[BlackPearl]

My list would be -

Ambassador
Bolero
Innova
Scorpio
Maruti 800
First gen Alto
Esteem

and all those jugaad Jeeps still chugging along in rural and remote parts of India.

[VinsWagen]

Originally Posted by Candy$Cars

I guess the Honda City is missing from the list. I still see quite a lot of City on roads.

My vote goes to the Matiz.
It was my father's 1st car bought in 2000. For the next 6 years, the cute little car hauled our family of 5 all the way from hilly terrain of remote Sonebhadra to Lucknow, a journey of well over 13 hrs in those days. Next 8 years were also spent in sub-urban areas.
With the closure of Daewoo and we living in remote locations, the car received just shoddy maintenance from unknown mechanics but it chucked along.
It was as if the car had emotions. Not once in entire 14 years, it brokedown midway. During the last 4 or odd years it suffered some breakdowns but always after taking us to our destination. We would come to know it had broken down only the next day - this with questionable maintenance and unknown spare parts.
Finally we sold it in 2018, the new owner was still using it and managed to maintain it better than us the last we checked!
I know it won't win this poll mainly because very few would have kept a Daewoo for long and maintaing them was tough but to us it turned out to be very reliable.
I wish Daewoo was alive today, it would have been the only Korean i could have trusted with my money.

I have a very similar experience with Chevrolet Spark, which I believe is a reincarnation of the Matiz. It never failed us even a single time and still going strong after 12 years and 1 lakh kilometers across Chennai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and the long drives through the western ghats for the first 6 years. Now this is our beater car used for shop visits. It is an LPG + Petrol model and remarkably the LPG has survived all these years without any niggles or hassles. The only thing that went bad on that is the fuel level indicator lights for LPG. And more surprisingly, at least 4 of my friends and relatives have learned to drive in this car and have really taken it to the edge. Remarkable car. Underappreciated. I have seen around that Spark, Beat, and to some extent, U-VA were highly reliable cars. Too bad GM left the business here.

[sheelRP]

Where is 3rd gen honda city? For me for over 10 years of blissful ownership and a perfect city car with fantastic engine and a trouble free ownership of nearly 1 lac kms would make it durable car for urban petrol heads . It should be on the list atleast if we consider cars post 2000. Otherwise, most of the Maruti hatcbacks would dominate this list.

[ksakotai]

For me it is the Toyota Qualis. When we returned to India after 16 years in the US I bought our "Basanti" in 2005 sight unseen, having owned the Sienna for over 8 years in the US. Needless to say the Sienna really took care of our family thru long drives, including safely protecting us in a potentially life threatening accident in snow and ice situation in New Hampshire.

We had a petrol version of the Qualis (only one of 3 such models in Hyd), which saw nearly 4 L kms without the engine complaining ever so slightly. Of course driving Hyderabad roads took its toll on the body, AC compressor and shock absorbers. After 17 years faithful service we had to part ways in 2021. I would rate it as one of best behicles ever produced in.India and was sad when production.was stopped.

[V.Narayan]

This thread should allow for each voter to vote for 3 cars because each generation had its own durable favourite.

Back in the 1950s I would put the Fiat Millicento at top. A lot of parts came from Italy and Premier as a company had not fallen into the poor quality ways it did by the 1970s and 80s. The Landmaster would vie for top slot here. Also these cars were easy to repair which added to their longevity.

Cut to the 1980s when India had its first auto revolution I'd pick the Maruti800 SS80. Again the early ones were almost half Japanese and that made a big difference to quality.

Cut to the 2000s by when the 2nd auto revolution was in full form and auto manufacture in India had reached a global manufacturing standard. Here I'd pick the Toyota Qualis which like the Duracell battery advert just goes on and on and on. The Innova is its spiritual successor. In this quasi-utility, people mover category I'm tempted to squeeze in a M&M somewhere but unfortunately my personal knowledge on M&M is zero and the numbers that run in rural India forever must count for something!

Among the foreign cars not made in India I would pick the Mercedes W124 series which was the last Mercedes built like a Mercedes. Maybe the W124 was assembled in India for a short while in the 1990s but my recollection is hazy.

Sadly no car from the Tata family is being selected by me. especially sad for me as I sold Tata trucks once upon a time and like funsters @funkycar knew how to drive 407s.

[warp_10]

Qualis / Innova / Fortuner or basically from Toyota's stable would be the undisputed champions. You could replace Duracell with Toyota in the ad campaign (the rabbit ad) and it'll still sound perfect.

My dad worked his life in auto industry and was an avid fan of Toyota and a huge proponent of their JIT / kanban / kaizen / jidoka (unlike others who want to make it fully automated) principles. He brought those to Indian segments and used to say its the process which results in the quality / deliverable. He used to go on and on about how their product never fails because of above following and ensures super low comparative cost still. A ton goes behind on the shop floor process, to get us to enjoy such a brilliant machine with almost zero failures.

I owned a corolla and basically sold after 100k at 60%+ cost. Very few cars can boast of such resale value (just states the confidence in the machine being super high and its maintenance cost being super low ).

[Bhalla]

Gypsy for me. Still the first choice for Army, Police Forces and doing duty all over India and in all kind of conditions from Himalayas (Himachal, Kashmir, North East) to Deserts (Rajasthan) to Coastal Areas (Goa, Tamil Nadu) to Metros (Delhi, Mumbai) to Plains (Punjab, Haryana).
Still 1 of the favourite SUV of Adventure Lovers due to it’s simple mechanisms, easy to maintain and modification friendly nature.
Ruling Indian Roads Since 1980s

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

Fuel efficiency in Mumbai traffic was 7-9 kmpl.

That is good fuel economy for a vehicle that can accommodate 7 people in comfort and weighing close to 1.6 tons! My 1.4l Turbo petrol car delivered the same economy in the city cycle.

I know someone in our family too who drives around in a petrol Innova. I think they have taken to car to almost every corner of the country and the car soldiers on reliably. The engine refinement levels are indeed excellent for this class of vehicle.

[NKB]

I have voted for Ambassador. I have been seeing these cars for ever. I have seen them being used by PMs, CMs, Politicians, common people, Cab Drivers etc. I can still see old Ambassador quite often on roads. In Kolkata they are still used as Taxis. In rural India you will still find Ambassadors in numbers. What is fascinating is that for most of their life they have been plying on extremely bad roads/non-existing roads and still they are going on.

The other cars I would have liked to vote would be Bolero, Innova, 800 and Indica.

[souvikjana83]

A lot of cars will be able to fulfill these actually. Toyota Innova, Honda City, Maruti Suzuki Swift and Dzire, Maruti Suzuki Alto, Toyota Corolla will definitely form my list from the current crop of cars.

Surprisingly all of them are Japanese. Only if the build quality of most of them would have been so reliable.

[Batfreak]

In addition to the Toyota duo of the Qualis and Innova, I think the Mitsubishi Pajero SFX also deserves a mention here. The rugged build quality and butch looks meant that this was the definitive vehicle for the rural Indian landowner before the Fortuner came along. We can also see a fair number of well-maintained examples on the road today.

[DIV17]

As expected the Innova has the highest votes here. But for me it has to be the CJ, Armada and the Bolero. Having seen one up close, I must say that they are built only to take abuse and just refuse to break whatever you throw at them.
And the Bolero still selling in such numbers is a testament to that.

[kraken]

Great thread !

I have voted for vehicles that I've owned or was owned by immediate family.

1. Mahindra Bolero. I had 2 iterations of the Bolero , the camper and the XL. Both were sold after 7-8 years/approx. 3-3.50 lakhs kms each (started as commercial and ended as passenger vehicles) . Apart from body rusting issues and some minor niggles, both were extremely reliable and served us well.

2. Volkswagen Polo 1.2 TDI. 2012- present. Around 1.26 lakh km on odoand still going strong. Oh boy this car special. One of the best cars I've ever owned and still drives like the day I got him ! Water pump failure and AC issues recently rectified. Other than that pretty much reliable.

3. Innova. Not mine but we do have one in the family. Nothing much to say. Bulletproof!

4. Toyota Fortuner. Not listed and should be added to the list. 2015- present around 1.1 lakh kms on the Odo. My most favoured highway runner ! I have to say, Toyotas age like fine wine !!

[Radar]

If I could vote, I would have gone with a Toyota Innova. My 2006 Innova is 200000 km and counting. Except for all safety features like ABS and Airbags that it lacks, I can't find any good reason to change it for my Urban usage... 15+ years and still going strong. Durable indeed!!

[jinojohnt]

I didn't vote for any car.
My reasoning is a slightly different version of "No car is safer than the moron who drives it" - A car is as reliable as the moron who services it.
I have seen 15 years old Octavias still being run in immaculate condition with very less maintenance expenses (inspite of the skoda horror stories) and 10 year old Alto's incurring almost Rs 25K per service (and still breaking down every now and then).