I have been driving Maruti 800 for 12 dog years now and obviously it's age is showing. So I decided to buy a new car. since Maruti gave me a good service for all these years and I find it totally reliably, a Maruti Product was my first choice.
My budget brings Wagon R, Estillo, Swift and Ritz within my range and so I decided to go to the showroom and decide.
I was shown all these cars. My excitement turned quickly into disappointment when I sat in them one by one. All the cars seemed to have a basic design flaw - The left and right pillars that hold the windscreen (and the roof) seem to have been placed at an extremely odd place that blocks the front view. The seats are so recessed that the front pillar comes in the way of the road and side view. It blocks the view of traffic that approaches from left and right.
Here are my observations:
>In Wagon R this is slight (but still considerable to make one uncomfortable)
>In Estillo it is so pronounced that it looks a basic design flaw.
>Ritz had a dashboard that climbs up from bottom to top to reduce the ground view considerably.
>Swift had the best road view but its thick side doors and the protruding rear make driving largely a guess game. My fears proved right when my brother went ahead to buy a Swift and despite being a pro managed to hit his bumpers, side doors (left and right) in a space of 3 months.
>The rear view in Ritz was pretty cramped. Swift's was good.
>Alto K100 was surprisingly the best one of the lot in terms of road view and handling.
When I questioned the salesmen they said I will get used to these things. On further probing I was told that these things also have happened because of the retrofitted K series engine that had to be made on the older version of these cars. It is a longer engine and to accommodate these, the cars have developed these view problems.
Disappointed with these cars that had been built for other engines but have been dangerously modified to fit new engines I went to Tata. The Indica Vista was so good in terms of road view and handleability that I fell in love with the car. Sitting inside it felt that I was not a 'fussy' or 'cantankerous' customer. My objections were genuine. Though a wider car than all these, it looks comfortable to handle and maneuver than the other cars. But a little research proved my doubts - Tata does not hold a candle to Mauruti when it comes to service and reliability of its products. It is a no no for me.
Since then I have been observing many cars and have found that even Corolla which is a very wide car boasts of an excellent view.
I wish to know why no thought has been given to the above points when Maruti designed its new cars. Are we supposed to drive these cars with guesswork and suffer consequences when we accidentally hit someone? Did the designers think we were playing video games instead of real driving where we can restart the game after a crash?
Delhi driving conditions are extremely congested and tight. Even the parking is at a premium. So a lot of close maneuverability is required to drive, park and reverse cars. In the absence of a good front and rear view, driving can become dangerous.
Most innocent drivers will only blame themselves in case they hit side walls or other cars but what they do not know is that their car might be badly designed. It might be because of a higher Blind Spot Area of these cars.
Though my family wants to buy a premium car, I would have to go to Alto K1000. Maruti despite its shoddy design still gets a customer. But what they will never know is they lost a premium customer.
This is not a biased review. I love cars but they should be sensible. To make lots of leg space, make them 'comfortable', look luxurious etc, if the front view is being compromised by designers, then I wish to ask them something - Are we there to sleep inside them or drive them?
I feel these things for a crucial part of safe driving and should be monitored by a body that should certify new designs on some kind of 'road viewability' parameters. Because they affect the safety of the drivers and those around them.
Has any of you felt these issues in your car? I invite you to
share them here.
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