[evil_grin]

Which cars have great suspensions for bad roads as well as for taking corners?
Plus good engines and gearboxes and chassis and seats?

Basically a really fun to drive as well as a comfortable car. They are usually two ends of a spectrum. Which cars handle both bad roads and corners better than their competitors? Should still be available at least in the used market. I'm only considering these two aspects and not others like reliability, safety, space, resale, features, service because:

1. It's extremely difficult to get both right.
2. These are the 2 most important aspects for me personally and perhaps for some others.

By segments:

B2 - Abarth Punto

C1 - Not sure there are any worthy contenders.
C2 - Linea T-Jet or Duster petrol turbo?

D1 - Close call between Jeep Compass Diesel MT and VW Jetta diesel MT/AT and Laura Petrol MT/AT
D2 - Skoda Superb 2nd gen?

Entry Luxury - Should have been Jaguar XE but it's confused gearbox makes BMW 330i win
Performance Entry - Mercedes C43 over BMW M3?

Mid Luxury - Mercedes E350d or BMW 530d?
Performance Luxury - Mercedes E63 over BMW M5?

High Luxury - MercedesS 650 or BMW 760Li?
Performance High Luxury - Oxymoron

Sports - Porsche 911?

Please reply with your picks in the segments in which you have a winner in mind.

[viXit]

I know you hate it but I can't help but mention the Swift :P
It handles quite well while being a pretty compliant ride. The Ford Fiesta classic and Figo were great handlers too in this segment. The 1.6 Liter in the Classic was definitely a bomb.
And how come you didn't mention the Cedia? It handles like a dream and has a really sweet 2 Liter.

C1 has the new i20, Fast turbo, great ride, but you know not to expect much from it's steering and handling characteristics

D1- Octavia TSI, unlike the TDI had the Multi link suspension in the rear, which gave it an edge when it came to ride and handling. And you know better than anyone else about the Engine and gearbox.

[xjosephjacob]

Originally Posted by evil_grin

By segments:

B2 - Abarth Punto

C1 - Not sure there are any worthy contenders.
C2 - Linea T-Jet or Duster petrol turbo?

D1 - Close call between Jeep Compass Diesel MT and VW Jetta diesel MT/AT and Laura Petrol MT/AT
D2 - Skoda Superb 2nd gen?

Please reply with your picks in the segments in which you have a winner in mind.

These are exactly my kind of cars, legends I don't really want to bring in runner-ups here, however in the B2 segment, I think Polo TSI comes close. For C2, I'd definitely consider adding adding the Duster AWD (it offers noticeably superior ride and handling over the regular duster and is FAST).

[RROD]

I am not your regular enthusiast driver, for me the car should be fun to drive. Had a Figo and currently drive an S Cross, which I feel is definitely a fun and comfortable car.

[Eshan Joshi]

Originally Posted by evil_grin

C2 - Linea T-Jet

My family owns a Fiat Linea T-Jet .

I can tell you that it is pretty comfortable. And about the fun part? My father keeps on telling me all the time that it is a drivers car and how it handles perfectly. He always enjoys driving it. It is 10 years old and he has no plans to sell it.

Shame that Fiat has left India. They made some nice cars.

[GTO]

True, true. Getting comfort + fun right is a skill few suspension engineers have. Still, there are many cars that do so. A few off the back of my head.

The 3-Series (standard wheelbase) has the best ride + handling combination among sedans. Compliant, and fun. A name that doesn't come up often is the Jaguar XE = I loved the maturity & damping quality of its suspension hardware.

From the crossovers, I'd say the Duster & XUV300 both have great setups (the Duster especially). I liked the suspension setup of the Kia Sonet as well.

Mass market sedans? The Rapid. Old is truly gold in this case. The ageing warrior has the best engine + ride and handling balance in the segment.

Cheap fun = the Figo. Good, fun suspension for a mass market hatchback. Get that cracker of a 1.5L TDCi and you'll be grinning on all your highway drives.

Among the expensive cars, I'll put the new Mustang on the list. People always talk of Porsches (and rightly so), but there are more players on the table now. The Mustang has very liveable ride quality for India and is a damn good handler too. Earlier Mustang generations didn't like corners; this one does.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by evil_grin

Which cars have great suspensions for bad roads as well as for taking corners?

When I was reading this, I could not stop thinking of my F30 320d. That car has precisely the qualities you mentioned above. Absolutely perfect balance between handling and ride quality even on bad roads. I have driven that car on plenty of rural roads and totally impressed by how well it rides. My wife is now willing to come with me on long drives only if I drive the BMW :-)

Plus good engines and gearboxes and chassis and seats?

The 190hp/400Nm engine coupled with the amazing ZF-8 is great for most practical purposes. The chassis is very good too, and talking of the seats, the "Sports Seats" in that car are lovely and offer perfect support and comfort even for my 12 hour long drives!

In short, at the risk of sounding biased, I can not help but say that a BMW 3 series (F30 or G20) is that perfect car we are talking about there (NOT the E90 - that was way too stiff and hard-core in many ways.)

Originally Posted by GTO

The 3-Series (standard wheelbase) has the best ride + handling combination among sedans. Compliant, and fun.

Agree 100%. Both F30 and G20 are excellent cars for that ride + handling combination. G20 even more so than F30 in relative terms.

[S15]

Originally Posted by GTO

I'll put the new Mustang on the list. People always talk of Porsches (and rightly so), but there are more players on the table now. The Mustang has very liveable ride quality for India and is a damn good handler too. Earlier Mustang generations didn't like corners; this one does.

Does that mean an official review of the new Ford Mustang is underway?

[TrackDay]

Although a lot of cars can reasonably offer this combination, one name that stands out is the Duster. A brilliant car, but nonetheless let down by Renault here in India without any upgrade. The Duster is a robust product whose keys you can easily hand over to anyone. You know it will survive whatever abuse our Indian road conditions have to offer. It is also equally spacious in the second row and is not too difficult to park the car in an urban setting. I recall once seeing a duster doing insane speeds on the highway without any worry. However one of the glaring downsides is its dashboard, which looks very utilitarian. Now Toyota can get away with something like that, not Renault.

The one car that can blend easily in Urban as well as a Rural setting.

[spkrnh]

Let me bring up a car which I owned and loved it. I’m surprised no one has brought it up here.

1. The new fiesta. I switched to it after the old Ford Figo which was by itself a great driver’s car and was amazed at how the steering and handling was so good inspite of the fantastic ride quality(atleast front seat). We had a jetta after that but somehow the fiesta tugged at my heartstrings more that the jetta.

2. Punto abarth (was equivalent to the fiesta with much better performance). I would have got it instead of fiesta had it been available then.

3. For amazing ride quality Duster is still the gold standard for sub-30l. But I didn’t feel the steering and handling fun to be as good as the above two or my next car I am going to mention.

4. Jeep Compass. Ride quality is 90-95% of the duster, and I would rate the handling and steering to be superior by 10%. Duster had lot of kickback.

5. W213 e class. I’ve driven all its competitors and junior luxury class sedans. But the way e class rode bad roads was awesome. Flat solid ride which was superior to duster, hexa and all its rivals. Steering feel was mildly dull but it could shrink around you and the handling was great. It was not fun-to-drive per say like fiesta but the car you could drive fast without even feeling it be it in straight or twisties. I’ve driven the Octavia rs 230hp and bmw 330i, but given the choice would plumb for the w213 e350d and tune it to 310-320 + bhp

You might find it difficult to get options 1 & 2. But if it’s a budget option - punto abarth.
Else e350d.I’ve seen a lot of 50-60k kms run cars listed in olx for 20 odd lakhs.

[arjab]

The Linea T-Jet pre-facelift version. Beautifully setup suspension alongwith strong brakes. Yet to come across such a well calibrated package amongst Indian cars.
Another car which I was very impressed with was the Maruti-Suzuki Kizashi. Taut suspension setup with the right degree of suppleness ensured a very comfortable ride and engaging handling. Too bad Maruti made a hash out of such a nice car by not promoting it properly.

[Johnnny]

Ford Fiesta classic is the best of the lot followed by Punto. Former has an amazing chassis with the suspension that holds it far better than any other and gives you a big fat smile on your face whenever you hit the corners in high speed and not to forget about their Handling(Do i need to say about it? lol!). Man! i am smiling while i type is! Such is the performance of the car. Ford's DNA is better than any other.

Both the cars have HPS and i somehow feel it is superior than the current EPS.

[AMG1]

Jeep Compass 2.0 Diesel AT 4X4- Recently test drove it. Loved the way it handled plus stiff but mature ride comfort/solid feel with that 4X4 surprised me in a very positive way.

[ankitsharma]

I can tell you about the ones I have driven (not necessarily owned).

1. Fiat Punto / Linea T-Jet: Have driven Punto while I was trying to buy a used one. Excellent at that price point. My cousin has T-Jet and it is still rock solid with the ride + handling + suspension.

2. Ford Figo Diesel: 1.5 TDCi is a very fun to drive vehicle. Not sure of the petrol one (maybe due to the weight of the engine). This one is a heck of a car, specially the cost to fun ration is very less. I have driven this multiple times (though rental) and on all type of roads. This is one car that never gave up anywhere.

3. Skoda Rapid: I recently became an owner of this one and I am in love with the ride + handling + suspension package. Though I worry about the maintenance costs of those parts but still this is probably the best one I have driven on a long route. Recently did Bangalore -> Goa and I loved it.

[RaceHorse]

I would say Honda City MT, it offers best ride comfort both in city and on highways. 1.5 iVtec needs no special mention,
everyone knows how rev happy it is and fun to drive. Strong chassis and good handling capabilities are bonus.
Only kink in the armor is its low ground clearance.