High ground clearance sedans | Would you buy one?

PrideRed · 19th April 2021, 18:27

Volvo S60 Cross Country was a different product and I don't see many manufacturer tried to experiment . There are X4/X6/GLE Coupe but they are based from a SUV. Some of the sedans did come with higher clearance like updated Linea, Corolla, but then they are nothing close to be called a Cross. A sedan based Cross can handle better than SUV/Crossover and at same time offering good clearance to tackle bad roads. Will also please folks who prefer 3 box design. So what do you think, would you buy say a Honda City Cross? Also what could possible be stopping manufacturers from experimenting a sedan?

High ground clearance sedans | Would you buy one?-s60.jpg

Indian2003 · 19th April 2021, 19:01

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TrackDay · 19th April 2021, 19:03

Yes, I guess I would, since I am a sedan person. The SX4 was also a car with good clearance, which for some reason If I am right was in the SUV category. However
people buy SUVs for that rough aggressive butch looks which rarely comes with sedans. Cars like the Citroën C5 X & recently revealed Ford EVOS also draws a thin line between sedans, SUVs and crossovers in terms of styling. However manufacturers will be more comfortable labelling them SUVs rather than sedans. I think the real missing out there could be a sedan based on a SUV

, like the beast (truck chassis !) & only a very few on the planet knows how it handles/drives on road !

High ground clearance sedans | Would you buy one?-1.png

Dry Ice · 19th April 2021, 19:15

SX4!

I think that was a sedan which carried its high GC with aplomb and was quite a hit.

Checkout some places this thing tackled in a fellow member's logs. He seems inactive now, but you can read his notes about the vehicle.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ive-spiti.html (A family drive to Spiti)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...xperience.html (Kashmir - Heaven, where you live to experience it)

akash_v12 · 19th April 2021, 19:26

A quick search on Google has led me to believe that only a few companies, very few, have actually ever had high-riding sedans in their portfolio.
2 of them were owned by Geely and one was the SX4.

If I had the option to choose between buying a high-riding sedan, I'd only get one if it was the Polestar 2 or the S60 Cross Country. They have a character of their own and it's worth the money they're betting on them. However, if it were to be an SX4, I'd not. I'm not saying that the design is utterly bad, but I'm also not saying it's a timeless design. I honestly feel the SX4 has already begun to show it's age while the S60 (The design being from around 2014s IIRC) have not.

Sedans are meant to be as they are, low-slung, sleek-looking machines, but I wouldn't mind seeing more manufacturers take up this idea.

locusjag · 19th April 2021, 19:28

Ground Clearance figures by themselves mean little until you've seen the wheelbase, if you want a car that can ride over obstacles without scraping its bottom.

And I've heard mention of an ideal ratio of wheelbase to track width from automobile engineers and proper sedans usually have this ratio maintained so that they handle as well as they do, with a long wheelbase. And of course, a longer wheelbase equates to more room and comfort for the passengers.

SUVs on the other hand have relatively lesser wheelbases in order to provide better ground clearance.

What will such a high GC sedan offer really? You won't get much of anything - but I could be wrong. I'm just mulling over things here based on what I know...

By the way, I've seen such a Honda sedan model in the US, can't remember its name.

VKumar · 19th April 2021, 19:36

Of course NOT.

What we buy low slung cars for? Their dynamics! (And less motion sickness too)

Only for those dynamics and the fun to drive factor, we compromise on ground clearance, ease of ingress and egress, even the safety too (there is a difference between colliding with a truck and going under one).

When the dynamics are compromised, then I would any day prefer to have the ones which I am compromising on; and instead get a UV that offers more flexibility in terms of space management and probably will get me a wider set of choices to choose from too. Gone are the days when sedans were a more comfortable set of vehicles. Now the nice UVs with higher set, reclining, and sliding rear seats offer more comfort. Owning an S Cross is better than owning a Ciaz or SX-4 any day for me.

Frankly speaking, if I have to think conservatively like a UV driver while driving a sedan on a nice winding hilly road. Then what's even the purpose of owning one?

If it has high GC and beefed up suspension, then it is not a sedan - it is a 3 box crossover!

Shreyans_Jain · 19th April 2021, 19:50

Absolutely, yeah!!

The closest we have come to a high riding mass market sedan was the SX4, and that car sold well. You'll find plenty of ex owners who fondly reminisce their ride.

Thing is, along with the higher GC and bigger wheels, a high riding sedan needs a solidity. Build quality has to be good and the car needs to give you a feeling of abuse friendliness. The suspension also needs to be solid and well tuned. Subjecting a Ciaz or City or Amaze to this exercise will just not cut it. The fact that these cars are delicate darlings to begin with is a big reason behind their declining popularity.

aniketi · 19th April 2021, 20:01

Yes... For India, anything above 180 mm GC is welcome and much needed. Thing is it should not scrap on all types of speed breakers and should handle small to medium potholes with ease. Higher GC means, higher seating position as well, which will suit elderly people too. Hope we get such sedans soon, certainly people will like it.

gkveda · 19th April 2021, 20:13

My response would be YES

And, 99% of the people who prefer high GC would have same reason.

In india, due to construction of road humps (mainly unscientific) the main requirement is to avoid underbody scrapping or hitting the humps. The drawback of the high GC is, it affects handling and cornering.

Now, the expectation of enhanced GC is just by 10 to 20 mm and nothing more than that. If the normal GC is in the range of 165 to 170 mm, the expectation would be 180mm

With this raise in GC, will there be significant changes in handling and cornering abilities? Even if the answer is yes, I think manufacturers can compensate the GC by altering the geometry of other dimensions. Technically all these are possible. But, since all these requires redesigning of the entire car geometry, no manufacturer does it only to customize the car for indian context.

Hence, same cars with GC designed for foreign countries will be manufactured even for India.

Samba · 19th April 2021, 20:14

When I bought the Etios, the ground clearance was 170mm. With Upsized tyres, I managed it to 176 mm. 6 mm helped me to avoid, quite a lot of scrapping.

The higher ground clearance gave me more peace of mind.
But the handling and high speed behavior was superior, when the GC was 170 mm.
So if I am asked, whether I will prefer a sedan with high GC, my answer is NO!

When higher GC is required, I will opt for a crossover. A sedan with high GC will be like 'jack of all trades, master of none'.

No, a sedan is not meant for this.

High ground clearance sedans | Would you buy one?-maxresdefault.jpg

TokyoDrifter · 19th April 2021, 20:27

Will I go Kart on a slightly higher GC Kart? Don’t think so. I mean you get the drift?

Lower GC = better handling.

Don’t think it makes sense to give that up for butch presence and eliminating the underbody scrapes. Not for me!

Hated driving my friend’s Endeavour! Love every single drive in my Polo GT.

haisaikat · 19th April 2021, 20:31

If I have to buy a high GC Sedan then I would certainly get one with an Adaptive Suspension (as seen in several luxury high end automobiles) as it can allow adjusting the effective GC and much more control.

However a high GC sedan may not be a practical choice unless we are targetting only bad roads that do not test your approach or departure angles. So end of the day such a vehicle cannot outclass the need of SUVs and off roaders that are designed to thrive under such conditions.

ramki.grandhi · 19th April 2021, 20:44

I'm from Bangalore, so voted yes. I'm sure 90% people from Bangalore would vote yes. Remaining 10% people will think for couple of seconds and then vote yes!

AJ739 · 19th April 2021, 21:22

Voted YES!! Especially if it's the Volvo's S60 Cross Country. With 201mm GC, AWD system and Bull-ish looks on offer, it was tailor made for the Bangalore roads. The car could easily cross over any speed hump, go over potholes without breaking a sweat or even occupants neck for that matter

I'm interested to know which other sedan would be capable of doing the following?

https://youtu.be/6m63jUgzvbY

View Poll Results: Would you consider buying high GC/AWD sedan?
Yes	274	67.65%
No	131	32.35%
Voters: 405. You may not vote on this poll

19th April 2021, 18:27	#1
PrideRed Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: May 2012 Location: BLR/PTR Posts: 3,468 Thanked: 10,676 Times	High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? Volvo S60 Cross Country was a different product and I don't see many manufacturer tried to experiment . There are X4/X6/GLE Coupe but they are based from a SUV. Some of the sedans did come with higher clearance like updated Linea, Corolla, but then they are nothing close to be called a Cross. A sedan based Cross can handle better than SUV/Crossover and at same time offering good clearance to tackle bad roads. Will also please folks who prefer 3 box design. So what do you think, would you buy say a Honda City Cross? Also what could possible be stopping manufacturers from experimenting a sedan?
	(38) Thanks

19th April 2021, 19:01	#2
Indian2003 BHPian Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Sarpsborg Posts: 431 Thanked: 3,669 Times View My Garage	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? Mod Note : Please do NOT post messages that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the quality of this forum. We advise you to read the Forum Rules before proceeding any further. Request to post ONLY when you have something substantial to add to a discussion. Last edited by GTO : 20th April 2021 at 09:03.
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19th April 2021, 19:03	#3
TrackDay Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2020 Location: Magic land Posts: 1,057 Thanked: 4,432 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? Yes, I guess I would, since I am a sedan person. The SX4 was also a car with good clearance, which for some reason If I am right was in the SUV category. However people buy SUVs for that rough aggressive butch looks which rarely comes with sedans. Cars like the Citroën C5 X & recently revealed Ford EVOS also draws a thin line between sedans, SUVs and crossovers in terms of styling. However manufacturers will be more comfortable labelling them SUVs rather than sedans. I think the real missing out there could be a sedan based on a SUV , like the beast (truck chassis !) & only a very few on the planet knows how it handles/drives on road ! Last edited by TrackDay : 19th April 2021 at 19:06. Reason: grammar
	(9) Thanks

19th April 2021, 19:15	#4
Dry Ice Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: -- Posts: 3,617 Thanked: 7,685 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? SX4! I think that was a sedan which carried its high GC with aplomb and was quite a hit. Checkout some places this thing tackled in a fellow member's logs. He seems inactive now, but you can read his notes about the vehicle. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ive-spiti.html (A family drive to Spiti) https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...xperience.html (Kashmir - Heaven, where you live to experience it)
	(3) Thanks

19th April 2021, 19:26	#5
akash_v12 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Pune \| Mumbai Posts: 1,145 Thanked: 3,030 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? A quick search on Google has led me to believe that only a few companies, very few, have actually ever had high-riding sedans in their portfolio. 2 of them were owned by Geely and one was the SX4. If I had the option to choose between buying a high-riding sedan, I'd only get one if it was the Polestar 2 or the S60 Cross Country. They have a character of their own and it's worth the money they're betting on them. However, if it were to be an SX4, I'd not. I'm not saying that the design is utterly bad, but I'm also not saying it's a timeless design. I honestly feel the SX4 has already begun to show it's age while the S60 (The design being from around 2014s IIRC) have not. Sedans are meant to be as they are, low-slung, sleek-looking machines, but I wouldn't mind seeing more manufacturers take up this idea. Attached Thumbnails Attached Images Last edited by akash_v12 : 19th April 2021 at 19:31. Reason: Added pictures :)
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19th April 2021, 19:28	#6
locusjag Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Chennai Posts: 1,911 Thanked: 9,082 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? Ground Clearance figures by themselves mean little until you've seen the wheelbase, if you want a car that can ride over obstacles without scraping its bottom. And I've heard mention of an ideal ratio of wheelbase to track width from automobile engineers and proper sedans usually have this ratio maintained so that they handle as well as they do, with a long wheelbase. And of course, a longer wheelbase equates to more room and comfort for the passengers. SUVs on the other hand have relatively lesser wheelbases in order to provide better ground clearance. What will such a high GC sedan offer really? You won't get much of anything - but I could be wrong. I'm just mulling over things here based on what I know... By the way, I've seen such a Honda sedan model in the US, can't remember its name.
	(5) Thanks

19th April 2021, 19:36	#7
VKumar BANNED Join Date: Nov 2016 Location: Dehradun Posts: 948 Thanked: 8,347 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? Of course NOT. What we buy low slung cars for? Their dynamics! (And less motion sickness too) Only for those dynamics and the fun to drive factor, we compromise on ground clearance, ease of ingress and egress, even the safety too (there is a difference between colliding with a truck and going under one). When the dynamics are compromised, then I would any day prefer to have the ones which I am compromising on; and instead get a UV that offers more flexibility in terms of space management and probably will get me a wider set of choices to choose from too. Gone are the days when sedans were a more comfortable set of vehicles. Now the nice UVs with higher set, reclining, and sliding rear seats offer more comfort. Owning an S Cross is better than owning a Ciaz or SX-4 any day for me. Frankly speaking, if I have to think conservatively like a UV driver while driving a sedan on a nice winding hilly road. Then what's even the purpose of owning one? If it has high GC and beefed up suspension, then it is not a sedan - it is a 3 box crossover! Last edited by VKumar : 19th April 2021 at 19:40.
	(19) Thanks

19th April 2021, 19:50	#8
Shreyans_Jain Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: HR51/HR29/HR26 Posts: 2,981 Thanked: 23,829 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? Absolutely, yeah!! The closest we have come to a high riding mass market sedan was the SX4, and that car sold well. You'll find plenty of ex owners who fondly reminisce their ride. Thing is, along with the higher GC and bigger wheels, a high riding sedan needs a solidity. Build quality has to be good and the car needs to give you a feeling of abuse friendliness. The suspension also needs to be solid and well tuned. Subjecting a Ciaz or City or Amaze to this exercise will just not cut it. The fact that these cars are delicate darlings to begin with is a big reason behind their declining popularity. Last edited by Shreyans_Jain : 19th April 2021 at 20:00.
	(2) Thanks

19th April 2021, 20:01	#9
aniketi BANNED Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Pune Posts: 2,059 Thanked: 3,060 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? Yes... For India, anything above 180 mm GC is welcome and much needed. Thing is it should not scrap on all types of speed breakers and should handle small to medium potholes with ease. Higher GC means, higher seating position as well, which will suit elderly people too. Hope we get such sedans soon, certainly people will like it.
	(4) Thanks

19th April 2021, 20:13	#10
gkveda Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,154 Thanked: 4,761 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? My response would be YES And, 99% of the people who prefer high GC would have same reason. In india, due to construction of road humps (mainly unscientific) the main requirement is to avoid underbody scrapping or hitting the humps. The drawback of the high GC is, it affects handling and cornering. Now, the expectation of enhanced GC is just by 10 to 20 mm and nothing more than that. If the normal GC is in the range of 165 to 170 mm, the expectation would be 180mm With this raise in GC, will there be significant changes in handling and cornering abilities? Even if the answer is yes, I think manufacturers can compensate the GC by altering the geometry of other dimensions. Technically all these are possible. But, since all these requires redesigning of the entire car geometry, no manufacturer does it only to customize the car for indian context. Hence, same cars with GC designed for foreign countries will be manufactured even for India.
	(1) Thanks

19th April 2021, 20:14	#11
Samba Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Kolkata Posts: 2,303 Thanked: 29,615 Times View My Garage	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? When I bought the Etios, the ground clearance was 170mm. With Upsized tyres, I managed it to 176 mm. 6 mm helped me to avoid, quite a lot of scrapping. The higher ground clearance gave me more peace of mind. But the handling and high speed behavior was superior, when the GC was 170 mm. So if I am asked, whether I will prefer a sedan with high GC, my answer is NO! When higher GC is required, I will opt for a crossover. A sedan with high GC will be like 'jack of all trades, master of none'. No, a sedan is not meant for this. Last edited by Samba : 19th April 2021 at 20:16.
	(20) Thanks

19th April 2021, 20:27	#12
TokyoDrifter BHPian Join Date: Jun 2020 Location: Bangalore Posts: 245 Thanked: 332 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? Will I go Kart on a slightly higher GC Kart? Don’t think so. I mean you get the drift? Lower GC = better handling. Don’t think it makes sense to give that up for butch presence and eliminating the underbody scrapes. Not for me! Hated driving my friend’s Endeavour! Love every single drive in my Polo GT.
	(5) Thanks

19th April 2021, 20:31	#13
haisaikat Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: Kolkata Posts: 1,076 Thanked: 5,486 Times View My Garage	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? If I have to buy a high GC Sedan then I would certainly get one with an Adaptive Suspension (as seen in several luxury high end automobiles) as it can allow adjusting the effective GC and much more control. However a high GC sedan may not be a practical choice unless we are targetting only bad roads that do not test your approach or departure angles. So end of the day such a vehicle cannot outclass the need of SUVs and off roaders that are designed to thrive under such conditions.
	(7) Thanks

19th April 2021, 20:44	#14
ramki.grandhi BHPian Join Date: May 2020 Location: Bangalore Posts: 523 Thanked: 2,432 Times	re: High ground clearance sedans \| Would you buy one? I'm from Bangalore, so voted yes. I'm sure 90% people from Bangalore would vote yes. Remaining 10% people will think for couple of seconds and then vote yes!
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