My fascination with SUVs can be traced back to 1993, when I saw the movie Jurassic Park with the Jeep Wrangler. The open top Jeep Wrangler has been my favorite four wheeler ever since. The way it handles itself in rough terrain, oh I just fell in love with it. The Jeep Wrangler has come in many movies and used in all sorts of action scenes. However, I never liked the long wheel base version of it.
Gradually I got hooked on to the Maruti Suzuki Gypsy when I was a kid and used to see my dad drive it in Manipur. That was an Indian version of the tough Jeep that goes anywhere. And, oh, even in Bourne Supremacy, the Gypsy is driven by Marie through the field when running away from the assassin.
In 2006, the movie blood diamond had a scene where a convoy of relief workers gets ambushed and one of the vehicles is a Mitsubishi Pajero carrying Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Housou is also hit. DiCaprio takes over and drives the Pajero out of the ambush. That was another scene where I was awestruck by the handling of the Pajero. (I hate the design of the new Pajero Sport).
It is obvious that when it comes to SUVs , I have always loved the nimble, agile ones. But I can't dismiss the fact that I have also been liking the heavy monstrous ones like the Chevy Tahoe. The main reason being - Most movies and TV series have the Black Suburban / Tahoe as the main SUV for the government agencies. I was never interested in the Hummers or the pickups like the Ford F series, Ranger etc.
In India, the closest match has been the Ford Endeavor and I used to like the older one (shown below), and not the new facelifted one (not worth showing here).
With the Indian public going crazy over SUVs and sales numbers for Renault Duster, Ford Ecosport & Nissan Terrano are a strong indicator of the SUV appetite. I still do not like any of these SUVs. My dad likes the Duster for the imposing stance, which I do acknowledge is fine. I would never be able to enjoy an SUV which does not have a powerful engine. And no, anything around 100HP is not powerful. I need an SUV to have close to 140 BHP. The only SUV under Rs15 Lacs to have power similar to this is the Tata Safari Storme (at 138BHP) or the Mahindra XUV 5OO (at 140BHP).
However, I do not associate these 2 SUVs with the words 'nimble' or 'agile', though I like the fact that they seem like SUVs (and not soft roaders) and come with at least 4X4 option . Unfortunately the build quality of a Tata or a Mahindra is extremely disappointing.
And ofcourse, I do not find the Duster, Ecosport or the Terrano to be agile either.
Gradually I got hooked on to the Maruti Suzuki Gypsy when I was a kid and used to see my dad drive it in Manipur. That was an Indian version of the tough Jeep that goes anywhere. And, oh, even in Bourne Supremacy, the Gypsy is driven by Marie through the field when running away from the assassin.
In late 1997, I saw the movie Jurassic park 2, with the Mercedes M class
with it's raw power trying to pull the trailers falling off the cliff.
That was one heckafa scene.
In 2006, the movie blood diamond had a scene where a convoy of relief workers gets ambushed and one of the vehicles is a Mitsubishi Pajero carrying Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Housou is also hit. DiCaprio takes over and drives the Pajero out of the ambush. That was another scene where I was awestruck by the handling of the Pajero. (I hate the design of the new Pajero Sport).
With the Indian public going crazy over SUVs and sales numbers for Renault Duster, Ford Ecosport & Nissan Terrano are a strong indicator of the SUV appetite. I still do not like any of these SUVs. My dad likes the Duster for the imposing stance, which I do acknowledge is fine. I would never be able to enjoy an SUV which does not have a powerful engine. And no, anything around 100HP is not powerful. I need an SUV to have close to 140 BHP. The only SUV under Rs15 Lacs to have power similar to this is the Tata Safari Storme (at 138BHP) or the Mahindra XUV 5OO (at 140BHP).
However, I do not associate these 2 SUVs with the words 'nimble' or 'agile', though I like the fact that they seem like SUVs (and not soft roaders) and come with at least 4X4 option . Unfortunately the build quality of a Tata or a Mahindra is extremely disappointing.
And ofcourse, I do not find the Duster, Ecosport or the Terrano to be agile either.
The soft roaders (compact SUVs)- Duster, Terrano, Ecosport are the ones
that just give you some road presence without actually having any off-road
presence. (Forgive me if I do not acknowledge the offloading events organized
for Duster owners recently). Let me confess something.. A few years down the
line, I might end up buying a soft roader too. With passage of time, I feel
that I might not be going for Offroad events - for lack (or unaffordability) of
a proper off-road SUV (like a Wrangler) and also lack of that fondness for offloading.
It is quite likely that in the last 8 years, the 2014 Auto Expo would be the
first one that I would probably skip, despite being in Delhi at that time, a
painful realization for me (I always thought of myself as an automobile
enthusiast, or at least an amateur automobile
enthusiast).
I guess, with passage of time, one loses the interest in
those fantasy thoughts that once were there for the younger me. I often wanted to drive an agile (or a strong heavy) SUV over rough terrain. Maybe a few years down the line, I might end up buying an old Pajero
