The Blown-up Hatch or the Shrunken SUV?

Yes, that is the exact kind of cars that I’m referring to. With the launch of the Renault Duster, the market noticed the big boom coming. But until before no one tapped the market for that segment of cars. Even if they had, it wouldn’t have been a success. Because this probably is the most ideal time and the most ideal place for this segment of cars to hit the roads.

If you were watching the automotive market closely in the last couple of years the trend of buying SUVs in India was huge even during recession times with the other segments not falling in sales as well. And it was always a fact that the India was the heart of the hatchbacks. So it took no time for this to evolve into a hybrid crossover of the hatchbacks and the SUVs to become the Sub-compact SUVs.

These ‘Sub-compact SUVs’ as we refer them are the best choice Indian buyers have got in a long time. Here are my reasons-

1) Compactness

No worries about parking and gliding through traffic as it is sub 4200 mm in length in most cases.This means that with the compactness of the car you don’t compromise on the spacious interiors.

2) Ownership Pride

The SUV craze always exists with most of the car lovers. It is always a different feeling to sit inside an SUV and ‘look down’ on other shorter cars- be it an 800 or a limousine. It also gives the driver a feel of control over the roads.

3) Women Buyers

From all the Dusters I have encountered till date, I have seen more of lady drivers in it than men. It surely couldn’t have been a co-incidence. Having just enough horse powerr to control proves handling capabilities in India.

4) Ground Clearance

The bumpy-ness of our roads gives us a feel of being in a Rocky- expedition every time we ride on it. The ground clearance of a minimum of 200 mm from these cars gives us a much smoother ride.

5) Cost

Cost, both price wise and maintenance wise is much lesser compared to an actual SUV and closer to that of a premium hatchback. This by itself is one big reason to go for this section of cars! Besides the fuel efficiency of some of these cars are mind blowing. The Ford Ecosport for example has the 1.0L engine which puts out 123 bhp (credits to the Eco-boost technology) which is quite a lot for that small an engine. So for the same milage of a 1.0L car you get almost as much power of an SUV.

6) Beats the Premium Hatch

Sub-compact cars are a better choice than a premium hatchback for all the above reasons . And since it comes at an arguable cost from it, we wouldn’t mind shelling a couple of extra bucks.

7) Closer to High ends

With so much advertising of the Mercedes Benz A-series, BMW Dynamic X1, Audi Q3 and if we push the bar a little higher the Range Rover Evoque, owning one of these Sub-compact SUVs gets us one step closer to those cars.

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- Abishek Narayan

Audi Enthusiast first. Automobile Enthusiast next.