[Evyas]

1. Car 'variants' are getting beyond ridiculous (I'm looking at you Tata Motors). Having 16+ variants is beyond crazy. And then there are 'Dark' and 'Limited Edition' and 'Onyx' and 'Adventure' and whatnot. I'm terrified I'll buy one and realise it has only one wiper since I didn't go for the fearful plus minus divided BODMAS version which has 2

2. To sell a car without 6 airbags is CRIMINAL. It should not be allowed. Literally making your and your family's safety into a 'luxury' is beyond my limited comprehension. It's some old Hindi film Jeevan munimji level vibe. 'Sure you can pay less and own the car but I won't be responsible if someone T-bones you heh heh heh'. And then it leads to people justifying or attacking each other on this matter, going into 'active/passive safety' and 'the person driving the car is the problem' - I know all that. All I want to say is - safety is not an argument. It should be a birth right. Active or passive. I don't want to shame anyone who buys a 2 airbag car, but he/she/they SHOULDN'T HAVE TO! That's where our representatives have failed us.

3. I don't understand the hate for MG. Would it be cool if people boycotted Jaguar Land Rover in Europe since its now partially owned by Tata? Keep your political statements out of my cars please. Or if not, then extend them to the phones you own, the laptops and routers and TVs and clothes and pretty much everything else in your life. Start by boycotting goods and services from the country that actually ruled and financially and socially and emotionally ruined us over 200 years, like it has ruined almost half the world. Refrain from buying imperialist nation goods, even though they are the best engineered ones! People spend their days (and sometimes whole lives) working, earning money, saving to buy a car. Don't shame them because you want to feel superior because trust me, you aren't. We're all in this together. A car is a source of joy, of pride. It brings people closer, it lets families see each other and have adventures. Let's be kind.

4. Can we please have more COLORS? What's with white, off white, slightly offer white, grey, steel grey, dust grey, black, dark black, vanta black, midnight blue, dark blue, nexa blue, lava blue and silver, silverish and silvermost?! And Hyundai, THAT IS NOT FIERY RED - it's maroon. What happened to that beautiful tomato red you had when you first came to India? At least give me an option - that's one 'variant' I wouldn't mind paying for - extra 20K to get a colour of my preference! Why have we become so boring?

5. Love EVs but when we live in a country like ours where my hometown still has power cuts every day and (from what I was told) the entire Samruddhi Mahamarg has no charging stations, isn't it becoming just another status symbol/elitist fantasy that you only can live in major cities or if you have a bungalow/house of your own? Get the infrastructure first. I for one don't want to go on a highway or anywhere and get stuck after sunset or at night since a charger is not working, with my family in the back seat. No wonder I read some article that women are a bit wary of EVs. Can't have so many points of failure in safety, not just electricity generation.

6. Sorry but HOW CAN YOU SELL A CAR WITHOUT A REAR WIPER AND DEFOGGER?

7. Until Cyrus Mistry passed away, no one cared about that deadly turn in the road. Now suddenly we have 'wear rear seat belt' warnings in Uber/Olas now. Unless a celeb is hurt, there is no interest in anyone else' life.

8. Can we please have cars for the handicapped as a 'variant' dear manufacturers? Some of my friends want to live normal lives without judgement and without feeling lesser than the others.

[VIN No]

These are my controversial opinions:

1. Although I understand why people like Black coloured rims, am not the biggest fan of them
2. Reliability of a car should not questioned or determined brand wise
3. Skoda Rapid, VW Vento, Fiat Linea, Ford Fiesta were some underrated cars
4. I feel that all cars have a specific purpose and as long as they serve well on that, they are perfectly fine for what they are

[BeemerBug_06]

Here's Mine :

I'll keep it short and simple - Most Cars nowadays are more like appliances than vehicles. The overall attitude of car owners too has taken a turn for the worse. People will spend heavy money getting LED lighting, sub-woofers, and other expensive accessories but not change the car's engine oil. Gone are the days when people would merely compare their cars in terms of performance and speed.

- Another observation- Several people who call themselves enthusiasts and buy 'enthusiast cars' buy them without doing any research. It almost seems like the car is bought not for themselves but just because the car is the "flavor of the month"

- Don't kill me - Few people nowadays even know what is the purpose of an engine :P

- By driving an EV in India, you're not doing the environment a great service because, after all, India receives electricity from primarily from Coal.

[schumi_pete]

Here's mine:

Keeping the weight of a car down is way more important than the outright power and torque figures it comes with. As an example, a Mazda MX-5 is a hoot to drive compared to some other way more powerful, expensive and heavy car that boasts of ridiculous power outputs.

And the added benefit of such a car is the much better FE one can achieve when you are driving sedately like the average person on the road.

[SidTheChamp]

I don't like majority of Indians going after big cars i.e SUVs in a mad rush. The road space is same, so everyone having bigger vehicles tend to choke up the roads much earlier.

I actually prefer the earlier days where majority would buy the smaller cars i.e the 800s, Altos, Santro, i10s etc. Roads were less clogged and the select few who had the high end cars or big SUVs stood out in the road.

[iceman.]

Here are mine -

• Innova and Fortuner are NOT overpriced - the reliability, tough nature justifies their price
• There is no such thing as 'micro' or compact SUV. Even creta, seltos, harrier etc aren't SUVs. The only SUVs are ladder frame, 7 seaters, with 4x4 and 4L/4H levers
• Polo is over rated. It's cramped, low on features, there isn't a HUGE gap in handling compared to current cars on the block, power is just about ok. And then there are the VW issues.

[RevJ]

Originally Posted by VIN No

These are my controversial opinions:

1. Although I understand why people like Black coloured rims, am not the biggest fan of them
2. Reliability of a car should not questioned or determined brand wise
3. Skoda Rapid, VW Vento, Fiat Linea, Ford Fiesta were some underrated cars
4. I feel that all cars have a specific purpose and as long as they serve well on that, they are perfectly fine for what they are

Hits the right spot! I agree to them all, +1

Here are my two cents, which I am adding to the 4 points above:-

5. Polo was never a hot hatchback, it had a quick shifting gearbox (agreed) but handling went for a toss and outdated interiors. Abarth was sidelined (sad)
6. Come on Hyundai you can't call every thing on a stilt a SUV, and come on people you can't agree to it.
7. What is with drag videos on instagram with car's weight, driver's weight, passengers weight and fuel weight, that too on public roads? (supposedly an iVtec beats every other sedan just saying)
8. Naturally aspirated engines have no significant advantage , bring on some turbo petrol engines of global variants to India!

[th2]

Here is mine.

The Indian market is just not big enough for quality and/or niche products. The humongous taxes don't help either.

People whine about international models not making it our shores, but any interesting product launched has so little volume that it gets discontinued. And then start the spare parts/service issues.

We are a market for small/medium sized cars loaded with paisa vasool features. Not a market for enthusiasts yet. Maybe in a decade, but not yet. And yes 28% GST with high road taxes don't help.

[JediKnight]

EVs are not as "green" as they are made out to be:

-> Nobody talks about the elephant in the room. The weight of the battery pack. Tesla Model 3 has a battery weight of 450 kgs. That is like carrying 7 extra passengers all the time. (Considering 68Kg average Indian weight. Calculation used by elevator companies). The battery pack weight of some electric pick up trucks is more than a small sedan.

-> Why should an electricity used to charge electric cars be charged at rates that are actually meant for domestic household consumption. They should be charged at a much higher rate. This creates an artificially low running cost for electric cars. Also an electric car sucks the power of multiple houses when charging. e.g. a 50 Kw fast charger is using the power of 40 average households ( Considering average household consumption is around 1.2 KW ). Wondering what will happen when electric cars become rampant.

-> Majority of electricity consumption in India is thermal. Essentially electric cars are burning coal. The dirtiest fuel around. People talk about grids getting greener. Lets talk when that happens. Right now it is coal. Also please include 20% transmission losses in the efficiency calculation of electric cars.

-> Strong hybrids are actually best suited and most environmentally friendly technology suitable for India. And only Toyota has it.

[indusboy]

The best luxury car for urban India is an Innova with a driver!