[Kalash_6324]

A tough choice between the 90's ans 00's.


The 90's represent a long list of cars that I literally grew up in.
From the Tata stable, the Estate served our HUGE family along with the Sumo and the Indica.
From Daewoo, the cute little Matiz and the luxurious Cielo.
Although my absolute favourite was the Armada for the sole reason that I found the exhaust note the best. (I have no idea why, and early signs that I was an enthusiast at heart, even when I was just 2 years old, sitting in my Grandpa's lap and naming EVERY car I saw on the road)
Maruti too was well represented in our family, along with the Hyundai's small little Golden Santro that didn't last too long and would blow out it's AutoCop XS if somebody so much as even touched it.


Moving on to the 00's.
The Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Ford Ikon, the Swift (which I was sure would roll over someday - and it did. A lucky escape)
Along with a Qualis that we managed to squeeze 18 people in, and the Innova.
Also the decade of my personal favourite from Mercedes, the W211 E Class, which blew out the Turbo at just 3,000 kilometres.
Still have it though, don't have it in me to part with it.


Finally, the current decade.
A bit of a disappointment now that I look back it, for sure.
Except for a few bright spots.
The Ford Fiesta (classic), Hyundai's i20, Kia Seltos and... well, that's it mostly.
Only three cars I like enough to remember.
A special mention, the W213 E Class is a really good car.
But... after the love afair with the W211, nothing compares.


So if I have to pick a decade, I'd say it's a tie between the 90's and 00's, because the 90's had volume but the 00's gave us the W211, the City and the Verna (which I couldn't believe was ours even when parked in our own factory with the keys in my hand and my Dad repeatedly saying it's ours. Just 20 minutes ago had seen the ad on TV and there it was, in the flesh, in front of my eyes. I couldn't believe it - my first love affair, before the E class.)

[vb-saan]

Voted for the 2000s. The decade pure driving pleasure; reasonably priced cars, good to drive NA petrols, and nice steering wheel sans any buttons. The wonderful feel of my old Ikon 1.6 is unmatched.

One of the great improvement I saw in the next decade was on safety (added airbags, ESP etc.). I believe this decade will see a huge shift, and that’s not with the craze for Crossovers/Compact SUVs. We may see a complete (or almost) transition into EV space by close of this decade.

[amitayu]

The 2000s were by far the best.

We had cars with better engines, often cars with international market specifications being directly sold in India.

Over time, the sub 4mtr 1200 cc engine meant car makers started customising cars for India. One of the pitfalls of this development was massive cost cutting practices. Flimsy bodies, poor slim tyres, removing tyre well cladding etc are some of the issue that started cropping up.

As for bikes, 90s was a poor decade. We only had anemic under 100cc bikes from every manufacturer. the 2000 witnessed the 150-200 cc range offering like CBZ Pulsar which brought life in the bike market.

Overall, I think the bike market has witnessed steady improvement, more than the car market. I am more impressed with the present developments in the bike market than cars. the latter is getting sterotyped into urban SUVs, which is a trend I don't like. Where are the classy sedans today?

[1.2TSI7DSG]

For me it was definitely the 2000s

We got the foreign brands like Skodas VWs & Hondas of the world. Jazz, accords, lancers, octavias & jettas.

Closer to home, we also got the Swift which practically created the "Premium Hatch" category.
Hyundai introduced the CRDe to us.
Mahindra got the Scorpio.
Tata got us Indica V2, Nano.

Roads also improved drastically, so did traffic

Few saftey aids, manual gearboxes made driving a skill. Cars were cars first & gadgetry later. No arbit categories of Pseudo SUV, Compact Sedans were there. For me it an SUV is a big big jeep type vehicle (even if 4x2) and not a hatch on steroids. Sedans are sedans & not hatches with boots.

Hence still love the original cars which were built to be there and not the permutaion/combinations of the "platform" approach.

[tejas.negandhi]

I voted for 2000

I may be a bit biased as my keen interest and understanding for cars started then. However I still feel we saw some real good improvements in that decade. In the 90's we saw some fresh cars in the market but not all were great. Companies took the learning and some really good cars came in City vtec, Swift, etc.

Along with powerful engines, some good technology also became common like turbo-diesels, airbags, disc brakes, etc.

Somehow I am disliking the current decade as I feel the Innovation has gone and all companies are just focusing on pricing, profits, etc. There are few things I dislike are sub 4m car concept (makes car ugly), same car being re-badged (Duster, Creta, Ertiga, Vitara, etc.), tremendous cost cutting leading to cheap quality cars.

Hope things improve going forward. In the next decade hoping to have better and real hybrids, reliable and reasonable EVs, autonomous or self-driving vehicles as well.

[Shreyfiesta]

My vote goes for 2000s because it was the golden era of Indian automobile industry when we people used to get well-built, clean-looking, fast and frugal petrol-engined cars at reasonable prices.

Being born in early 2000s, some cars that used to steal my eyes were the classy Octavia, the boxy Endeavour, the Merc-ish Sonata and the four-eyed E-Class W211 to name a few. Other models like Ikon, Fiesta, Lancer, Scorpio, Innova, Corolla and Accord also were scoring well in their respective segments. Even in the hatchback segment, there were built-like-tank offerings such as M800, Zen, Santro and Palio. Back then too, models from mid-90s like Astra, Escort, Cielo and Nexia were almost rare here in Kerala (I believe most of them went scrapped by the beginning of 2000s due to spare parts and maintenance issues).

Nowadays, practicality of cars are being lost as manufacturers are trying to make their models more compact to make it affordable for more people. For this, they are reducing kerb weight, deleting necessary features (adjustable headrests is an example) and applying cost cutting techniques. Entry-level sedan segment and C-SUV segment are the two regions where companies are using most of these unwanted practices. Talking about buyers, they are giving more importance for fuel efficiency and resale value than anything else. This is the real reason why a person like me always prefers 2000s cars above newer ones.

[handsofsteel]

Voted 90s.
Early 90s- the first true sedan in India - the Maruti 1000, the oddball Standard 2000, Rover Montego-which promised aircraft equalling luxury, the Tata twins-estate and Sierra

The second half- Daewoo Cielo, the first true challengers to the m800, matiz and santro, the oh-so-luxuriously-priced Astra and vectra(anyone remember this?), the fords-escort and ikon, the vtec OHC (it was the 90s, not the 2000s), the Lancer, et al.

It was the 90s that first awakened the country to the kind of cars that were available elsewhere, when one would argue for hours with friends over the top speed (long before we understood torque and bhp or even power to weight). Those were the days when anybody buying anything other than a maruti was either incredibly'rich' or stupid.
The 90s it is for me.

[venbas]

Originally Posted by vigsom

I understand that in the US, people swear by Lexus/Toyotas/Hondas built in that time.

Late 90s in India was great - the Santro and the Honda City were the ones that shook Maruti out of their slumber and that is when MPFI 16V engines became the norm.

Agree in all the points Simple technology that put man before machine (will take it anyday compared to too much technology in current cars). Forget a Lexus or Toyota even the older Maruti cars weighed twice their current counterparts and we're built to last a lifetime. Late 90's and most of 2000's saw the addition of MPFI Engines with the superb City and even the accent engines bringing the muscle to the Cars.

Today's cars are definitely more safer and intelligent thanks to TCS ABS EBD Hill hold etc, more fuel efficient/less polluting thanks to BS VI norms, and has infinitely more creature comforts like ventilated seats, rear ac vents etc. In near future even a complete noob can probably drop into a showroom and drive away a car by watching some YouTube videos. But whether they have the true engaging drive for a hardcore enthusiast, that is a million dollar question.

[turbowhistle]

Voted for the 2000s. I think even Team-BHP also has to give a lot of credit to the cars in 2000s, those cars are the main reason we have this forum today.

For me personally, those cars ignited the passion I have today for cars. I remember being awestruck by Santro, Accent and Most importantly Civic. I dreamt about owning a civic for atleast 10 years.

Personally, I think we have too many choices in 2010s and 2020s ( 2020 has started on a very strong note with nice enthusiastic cars) but they mostly catered mass market.

[Annibaddh]

Voted for the 2000s. There's hardly doubt in my mind that this period really changed cars in the country. So much so that some of the designs, trends and mechanics continue to thrive even today. VW-Skodas, Toyotas, even Hondas and of course Maruti have only incrementally changed since then. But they all made fundamental leaps (or launched for the first time) vs older models in 2000s.

The only discernible trend that stands out in 2010s is the advent of the crossovers, a trend I am frankly ambivalent about. Other than the relatively unsafe nature of the vehicle itself I wonder if they've brought about a softer aspect change in our driving? It'd be interesting to study if that increased sense of strength (for the lack of a better word...or command perhaps) makes us more boorish as drivers, perhaps.

The second big difference for me is the pricing, which seems to have flown off the handle in late 2010s. I got my all-packed Vento TDi HL for ~10L in early 2012. A mid spec i10 for a littler over 4L, all included. While i10 improved post that, but not enough to start commanding a near 10L price-tag! Vento i daresay hasn't improved at all. Perhaps even worsened on many aspects (I find current cars a little less solid of build than mine for sure and interiors too don't *feel* quite as good) . And I have been largely able to keep it functionally up to date after market (RCD 340, suspension upgrade etc.).

2000s hands down for me.

[vsathyap]

2000s simply because of the Mitsubishi Lancer!

It was a decade of no "Sub-4m" nonsense and lovely 1.6L and 1.8L NA engines that were simply awesome. Yes, there was no "touchscreen" or reverse camera back in those days, but c'mon - where else would you find the Lancers and the Octavias and the Ford Mondeos and the Honda Civics of that gen? I had a pre-worshipped Zen that I still miss today and regret selling. 2000s I tell you - the best decade for me!

And the pricing was good too! It was still expensive for those times but you got your full money's worth just with those engines! I still remember looking at Lancers and Civics stopped at traffic signals and just gazing at them with that drooly look until I was "honked" out of my reverie!

[kar_thikr]

Sadly I couldn't vote, but If I could have I would have voted for 2000s. Because this was the decade that gave us access to many things for the first time, both in Two and Four wheels.
IMOH the launch of Swift in 2005, especially the diesel version made the Indians more appreciative of a diesel powerplant, It was such a game-changer that it showed us that power, handling and efficiency can go hand in hand at an attainable price.
When it comes to two-wheelers, the whole performance bike segment kicked of with CBZ(99) and Pulsar in this decade, not to mention the incredible rise of the gearless scooter segment with the introduction of Honda Activa.

[haisaikat]

Two pages of discussion but still no one talking of 2 wheelers. That is really strange.

The advent of the Pulsar made us think beyond the "kitna deti hai" mindset and it really revolutionized the sports bike space in India that was dominated by Yamaha even till the late 90s with the exception of Hero Honda CBZ. So 2000 era is actually the revolution for 2 wheeler segment in India. After the Pulsar there was no looking back and there were more 150cc and beyond models that eventually followed looking at the success of the Pulsar in the 2000s.

Coming to 4 wheelers, it is the period of 2010 onwards which started the boom of SUVs/ Crossovers becoming the family car but the revolution was started by the Innova back in 2000s whose success gave manufacturers the courage to experiment.

Even though in 2000s we saw a very capable model fail which could have been a grand success today, its the Ford Fusion 1.4 TDCi. Had it been priced 1 lakh lesser considering the market maturity of that time, it would have competed with premium hatches and would have made into a bigger success.

So 2000 for 2-wheelers and 2010 for 4-wheelers are the options of my choice.

[F1-Addict]

Originally Posted by GTO

I feel 2020s will be remembered as one of the best times, before the inevitable downsizing & EVs come.

I fully agree. My feel is EVs will start to truly dominate the scene in India in the period 2025-28. Post 2028-2030 who knows there could be bans on fossil fuel run vehicles especially in large cities or the tax imposed would be not make it viable to manufacture <20 lac segment so this would slowly fizzle into EV only territory.

Recently there was a thread on Digital dials vs Analogue ones. We are slowly heading into the era of Petrol / Diesel vs EV.

I am certainly not against EV's but in India the bulk primary electricity contribution is from Coal as a fuel. So are we really saving the environment is a thing to muse over...

[Iyencar]

With each decade passing I feel like the previous one had the best cars. As in cars that connected with me and not cars with better build, safety, or features necessarily. Not voting.