mahindra Marshal 4x4 for everything connected with his estate and his hobbies like wildlife and fishing etc. He has another proper car - a corolla, for his normal usage in and around the towns or his trips to the city. This combination works well for him.
Coming to replacement parts etc, when a vehicle is driven constantly in rough conditions on "no roads" one will find that ones tyres will last a lot less long than if one were driving that same vehicle in city conditions. For example my OEM tyres did about 50K Kms with me in mixed conditions - mostly city, highway with some trips to the jungles and hills thrown in. I think those same tyres will only last another 10-15 K kms with my friend because his usage is completely different and much harder on a day to day basis. By contrast another friend who has a 2WD Scorpio which is mostly driven in the city and on highways, has already crossed 80-85K kms on those OEM Bridgestones.
One will also find that in a 4WD, the tyre life tends to come down a bit, in comparison to a 2WD. Typically an estate used 4WD vehicle, runs through its effective tyre life in about 35K-40K Kms whereas I ve just illustrated the life of a predominantly city driven tyre. I remember my Dads old MM540/MM550 used to get about 30k kms of life max, from those hard old HT 75 type nylon tyres. Same with our tractors, whose tyres needed to be changed every 30K Kms done. Typically this means 1.5 years usage max.
There are cases of Fortuners in Coorg whose OEM tyres gave up after 25-30K Kms on account of the extremely harsh daily use conditions. This translates to one year's hard usage. It is certainly an expensive business! Added to this, the Fortuner is large and hence, difficult to handle on narrow tracks. Same goes for the Endy, though there are a few of them hanging around these areas which are used for all sorts of daily use activities.
For the best combination of every day and occasional everywhere usage, the best option for urban dwellers are crossovers which is why one can see that more and more people are buying these nowadays.
Leisure off roading or lifestyle activities which require a 4x4 with lots of space is, as DKG said, a relatively new phenomenon in India - with the advent of greater prosperity that is. In places like Ireland where people do a lot of sailing and stuff, it is very common for people to have 2 vehicles - a weekend off road 4x4 with excellent hauling capabilities to pull their boats along etc and a simple city hatch or sedan as well. It is only a matter of time till India gets to that level of lifestyle. Incidentally cars in the UK like the Octavia Combi / Scout or Subaru Outback or Forester others, come with 4x4 option and a tow hook at the rear. This is for functional usage, pulling a trailer etc. We dont yet need all that sort of thing here, which is also possibly one reason why the Octy Combi in India or the Yeti or Chevy Forester for that matter, didnt find all that many takers here. Here it is a little more about image and form, not function, unlike there.
They cant all be wrong, or can they?
Last edited by shankar.balan : 17th January 2012 at 07:48.
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