[amitayu]

I don't know what exactly is the trigger for the motion sickness. But my aged mother who had cervical issues developed car sickness at a later stage of her life.
In fact, car sickness was one of the triggers that led to eventual diagnosis of the cervical problem.

A simple treatment of the trigger can perhaps help deal the the issue at hand better.

As for cars, I would suggest the old Fords but alas they are no longer an option. Try cars with
A. Low GC
B. Longer wheelbase
C. a bit heavier build

Perhaps they can give more pliant ride.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by ram1980

I own a 2012 Ford Figo 1st gen diesel. I love this car and recently have done some fixes/upgrades (fuel injector replacement, LED headlight & 9 inch android unit). So I plan to retain this car for as long as it lasts but I am looking to add a new car with below requirements.

• Should be petrol automatic as my wife wants to start driving. Good ground clearance (>190mm); Sunroof is must (family’s only non-negotiable wish).
• Should not cause motion sickness to the passengers ( mainly for my wife ). My figo doesn't affect her (due to sedan-like setup and stiffer suspension?) while she faces this constraint in most other cars.
• Should be easy for my elderly parents to ingress / egress
• Budget should be below 20 lakhs. Looking at long term (~10 years) ownership like my current car.
• Usage will be a mix of city and highway. Distance to the office is 15 km one way. In the city, it should be easy for a new driver (my wife is 5’2” tall ).

I would suggest the following-

1) Verna IVT/Turbo - Sedans usually have lesser motion sickness, and this new gen hyundai is nearly up there with dynamics part. If you can get the top end Turbo, it also gets a very useful EPB with Auto hold function which your wife will appreciate a lot in stop and go city traffic.

2) Kia Sonet 1.0 DCT- I have a iMT model, but motion sickness is very less because of bright interiors, large windows and a good size of sunroof. Suspension is also stiff resulting in lesser side to side and upside down movement.

If you can wait- Do wait for Elevate. Honda's usually have great visibility = low motion sickness, and will be lot easier to drive for a newbie.

Rejected the VW/Skoda cars from your list simply because these are half baked products suffering from various niggles. The ASS and cars aren't the last word in reliability and I wouldn't want any wife to deal with their dealers!

Rejected magnite from your list, because it feels simply built to a cost.

[JaiHanuman]

You can try for XUV300 AMT as one one of the options

[vasanthn21]

Originally Posted by IAmGroot

To avoid sickness always keep AC on and temperature lower, heated car will induce motion sickness faster.

Interesting to note that this works for you. My experience has been contrary to this. My mom, wife and daughter; all three of them suffer from increased symptoms of motion sickness, when AC is on and windows are rolled up.

My daughter is the most sensitive, and making her sit in the front seat (with seat belts) and asking her to look ahead instead if sitting in the rear and looking outside the windows seems to work for her (Apparently, our brain processes the images differently when we see them moving sideways through the windows rather that seeing them come at us from the windscreen - as told by a doctor). Also, sucking on a small candy helps prevent the onset of these symptoms.

But, most importantly it is affected by my driving style. If I am in a hurry and accelerate / decelerate rather crudely, then the onset of symptoms is quite fast).

[enj0y_ride]

I would suggest you consider Nexon EV as well unless you have too many highway rides regularly. It's a pleasure to drive.

Buying new Petrol car in our country has its own issues with the Govt's plan on adulterating petrol with Ethanol every coming year. Once we reach E20, E30 to E85 target starts and I believe non-compatible cars will have fuel injector issues later on.

My daughter too has motion sickness and she relates that to smell of diesel along with claustrophobia.

[tsi_niks1989]

Originally Posted by ram1980

Both these sedan were great to drive. The driver position and ride were like a crossover than sedan. Wife likes both. I was told that Virtus has stiffer suspension and Slavia is relatively softer but in the short TD, I couldn't find any differences.

On Kia/Hyundai: I should have clarified better in my earlier post. The reason for not considering the CSUV options in them apart from my perceived soft suspension factor is their 3 star rating in GNCAP.

Virtus/Slavia are almost identical and both are supremely comfortable cars. The new MQB-A0-IN platform backed by 5 stars for both adult and child safety along with the added weight helps them to remain planted as well. Having driven the Virtus GT for more than 11k KMs, can say it won't feel lighter or dancing at speeds more than permitted.

Out of the CSUVs, Taigun has a stiffer suspension setup when compared to Kushaq just incase you want to go the pseudo SUV route.

[jpm]

Originally Posted by ram1980

I own a 2012 Ford Figo 1st gen diesel. I love this car and recently have done some fixes/upgrades (fuel injector replacement, LED headlight & 9 inch android unit). So I plan to retain this car for as long as it lasts but I am looking to add a new car with below requirements.
[/list]
Following are the cars considered in the order of my current preference

• Slavia / Virtus - Good ground clearance (SUVish level). 1.5 lakhs cheaper than its SUV sibling. Am sure it will have less body roll than an SUV and so motion sickness should not be an issue. I feel it would be difficult for a new driver to get used to the road view and length.

Looking forward to your expert views and opinions on best car for my requirement

My wife and second son are both extremely sensitive as well. This was one of the reasons why despite being a large-ish family, couldn't go for the Innova. Instead we got the Ertiga which was reasonable in this regard due to its car like feel with easy drive-ability, easy ingress and potential to carry 7 members if needed. But turned out that no one wanted to travel in the Ertiga for longer distances, especially in the second row bench seats or in the third row.

Coming back to your post, I now have the Virtus automatic for close to 10 months and suffice to say, have not had motion sickness related accidents in it, touch wood so far. So would happily recommend Virtus for your dilemma.

As an aside, the Jeep Compass is a step up from your budget but if you can, then the cabin comfort is in a league of its own. It's not as large as one imagines (in fact its shorter and narrower than the Virtus). My family have not felt any motion sickness on it as well during the 6 years we have had it. So worth checking out as well.

[Game_of_Roads]

Originally Posted by sanjayrozario

They just don't feel it anymore in the Slavia. Moreover, it has good GC & can be easily used for both city & highway.

My wife and some in her side of the family are notoriously susceptible to motion sickness. This used to happen a lot with a fully loaded grand i10 that used to bounce around on long drives.

We now have the Slavia and it is wonderful in this department. The ride is very stable and the smooth AT makes it even better. While motion sickness is not 100% avoidable, IMO the Slavia ticks all the right boxes. As mentioned above, the higher GC is a major boon for cities with terrible roads and unscientific speed(car) breakers like Bangalore.

The view for the driver in a sedan will be lesser than that of pseudo SUVs and tall boy hatchbacks, I did feel this difference for a week initially but its really not an issue, and one will get used to it pretty quickly.

To add, the worst thing one can do in the back seats to aggravate motion sickness is to operate a phone screen. It's guaranteed to induce sickness !

[MrA]

Sudden acceleration and braking also have a huge effect on motion sickness and need to be as smooth as possible. I had very bad motion sickness in the past, but some long trips to Ladakh over a couple of years, while sitting in the front passenger seat, helped me get over it. Medications like Avomine also helped, although they can make you drowsy. During my last visit to Kashmir after being abroad for around 8 years, the abundant smell of diesel/petrol on the roads also made me sick. I was amazed to see so many cars emitting dark smoke from their exhausts; it was as if pollution control was non-existent and people were just buying Pollution Under Control certificates without having their cars tested. I also noticed that many of those cars had out-of-state number plates. I'm not saying that local cars have better pollution control; I was only there for a few days.

Additionally, as others have suggested above, some automatic transmissions can be jerky. In my experience, some are smooth in comfort mode but become jerky in Sport mode or other more aggressive driving modes.

[arunrajk81]

For some kids the motion sickness used to go away with age, but I have seen other way too. My younger son has motion sickness, and this is what we do to reduce it.

- Make sure the person with motion sickness to be seated at any seat other that middle seat in any row. This is to avoid them looking outside through the front windshield. This has very big effect on windy roads.
- Avoid looking at screens and especially on MAPs
- Avoid travelling immediately after food or on full stomach. If between trips, take very less food especially Milk products.
- Do anything to distract them when travelling after food. It can be an interesting discussion, song, some word games etc.

From Vehicle’s/Driving perspective, the following,
- A car with less suspension travel is better. Generally, a sedan is better for the people with motion sickness than SUV. I know this because we have both these vehicle in the family.
- Speed is fine, but gentle on turns, up/down gradient and braking.
- Rear independent suspension is better so that it has less side to side motion than the one with leaf springs and fixed axle coil springs.

One interesting incident I remember was, long back during 1990’s we hired an Ambassador for one of our trip. My sister has motion sickness and during the travel when she started vomiting, the driver stopped at the roadside and plucked few leaves from a nearby Cashew Tree and asked her to keep smelling it and she never vomited after that.

[RunSam]

Since you've mentioned long term ownership (~10 years) the only car I can think of that would be fuss free is the Honda City. You could wait for the Elevate and check that out too!

Good luck with your search.

[sanjayrozario]

Originally Posted by Game_of_Roads

The view for the driver in a sedan will be lesser than that of pseudo SUVs and tall boy hatchbacks, I did feel this difference for a week initially but its really not an issue, and one will get used to it pretty quickly.

To add, the worst thing one can do in the back seats to aggravate motion sickness is to operate a phone screen. It's guaranteed to induce sickness !

Agree 100% on both the points. At max, one will take 2 weeks to get over the view. I don't miss it anymore.

Not just operating a phone / tab, motion sickness can also be induced by reading

[clevermax]

Any vehicle, driven spiritedly - frequent accelerations, braking, cornering at higher speeds - will trigger motion sickness in individuals who are prone to it.

The chances of motion sickness increase if one is sitting in the back seat, compared to the front seat.

It is not the car but the driving habits and the route (if possible) that need to be changed to curb motion sickness.

My family is prone to motion sickness. So I started driving sedately when they were onboard. The occurrences of motion sickness were greatly reduced.

It also depends on the type of roads. If you're cruising down a wide-open highway, the chances of getting sick are very less. However, if you're driving through some ghat sections or curvy roads like the SH1 in KL, the chances of getting sick are relatively higher.

I read some opinions that a planted car or a car with great handling can reduce motion sickness, but I disagree. You can't reduce the chances of getting motion-sick by traveling in a car with great handling. The simple reason is that one cannot escape the g-forces under acceleration, braking, and cornering irrespective of the type of car/bus/plane/UFO you're traveling in. On the contrary, one may tend to drive a planted car at higher speeds on curves, subjecting the occupants to higher g-forces thereby triggering an early motion sickness.

Last but not least, avoid reading and using a phone/tablet while on the move! No better way to invite motion sickness early.

[Courtesy: cartoonstock.com]

[sidharth_j]

Whenever I am a back-seat rider, especially around roads that are twisty and with a gradient, I've found that one tablet of Perinorm 5mg taken 10 mins before the start of the journey suppresses all symptoms of motion-sickness, regardless of which vehicle I am doing the journey in (innova, scorpio, even inter-stat buses).

It is available OTC at pharmacies and should be taken with a little bit of food.
It's worth a try instead of changing cars entirely.

...Sid

[diwakarmuthu]

There is no science that specifies the exact reason why motion sickness happens. It is a state of mind as well. I have done some reading over the years and based on my experiences I am sharing it out here.

In my family my son for the first 3 years had severe motion sickness. Even entering a car was difficult as he would throw up in an instance. My wife does get it when we are going through the ghat roads, but keeping the windows open for fresh air and having a lemon or a candy does help to some extent.

1. Have you tried a petrol car for longer duration. At times the diesel clatter and vibration can trigger motion sickness. You could even try an EV, but this is not foolproof

2. If the person with motion sickness is seated in the middle of the rear seat, I would avoid doing so. The car is moving forward, your body is standing still. This imbalance can make one sick

3. Driving sedately and taking frequent breaks. It helps to break the monotony. I did this with my son and he has improved significantly. Being in the car can trigger the thoughts, so breaking them from time to time helps

4. As many have already mentioned, avoid reading, screentime, gadgets or anything that can trigger uneasiness

In a worst case scenario, do take over the counter meds

Changing a car may not necessarily solve the issue. So I would generally avoid that route