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Originally Posted by Punatic |
Fusion was my favorite car too for a long time. I couldn't pick one when it was selling. When it stopped selling, I couldn't get a good Fusion on sale for the price. You see, I was not a T-BHP member at that time.
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Originally Posted by Punatic
A midlife crisis for an enthusiast, I submit, is evidenced when s/he starts looking for a steady, no-nonsense, easy-to-maintain, mass-market, point-A-to-point-B commuter.
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It is not mid-life-crisis to change to a car that suits your current requirements. The way you defined mid-life-crisis, it more fits the description of "retirement".
On top of it, you are a BHPian. That is not "ordinary".
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Originally Posted by Punatic Thanks to the forthcoming launches of the Suzuki CSUV/crossover twins - Arena's Brezza and Nexa's S-Cross - in their petrol avatars (finally!), I think this just might be possible now. |
You need to expand your choices. Most of the cars by most of the manufacturers fit this requirement - "steady, no-nonsense, easy-to-maintain, mass-market, point-A-to-point-B commuter". In addition to that, some cars are leaps and bounds ahead of the choices you are considering.
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Originally Posted by Punatic - Sturdy build quality - The standards of best built Maruti cars are a starting point for some of the other manufacturers.
- Decent Ground-Clearance - Moon craters, I'm coming for you...
- Petrol engine - Don't completely give up on Diesel yet. I think only electric tech when it becomes fully practical, will make Diesel obsolete.
- Automatic Transmission - Happy left leg.
- Not too big - Parking Friendly. Wise decision.
- Not too small
- BS6
- As many safety features as possible - 5* is the standard of 2020, nothing less.
- Preferably below 15 lakhs on-road
- Preferably more pliant ride-quality than the Fusion
- Preferably better performance than the Baleno, i20, Jazz segment - NO one suffering mid-life-crisis will say this. Hence PROVED.
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Originally Posted by Punatic Obviously, the BS6 EcoSport Titanium+ fits all these criteria and then some. Ford's service in Pune has demonstrably improved too, over the past few years (I refer you back to my "related thread" above), so it won't be exactly tough or expensive to maintain. But for some reason, the freshly minted "Uncle" in me simply refuses to look away from the Marutis. |
A Maruti will not satisfy an owner of a Ford for 15 years. No matter if that owner is an uncle, grand-dad or great-grand-dad. Ford Ecosport is the officially designated successor of Fusion. Why are you even considering something else?
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Originally Posted by Punatic Note that I haven't test driven any of them yet, since they're yet to be made available for TDs, so these are strictly at the discussing-with-friends-whether-I-should-ask-her-out stage: |
Sincere friendly advice: Dude, she is not for you. You are leagues ahead of her. She is no match for your character.
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Originally Posted by Punatic S-Cross: |
I have nothing big against S-cross. It was designed for US market by Suzuki global and hence it is one of the best built Maruti (even better than Brezza IMO). Performs decently too (while the new engine is a black-box still). The only problem with S-cross is that there are far better cars from other brands which also outsells S-cross with a margin of thousands. Creta and Seltos - these 2 are more mass-market than S-cross (I know about the price difference, but it is justified based on what you get). If you can wait, more new cars are going to launch which will give you a wide choice too.
Since you are particular about AT, S-cross's AT is the most ancient AT in the market (not that you don't know), but it is hugely inferior by 2020 standards. It doesn't even have a manual mode.
Better alternatives I suggest Creta (2020/2018), or Kia Seltos.
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Originally Posted by Punatic Brezza: |
Brezza is a good car. It is an Indianized Vitara with proportions made suitable to take advantage of tax exemptions. With the new 1.5 petrol engine, that advantage is gone. So, compromising on length makes no sense now. If you go sub-4 meter, go for a smaller CC engine. If you don't want a smaller CC engine, don't go for sub-4 meter car.
Even otherwise, Brezza is a quite old tech for 2020. No turbocharger, the same age-old 4-speed AT, same interior/exterior as 2016 launch, rampant part-sharing in visible areas, refinement, NVH not as good as S-cross or other brands' alternatives.
Better alternatives if you want sub-4 meter, I suggest Venue Turbo with DCT. It will blow your assumed "mid-life-crisis" away.