[hiren959]

Driving Figo since last five or so years, now I am really tired with the stiff suspension setup at least in the city, I am loving its highway behavior. Now I really feel that you need soft suspension setup for city ride and that is only why Hyundai is selling their cars right.
I have driven the Duster and boy it has really impressive ride quality, as GTO has mentioned the "magic carpet ride" but I dont like the interior and even the front seats, I find they are not at all comfortable.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

While in my case the WagonR is now 225K On the ODO and it still doesn't rattle. The only DIY that's done to suppress this was damping all doors with Yoga mats.

That said, noise from Calipers is a very common issue that vanishes once you grease them. Many have sat inside it and are unable to say if that's clocked so much and still rattle free. Else, on bad roads, It takes abuse the way you want and I have even bent 2 of my alloys going over potholes few years before.

The last service was around 223K and when checked, all the suspensions were intact including the bushes. The first steering rack was replaced at the same time (223K). I call this Robust or call myself lucky .

I vote for the Duster for its composed ride quality over any type of roads that doesn't give you that pain the neck when passing over potholed surfaces.

Please don't get me wrong- my WagonR was also perfect at 97k kms. If not for my father's weak knee which demanded a shift to an automatic- it would have soldiered on for a lot more. I never had any complaints with the way it aged. It is a no-nonsense car like none other.

But the Punto was a paradigm shift experience for me in terms of solidity and durability.

[dark.knight]

There is no one "best" car to drive on potholed roads, it can vary with budget and type of driving. Even a change of tyre with intermediate/soft compound can make a massive difference to a car's smoothness. It also varies with driver preference, a Polo TSi even with its lower ground clearance handles potholes well but you'd get audible thud sounds from the suspension on almost every undulation.. some like that feedback as it provides a raw sense of driving & feel, but you have to slow down fully before deep potholes because of low ride. Something like say a Hyundai Xcent/i20 can provide a very comfortable plush ride over rough, torn up roads as long as they are in city speeds (40-60) but you have to be careful & slow down a bit if the potholes are substantial since the ground clearance is about 170mm. A Fiat Punto or Avventura have an advantage here, they join the Ford Ecosport as the only cars with a substantial ground clearance yet under 4.m but aren't SUV's. Thus the Fiat can be driven at higher speeds over bad roads and medium sized potholes since it has a well tuned suspension as well.

Let's not mention SUV's in this segment at all, only due to the fact that it's already well known that they ARE made for bad roads and have far higher g.c, tyre size & chassis fit for bad roads than the average car. All the cars mentioned above are fully capable of tackling bad roads in their own unique ways with good refinement but do not expect them to do anything beyond that. Also note that other cars like Etios, Indica, Tavera etc too will have almost no problems on bad roads since many are used as cabs also, but as far as stability, refinement, sound isolation & suspension noise go they may vary. In crawling speeds just about any car will do.

[Aroy]

Vehicles with bigger tyres will fare better on potholed road than ones with smaller tyres. If the pothole is wide enough and deep enough a smaller tyre can get stuck in it. I have seen this happening in really bad roads. An SUV with a softer and long travel suspension will perform the best. That gives an advantage to the higher end SUV having Air Suspension.

[wannabelean]

Originally Posted by smartcat

The cheapest option - your existing car, with air pressure in all 4 tyres set at 27 to 28 PSI. If you haven't tried it, you will be flabbergasted by the difference in ride quality.

What are the disadvantages of doing this? Does FE get worse considerably since they are under inflated? Also do the tyres wear out quicker?

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by wannabelean

What are the disadvantages of doing this? Does FE get worse considerably since they are under inflated? Also do the tyres wear out quicker?

FE drops noticeably, but not considerably. Around 3 - 5% perhaps.

Excess tyre wear is not noticeable, since it wears out over 4 or 5 years. But logically, it must be there - perhaps a small % over the manufacturer recommended tyre pressure. Remember that, if 30 PSI is the recommended pressure, it is for a fully loaded car with 4 passengers, bootfull of luggage and having an ability to cruise at 180 km/hr for long periods of time. You are unlikely to be doing that on a potholed city road.

From safety point of view, get the tyre pressure back to recommended levels before you hit the highway.

If you intend to reduce tyre pressure to 27 - 28 PSI for city drives, the biggest disadvantage is that you need keep checking the tyre pressure regularly without fail. A 30 PSI car tyre might go down to 28 PSI if you don't check regularly. But your 28 PSI tyre could go down to 25 PSI - 20% lower than recommended.

[Doge]

Has to be the Fiat Avventura or the Duster without any doubt. I would chose the Avventura over the Duster because it has better interiors and is a lot more VFM IMO.

[sidzz]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

When I saw the thread title, I was pretty sure the thread starter would be someone from Bangalore.

From whatever I have experienced, i would say the Duster is the best one. Compact enough for regular City use while at the same time swallows bad roads without a sweat.

I agree with both the statements you made.

Bangalore roads suck!

Even cause noticeable rattles in a few months old car.

I took a TD of the new duster. Boy, that car knows how to eat up potholes.

[pamiboy]

Originally Posted by AWD

How is XUV's ride quality ? Heard TUV3OO doesn't fare good.

From my limited experience riding in XUV and a Duster, the Duster rides better than XUV in pot holed roads.
The suspension in XUV appeared too stiff to me. I don't know about high speed ride though, let the experts chip in.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by pamiboy

The suspension in XUV appeared too stiff to me. I don't know about high speed ride though, let the experts chip in.

I had recently driven the XUV 5OO W10 and I found the suspension on the softer side.

The other two occupants were near-about to vomit (not joking!). Even during braking the nose dipping was bit more but I guess these are common with an SUV (driving them for the first time). I am comparing the ride quality with my Swift. Which the XUV 5OO would eventually replace.

[shankar.balan]

On our potholed and evil roads, to me, some of the best cars that Ive either driven or sat in, are as follows;

1. Our old Ambassador, right through the 70's and '80's with its gentle swooping movements and great comfort!
2. The old Maruti 800 - because of its inherently harder suspension and incredible "lightness of being".
3. The new age Renault Fluence and Duster, which make potholes completely disappear and have such fantastic suspension for Indian roads.
4. The Toyota Innova, especially for intra-city business travel because it is supremely comfortable and doesn't get rattled when driven at normal speeds.
5. My Yeti, because it takes most bumps very well in its stride. (But the Yeti also suffers, over some of our oddball speed breakers which raise you high and almost immediately let you down with a bump".) (The Duster is better than the Yeti on potholed roads on account of its fantastic suspension and high ground clearance, for sure.)
6. The Swift Dzire - great for intra city commutes on poorly maintained roads, when driven at decent speeds.
7. The Nissan Sunny/ Renault Scala - again great for intra city commuting on bad roads, when driven sanely.

How can one forget the Ford vehicles - the Fiesta drives well here in India, as does the Ford EcoSport!

[hserus]

Agree with most of your picks except the amby. NVH and metal shell that'd heat up or get chilled depending on the weather, and horribly sprung bench seats mean that I would invariably vomit on car drives.

BTW been years since the linux India / blug days if you're the same person from there.

To your ford list add the older Figo (not really the new aspire for some reason, maybe power rather than hydraulic steering?), punto / linea and vw polo and vento

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by hserus

Agree with most of your picks except the amby. NVH and metal shell that'd heat up or get chilled depending on the weather, and horribly sprung bench seats mean that I would invariably vomit on car drives.

BTW been years since the linux India / blug days if you're the same person from there.

To your ford list add the older Figo (not really the new aspire for some reason, maybe power rather than hydraulic steering?), punto / linea and vw polo and vento

Whats those linux India/ blug days? Doesn't ring a bell. Maybe someone else with the same name...

Saying that, our old Amby did innumerable trips from Munnar and Anamalais to Ooty, Madras, Calcutta and so on, with a full complement of luggage (including our school steel trunks and picnic baskets and all the rest of it) and people, on those old dual carriage-way Grand Trunk roads and State highways. No problems at all. Even the worlds worst roads in the Nilgiris in the 1980's were handled with ease.
We used to sleep in the back with some pillows and a quilt on cold nights watching the moon follow the car. Great car, that Amby. We found it very comfy indeed.
Of course, my Dad had done up the seats and suspension and it used to handle those bad roads very well indeed, apart from being a capacious workhorse.

[hserus]

Ah ok thanks, may not be the same person then.

As far as the amby goes if your dad modded the seats and suspension it would become a decent ride

[swiftnfurious]

Since I see SUVs too discussed here, my suggestion would be Safari Storme. Phenomenal ride quality; yes the car is big, but then so is XUV. That's one car which can take the abuse. As far as I know, all TATA cars are usually good with handling potholes. Been in Indigo / Indica / Sumo extensively and they all do well.

However, I didn't feel Manza to be all that comfy though people say otherwise. Zest also should be good enough as I had a short drive and felt good.