[tsk1979]

Safari or Scorpio are the best bet. Take a test drive and see. Both can seat you comfortably and a 2WD version is at the low end of your budget.

[alabjarus]

Vanchi, the criteria's relevant in your case is:

1. Height / location of ECM (Engine Control Module)
2. Height / location of air dam
3. Height of exhaust outlet

Any vehicle that can satisfactorily address the above parameters should be the shortlist candidates.

[arunforu1]

yes as many fellows suggested scorpio or safri. if you dont like SUV then ford fusion may serve your purpose.

[moralfibre]

Here are ground clearance values for you:

Ground clearance:

Ground Clearance 180 mm - Scorpio
Ground Clearance 195 (mm) - Safari
Ground Clearance 190 (mm) - SX4
Ground clearance 190 mm - Adventure
Ground Clearance 165 mm - Indigo
Ground Clearance 198 (mm) - Ford Fusion+
Ground Clearance 170 mm - Verna
Ground Clearnace 181 mm - Aveo

Possible choices of good cars are highlighted above.

[V-16]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

vanchi, I've mentioned your criteria as points above.

Based on these, i would suggest a Scorpio based on the following reasons.
* City driving : With the EPS its quite easy to maneouvre in city limits, and shouldnt pose any major problems. It also takes up only as much space as a saloon.
* Wife can also drive the Scorp. I have seen lady driven Scorpios' on more than one occassion here in Bangalore.
* Suitable ground clearance to wade through flooded regions.
* The base model or DX should easily fall into your budget.

Hope that helps sort out the confusion.

I could'nt agree more. Looking at the various points you have elaborated as what you want in your car, the ultimate and best bet is the Scorpio. Though not a big fan of its handling, the Scorpio is a bigu little suv. Big enough to carry a lot of people and their baggage around without breaking out in a sweat and the driveability is like a car. Very easy to drive for the women too. You're looking at ground clearence too which is the birthright of this suv. It also is a diesel so thats an added bonus. Get the one with the CrdE engine only. It also fits like a glove in your budget. The Safari is actually too big, slower and not so refined as compared to its Mahindra counterpart. Its also as expensive, if not more, with the depreciation of a swamp. The Bolero on the other hand is a good work horse but no match for the Scorpio and not my choice as a family car. I doubt if your wife would like to be seen driving a Bolero as its looks bring along a mental block of a "JEEP" which is suposed to drive like a locomotive. In reality tough, its nothing like that. You know what?!, go test drive a Scorpio and let us know what you decide. Its your decision after all.

[rahul_intlad]

Since you have said car,here's a few pointers:

In the presentation from maruti for dealers there was some talk about sx4's ability to withstand flooding and something else in detail unfortunately dont have the presentation anymore so you need to check up with your dealer.
So also with the ford fiesta when it was launched there was talk about it but I think one of our members from gujarat if I am not mistaken did not have a nice time with the fiesta and especially the after flood service was bad from ford.Honda would not be a good idea for a flooded area,their after flood service was even worse.Aveo no experience about it.

I suggest you don't go in for the ford fusion right now because media reports say a new fusion is expected by about july end, not only will it have a diesel engine there may be external changes as well.

[abhibh]

Why not SAFARI ?? Perfect looks, BIG, SUV and yummy to drive...

[nispatel]

My appartment is in low lying area and has nearly 80 - 90 cars in the building. This place routinely gets flooded with around 4 - 4 1/2 feet of water for upto an hours and then water recedes as if nothing has happened. Normally all of us get time and security guards will alert everyone but on a few occacations, some cars do get flooded (On one single day we had around 40 flooded car including mine M800 which I sold it later). Now with this kind of water level, no car including Scorpio could escape unhert. But car with least gadget and electronics like Bolero would suffer minimum. Also it's engine, dynamo etc is placed little higher from the ground and in flooded roads, it has capacity to come out without stopping. I have seen police petrolling in flooded water with their Mahindra Commander in my backyard.

During my childhood, I have seen Jeeps being modified to have self starter on top of the engine from OEM arrangement that used to place it at the bottom. Self starter was the only component suseptible to water damage then. With this modification, Jeeps used to pass through flooded drains without any water damage, water will evantually enter in cabin but Jeep would still go on. Yes, driver has to make sure that water don't enter through silencer by running vehicle at high throttle, if you stop even a moment, then you are in trouble as water will enter into silencer. I believe these capacities would be still present in their new avatar Bolero. I'm not sure about similar capacity of Scorpio.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by abhibh

Why not SAFARI ?? Perfect looks, BIG, SUV and yummy to drive...

If he hadnt mentioned primarily city use, i would have suggested the Safari/Scorpio. Since its predominantly city use, the Scorpio deserves the vote here.

[rjstyles69]

If he hadnt mentioned primarily city use, i would have suggested the Safari/Scorpio. Since its predominantly city use, the Scorpio deserves the vote here.

Wait till our resident truck driver godfather pounces on you .

[FAst 'n furious]

In Madipakkam, I dont think you have to give a serious "thinking" over the floods.. as mentioned by Esteem lover it will take years for another flood (hoping so!) so instead of considering flood portion, Go for the car of your choice. As always. SX4 would surely fit in for it's higher GC to counter on the water filled potholes due to rains. On a happy path, You can safely go for S(e)X(y)4 !

[dadu]

with 4 to 4 1/2 ft of water flooding you might go for any car/SUV that you like.

You will have to take the vehicle to a higher level when it starts flooding, so it doesnt matter, which one.

And under those conditions you might even look at sedans, Verna CRDI is becoming quite popular now.

[ravibhat]

In Hatch segment Fusion is good bet in your case.

Sedan segment Indigo (I agree about least damage for this situation.. ) and SX4 ( its too new car so not sure about maintanance cost..) best bet.

In SUV/MPV segment Bolero, Scorpio good deals.

But my question why you are bothered about flood find a solution to avoid flood rather than go with the car which is ideal for low lying area, get the car which you like and suits your family

All the best,

Ravi.

[vanchi_s]

Thank you for all your suggestion. Finally I am thinking between Scorpio & Fusion. I will test drive and update every one.

[vanchi_s]

I was very busy in test driving multiple cars. Finally I have narrowed down to Fusion & Fiesta ZXi (petrol).

In case of Fiesta, I have 2 concerns. One ground clearance and another was very common in road. I have been waiting for Grand Vitara, but couldn't see its launch yet.

Which one will be VFM?