[Flying Shadow]

Since a newer Variant of S Cross will be coming soon it may not be wise to buy the current model, since it is already a dated product.
The car is competent but the competition has moved ahead a lot.

But I would not suggest Kushaq/ Slavia too, as of now.
The niggles are still being rectified, so it won't be as reliable as the Japanese.

It would be better if you can wait another year and then decide and purchase.
My 2 cents.

[AutoConsultant]

Since you are considering S-Cross you will never be able to convince yourself regarding the prices of Kushaq/Slavia, especially the lower and mid variants. They are grossly underspecced and Skoda has been deleting features as well.

As you are going to drive this primarily within city limits, you do not need any additional ground clearance. The 5th gen City would serve you best in this price range as it offers great VFM lower variants and comes with decent build quality and proven reliability.

I have a relative who is also looking for a 15 lac crossover/SUV and he has test driven most of the available options - he also says that only the City feels like a 15 lac car, rest all feel like bigger hatchbacks.

[ashish_sax]

Originally Posted by AutoConsultant

Since you are considering S-Cross you will never be able to convince yourself regarding the prices of Kushaq/Slavia, especially the lower and mid variants. They are grossly underspecced and Skoda has been deleting features as well.

As you are going to drive this primarily within city limits, you do not need any additional ground clearance. The 5th gen City would serve you best in this price range as it offers great VFM lower variants and comes with decent build quality and proven reliability.

I have a relative who is also looking for a 15 lac crossover/SUV and he has test driven most of the available options - he also says that only the City feels like a 15 lac car, rest all feel like bigger hatchbacks.

I've been asking around for City 5th Gen Feedback, Did you face any rattling issue in your ride ?

I agree from a premium perspective I don't think there's anything else on the market that's safe and satisfies the checklist.

[AutoConsultant]

Originally Posted by ashish_sax

I've been asking around for City 5th Gen Feedback, Did you face any rattling issue in your ride ?

I agree from a premium perspective I don't think there's anything else on the market that's safe and satisfies the checklist.

I haven’t faced any rattling issues in my 15+ months of ownership and I have genuinely tried to listen to each and every noise coming in the cabin after the initial reports. I am guessing Honda fixed it after the initial few batches because I haven’t seen many new customers reporting any rattling issues.

However, the cabin insulation is a little poorer when compared to the competition. The engine, road and tyre noise does creep in at moderate RPMs with no music on. This wasn’t a deal breaker for me but do go for a thorough test drive before finalizing.

Also, test the 1L TSI (Kushaq/Slavia) as well as the 1.5 iV-Tec in mild city traffic conditions as bulk of your driving time would be spend like that. I felt the 1.5 NA was much better than 1 Turbo in traffic conditions due to turbo lag.

[Hispaniola]

Well if you could hold onto your purchase for just a couple of months then I guess you would be in better position to make any decision. Maruti will be launching upgraded Ertiga, xl6, Brezza and Scross(just a minor update) . Infact Ertiga and xl6 bookings have already started. Important change in all of these would be dualjet 1.5. Peppy and frugal.

Wait, it will be worth it. I am in same boat

[PaddleShifter]

Food for thought:

The Delta variant of S-Cross is priced at 9.90 lacs while the Zeta is priced at 9.99 lacs.

If at all the S-Cross gets updated, the price will surely see a revision. Maruti is trying to keep current Zeta MT variant of S-Cross below 10 lacs ex-Showroom (Honda has done the same with 4th gen Honda City).

All other variants of S-Cross have seen a price increase of approx 45-50k except Zeta. I think that while it is wise to wait for updated Brezza and maybe (in anticipation) for S-Cross as well, the current Zeta makes solid VFM case for consideration in case the updated one comes at a substantially higher price tag.

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by ashish_sax

- Maruti ?, Not sure if it'll hold long term (Rattles, Fit & Finish)

I have a 2016 S-Cross 1.6, done 86k on the odo. I have driven the car through good/bad and the worst possible roads and till date no rattles apart from the rear parcel tray which I have learnt to live with.

[divirokr]

I think you can consider waiting till at least this year's Diwali season as many new models/facelifts are anticipated. I believe Hyundai Creta is due for a facelift which can be considered in the midsize SUV space (waiting can be a challenge as you mentioned).

To me, Kushaq feels more like something in between a Compact SUV and Midsize SUV. S-Cross is a very practical option however its age is now catching up with it and Maruti is anyway going to update it in some time. Seltos is also a good option however not too sure about its safety levels.

Or you can also consider Kia Carens and MG Astor which were among my shortlisted cars when I was looking for my new car. However, expect ~3 months waiting for Astor and 6+ months of waiting for Carens.

And regarding City, I don't think its GC is a deal-breaker. I had similar concerns but still decided to go with the City.

[adigup]

We were exactly at the same spot in February 2022. We considered a lot of options as budget was <15 lakhs on road Delhi.

Options considered: (all in Petrol and manual guise)

• Toyota Urban Cruiser
• MS S-Cross
• Skoda Kushaq
• Kia Seltos
• VW Taigun

Toyota Urban Cruiser being the same version of Brezza was removed from the list. But still, while checking the other cars out we had it in our minds.

MS S-Cross was among the top options - but felt very outdated and still not sure if MS will actually launch the facelift before the end of this year. (Loved the S-cross otherwise)

The TD experience of Kushaq wasn't that great, and the car had rattles.

Kia Seltos 1.5 petrol seemed the perfect fit; we even got the HTK+ variant within 9 days; but on a later realisation - my dad wasn't happy with the driving dynamics. and soon after, an uncle offered a very good price for it, so we called it a deal.

Went and checked out the Taigun, and got it within the next 10 days! Absolutely loved the car. I know it's the same as Kushaq, but experience with this car was something different and as I have read - the engine maps/suspension is differently tuned.

Having owned a 2020 5th gen city for 20,000kms and 1 year; I would suggest you to buy it. It's an amazing car with base model - V and mid spec VX having most of the features. (I also suggest you to find the right service center as where we sent the car, we never had a good experience)

If you can, please wait for Virtus, or get the Taigun. VW seems to have a better service network across the country.

In short, my top picks/suggestions: Taigun, 5th gen City or the Virtus

[Doonite]

Originally Posted by Excommunicado

It has 5 star safety rating for adults as well as kids

Just wanted to point out that the Indian Honda City which got tested by Global NCAP was the previous generation model and got 4 stars.

The 5th gen City sold in India hasn't been tested yet and the 5 star rating it got was in the ASEAN NCAP for Thailand and other countries.

[throttlehead]

After having been in the market for more then 6 months, I eventually decided to just take the plunge and book an S-Cross automatic. The final push was my better half also wanting to pursue driving and we wanted something that would not be too overbearing on size (and would be easy on the pocket to fix!).

I'm sure it won't match the experience I've had with the Ford Ecosport thus far, but I'm willing to live with it for the next few years instead of waiting endlessly for the right car just around the elusive corner. Also wasn't too keen on being guinea pig to the Germans, driving AMTs and buying the Korean twins with known compromises on safety.

While this may not help you make a choice, offering this view incase it helps build your perspective.

[lamborghini]

Originally Posted by ashish_sax

We're looking to get a CrossOver/C-SUV (with decent GC) which is easy to drive and park in the city with good highway characteristics and offers good safety which will be kept for long, We usually keep our cars for 10 or more years unless its necessary to upgrade.

S-Cross pretty much fits the bill here,
+ Proven Safety (Structure)

- Stale Design / No serious updates as of late
- Lacks some of the bells and whistle like TPMS, ESP etc
- Maruti ?, Not sure if it'll hold long term (Rattles, Fit & Finish)

I'm looking at Kushaq / Slavia 1.0 Ambition, as I currently need to keep it around 15L OTR. But I am unable to justify the 3-5L (from Alpha / Zeta) with what it has to offer especially after the premium factor has taken a hit in new 2.0 project.

Looking forward to your inputs.

Honestly, the S-Cross is brilliant value for money as a family car.
Unless you mind the dated interiors, or that the drive isn't as enjoyable as the Kushaq / Taigun, and arguably the brakes and build of the Kushaq / Taigun are better - the S-Cross it scores fairly well overall.
Build quality is better than the other Maruti's and ours has held up decently well for the abuse it has been put through on Mumbai roads & traffic. That being said, the structure hasn't been tested so I would keep that in mind though it does feel pretty solid.

For the TPMS there are aftermarket solutions that can be looked at, though ESP would be a miss. However, a tyre upgrade from the JK's is highly recommended if you do a lot of highway driving as the grip in wet and dry is lacking.

[youknowitbetter]

S-cross is no doubt a really well built car, but I think its past its prime. Please consider buying a latest car which still feels contemporary even after 5-7 years, which I doubt will be the case with S-cross. Please consider Slavia from that perspective. Its a very good car with nice overall dimensions and adequate features.

[ashish_sax]

Sharing update here if anyone has any opinion or stuck with a similar dilemma.

Dedicated quite a few weekends in TDing and carefully examining the cars in showroom and here’s my review.

Cars considered :

1. Honda City (VX)
2. Škoda Kushaq (Ambition)
3. Škoda Slavia (Ambition)
4. VW Virtus and Taigun
5. MS Ciaz
6. MS S-Cross

Honda City

Great car, feels value for money based on how the cabin looks and feels. 1.5 ivtec felt very refined on city and highway condition.
Pretty much #1 on my shortlist.

Škoda Kushaq

Ambition with its feature deletion got me very disinterested in the car and looking at the car in person and space it offers compared to other cars similar or lower in price drove me further. I felt it was way overpriced on what it offered and 1.0TSI however good it is has also lost its sheen compared to previous models (rapid)


Škoda Slavia

I went to the showroom after checking Honda city and man oh man it looked like a whole segment lower with its seats and space.
The seats are pathetic in my opinion, the front dash looks pretty good but nothing apart from that. My brother said the car was an Instagram influencer it only looked good in common car shots and everywhere else was bad.
The door interior panel seems lifted from a segment lower as it feels way small compared to the size of the door frame.
The seats felt like Nilkamal chairs.
The exterior of the car is beautiful though no doubts about that.

VW

Well nothing to write home about had absolutely pathetic showroom experience, there was absolutely no one on the floor. No Ac no fans nothing. My brother had to go into the back office where people were chilling in Ac and get a sales guy out who was absolutely disinterested in making a sale. Darted out in max 5 mins with a vow to never return, I can only imagine what getting service from these guys would be like when they have this much interest in making a sale.

Bonus. The Škoda service center is at the same location (showroom premises) so yeah Škoda is pretty much out of the picture too because of this.


Maruti Ciaz / scross

Nexa experience was pretty good, only second to Honda in my opinion. The guys were knowledge smart and willing to close the sale.

Loved the space ciaz had to offer, didn’t like the plastics MS had and interiors were also nothing to write home about.

Similar with scross the car felt reasonably good to drive but interiors is what drove me away in both the cars

Both had only 2 airbags on top models so again wasn’t very comfortable on plonking 12 big ones for something which is absolutely mandatory in the smallest of cars.

I believe MS offerings were extremely VFM, I just hope Maruti can learn something from other Indian players and improve a bit on quality.


So far it looks like I will be going with city, will be making a final decision shortly.

PS - man sedans are cool, city and ciaz being the only ones where I can sit behind my own driving position (6’1” healthy guy)

[ashish_sax]

Thanks for all your help everyone, Was a wild ride from thinking of getting an S-Cross or atleast a crossover / c-suv and landing on a sedan

Special shoutout to all the people in the thread who nudged me in City's direction, Taking TDs and carefully evaluating the cars in the range nothing even came close to the premium and plush feel of the city. On the driving side it sure does leave certain things to be desired but man it does put a smile on your face when the vtec just pulls and pulls.

Brought home a City ZX Manual last week and couldn't be happier with the decision, Thanks again everyone !