[qaqa]

1. Scrap the silly 4m/1.5L rule. Instead bring in graded tax slabs based on length, width, CO2 and NOx

2. Why so much hate on quadricycles? I say bring in a class of "quadricycles" for exclusive city use with light safety norms and lighter taxes. Quadricycles to have a capped top speed of 70-80kmph and banned on highways and expressways. I'm thinking cars like the MG Comet have great practicality on city roads both as private passenger vehicles and as taxis.

3. Auction car permits for city use - esp large cars- Singapore style. All car owners to submit proof of parking availability on annual basis (not sure how this would be implemented !)

4. Minimum power and torque norms for trucks based on load capacity. Trucks should have minimum acceleration and gradability.

5. Scrap the top speed restriction on cabs. If a highway's speed limit is 100kmph why cap cabs at 80kmph ?

6. Ruthlessly impose average speed limits on highways. Early arrival due to overspeeding to be penalized heavily. Easy to implement by having a minimum transit time toll booth to toll booth.

7. Biannual DL tests. Redoing of DL tests for repeat offenders to be able to reinstate DL.

[Joe367]

Here's something from me: Citroen C3 turbo is an amazing car for the price. It's engine and suspension alone makes up for the lack of fancy features. 😁

[Venkat_Figo]

Here we go again:

- A 5-star NCAP rating with an unstable structure is no 5-star
- If Creta, Seltos, Grand Vitara...are SUVs then I am THALA for a reason
- EVs, shut up till you can run 700 kms and can charge fully in 10 mins & cost less

[PrasadS]

Originally Posted by qaqa

I think you missed the single most important reason for many - upright, chair like seating. Makes ingress and egress effortless, increases comfort and provides a better view of the road ahead.

We can go back and forth on this, but let's keep the freedom of speech this particular thread has given us
I'd love to talk more/banter on this, maybe another thread or over tea/coffee? My treat

[ashivas89]

Quite a few misogynistic posts on this thread. Forget about inclusive and being of this time, we have members here who have time travelled here from 2 decades ago.

My wife can run rings/ do donuts around you all day long when it comes to driving.

[PB65]

I think we have lost the whole point of this thread. By definition, controversial means:
Relating to or causing much discussion, disagreement, or argument.

Now, I don't understand how things like honking only when necessary, driving discipline, toll plaza discipline, etc. are controversial. These are facts, and rules, basic ones they are. Not CONTROVERSIES.

Let me quote an example of a controversy. FCA Cars (now Stellantis) are far more reliable than Toyota.

Now THIS, is a CONTROVERSY.

[wheelspinner]

On Indian car brands

I'm all for "Make in India" and supporting the Indian car manufacturers but I would still not buy a Tata/Mahindra car nor advise friends/family to get one. The reason being they are still nowhere near the Japanese counterparts in terms of quality and reliability.

Just recently, I saw that someone bought a new Nexon and it was dented and having multiple issues right out of the showroom. His fault was not having done PDI properly. But Tata didn't support the customer when he reached out to them, and only appeared helpful on social media.

Another instance was very scary. A Scorpio N owner lost his leg due to mechanical failure in the car that Mahindra failed to diagnose. It raises more suspicions when the car mysteriously goes on fire after the accident even under police surveillance. Mahindra then releases a public statement to do damage control without finding the root cause of the defect.

I've seen mixed opinions from Tata and Mahindra owners. Some say they never faced issues while others curse them for stranding them in the middle of nowhere due to persistent breakdowns. Clearly, some were less fortunate than the others despite maintaining their cars as per car maintenance best practices. But why? How often did you hear a Maruti or Toyota owner complaining about issues in their cars?

There seems to be a common problem among these car manufacturers. They don't perform QC and manufacturing at the same level as other global players.

Then comes the poor after sales support. I've heard horror stories of how Tata service centers give stepmotherly treatment to the customers.

[MT_Hyderabad]

My most contravercial (and yet to be proven) statement:

Airfare is directly linked to the number of road accidents in India. More the price, more will be the accidents.

Similarly, fuel prices are inversely proportional to the number of accidents in India. More the fuel price, lesser will be the number of accidents.

[ynike99]

My two cents.
1. VW cars are too overrated. Most cars handle as well or better than VAG cars.
2. Diesel is fun and efficient. Bring it back for hatches and small cars. Now with BS6 there are almost nil Tailpipe emissions.

[vinya_jag]

My safety hacks for our crazy Indian roads:

- 2 wheelers don’t start if helmet not worn. (Computer vision camera on the speedo to spot this)

- Auto off high beam, if oncoming vehicle is spotted, or driving close to a vehicle in front with tail lights, or when driving in a well lit area

- ADAS like vibration on the steering wheel or Handle bar if driving too close to vehicle in front

- Fines at toll gates if you arrived too soon

- Fine Zomato, Swiggy, Uber etc. Which might make them responsible for training drivers before they let them wild on our roads

- Reclaim roads and plant trees. We are expanding our roads so much that we are inviting traffic and pollution

[VinodDevil81]

Here are few of my controversial statements.
Glad that finally I got a platform to express my controversial thoughts.

1) Cars getting ridiculously expensive since the past 10 years or so. Even hatchbacks have silently crossed the million-rupee mark a long time ago.

2) Obsession with sunroofs in a predominantly sunny and dusty country like ours. And the size of the sunroof keeps getting bigger! Now, What next? May be a Wiper/Washer for the panoramic sunroof?

3) Space saver tyres as stepneys by almost all manufacturers. These are actually not space-savers but just money-savers for the respective manufacturer.

4) White LED lights for the top variants of most cars, which prove to be utterly useless in fog and rains, and more beneficial yellow halogen lights for the lower variants! What a paradox! Why can't they atleast give yellow LEDs for the higher variants instead of white?

5) Good old Fog lights getting phased out from almost all new cars. Headlights placed lower doesn't fully address this issue. Add to this the white LED lights from the newer headlights, and you are doomed in the event of a fog or rain.

6) Manufacturers just exploiting the trend and fooling the customers by launching raised versions of their hatchbacks, with an added 10mm ground clearance and a 16 inch tyre thrown in, and there you go, a new hot "SUV" is ready. How cringy it is to call puny hatchbacks like Fronx, Exter, Punch etc as SUVs! These are not even cross-overs, but just regular hatchbacks with increased ground clearance.

7) The newer trend of floating infotainment screens. I have felt that it causes obstruction to the driver's outside view by a small margin in atleast a few of the newer cars that I have test driven. I fail to understand why it has to be projected upward, when it can be easily designed elegantly to fit flush with the dashboard level, like how it was done previously.

8) Car manufacturers switching to 3-cylinder engine configuration instead of the good old smoother 4-cylinder. I have owned both the types, and I will never buy another 3-cylinder car again, no matter how many turbos they give with that. May be I am a bit old-school, but to me a 4 cylinder NA petrol engine is still smoother, refined and way simpler to maintain any day than a 3-cylinder turbo petrol.

9) Rear AC Vents and their position in 5-seater cars. In many cases, these are not real AC vents, but just blowers. But in almost all cases, the position is un-ergonomical. Rear AC vents should ideally be placed at roof level like in proper 7-seaters. The floor mounted AC vents just don't peform as good as the roof mounted ones when it comes to directing the air to the face. I could never find a perfect position to directly get air to my face in any of the floor-mounted Ac vents that I have tried.

10) UV Cut/ Factory Tinted glasses not available in all cars. In a country with scorching summer like ours, where the law making authorities have still not understood the meaningless-ness of banning sunfilms, why do the manufacturers still give UV cut tinted glasses only as an option for selected variants? Why can't they give it for all cars? May be it is a bit expensive than regular glass, but then if the government passes such a mandatory law, I think manufacturers will comply by passing the additional cost to the customer, like how they did when airbags were made mandatory.

[AW1972]

Fait Linea was the most handsome looking sedan in our market.
Wrong side drivers should be flogged or jailed.
Hate drivers who do not use indicator while turning. Our roads are full of them.
Most truck drivers are more disciplined than private car drivers.
Hate drivers who do not understand the concept of high and low beam usage.
And yes, getting licence should be made more stringent so that we have drivers who understand Road rules and manners.

[Cresterk]

FWD vs RWD matters mainly for sports car. Your RWD Bolero, Thar, Fortuner etc is going to handle far worse than a FWD Audi.

[Akmal]

Since you asked-

1. Dont create road rules that cant be enforced. This makes some believe that rules in general are arbitrary.
2. All cars and bikes should have systems to electronically disable horn at speeds less than 10 kmph.
3. Add an annoying beeping sound when high beam is continuously engaged.
4. Ex-showoom price hides as much as it shows. Why does exshowroom price not show all the layered taxes before arriving at the wholesome number.
5. T-Bhp new car reviews are top notch. I wish they included headlight throw and night time drive experience as well.
(Harrier/Safari owners- you're welcome)
6. European car makers (may be still) dont realize that cars designed for Europe arent suitable for India.

[Arun Varma]

Well, late to the party but here goes:

• Safety ratings are overrated. I have seen numpties drive a "safe" car in a way that the car can no longer be deemed safe in any universe!
• Along the same lines, for most people, a comfortable car with a robust service network is better any day than a car with a 5-star rating that is threadbare in terms of creature comfort and is poor from a service perspective. The mindset of a driver is far more important for safety than any rating
• An enthusiast driver is another way to describe a maniac prone to rash driving and road rage!
• Most of those car stickers that proclaim the owner to be of a profession or tribe are ridiculous. It is usually a call out to get away with moronic driving. Baby on board? - it is for you to drive safely, not for others! The only sticker I approve of is "I am an enthusiast driver, please watch out for your own safety" and I have never seen a doctor stop to treat an accident victim so quit showboating or trying to get away with lunacy (or breaking rules)
• The same goes for names of family on cars. I get it everyone is Liam Neeson but why tempt fate and worse, cloud your view?
• That dangly nonsense in your rearview mirror - get rid of it. Again, no god or trinket is going to save you if you are distracted!
• Road rage is stupid. You have insurance. Deal with it like a civilized human being. I understand all that no-claim bs but still, not worth going to jail or worse, looking and acting like a petulant 5 year old in public!
• Naming a car is stupid. Especially dudes who give female names to their vehicles. Yes, the intentions are pretty obvious, and yes, they are pretty juvenile.
• A car or bike is an inanimate thing. Naming a vehicle leads to over-attachment, road rage, broken marriages, and daddy issues.
• Whatever the heck is pre-worshipped? It is a car!
• Cars and dogs are often, sadly, phallic symbols. It is sad to see someone try and park a large car on a narrow street! It does evoke phallic alright but more phimosis than phenom!
• A spoiler on a 100 BHP car! Seriously? It is pretentious at best and quite comical
• You don't need offroading vehicles. You are not an offroading enthusiast! You are not driving trails barring that one time when you got hopelessly lost and stuck and had a bunch of sniggering sweaty dudes pull you out!
• No, you don't need tyre upgrades, or snorkels, or lights of Apollo, or any other such fanciful nonsense. The folks who need them are in the extreme minority and it is certainly not you. Stock is good enough
• Don't clog up the rear view with luggage or worse, with toys! Your driving skills certainly need all visual aids! Further, the rear parcel shelf is not an ideal place to showcase childhood trauma
• Nothing proclaims 'imbecile', than a bull bar on an Innova!

Mods, please note that this was asked for explicitly!