[GauravTaneja]

Originally Posted by "eq24;

Just to recollect an incident which was surprising to me, at a Gurgaon Toyota dealership, a Fortuner was booked by a family without even taking a test drive, heck they did not even look at the car. And no they had no idea of the car or the drive quality or the comfort, the only consoling thing was that the head of the family had been chauffered around once in a friends Fortuner and he had then decided to go for the Fortuner and nothing but. I remember the kids were aching for a TD but the father just said "itne log khareed te hain, waiting hai, buri gadi thori hai" and that was it.

Even the sales staff at Toyota expect buyers to book the Fortuner without a TD. I had to throw a bit of a tantrum to get a TD, which they would have rather not provided. I ended up buying the Outlander, which ticked all the boxex for me, except its a petrol car. But what a car!

[NPV]

Didn't want to start a separate thread for this, so asking here for a friend whose family is planning to buy a Diesel SUV ~30L (to replace an older Optra) and their current shortlist is Toyota Fortuner and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport.
The requirements (as I know now, will elicit more information later if required to clarify things):
-Should be able to comfortably carry the family of 6-8 on highway drives
-No requirement for Automatics, in fact they may prefer Manuals since they are good drivers who enjoy driving
-No off-roading abilities required

My first response has been to include some more options to this shortlist and found couple of cons, one with each:
1.Fortuner - they already have an Innova and this essentially is built on the same chassis. Also seems a tad overpriced so why not consider something else ?
2.Pajero Sport - dated older gen vehicle ? concerns on the after sales service, reliability of HM, etc

Can we add Captiva, Endeavour, anything else to this list ?
NOTE: no issues related to parking, etc as they have a farm house (or should I say a house in a large farm ?)

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by NPV

Didn't want to start a separate thread for this, so asking here for a friend whose family is planning to buy a Diesel SUV ~30L (to replace an older Optra) and their current shortlist is Toyota Fortuner and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport.
The requirements (as I know now, will elicit more information later if required to clarify things):
-Should be able to comfortably carry the family of 6-8 on highway drives
-No requirement for Automatics, in fact they may prefer Manuals since they are good drivers who enjoy driving
-No off-roading abilities required

My first response has been to include some more options to this shortlist and found couple of cons, one with each:
1.Fortuner - they already have an Innova and this essentially is built on the same chassis. Also seems a tad overpriced so why not consider something else ?
2.Pajero Sport - dated older gen vehicle ? concerns on the after sales service, reliability of HM, etc

Can we add Captiva, Endeavour, anything else to this list ?
NOTE: no issues related to parking, etc as they have a farm house (or should I say a house in a large farm ?)

First of all in that price range Innova can carry the most persons and that is six in comfort and 8 at a pinch. In fact a micro bus; with 8 seats; is a better option if a lot of journeys are envisaged.

All SUV are uncomfortable beyond 4 persons and the third row, where available is for small children only. Of course in our country we have 10 persons in an Ambassador, but that is not in "Comfort"

[GauravTaneja]

Try the Rexton.

Among the ones listed by you, i would suggest the Pajero - great presence, decent ride, go anywhere ability, won't break the bank on a daily basis. Downside is that its only available in MT.

I recently bought the Outlander; i had almost the same wish list as yours, with the difference that my daily commute is much lesser, affording me the luxury of a petrol vehicle.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

If you are a regular guy ( I.e. not wealthy but dependent on salary and a family to support, not having multiple specialist vehicles ), a Fortuner only makes sense if you really leverage its capabilities (the toughness and 4wd), reliability and long life - 8 to 10 years, say - to the fullest. Though, if you do decide to sell it, you will get decent resale price. IMHO.

Question is how wealthy is wealthy? How regular is a regular guy? In my honest opinion, the Fortuner is very expensively priced in India for what it actually offers the consumer. It can also be a real headache to drive and park on a daily basis in our crowded cities with their narrow streets.

Someone like you, Nilanjan, who knows how to extract the fullest from that vehicle, can obviously afford it or has chosen to be able to afford it, because your kind of usage actually warrants such a vehicle.

The larger majority out there simply require a big, spacious, comfy 7 Seater which can lug them, theirs and their accoutrements around in relative ease and chauffeur driven comfort.

Methinks that the Innova serves quite well indeed for the above generic requirement. The trouble is that the Innova is a van and that image is so dreadfully, mind-numbingly boring so as to be almost soporific!

[AVT]

See if no off roading is required then why go for these true blue off roaders. ?
Personally i feel the fortuner is a tad over priced product. Simpky because you shell out around 25 lakhs on a SUV and you don't get disc brakes and you get leaf spring suspension ( which is everything but comfortable ) !

Why not try some softroaders like the new captiva or the santa fe. ?
It has been a year since I am using a santa fe 4wd. And I could say its a lot better car than the T-fort. You get a lot of power , loads of features, a good fuel econ and looks pretty handsome as well ( not as butch as the toyota though!)
I have an automatic and it returns around 12 kmpl, so I guess the manual 2wd would give out around 15
kmpl and would cost same as the 2wd fortuner.
Don't even consider the endeavour , gone are those days when she used to rule the segment !
There is a all new endeafour due this year.

[ampere]

@NPV says his friend has an Innova and they are looking at an SUV at around 30L budget. If ride quality is a requirement, then they can look at soft roaders too. The new Captiva would be a good candidate and can seat 5 in decent comfort.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ampere

@NPV says his friend has an Innova and they are looking at an SUV at around 30L budget. If ride quality is a requirement, then they can look at soft roaders too. The new Captiva would be a good candidate and can seat 5 in decent comfort.

Thanks folks!
They decided on the Pajero Sport, my friend tells me it is awesome

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by NPV

Thanks folks!
They decided on the Pajero Sport, my friend tells me it is awesome

But if they don't need to offroad, why would they opt for a Pajero Sport over the more comfortable softroaders? If I were evaluating, I would have looked at vehicles such as the Santa Fe seriously.

However, some folks start offroading/trail driving etc. after buying a SUV because their vehicle allows offroading. If so, it is always good to have 4WD capabilities.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by NPV

Thanks folks!
They decided on the Pajero Sport, my friend tells me it is awesome

Superb choice I say. Further, the MD of SVR Motors is a known person so let me know the discounts they negotiated and I can get them a bit more if the deal is not closed.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

But if they don't need to offroad, why would they opt for a Pajero Sport over the more comfortable softroaders? If I were evaluating, I would have looked at vehicles such as the Santa Fe seriously.

However, some folks start offroading/trail driving etc. after buying a SUV because their vehicle allows offroading. If so, it is always good to have 4WD capabilities.

Offroading capablities were not an absolute must when they started the search for the new SUV but the fact was that their Pajero Sport test drive included driving on some offroad terrain/trail and impressed with its capabilities. That was enough to convince them that they wanted it since they're very close to prime offroading terrain including some in their estate as well.

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Superb choice I say. Further, the MD of SVR Motors is a known person so let me know the discounts they negotiated and I can get them a bit more if the deal is not closed.

Thanks Dev, will talk to my friend and get back.

[vijay shekar]

Originally Posted by AVT

See if no off roading is required then why go for these true blue off roaders. ?
Personally i feel the fortuner is a tad over priced product. Simpky because you shell out around 25 lakhs on a SUV and you don't get disc brakes and you get leaf spring suspension ( which is everything but comfortable ) !

Why not try some softroaders like the new captiva or the santa fe. ?
It has been a year since I am using a santa fe 4wd. And I could say its a lot better car than the T-fort. You get a lot of power , loads of features, a good fuel econ and looks pretty handsome as well ( not as butch as the toyota though!)
I have an automatic and it returns around 12 kmpl, so I guess the manual 2wd would give out around 15
kmpl and would cost same as the 2wd fortuner.
Don't even consider the endeavour , gone are those days when she used to rule the segment !
There is a all new endeafour due this year.

AVT I am seriously considering santafe AT. Would appreciate if you can fill me in on Any thing I need to know. About the suv, bad points good points, service, any specific issues etc. Heard that the suspension is soft. Does it really pose a problem?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Superb choice I say. Further, the MD of SVR Motors is a known person so let me know the discounts they negotiated and I can get them a bit more if the deal is not closed.

Deal was closed at pre-budget pricing + discounts (post-budget pricing has gone up by 60-70k apparently).
On road price less than 30L, but they did have to compromise on the colour-took the only one available,a Himalayan White but it's still a looker

[durvasa]

Devdath,

Just saw this thread

I met SVT consultant last week to TD Pajero Sport. I am planning to upgrade from Elantra CRDI to Pajero Sport/Fortuner. I like PS but my better half is more keen towards Fortuner AT (she will drive it too)

I plan to go to finalise the vehicle in a week or so. If you can help in getting a little better discount, I can hopefully persuade my family to go for PS.

thanks and regards,
Ddurvasa

[kaizanfan]

A friend of mine is in the market for an automatic SUV. Santa Fe looks like a good choice, but we don't see much of Santa Fe on the road and that really affects the confidence of buying this vehicle. Also, Santa Fe is more expensive then the Fortuner. My friend said that there's a difference of 5L. Please advise. Thanks.