Process initiated - RMS on Wheels -1

Ok Folks, I am looking for wheels in Trivandrum and my journey began with SX4. I was quiet impressed with the commercials which says folks will keep everything waiting if you are driving an SX4. I was looking for a diesel on the high end. For the test drive, I managed to get 5 folks inside the car just to get the worst case scenario for my drive in city. The car has got awesome ground clearance and great leg space both to front and rear passengers. The person sitting on rear seat on the middle will not enjoy the ride if it’s a long ride as the removable hand rest is a pain on your back. Second thing I noticed was that the car does not have many features that cars of the same segment will provide like a cup holder( I don’t think I will drink while I drive in India, but still!), sun glass holder, tinted rear view mirrors and electronic adjustable seats . The dash finish also did not impress me as the plastic finish / wood like finish looked cheap. One would definitely require an assisted camera to have an idea of what’s in the rear, forget about looking back and parking in a new place. Only the rear view mirror inside the car is tinted and the side mirrors are just normal glass. Also there is no auto close feature available on two out side rear view mirrors. The car has only one trip meter. The most disappointing fact was that with 5 folks in the car on 3rd gear, the car did not perform as I would like it to have. It might be because I had been using an old diesel Xeana for a while and the engine varies from 1.6 to 1.2 in case of two cars. But still a 10 year old engine giving a better response was something I didn’t expect. Also the car has engine noise on slow speeds from 30 to 50 KMPH but didn’t go beyond 80 or so to see how it sounds. But on slow speeds, even a month old car has noise. All in all, after looking at the limited feature list and a normal performance and looking at the price tag, I would rate it a 6.5 out of 10.

I am yet to drive any other car, I have Toyota Altiz and Verna Fluidic in my list for this Saturday. Hope one of it to do better to be continued