[ramubwoyy]

To understand the reason for this decision, I have to provide a brief car purchasing history of my family. Our first car was a Maruti 800 from which we moved to a Hyundai i20 petrol. That car was used a lot and we liked Korean cars, so my dad went ahead and got the Creta 1.6 SX manual diesel variant. Even though the car has been sold for more than 2 years now, it holds a special place in my heart, because it is the car in which I learned to drive.

Towards the last few years of the Creta's ownership, personal circumstances became such that we were managing two households and the lack of an extra car was really starting to be felt. And so began the search for a second car to the Creta. While me and my dad initially started looking for compact sedans and hatchbacks, we thought why not go for a higher price point, so we get the feeling of an upgrade from the Creta?

Up until that point, our family had only owned manual cars, so this next big car would also be an automatic top-end variant. We began looking at various options in the 7-seater category. My father did a test drive of the Tata Safari and liked the car, so he made a booking for it. Somehow, fate intervened and our car delivery began to get severely delayed. This was around the time Sanju Techy (the now-famous Kerala YouTuber who made a pool in his Tata Safari) started making videos about his horrible experiences with the car and dealership.

My dad began to watch his videos and started to get worried about spending a hefty 32 lakhs on what now seemed to be a machine with highly questionable reliability. I told him to wait and see if they would eventually deliver the car. However, I too began to research the car and become more concerned with each video I watched. So, one day me and my dad decided to pay a visit to the Nippon Toyota showroom in Kalamassery, Kochi, to check out the Innova Crysta.

We had initially not considered the Innova because we were turned off by how common the car was on the roads. It also had a supposed negative image of being a taxi car, which did not sit well with us when we were initially looking at big cars. How our mind plays tricks on us! The showroom experience was radically different from all of the Tata dealerships we had visited (we had made bookings at multiple dealerships because of the delay with the first one). Test drove the Innova and we were absolutely floored with how comfortable the car was. Immediately after the test drive, we cancelled all of our business with any and all Tata dealerships and decided to go ahead with the Crysta.

The car was delivered to us within some time and we were quite happy for 2 years. This was all the way back in 2022. Now I will share my experiences regarding the car itself based off of two years of owning the car. Since then, we have also bought a Kia Seltos DCT, which influenced our decision to give off the Crysta.

What I liked:

• The car absolutely excels at long-distance travel and highway cruising. The suspension eats up small or even slightly big undulations on the roads and it just flies through the road.
• Despite being a supposed taxi vehicle, people still check out the car quite often (maybe because it was the top-end variant). So no complaints about it being viewed as a 'taxi vehicle.' Even if there are, the car is so reliable that it hardly matters to me anymore.
• The 2.4L diesel engine is a gem. Loves to rev and the gearbox works decently well with it. Overtaking and accelerating is a breeze on this machine.
• It has little to no gimmicks or unnecessary features. Many people found this a big turn off in the car, but I loved how simple it was.
• I found the brakes to be quite sharp to the point where you kind of have to be a bit careful about how pressure you are applying.
• Loved the fact that Toyota gave bright Halogen beams for the headlight and LED projectors for the low-beam. Makes for a best of both worlds kind of situation.
• As an individual who likes cars, thoroughly enjoyed the sound that engine makes upon cold starts and when revving it out.
• Despite being such a premium offering, the car has little maintenance and our family found most service bills to be reasonable considering the size of the car.
• Interiors are done extremely well and you will feel your money's worth in the cabin.

What I didn't like:

• The car is BIG. I know I said my family was looking for a big car, but I think we all collectively underestimated just how big this cars feels on the road. Adding to how horrible roads are in Kerala, I often found myself feeling claustrophobic on most roads. This size also means that parking is a chore. You constantly have to make sure that the tail-end of the vehicle is clear of obstacles and after extended commutes in the city, it becomes cumbersome. Overtakes also require a bit of extra attention as you have to make sure that the tail-end has crossed the car you are trying to overtake.
• Building on the previous point of a big car, the steering wheel also has some heft to it. Three point turns are not something that I looked forward to. Moreover, the vehicle is just not at all agile. It prefers to be driven a certain way and any deviation from that will have you working your entire arm to turn the car the way you want to.
• Mileage is abysmal. I do know that we could not expect great mileage considering just how big the engine and car is. But I was quite dismayed to find out how quickly the engine guzzles fuel after our inaugural Kochi-Trivandrum trip. Our Creta gave us excellent mileage (15-19 kmpl) and the fuel guzzling of the Innova was not something that I was too happy to see. Since the engine is also very eager to rev, I found myself wrestling with the engine to get decent fuel economy.
• Body roll is far too evident and affects driving confidence when ascending hills or taking curvy roads with spirited driving. This is perhaps, a direct consequence of the ladder-frame chassis. A driver's attempt to keep a steady line through a turn will most likely scare passengers as the car tilts to one side like a bus.
• Even though we upgraded to component speakers, the sound system just lacks that punch you want. I shudder to think how bad the stock system on a 32-lakh car is.

The Seltos GT arrives
So almost a year into getting the Crysta, my dad decided to sell the Creta as our trusty machine had crossed 1,20,000 km. And we wanted an automatic variant of a similar size. We both always wanted to check out the Seltos because of how value-for-money it was and it had become an instant hit in India. After a test ride and a few other considerations we decided to go ahead and book the car.

The arrival of the Seltos showcased just how unnecessary the Crysta was for us. Here is a brief review of the Seltos:

What I liked:

• It is just the right size for all of the drivers in the family. Compact enough to drive in the city and squeeze into parking spots, while also not compromising highway stability.
• The 1.6L diesel engine is ample, fun and most importantly quite refined.
• The steering wheel complements the car's zippy nature, with it being light and very responsive.
• Coupled with the above point, the suspension being on the tighter side and you have a car that can hold a good line all day long. The Seltos is really fun to drive around twisties and puts a smile on my face everytime.
• The DCT gearbox is accurate and I didn't think that it was too laggy or unresponsive.
• Paddle-shifters are rarely used, but are a nice feature to have for the occasional burst of speed. Not that you NEED to use the paddle shifters to get the downshift that you need.
• The cabin is spacious and the front seats are ventilated, love that.
• The sound system is probably one of the best stock systems I have ever seen in a car. I will most likely never feel the need for an upgrade with it.

What I don't like:

• Too many features, which don't really end up being used by most family members. Most of the time, they forget about the ventilated seats and connectivity features. Kia could have cut costs by not including so many useless things.
• I am okay with LED for low-beams but feel that could have opted for halong bulbs for the high-beam.
• Suspension can be rough at times and really give quite a jerk if you don't anticipate a pothole in the road. But I am okay with this because it improves handling.
• Certain parts within the interior are where cost-cutting is evident. Not that there are any rattles or anything, it just doesn't feel very premium for having a price of 22L on-road price.
• Kia somehow thought the car needed disco lights around the door's at night and did not provide lights for any of the door controls. Why do they do such things?

What followed after regular usage of the Seltos:
The Seltos very evidently began to become the workhorse in the family. It had ample boot space, handling and performance that was more than enough for what we required. My mother never drove the Crysta, which effectively meant that the Crysta was a joyride for just 2 out of 3 drivers in the family. It was also much superior to the Crysta in terms of mileage, which is how we ironically began to use the Seltos instead of the Crysta for long drives.

I will be moving away soon, which meant that it did not make practical sense to keep maintaining the Crysta for the decreasing amount of rides it was being used for by just one driver.

The decision to book the Glanza
Wanting to put less of a strain on our finances, we realized that what we needed to accompany the Seltos as the primary car was a reliable Japanese hatchback, with good mileage and most importantly, small-form factor. The Crysta had become a chore to drive in the city and we really wanted some peace of mind with a smaller car. After some research, we went around and test drove hatchbacks and sedans and came to the conclusion that the Glanza is very good for our use case. I will post a short review of the vehicle once it finished its first service. We did look at other options from Suzuki, but their service has a reputation of being very poor. And since we had an excellent experience with Nippon Toyota, we went ahead with the Glanza from there.

Lesson learned:
I feel that most of the time, big cars are severely underutilized by most buyers. The Crysta is meant to be a tourer and not for commuting within the city. Furthermore, even if one were to have regular long drives, big cars just don't make sense on Indian roads. Sure we do have expressways and decent highways, but most of the time you do eventually have to go through smaller city or village roads. In addition to that, if you are not a driver who clocks a lot of kilometers with highway driving, most big cars are just a big waste of material and money. Over the entire course of ownership, we hardly had 4 trips for the Crysta where we were able to really unleash its full potential.

For us, we were willing to compromise on that 'Big car' feeling for more relaxed driving. And personally, the whole big car sentiment I think is highly overrated. How long will one keep satiating oneself with that feeling, throwing away money on fuel and glamour? Car driving continues to become more difficult in many Indian cities. I say go for the smallest car possible car that you are happy with and save yourself a lot of cash and headache.

[GTO]

Great post, thanks for sharing .

Agreed on the under-utilized part. Most 3-row UVs I see in the city have just 1 or 2 people onboard. But there is no denying that the 3rd-row is handy in India (with our big families), even if it is used once in a week or fortnight.

As much as I love quick small cars (C3 Turbo, Fronx Turbo), I love big cars more. I'd think nothing of driving a Fortuner or S-Class in the city and would totally love it. Understand & agree with your line of thinking though.

[ninjatalli]

Very relevant, especially for folks living in metro cities.

Not exactly a big car owner; but scaled down from a mid-sized sedan (Vento) to a relatively smaller SCross; and soon planning to move to a peppy hatchback (ICE or EV) by this year.

Simple basic reasons - both cars were mostly used alone; or at most +1 passenger(s). The parking area(s) were always a constraint across Mumbai, Chennai & Bangalore for me. And with hatchbacks having similar engine underneath the hoods; it's a lot more workable with a smaller car for me and my family.

[sharmanova]

In the SUV segment, it's common to find both 5 STR and 7 STR versions of the same car. For example: Creta->Alcazar, Harrier->Safari. People often choose the latter (7 STR) for the additional row and extra features.

But they soon realise the extra money they're paying (read: EMI, fuel cost due to relatively less fuel efficiency of the 7 STR) isn't worth it as they are unable to use the last row of seats.

[d.w.w.]

Originally Posted by ramubwoyy

big cars are severely underutilized by most buyers.

I think the main reason you feel this way is because you drive mostly in Kerala.

I spent many years in TN before moving to KL and my i20 felt like a small car in Chennai. I constantly felt the urge to upgrade to a bigger SUV, but after moving to Kerala, I feel i20 is a big car and what i actually need is a small car like Comet . The roads are too narrow and parking spaces are hard to find; Every time i look for a parking space in the city or enter a narrow street, I hate taking the car out. If I am purchasing a smaller car, the bigger one will be definitely left at home and will be underutilized. But will I do the same thing outside of Kerala? No Never!

Recently my uncle upgraded to Punch after selling his Alto, mostly because of the pressure from my cousins. Now even time he takes the punch out to the city, he scolds them for pushing him to buy a bigger car

[ruskinash]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Not exactly a big car owner; but scaled down from a mid-sized sedan (Vento) to a relatively smaller SCross;

The difference in length is only 3 inches, which may seem insignificant, but the perception of size may differ from the actual dimensions. Did the 3" reduction in length help?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by ruskinash

The difference in length is only 3 inches, which may seem insignificant, but the perception of size may differ from the actual dimensions. Did the 3" reduction in length help?

Yes - very much to other family members (wife, parents); from both a driving and passenger perspective.

Perception is a funny thing. I also owned a Nissan Altima (in a different country) during the Vento ownership. The Nissan felt small (to me) on US roads while the Vento felt big in Indian traffic; both during the same period.

[amtak]

Matter of just getting used to a big car. I upgraded from a Figo to 700 and absolutely love the space the car offers.

Even if it is just two of you driving the car, it is always helpful as it may come with more safety features as compared to a smaller car (not necessarily always true, though). You can haul more luggage by folding the last row of seats for those weekend drives/vacations and many a times, just ferry people around at work/picnics/family functions.

[lamborghini]

The intent has always been to upgrade, but there have been times when we ended up downsizing keeping in mind our running.

One was when we picked up the Laura L&K TDi - with it's nimble size, fantastic DSG, relatively newer age features at it's time, etc. This was bought mainly as a good diesel automatic that would do a lot of self driven city running, at this point I was daily driving a 8-9yr old W211 with it's heavy steering, lack of parking sensors, bluetooth, etc. and an office location in the middle of crowded Lower Parel meant fighting traffic was a daily occurance. With the Laura, the size and light steering meant the car was a lot easier to manage and became the daily driver with the W211 only for joy rides - but given we had more 'fun' cars to joy ride in, the W211 soon made an exit.

The second was in 2017 when we were looking to replace the E60 5 series. Again it was mainly used for short trips in the city, mostly chauffeur driven, and even used for chores by mom, etc. A waste of it's potential if you ask me or anyone! And though a brilliant car, one that i would sneak out at nights / longer trips when I could; when it was time to replace after 9 years of ownership, we made the hard choice of picking up the Corolla Altis since we anyways had another premium sedan in the garage.
7 years with the Altis, and there are no regrets and it has become the preferred car for mom and dad, airport runs, etc. and I won't be surprised if we further downsize whenever it's time to replace the Altis (more because our needs have changed and a subsequent internal garage reshuffle is in the works).

[ramubwoyy]

Originally Posted by amtak

Matter of just getting used to a big car. I upgraded from a Figo to 700 and absolutely love the space the car offers.

Even if it is just two of you driving the car, it is always helpful as it may come with more safety features as compared to a smaller car (not necessarily always true, though). You can haul more luggage by folding the last row of seats for those weekend drives/vacations and many a times, just ferry people around at work/picnics/family functions.

I can understand your sentiment of how you enjoy your (I presume) XUV700 from a Figo. But the simple of the matter for me is, I don't want to get used to it I have driven smaller cars from friends and family, and well let me just very frankly tell you that I don't want to contend with bigger cars in India. As for the hauling more luggage and vacation scenarios, those simply did not emerge for us.

I go touring on my two-wheeler much more often than any of the cars. For us the car is strictly a commuter machine, with an occasional trip. And for that the Seltos is just the best of both worlds. I do understand where bigger cars may work better, its just not my cup of tea.

[vsbabu]

I used an Innova for 12 years. For first 8 years, it was used for mostly family trips from BLR to Kerala or Nilgiris only. Supreme comfort for such drives and great reliability - often I'd leave it parked for 45 days or more and then one fine morning at 3am we load our travel bags and just start for hometown with first stop after 5 hours for diesel and breakfast. Towards last 4 years though I was commuting for work to BLR from Coimbatore and weekly mileage of 800km was tough on pocket as well as manual shifting in BLR city during weekdays was difficult. Sold it and downgraded to Seltos Diesel AT - very light on pocket, decent comfort features - though it never felt as safe/solid like Innova, it really worked out for me (90% of the time, it is just me in the car) with the biggest issue being LED highlights utility during rain on highway. Overall happy, though family still miss Innova's rear bench seat after 4 hours on highway when we take it for long rides. Probably the next car will be a sedan or another size up to Hycross - long time away though. I've come to realize that smaller cars offer much better peace of mind in cities or in villages and are not that different in cruising comfort on highways. For carrying load, most of the time it is within city and it is convenient to hire a truck taxi.

[DicKy]

Agreed with the point that many people actually need vehicles a size smaller than what they have, but are forced to buy bigger vehicles due to reasons like performance, features, image or quality.

But feel this is more of an apples to orange comparison. In the Innova's defence, a just comparo would have been between Innova Crysta vs Ertiga/Karens. Also for me personally, a sub 4m vehicle would be the best bet for five passengers, even the Seltos 4.3m is a bit large for smaller roads. Like neither here nor there. Would rather have a 4.7m vehicle with useable space than a 4.3m vehicle that has space wasted for looks.

Originally Posted by ramubwoyy

[*]Building on the previous point of a big car, the steering wheel also has some heft to it. Three point turns are not something that I looked forward to. Moreover, the vehicle is just not at all agile. It prefers to be driven a certain way and any deviation from that will have you working your entire arm to turn the car the way you want to. [*]Mileage is abysmal. I do know that we could not expect great mileage considering just how big the engine and car is. But I was quite dismayed to find out how quickly the engine guzzles fuel after our inaugural Kochi-Trivandrum trip. Our Creta gave us excellent mileage (15-19 kmpl) and the fuel guzzling of the Innova was not something that I was too happy to see. Since the engine is also very eager to rev, I found myself wrestling with the engine to get decent fuel economy.

Guess these two reasons are the major ones that made you dislike the size. Even if one of the above Cons were addressed you would have been happy. Afterall, if driving feels a chore than pleasure, better to change cars to one that doesn't make you think twice before grabbing the keys.

[ArTigor]

Yes my dad downsized from an Ertiga to an Alto K10!

We had bought an Ertiga in 2014 as due to addition of new family member (my better half) a 6 seater car was required. My father was against buying a bigger car as a daily driver in Mumbai because he has mostly used small hatchbacks like Alto, Estilo, Swift and Ritz.
The Ertiga was utilized to full occupancy only when we visited our farmhouse which is 500Km away from Mumbai, the frequency of which would be once a month, but on the remaining days of the month it was just my dad driving the car to his office on daily basis.
Somehow the car stayed with us for 2.5 years and one fine day dad said he sold the car and bought a K10

I was upset with this decision but then he told me there is no point in keeping this car as a daily driver where 90% of the time it is going to be occupied by just one person.
So in 2016 dad bought the K10 Alto and in 2017 I bought Tigor Diesel.
Now for our long runs we have the Tigor diesel and for city runs the humble Alto has proven very useful.

So for the price of one 7 seater we now have 2 cars which have been catering well to our usage since last 7 years.

[KrisTvpm]

For a person like me who has upgraded cars over 20years of career & driving history, from the smallest basic car available in India to a decently large & powerful SUV, this premise probably doesn't strike intuitive, pardon my words if it offends the OP!

I'd say I was fortunate enough to own cars at every point in life so far, which suited my *THAT* time's requirements. For instance, when I got Ford Ecosport, noted in mind that will hold on to this one till its end-of-life! But what with kids growing up, occasional drives with parents/extended family/friends etc, Ecosport started feeling puny! Hence got XUV500, it serves our current needs brilliantly, and have also the Nano for those solo/2-person drives. In a nutshell, never regret my decision to upgrade cars at various points in life, nor had to rollback/get rid of a car due to wrong choice.

Btw, how can one feel claustrophobic in such a big car as Crysta !?

Originally Posted by ramubwoyy

To understand the reason for this decision,
<snip>...
The car is BIG. I know I said my family was looking for a big car, but I think we all collectively underestimated just how big this cars feels on the road. Adding to how horrible roads are in Kerala, I often found myself feeling claustrophobic on most roads.
...<snip>

[condor]

Have treated my 7-seater Storme as a 5-seater - but then that is what it is practically. Over the years, fair usage, especially when it was the single car I had. But of late the smaller Gypsy is doing most of the duty when I am alone. And now looking to let go of the Storme to someone who can use it well. The replacement will be a 5-Seater, and smaller.