[Himanshu809]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

Senior citizens in the family were never comfortable in the Ecosport, particularly the rear seat. I cushioned it up, no improvement.

Drove a first gen Figo recently and the difference in comfort was immediately felt. We may point out to bad roads, easy ingress for elders, large car feel vis-a-vis a sedan etc when buying a pseudo SUV, but in actual it is a no man's land. Ground clearance, yes. But at what cost?

Exactly, pseudo SUVs feel stiff but just when you start to push them you feel the body roll. I mean either do it like a pseudo coupe thing which Baleno does, it's not heavy, suspension is tuned for comfort but still, for top models with fat wide tires it's really planted because of its width to length ratio and a hoot to drive with that impeccable 1.2L petrol and reasonably smooth gearbox. Best gearbox I've ever driven in a consumer car is Honda City 5 speed manual, that is what the benchmark should be IMHO

I'm not surprised to hear that your parents/grand parents were not comfortable in EcoSport, it's a Ford afterall, the masters of tight suspensions.

I've never driven ecosport for a long time, how'd you rate it's ride and city comfort while driving overall, including reversing and parking?

[Benoit]

No crossover can match the highway manners of a sedan which I feel is a safety aspect of highway driving. Since my usage(90 % highways) does not warrant high GC, I will stick to a sedan. But when there comes a time where I need high GC, I would be in big trouble. So, crossovers would be a practical choice, but I will always savor a sedan.

[Himanshu809]

Originally Posted by Benoit

No crossover can match the highway manners of a sedan which I feel is a safety aspect of highway driving. Since my usage(90 % highways) does not warrant high GC, I will stick to a sedan. But when there comes a time where I need high GC, I would be in big trouble. So, crossovers would be a practical choice, but I will always savor a sedan.

I get you man. For me whenever I think of a car, the first image is of a sedan. It's the natural shape for a car to be the best at what it's supposed to do, go fast!

[Kosfactor]

Interestingly it's not just the cars that are moving towards off-road friendly shape, the motorcycle segment too is witnessing a move towards adventure tourers.

The reluctant entry of Harley Davidson into the scene with Panamerica is telling, they are probably going to come back to India with it.

[Venkatesh]

SUV sales have shot up to 34 percent in Q1 CY2021 and it is the first time that SUV body style has crossed 30 percent share



Sub 4m monocoque SUV/Crossover segment. Ford Ecosport is maintaining a healthy segment share. Despite being pricey, Kia Sonet is doing quite well.

Nissan Magnite and Renault Kiger, has made a niche-budget-sub segment for themselves



Hyundai-KIA’s twins has decimated competition and garnered 90% segment size

They are the only ones to have a very competitive and cost-effective diesel engine in the segment



Large and true blue ladder chassis SUV segment is still dominated by Toyota Fortuner. MG Gloster, as a challenger, has eaten into Ford Endeavour’s pie share



Source

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by Venkatesh

SUV sales have shot up to 34 percent in Q1 CY2021 and it is the first time that SUV body style has crossed 30 percent share

The Harrier/ Safari combo alongwith the Compass & Tucson seem to be totally missing from this comparo.
Is it because of a certain price range omission?

[heysac]

Now since the Kushaq has launched, a lot of folks who prefer the Japanese & German cars would be deciding between the City and the Kushaq!

Major points to ponder over:
1) For automatics: CVT vs AT vs DSG (For city driving, CVT seems better)
2) Sedan vs Cross-over (Safety, visibility, etc)
3) ASS of Honda vs Skoda
4) Higher cost of Kushaq!
5) City has more boot space (506 vs 385)

What would you pick and why?

[Latheesh]

@heysac - Correct. I posted this an hour ago in Kushaq thread

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Parallel update:
Gave a call to local Honda dealer today morning and he brought home test drive car in the evening. Checked my funny parking space first and except for the length other things found to be ok. Went for test drive (narrow roads, steep slopes, two lane highways) and hyper active salesman was very nice to interact with. He did not hurry and we even went to the local service center to check all colors, variants in person. GC was my big concern but I did not face any issues during test drive. We came back again to my home to discuss the price luckily my brother was visiting my home. It turned out sales person and my brother are actually friends. Brother took a short test drive and gave a green signal (he runs an auto welding/denting shop) and knows about cars better than me. He then asked the sales guy to give an offer.

5th gen Honda City V ~ 13L OTR (incl extended warranty, NCB, discounted insurance, corporate discount etc.)
Kushaq base 1.0 Active ~ 12.5L OTR (pre-booked)

Whole test drive and discussions took 2.5 hours. Sales person requested me to visit their office to finalize the deal.

Now waiting for Kushaq test drive!

[m8002?]

Given the road conditions in India ( cities, highways, villages or towns), cross-overs are here to stay. Unless you are into high speed driving and cornering on highways, I dont see any advantage of sedans over crossovers.

I upgraded ( is it really? ) from a Baleno sedan to Creta and the only thing I miss is the rock solid stability on highways. My wife still tells how comfy it was to sleep in the back of the Baleno. But the ease of navigating the potholes and speedbreakers on a daily basis more than makes up for it.

Be it ease of ingress/egress, visibility, tacking bad roads, random large speed-breakers, the cross overs beat the sedans hands down. I feel the crossovers will become mainstream soon and the sedans will be relegated to a niche segment.

[Venkatesh]

SUVs contributed to over 35% of total sales in H1 2021. This is the highest market share by the body style in the last 10 years with hatchback penetration falling to 43%.



Link

[SS80]

I never believed sedans to be good cars, till I recently bought a used Manza. My respect towards sedans Is now sky high, mainly due to below factors

1. Highly stable on high speeds
2. Predictable behaviour in emergency situations
3. Large boot to carry everything you want
4. Sedans look more proportionate than most other car designs
5. Anyone who has experienced rear seat comfort of Manza/ Corolla Altis/ Vento would never find the same comfort in a EcoSport/Nexon.
6. Low and wide seats have a different feel altogether

About cross-overs
1. How many people actually use full water wading capacity of a eco sport?
2. None of friends who own Duster/Creta have done any sort of off-roading and prefer to use them as delicately as possible
3. Although our city roads get flooded during rain, my approach towards a flooded road remains same be it Nano/Duster/Sedan, if you are unsure of under lying surface, better to avoid driving into water. We know how many videos show cars of all sizes getting stuck in a flooded underpass.
4. Cross overs are usually sub 4 meter, so somewhere space constraint would be felt within cabin.

I don't consider compact sedans for the above points, I am just comparing a Verna/Manza/Vento to Duster/EcoSport.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by SS80

I never believed sedans to be good cars, till I recently bought a used Manza.

About cross-overs
1. How many people actually use full water wading capacity of a eco sport?
2. None of friends who own Duster/Creta have done any sort of off-roading and prefer to use them as delicately as possible
3. Although our city roads get flooded during rain, my approach towards a flooded road remains same be it Nano/Duster/Sedan, if you are unsure of under lying surface, better to avoid driving into water. We know how many videos show cars of all sizes getting stuck in a flooded underpass.
4. Cross overs are usually sub 4 meter, so somewhere space constraint would be felt within cabin.

I don't consider compact sedans for the above points, I am just comparing a Verna/Manza/Vento to Duster/EcoSport.

I would make a bit of a distinction between the Duster and the rest of the crossovers here, and without any doubt state that the Duster remains one of the most abuse friendly and rough road capable vehicles amongst all cars up to the Safari/ Compass segment.
I have almost never found a need to drive the Duster cautiously on any atrocious road conditions that I have come across, other than for passenger comfort.

[redcruiser]

How would the replies to this poll change given that we have now 180 mm ground clearance in powerful sedans (read Virtus /Slavia) ?

Who would like to change their vote.

[Sabarigirish]

After seeing Toyota Hyryder and Suzuki Vitara vehicles 255/365 litres boot space, tight rear seats, i am thinking why do people prefer this premium SUVs over premium sedans which offer 500+ litres boot and comfortable rear space with same level of features and safety.. Trend should change! It's a waste of money going with these SUVs having premium features but missing basic needs

[AZT]

Originally Posted by Sabarigirish

After seeing Toyota Hyryder and Suzuki Vitara vehicles 255/365 litres boot space, tight rear seats, i am thinking why do people prefer this premium SUVs over premium sedans which offer 500+ litres boot and comfortable rear space with same level of features and safety.. Trend should change! It's a waste of money going with these SUVs having premium features but missing basic needs

I would say high ground clearance and driving over pot holes would be what push people to buy crossovers. The Honda City and Ciaz have managed to hold their own though and doing well. Slavia and Virtus have reignited the market.