[abaliga]

Ground clearance numbers are deceptive at times, our family purchased the latest generation Octavia that has an unladed GC of 137 mm, but we have ensured the underbody never touched the ground until now by being a little careful (knock on wood!), it is way better than the first generation Figo which liked kissing the ground often despite a GC of 168mm, besides Virtus and Slavia both have best in class SUV rivalling GC numbers, this should allay any reservations that you may have.

My only issue with VW twins is that the profile looks ungainly with the raised back, having said that I think you should go for the Slavia/Virtus or their SUV/Crossover counter parts, the powertrains offered with VW twins is significantly superior to the one on the Nexon, I would also recommend you take a look at the 1.5 TSI which is much more refined and an effortless performer, none of the 3 cylinder engines (including VWs) can match the refinement offered by a good 4 cylinder motor. VW group is now offerring the 1.5 TSI powertrain on the mid spec variants as well.

If performance/driving pleasure is not a priority and features are, only then I would recommend the latest Nexon, the new touch screen with 360 degree camera and the wonderful JBL sound system bundled with futuristic looks will keep you happy for some time to come. Good luck with the car hunt!

[rkv_2401]

I don't think it's necessary for the Slavia, thanks to it's stiff suspension, but if broken roads that you commute on regularly are such a huge problem for any car, you can always try upsizing the tyres and get another 7-10mm of Ground Clearance.

Upsized the tyres on our Vento from 185/60s to 185/65s, gained 9mm more GC from 163mm to 172mm. Tyres with softer rubber also help (significantly, depending on the age of your previous tyres) cushion the shock of our pothole-ridden roads.

[autobahnjpr]

My friend purchased Slavia and I am a witness to the fact that its GC is more than adequate for rough roads and monster bumpers. I went with him to a small town 140 km from Bangalore and some sections were really pathetic with huge craters and monster speed bumps in villages enroute. We are 3 adults and a healthy child and the car never had any on account of GC.

I have a Honda City 3rd gen and I was surprised to see Slavia tackle all sorts of challenges quite easily. Never once did the car scrape or create any scare. My city would have scraped at least dozen of places.

If your only concern is GC, then you can go with blind folded eyes on that front with the assurance that it will never be a problem for you.

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Hello BHPians,

I use an i20 IMT and its been a good experience since last 3 years.

As most of my drives are on highway/hills, I would like to add a sedan or a compact SUV with a good safety rating and will keep the i20 for city rides only. I had shortlisted Slavia 1.0 AT and New Nexon Creative + 1.2 DCA. I did the test drive of Slavia and its an amazing car however I had some doubts on the GC on hills/bad roads. Keeping that in mind, I am looking for a test drive of new Nexon.

Please suggest, which of them would be a better pick considering the highway comfort and GC on bad roads/hills.
Thanks

[Neomobile]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Hello BHPians,

I use an i20 IMT and its been a good experience since last 3 years.

As most of my drives are on highway/hills, I would like to add a sedan or a compact SUV with a good safety rating and will keep the i20 for city rides only. I had shortlisted Slavia 1.0 AT and New Nexon Creative + 1.2 DCA. I did the test drive of Slavia and its an amazing car however I had some doubts on the GC on hills/bad roads. Keeping that in mind, I am looking for a test drive of new Nexon.

Please suggest, which of them would be a better pick considering the highway comfort and GC on bad roads/hills.
Thanks

We drove the Slavia during TD over many different types of speed breakers to check the suspension and back seat comfort. Went fast, slow, braked just before the breaker, the car took everything in its stride - no scraping at all. So city should not be a problem. FYI we were 4 people, including the SE from the showroom with no luggage in the boot. Personally I feel the Slavia drives much better than the Nexon and it is quite a looker.

[amitjha086]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Hello BHPians,

I use an i20 IMT and its been a good experience since last 3 years.

As most of my drives are on highway/hills, I would like to add a sedan or a compact SUV with a good safety rating and will keep the i20 for city rides only.

Please suggest, which of them would be a better pick considering the highway comfort and GC on bad roads/hills.
Thanks

I've been driving Dzire with a GC of 163 on the roads of Nepal for last 85K km. Roads in Nepal are mostly hilly and in bad shape. There's occasional underbelly brushing and that's all. All you've to do is to slow down to use 1st gear where other SUVs drive off in 3rd gear when met with a bad patch. Plus some sideways manoeuvring where wheels go into potholes one by one. Slavia got launched in Nepal last week and I've been drooling over it. It's starting price is 32 lakhs INR in Nepal.

[Zippy_wheels]

Would you be using your vehicle on roads worse than these (also note the lanes on left - I travelled on those too)? Also this was not even the worst section of that road. Even scorpio's found it difficult to navigate some section's of this under-construction road but the Virtus navigated most of this road like a boss (maybe I had to be a little more careful than a scorpio and a bolera travelling ahead of me but I was able to keep up with them).

Having said that, the vehicle can scrape on giant speed breakers (done it on a couple even in Pune city) and some large craters in UP/Jharkhand. So 179 GC, along with a large wheelbase is good enough for most roads but you have to be careful at times. Maybe a CSUV would not scrape in most situations where a slavia will, but a slavia won't scrape in most situations where a I20 would.

[Amrit@wheels]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Hello BHPians,

I use an i20 IMT and its been a good experience since last 3 years.

As most of my drives are on highway/hills, I would like to add a sedan or a compact SUV with a good safety rating and will keep the i20 for city rides only. I had shortlisted Slavia 1.0 AT and New Nexon Creative + 1.2 DCA. I did the test drive of Slavia and its an amazing car however I had some doubts on the GC on hills/bad roads. Keeping that in mind, I am looking for a test drive of new Nexon.

Please suggest, which of them would be a better pick considering the highway comfort and GC on bad roads/hills.
Thanks

Personally, I'd suggest you steer clear of the Nexon Petrol. The Slavia is a considerably superior vehicle unless you're strictly looking for a raised hatchback.

[Dreamlifter.07]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Just to give an update, I went with my heart and booked Slavia.

Congratulations! Slavia is a great car, you really do not need to worry about its ground clearance unless the road you travel on is really really bad.

I’m about to complete one year with the Virtus 1.0 AT, never have I scraped the bottom anywhere. Driven almost 7000kms now on all sorts of roads.

PS: I was actually interested in the 1.5 but my SA kind of pushed me into the 1.0, don’t get me wrong the 1.0 is great but the 1.5 would have been brilliant. Every time I see a 1.5, my heart skips a beat.!

[chaitanyakrish]

Took delivery of Slavia and many thanks everyone for the recommendations.
I had driven through some bad roads and its very comfortable.
Will share updates soon.