[greenhorn]

Once upon a time, I thought that the indica was a very hardy car, and could take its fair share of abuse, but in the light of recent service bills, Turns out I was grossly mistaken

My need is simply to drive uninterrupted at 80ish speeds. Ideally that would involves some fancy footwear, springs and chips, but in india there are more complications. most roads mean that your fancy speedmachine will have to crawl to keep its skirt on across potholes, gutters and speedbreakers.
On the other hand, SUV's are too big, jeeps and gypsies are too crude for daily use and long distance commuting.

So here's my question - what car can you drive WRC style over bad roads , and still not end up with a hefty bill. Corner carving abilities are not essential, but the car should be controllable ( Ie not steer like a ship like most jeeps) at good speeds and have decent braking, and should be mostly reliable.

I was looking at a Bolero , but then I heard about the Mahindra small SUV.

What car/vehicle do you think will handle bad roads well ? I need something BETTER than an indica!

[sunsetorange]

I guess what you really need is a dune buggy

[condor]

Greenie, may be a hovercraft.

With the roads we have, * any * car will have to face that abuse. You get a Bolero, even that has to. With the leaf spring suspension that the Bolero has, it will probably rattle much more than the Indica is now. It's about how you drive on such sections and reduce the bumps & shocks from get transmitted to the car.

[para_7k]

Buy any car you like, extend the warranty as much as you can, drive as bad as you can and get everything changed under warranty as long as you can

[Jaggu]

Hmm stick to M&M UV's, that should work well. Invader's are a great options if you are looking at used car market.

[speedmiester]

The best that you can do is go for a Bolero. Its tough, reliable and handles bad roads very well. You can also think about strengthening your car to handle rough terrain on the similar lines of a rally prepped car.
This will include strengthening body, suspensions mounts and switching over to sport suspension and tougher wheels and tyres.

Else this should fit the bill.

[Chopper]

@greenhorn, even I was thinking the same with my Indica, the very common issues after every long hard trip were rim bend and misalignment. But mine is only 30K done. Could you please pour more light on the issues you have faced?

[shankar.balan]

I dont think anything other than the Bolero will be able to do what you ask of it as per your mail.

Dont change the steel wheels to alloys though, else you will end up with some rather badly bent alloys. Atleast changing steel wheels doesnt cost as much.

Tyres - go for the all terrain type with a harder compound like Apollo Hawkz or MRF or even JK because you need these to last longer with the driving style being discussed.

If this is a self-drive - the Front-driving seat - you may want to change this seat alone to a Rally type seat with the 3 point safety harness. Or if nothing else, you may want to re-upholster this seat alone to make it more comfy and to hold you in it more snugly.

Leave everything else in the vehicle as "stock" and you shouldnt have a problem even if you blast around the place at a constant 60-70kmph regardless of the road conditions.

Only - I would urge you to strap yourself in properly else, you might do a self-eject from your seat while blustering over potholes or speedbreakers at those speeds.

The Bolero is probably the only vehicle around at the moment which can withstand such tremendous rough use/ abuse and still not kill you with repair bill costs and maintenance/ spare part costs.


cheers

[greenhorn]

chopper - I'm looking at a suspension overhaul, broken intercooler bracket, and a bit of underhood damage. I'll post the full bill once I get it. The mech said that the intercooler bracket breaks all the time, and the steering fluid sump gets damaged too.

[Chopper]

Thanks greenhorn, Yes the list makes me nervous too.

[sanagg1]

@ Greenhorn
A relevant thread for many of us and also for SUV vs Sedan debate.

However, Please share your opinion about SX4 with ref. to high GC, in spite of being rattle king.

Cheers

[kpzen]

SX4 if you don't want a SUV
1. Reliability of a Maruti
2. High GC and good off roading capability for a sedan. One of the few sedans which can conquer Ladakh easily.

It might rattle a bit but won't break apart.

[superboy44]

the only thing that comes to mind is the BOWLER WILD CAT
get that and run through any terrain you want at any speed you want.

[raj_5004]

I think the scorpio & bolero would fit the bill.

If the roads are not too bad, then even the SX4 is a good option. it has 180mm GC. being a sedan, handling would be better too.

[greenhorn]

maybe I should have said abuse tolerant than bad roadable. I'm really not sure if the SX4 can stand being thrashed at 50+ speeds on bad roads ... I'm not asking if it can tackle bad terrain