Why I decided against Mercedes, BMW & bought a Hycross: Pros & Cons

Luxury carmakers should understand that they are now also competing with the likes of Toyota, Hyundai-Kia, Tata and Mahindra.

BHPian UD17 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Recently acquired the Hycross ZX(O). A small story of coincidences and acquisition.

Don’t Rush the process, good things take time - Anonymous.

This is the good thing I am talking about: Welcome Innova Hycross ZX(O) blackish Ageha GF

Current Ride

A 2013 Gen3 Honda City V MT running very strong at 130K Kms.

I was a bachelor when I was looking for an upgrade from my Maruti 800. I test-drove Swift, Figo and Brio. The response from all three dealers was fantastic. All drove down to home to offer a test drive. Honda’s SA went one step ahead, next day he brought Jazz for the test drive knowing that I may not go for it as it was expensive for my needs. Nevertheless, after a long test drive all previous 3 selections were cancelled for a good reason and I made up my mind to go with Jazz.

During the test drive, SA enquired if I wanted to experience the Gen 3 city. I casually said yes, and the guy after a few hours was at my doorstep with Gen 3 City. I was not prepared for this but being equally crazy went ahead for a long test drive. ‘City’ was indeed far ahead in everything as compared to other cars I drove till then. This time some of my friends were also onboard test-driving the vehicle. The next few days were a kind of roller-coaster evaluating my needs, and budget, but after a good push from my friends, I booked the city on 14th February – Valentine’s Day. City was overdone for my need at that point in time, but it was a great decision that I chose ‘city’ (and not Jazz or Brio), it remains my Valentine till now. Subsequently, I got married and had two kids, the city just did what it did best- a reliable workhorse, comfortable to ride and having lot of space to manage the different situations.

11 years and 130K Kms, the city is still very strong. I was etching to spice up the city a bit due to some loose pieces, which eventually i did in February this year. Spent a good 200K INR to spice up things a bit: Changed complete suspension (front, rear, subframe), changed the seat cover, installed a newer Dashcam (70mai D), changed all rubber beading around the door, changed all window regulators, changed complete brake system (all disc, pads, cables & wires), changed the tyres to Yoko Earth 185 60R15, complete service with all the fluid change, new rear bumper, painted front bumper and some door panels. So, the city was recalibrated to run another 100K Kms, now runs like a new car and it is still performing all the homely duties without any complaints or special attention from us.

The ownership cost with Gen 3 city was wonderful, it's very pocket-friendly in maintenance (nearly 8K a year), has always been reliable, is a looker, powerful enough with a sufficient grunt and always delivers a handsome efficiency (~13KMPL)

So, what’s The Need

Kids are growing so are the long trips. Our annual ride calendar (from Pune) seems something like this - South Goa (>1200Kms round) – 2 trips, Konkan (>500 Kms round)- 4 trips, Around Pune to destinations like Mumbai, Mahabaleshwar, Lonavala, Pawna, Nasik, Kolhapur etc. (round trip of 200Kms to 500Kms) - 24 trips.

In the last 5 years, we added significant mileage to our city to all these destinations. City doesn’t have any major concerns over these trips yet the feeling of highway safety seems a little compromised. Low level of equipment and convenience features are sometimes missed. My city V MT did not even have Bluetooth. Low ground clearance makes us more cautious on difficult rods (and there are plenty).

• AT- Absolutely needs AT now, MT although fun yet a big pain overall in Indian traffic conditions.
• Convenience and Features: Car play, Ventilated seat, auto AC, Adaptive cruise control, Sunroof (Family need) etc. which are not present in Gen 3 city.
• Ground Clearance: SUV is preferred now as a go-anywhere vehicle, reducing anxiety by a great extent.

The contenders

I have an open mind and a relatively open budget while choosing the next car. I am OK with sedans, SUVs (family preference), MUVs or a Van. The primary requirements were reliability, no-nonsense ownership experience, function over form, longevity, and little snob value (as I would also use this car during office trips)

BMW 3 Series

The experience with the test drive was clearly premium. The SA drove down to home from 30 km and offered long test drives at any route we wanted. He was equipped with knowledge and answered all the questions professionally.

Pros:

• Felt wonderful in most aspects, Powertrain, self-parking feature, fun-to-drive factor, refinement and build quality. Interior space and Interior equipment are specially mentioned.
• Comfortable, balanced, futuristic, and fast Sedan
• Snob value, Looker

Cons:

• Poor Boot space, which I need the most with my long trips and two kids (They carry lot of stuff)
• No rear sun blinds and No magazine holder space (where would one keep the mobile and all)
• Ground clearance
• Cost (OTR 73 Lakhs)

My mind said go for the 3 series. Yet something felt amiss, the car does not seem to be too different to my city in terms of functionality based on my use (although performance, quality level and equipment level are far superior). Ultimately it felt to us like even after paying 73 Lakhs on road, 3 series would be a big compromise for our needs, and we would be hesitant to take this car to many places that we can visit with ease even in our Gen3 city. No sunblind, no magazine holder and the biggest deal breaker was the boot space. The purchase was put on hold.

Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Wife insisted that we should also experience C class and evaluate if this car offers something better than the 3-series.

Pros:

• Great Interior quality and futuristic user interfaces
• Snob Value with Mercedes brand
• Music system felt better than 3-series.

Cons:

• Ground clearance is so poor that it scraped in most speed breakers that we undertook during our test drive.
• Poor boot space and interior space were just enough.
• Expensive (76 Lakhs OTR in Pimpri-Chinchwad)

C class was outright rejected due to poor ground clearance, we need the car for all use cases (not just for specific duties). The boot space is again a deal breaker for us.

Skoda Kodiaq

Meanwhile saw some Kodiaq threads and got interested to at least give it a go. Although I was quite nervous about owning a Skoda (pure perception).

Pros:

• Futuristic design with fast TSI engine
• Feature loaded.
• Build quality was superior in the segment.

Cons:

• Expensive - Crosses 5 million on road
• Skoda brand name perception, DSG worries.
• Showrooms/ Service centre is far from my home (future repairs perspective)

Response from the Skoda team was not up to the mark. The test drive vehicle was not available in the dealership where I enquired (the nearest and 10Kms away from my home). They keep asking me to visit other dealership which is 35Kms from my home.

Toyota Fortuner

On 26th Feb 2023, just out of curiosity, went inside the SB Road Shaw Toyota showroom to check out the Toyota vehicles. We were promptly attended by the staff and things got rolling smoothly after that. We test-drove the Fortuner AT 4X4 version, right from the start the car felt too stiff and the steering too heavy to operate on a daily basis. Although well within my budget, I understood that this Truck is not for me.

Pros:

• Butch Road presence and reliability
• Abundant power and torque
• AT and 4X4 capabilities
• Great Book Space and flexibility of one additional row

Cons:

• Uncomfortable ride quality, felt so stiff as if I was driving a truck (which it really is)
• Tiresome steering (certainly not a daily car for me)
• Low number of useful features for the 5 million INR.

The family was also not very comfortable at the back.

Wild CAR(d) entry: At the same showroom we saw the new Hycross, SA promptly arranged a test drive although a shorter one. The car is big yet felt very agile to operate. Really loved the overall ride, space, and features. The executive in the showroom presented us with a family picture with white Hycross after the test drive. We were really impressed with this gesture. The waiting period informed to us was 4 years (they have 1000 bookings and the allocation to that dealership was 250/year). Returned from the showroom with a heavy heart but we need the new car in 2024 so more test drives become a routine for us now, before we pull the trigger.

Innova Hycross

Pros:

• Great practicality with Usable Space, rear sunblinds, Ottoman, 3 rows all useful
• Hybrid + e-cvt combo is future-proof and returns great mileage.
• Nice balance between ride and handling. Great all-round visibility
• Functional features & no Gimmicks: 360 camera, dual zone AC, Ventilated seats, Connected features, ADAS.

Cons:

• Camera quality is average although works as intended. It's bad, especially at night.
• Average music system (we are not audiophiles so it's not a deal breaker for us)
• Long Waiting period
• City manoeuvrability is difficult due to its big size.

Rest of 2023, we subsequently test-drove MG Hector Plus, Jeep Meridian, Jeep Compass, Tata Safari, XUV7OO, ScorpioN, and Kia Seltos. All cars have some good and some bad. But I must say, now the choices in the market are plenty, the engineering work done is advanced and the features offered are abundant. It looks like the car buying decision in the 20-30 Lakh segment is becoming tougher day by day. I even briefly considered Elevate but it did not offer anything special to the Gen 3 city (except well-tuned CVT and some much-needed features).

Booking Decision

Came 2024, the Honda City was spiced up quite nicely and behaves like day 1. Yet the quest for a new car kept lingering into the subconscious mind. During a casual chat in the company cafeteria with one of the colleagues, he suggested to go-ahead with Hycross due to the road presence, practicality offered, and the snob value as compared to other cars in the same segment. Over the days, any random discussion about the cars ends with asking me in which direction am I leaning. My friend also suggested booking it through Kolhapur as the waiting periods quoted are way less than in Pune. After much deliberation, I booked the car on 26th Feb 2024. This is sheer coincidence that this is the date in 2023 when we took the first test drive of Hycross and got home a family picture with the car. My wife feels that it's a true manifestation at work.

• Variant selection: It's a relatively easy decision for us. We had the budget, and we kept our car for a long, so it must be ZX(O) with Hybrid Tech and all bells and whistles. Next is colour, we had never owned white, black, or silver nor did we intend to again this time. The unanimous choice was Blackish Ageha GF. With all the finances ready, we approached Sonak Toyota Kolhapur.
• Booking Experience with Sonak Toyota: A low-key affair, the booking amount was 50K INR for V(X) and they promise to convert it to ZX(O) once inventories are available and considering the queue. The SA informed me that the Ageha black has zero number of bookings in his dealership so the allotment could be faster if the vehicle is available in any Sonak dealership. Sonak has many dealerships in different location (one is even in Pune). I already experienced the car earlier, so I did not visit showroom for booking. Although I do visit Sarayu Toyota Chinchwad to experience the ZX(O) Ageha black and to check out all the accessories. Needless to say, that I had pleasant experience at all Toyota showrooms be it Sarayu or Shaw (the first ever test drive).

I submitted all the documents next day to start processing the order. Now the wait starts. In the meantime, I inquired about the official accessories as I don’t want to waste my time later to hunt for accessories.

The following accessories are chosen:

1. Toyota Dash cam (video recorder)
2. Front and Rear under-run
3. Chrome Garnish jewel, 3D mats, luggage trey, door edge protectors, sun-visors, side door molding, welcome lamp, car cover, rear chrome garnish

I was keen on installing the sidestep as well but it was an aftermarket fitment and the SA suggested that I should wait for the Toyota sidestep which would be launched anytime soon.

The SA called during 19th March to check for the financial arrangements, which I am ready with. He revealed that they have one ZX(O) Ageha black allotted from the factory and the car is in transit. I asked for the VIN number, which he promptly shared. The car was March 2024 manufactured. The car reached the Kolhapur showroom on 21st March. We had a video call to see the car and do virtual PDI (Kolhapur is 250 Kms away and I had preoccupied schedule that time).

The first glimpse of car

I requested delivery in Pune, which they gracefully accepted. After my go-ahead, the car left for Pune showroom for RTO registration. On 23rd March, I visited Pune showroom with family to see the car in person before the RTO registration. All accessories were installed, Odo- 221Kms, Car was clean and stored nicely. The payment was made same day and the SA asked if I am OK with the 25th delivery without the number plate which i decline. So, the final delivery date fixed was 29th March post Holi.

Delivery Experience

Although I was taking delivery from a showroom who has no financial interest in this transaction, yet the experience was pleasant. It was a low crowd affair, we 4 family members, 1 priest, 1 SA (local showroom), 1 customer experience girl with camera and 2 detailing guys from the showroom. We reached showroom at 10am, the documentation verification took 30 minutes and in these 30 minutes, they detailed the car, drove the car to delivery bay, installed the number plates, covered it in nice red sparkling cover for unveiling.

The delivery process took good 30 minutes with a good Pooja, photo shoot, gift exchanges and sweet distribution. Net-Net we were out of showroom in an hour and half. The showroom had arranged for a garland, a coconut, some sweets, Lord Ganesha idol and flowers.

Not so good experience: The SA did not explain the feature very well, although I knew many of it through Team-BHP’s official review page, yet the showroom experience was shallow in this aspect. I had to take help of user manual later on to navigate for few features special the ADAS ones.

One more not so good experience was - Low fuel indicator was already blinking, and we tanked on the way to home. It may be due to the fact that car drove from Kolhapur to Pune and the Pune showroom had no financial interest in my case, But Kolhapur SA could have done a better job here.

While riding from showroom to home (15 Kms), the usual anxiety was quite evident inside me. Although navigating a bigger car in the Bangalore-Mumbai highway was a pleasant experience with the light steering and CVT box. ‘Lane keep assist’ was at work right from start. The NVH level was the highlight, the kids were exploring the ottoman as if it’s their bedtime. The feeling of sitting tall, watching the world around you and sense of safety inside the cabin was matchless.

Reached inside the housing society, the car was instant hit among people. All flocked around the car, devoured the sweets, and congratulated us. Next 1 hour was well spent with the car understanding different features and customizing few options to our linking.

The 1st Drive

Next day being a Saturday and holiday, the morning drive plan was quickly framed. What better than the express way to Lonavala, Lion Point, Amby valley, Pawna dam etc. We zoomed off at 6AM towards Lonavala, apple car play was connected (which I never experience with my city), sunroof cover pushed, Adaptive cruise control was set, and the result was a comfortable, stress-free journey which returned a stunning mileage of 18KMPL. Our breakfast destination was Bhuvachi-Misal in Lonavala, and they open around 8.30am, so we were headed towards INS road and enjoyed the early morning wind at Shivlinga point, Lion point and a well-deserved photoshoot near Tail-baila village.

The decent from the Lion points was all in EV till Lonavala, the fuel efficiency improved by a great margin to 20KMPL. Till the time we reach Bhuvachi-Misal (although quite overrated place), the few benches were taken, and orders were yet not started. At 8.45AM they started serving the delicious Misals. We were all hungry thanks to early morning drive and for next 15 minutes we didn’t talk much. The next thing I remember the start of discussion for the next destination. If we are close to Lonavala, Pawna Dam would be a must visit, so there we were heading towards Pawna dam via expressway, the new tunnel work near Lonavala had messed up route towards Pawna. There is a small cut (local villagers use it quite often and infect some labors were levelling that road that day) after the Kamshet tunnel that one can detour from expressway to Pawna.

Pawna is always beautiful, in all seasons, in all hours. We went straight off-road towards the backwater where kids have some water-play, kayaking and we all had some gratitude to have the Pawna dam as source of water for us in Pune. Overall, it was a well invested 7 hours with the car, the family, and the nature.

Experience of 21 Days of Ownership

With current odo of 800Kms, the tank fill I did on the delivery day still have 80 Kms of range left. During first tank full the car could sip just 35 liters. April 1st week, I was out for overseas trip, so car was mostly parked at home. The first service reminder from the dealership had already arrived.

Now the car had become my daily drive to office, the road presence of car is quite good which reduce some intimidation from rush drivers. This car is preferred for all small errands around home due to superior fuel efficiency. Due to sensors and 360 deg camera and the rear cross traffic alerts, the car navigates with ease in tight parking (wrt my city). Honda city is now used by my wife, and she is getting herself acquainted with the city.

Some of my experiences with useful features:

1. Toyota Video Recorder: It was expensive @ 16K INR fitted at the dealership as an accessory, it came with 64 GB card. It works well and the resolution is reasonable. The video recorder can be connected seamlessly with the Toyota DVR application, the front/rear videos can be downloaded in the app and accessible later on. For a comparison, the 70mai 810S 4K (19K INR) that I recently installed in my Gen 3 city is quite superior to this Toyota unit in terms of resolution.
2. Adaptive Cruise Control: A wonderful feature for the relax expressway or highway drives. This is especially suitable for the people who enjoys cruising long distances and are not in a rush. It took me good few minutes to understand the braking behavior of the car, initially I was a bit nervous as I would have braked little earlier to when the car did. To be more relaxed, I kept the longest distance and the slowest acceleration/deceleration settings. I don’t use this feature in city conditions where zig-zag traffic is quite frequent but enjoyed it thoroughly in Mumbai-Pune express-way (100 Km/h speed limit) recently.
3. Lane keep assist/LDW: Whenever the radar identifies the lanes, it activated. This is usually always ON in my car. Very initial days the shudder on the steering kept me off guard but I understood the pattern now. Always change lanes with the indicators
4. Hold feature: A boon in the evening bumper to bumper traffic. The car needs a affirming push at the accelerator paddle from the standstill with this feature ON. There is a slight hint of noise of disengagement of hold brake when I crawl again from standstill. The pattern is also understood now, so I keep sufficient gap from the car ahead.
5. Apple Car play: Worked always fine with my car. My phone model is iphone15 and it resumes the songs from where it left. I mostly use amazon music. Navigation also works fine, so did the teams meeting. I did not encounter any event of disconnection till now.
6. Instrument cluster drive modes: Most fun part with this Hybrid is competition with oneself to churn out maximum mileage numbers.

My experience:

• Starts are on EV always – Silent and fuel efficient (Idling- that’s where most fuel is saved, I guess)
• Below the central mark of ECO, the car mostly works in EV (except morning cold starts) and the instant fuel efficiency indicate 30KMPL (this is the max in the scale)
• Accelerating beyond middle mark on ECO, the EV mode is gone, and instant fuel economy is around 10KMPL (or less) in the indicator
• During hard acceleration the instant fuel economy is <5KMPL. The indicator moves to power band.
• Releasing the accelerator paddle after an acceleration event the car come to EV mode in no time
• During hill decent, the EV mode is mostly engaged even with light foot on accelerator paddle
• Hill climb - Most of the time its on ECO or power mode depending on accelerator paddle inputs
• Cruising: Cruising without accelerator inputs, the needle comes to charge zone and car cruise with ease (momentum), with slight brake input its move further down indicating regenerative braking (more charging)

It’s really a fun exercise to extract the highest mileage out of the hybrid system, this results to a 100% driving score and a smooth stress-free drive. The overall mileage in very dense city traffic condition is 16Km/L, which is astonishing for a car this big. I was habitual of 13 Km/l in my Gen 3 city, so fewer trip to fuel station is always a good feeling.

After Initial ownership: The likes and dislikes from the original showroom experience had changed now.

What I like:

• Road presence, Butch size, commanding view with very minimal blind spots
• Ease in driving, driving aids- ADAS, blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, 360 Camera.
• Smooth CVT box with great NVH levels
• Car is feature packed with all useful features- all are quite functional.

Not so good:

• Camera resolution could have been better (but it works in day, the night is particularly bad))
• No printed user manual, I really miss it. The online version is not very friendly and needs a lot of switching back and forth.
• Interior material quality could have been better for a 4 million INR car.
• Sound insulation could have been a bit better

Both BMW and Mercedes SAs were in constant touch with me enquiring about my decision and timelines to book the car. I informed them that I was going ahead with a different brand. They asked for the reason and the brand. They were kind of shocked to hear Hycross, but I gave them real feedback about why Hycross felt a better choice for my use case than the 3-series/C-class. In short, luxury carmakers should understand that they are now also competing with the likes of Toyota, Hyundai-Kia, Tata and Mahindra. Modern cars from these manufacturers upped the game by a large margin. The sales numbers of these brands are absolutely mind-boggling and I can say very confidently that it's seriously impacting the growth prospects of luxury carmakers (they are kind of stagnant now). I personally know a few examples (including mine) in my circle of those who have not selected big 3 entry-level Germans, even with an adequate budget.

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