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Originally Posted by TourqeHead Per me- FIAT is one Car manufacturer with amazing design and engineering teams Only to be let down by a mediocre Management and Marketing team. Not sure if they have an analyst team to study market needs and feed back , in case they have ,those folks should be given a basic 101 training on how not to wreck a brand(Sorry ,FIAT brand is already wrecked, so how not to wreck a brand twice!) |
Update : Its been a while since this post and quite frankly nothing changed. My head could convince me about veering away from FCA/Jeep, but the interesting part is that my better half stood her ground.
She had a couple of military precision questions about steering feed back, high speed cornering, body roll at sharp turns and precision breaking abilities of any other alternative to Jeep and it outright pulled me down from my moral high ground built on economics, time value of money concept and basic Logic. Thought process based on economic aspect's tend to forget those basic needs of our driving that's evolved well thru the long Highway drives in Punto.
She wouldn't go anywhere near Tata showroom and I couldn't quite pull my self around to go to Jeep showroom, this impasse went on for a little while and we are still driving around our Fiat Punto Evo 90hp. Early this week after a lot of deliberation, she did agree to accompany me to check out Harrier provided I agree to test drive new Jeep as well as take a look at Model S(Our SA did notify that Model S is available at VTK Chennai and so is Test drive vehicle)
We went to Tata first,probably its just me because I came from Wagon R to Punto and S-Cross(in native at wife's place) ,Harrier seemed 'Huge' to me , space on offer was awesome compared to Jeep Compass. interior cabin fit and finish is pretty good,but there were a few downsides which I couldn't explain away , Again those are mostly personal takes , others might not perceive these as issues.
1) In the seating position that I finally figured to be the best comfortable one,my left knee was scrapping against a dashboard accent that was curving into the gear box panel at the drivers side,that was out right uncomfortable,not sure if anyone else have this issue or its the issue with the seating position i figured out for me.
2)Rear A/C vents on the door panel has very little throw, I thought it was a blower setting issue and had the SA set the AC to maximum throw ,but there was no significant change, SA confirmed that it is how it will be.
3)Hand Brake: I found it bit difficult to operate the aeroplane type hand brake, SA did show me the best way to operate it and did get better after that but the pressure applied seemed to be difficult one for my better half.
4)No dual zone AC and no Disc brake in rear, I am not complaining much about this but could've been provided in a 25L car.
Points (1) and (2) seemed critical aspects and we didn't proceed for second round with Harrier and have placed it on Hold, but Harrier for sure ,did leave a good impression.
Later in the week we went to Jeep showroom and took a test drive in Limited trim (AT). Compass does rev up at initial move from stop,probably will get better after getting used to proper throttle pressure ,there was also a bit of a mild jerk between 2 and 3rd gear shift. Tried to floor it in a section to see if the 'lag' that's been talked about will bother me, didn't find any , it might as well be due to my heavy foot.
Overall drive was composed and Hold facility in start/stop traffic is good. Not writing anything more as I am particularly biased in favor of Jeep Compass since day one, the teeny tiny niggles ,' if any' that were there were not registered as issues to my Heart , frankly I didn't see any.
Checked out Model S(AT), amazing fit and finish, if I was not exposed to a field related to finance or been absolutely unaware about concepts like 'time value of money' or ' Actual vs perceived vs absolute value' i would've just bought it then and there. I am hopelessly back to square one with tussle playing out between head and heart.
For 35L OTR ; I would expect to get Paddle shifters,Instrument cluster navigation(already mentioned by fellow Bhp'ians),Rear seat recline,Passenger seat storage like in international RHD versions,Ambient lighting, Puddle lamps and over all longer warranty period. leaving out larger boot space as this facelift has no scope for that,but the rest mentioned were all pretty much possible.
With all the electronic components loaded in I am bit skeptical about the warranty of 1 L or 3yr (which ever is first) and 50k or 2 yrs (which ever is first) extended warranty. In our Punto, blue and Me failed after 2nd year and it was out of warranty then.
For now Jeep Compass is on a partial Hold status , until Citroen C5 Aircross is out.
C5 Aircross might not have 4*4 , but frankly I don't think I will need 4*4 unless I veer out on a Ghat section or really drive over to Himalayan range(4*4 or not ,the ground Clearance/approach/departure angles of Jeep Compass is not quite confidence inspiring to take on that drive though,Trailhawk could be different story, I would have brought pre facelift Trailhawk for this price have I known FCA will get me to this position)
As of now wait is 'on' for Citroen C5 Air cross - Have been looking at the reviews available , but none were pointing to the driving dynamics that we have been looking for , so looked up there are any Km77 Maniobra de Esquiva(Moose Test) test videos for C5 Air Cross and it did have one. listing the link below :-
Also providing the link for the test done with 2017 Jeep Compass
C5 Aircross does a good job in the moose test and is at par with how Jeep Compass did , Fingers crossed and waiting for more details on C5 Aircross.
With FCA and PSA coming together to form Stellantis , I hope there will be a day in not so long future when we get to see Jeep and Citroen sold together or sharing logistics here.Unless that happens or FCA India pulls a rabbit out their Hat ,with this pricing Jeep might not make the volumes to sustain alone and take the Fiat route.