My New Chevrolet Captiva LTZ - Pearl White First things first - Big thanks to this community. Before joining this community I did not even know the meaning of BHP, Suspension or Torque! I learnt more things from this community in past 1 year than my entire 10 years! So I assume, as per as my needs, I made a correct decision.
My 1st car ever was Indica Turbo DLG bought way back in October 2005. I remember it was the best car I would buy for 4 lac rupees at that point of time.
Around 1 year back, I started exploring new options. My needs were:
1. Powerful Diesel Motor
2. Seven Seater
3. Comfort
4. Equipment
5. Budget of 18-23L
6. Safety
7. 4 X 4
After countless studies, I narrowed down to following:
1. Endeavour 4 X 4
2. Pajero 4 X 4
3. Captiva 4 X 4
4. Fortuner 4 X 4
5. X-Trail 4 X 4 (Although 5 seater but nonetheless, great vehicle)
Right from the outset of Auto Expo 2008, I waited for new SUV's like Fortuner, Santa FE and Captiva. While the former 2 never arrived, I drove Captiva LT (Manual). It impressed me a lot but somehow I didn't have enough $$ at that point of time to buy one. Endeavour was not comfortable and later on after I joined these forums, I came to know about the rear leaf springs suspension issue. Again I waited after hearing that new Fortuner was around the corner. Ditto for Endeavour. After the launch of Fortuner and Endeavour, I test drove both of them and my mind went for Fortuner since after I came to know the shortcomings of the following vehicles:
Endeavour - Lack of comfort and ride quality.
Pajero - Decade old model, Dated looks, lack of refinement.
X-Trail - Poor A.S.S. and very high cost of spares.
Captiva LT at that point of time was automatically went off since being a CBU that pricing went up the roof (19.XX for LT and 21.XX for LTZ variant). I booked Fortuner (through Castle Toyota) on August 25 (1 day after the launch) and I was promised the delivery in the last week of October.
But destiny had other ideas! - Somewhere in this forum itself, it was mentioned Chevy is offering generous discounts on Captiva (both variants) but their official site was unchanged. I called on Padam Motors (Ludhiana) immediately and they refused! I told them to confirm once again with GM - Pune and to my delight, they confirmed the price reduction. Without any delay, I requested them for TD of Captiva LTZ (Auto) and after a 30 Km test drive, I found out the differences between LT and LTZ were significant ones. In short, I liked it over any other vehicle in this segment and found it extremely good value for money SUV.
I cancelled the delivery of Fortuner immediately since I found Captiva LTZ more safer and refined; + it had good Auto transmission and driving was effortless. IMHO, for ON-ROADING, Captiva LTZ seems to be a better choice than Fortuner. Captiva LTZ being 80K dearer than Fortuner, had some major advantages like Automatic Transmission, ESP (Traction Control, HBA, HDC, ARP) and Disc Brakes on all wheels. I booked one straightaway and I was promised the delivery within 20 days.
The big day arrived myself, along with my brother went all the way to Ludhiana for the vehicle at around 10 A.M. I had quite a long chat with service personal there and he made me aware of all the important points. I also met one guy over there who owned a Captiva and he gave me some good hints. Overall, he had very good experience with this vehicle (apart from turbo lag). He advised me to upgrade the tyres ASAP. OEM tyres were Hankook 235 R17 and I upgraded to KUMHO 255 R17. After upgrade, I noticed further increase in comfort levels and according to him, the cornering ability of the vehicle also improves with these new tyres. Positives:
1. Brilliant Diesel Engine.
2. Good Ride Quality.
3. Automatic transmission with Tiptronic.
4. 8 Way Electric-Adjusted Driver Seat.
5. Good Interiors, Excellent Overall Fit and Finish.
6. Best Safety Features in its class – ESP (TC, HDC and HBA)
7. Most Competitive Pricing of all Diesel Soft Roaders.
8. Cheaper Spares (for a CBU) in its class.
9. Virtually noiseless with windows closed, Zero vibrations felt inside cabin. Negatives:
1. Non-Reclining Middle and Last Row of seats.
2. No Rear Parking Sensors/Camera.
3. Low Average - Highway - 11; City 8
4. Lack of thigh support for the middle seats.
5. In adequate OEM Tires (Hankook 235 R17) . |