When comfort matters

Some like it sporty and some like it comfy is what we think. This time around Rahul Ghosh digs into the database and pulls out the statistics for the most comfortable cars

Over the course of many conversations, we have noticed that people have different requirements from their cars. Some want it to have a powerful engine and a rorty exhaust note so that they can enjoy the performance. At the same time some want them to offer a combined performance and handling combo so that the drive can be truly enjoyable. They are the petrol heads and enjoy hardcore motoring. But there is more to the world than just enthusiasts. People more often want to have a car which is comfortable to be in. These people essentially spend considerable amount of time in these cars every day and can be drivers themselves or are driven around in which case they occupy the back seat. They prefer their cars to be quite and absorb the undulations thrown at it by the roads of India. Quite obviously they need the ‘Most Comfortable Car’. In this context we bring you the details of all the cars which are available in India up to a price of Rs 25 lakh and tell you which is the better buy. Needless to say it includes cars from all genres.

This is a segment dominated by non enthusiasts. People who mostly use their car as a point A to B transport rather than an emotional connect. They are looking at mainly efficiency, ease of maintenance and comfort. We also believe owning to the recent pandemic, a lot of people will opt to buy a car and hence the sale of such entry level cars could see a spike. Now for the results and at third position is the space king of our country, the Maruti Suzuki Eeco. The big minivan offers incredible amounts of space within the cabin thanks to being a bread box. The rear section also offers versatility and many like the fact that they can choose the seating combination. It also gets the mandatory safety net of airbags and ABS. However it is neither feature rich nor sophisticated. Just an honest people mover! At second position is the Tata Tiago which first and foremost looks appealing. It also offers best in class front space and not to forget that it offers the typical Tata ride and handling package. It is also a car with a plethora of features and variants available. However the winner of the lot is the Hyundai Santro which looks and feels over engineered for the segment. It offers a refined engine and a light to drive feel which makes it very comfortable for starters. It also features excellent build quality and is built to last. Space too is great within the cabin and it also comes with a flexible boot. Overall the Santro emerges the winner as it ticks the right boxes across the range.

This head of course includes everything that has to do with the body of a car, from space to build quality to safety to payload. 1. It’s not good enough that a car be spacious at the rear as a majority of cars today are self driven. To get the right perspective and negate the advantage of a long rail on which the seats slide, we have a benchmark rear kneeroom based on which the front leg space in calculated. We also measure elbow, head and shoulder rooms to finally arrive at points for space.

As is the case for front space, we use a 1m front leg room as a benchmark to measure usable rear knee room. Again, head and shoulder room is calculated before arriving at points for rear space.

This has nothing to do with how spacious the car is, but how our senses perceive it. So, if the car has light interiors, a large glass area and a high roof, it will feel more spacious. And since buyers buy based on feel rather than absolute dimensions, this is an important consideration for comfort too.

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The points for boot space and flexibility again are based on our measurement rather than data provided by the manufacturer. There are many

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8. parameters which are taken into account and measured with utmost detail. Things like whether the seats fold down flat or not, maximum width and minimum width offered are all measured in. We also take into account things like loading lip height as well as the height of the tail gate when open. All this can sometimes spring surprises which would never have been clear to the naked eye.

Points for Visibility are arrived at after considering the view the driver has over the hood, via the A-and B-pillars, through the rear glass and also from all the rear view mirrors.

This takes into consideration measurements of the various gaps between panels as well as the consistency of these gaps. A bit is also subjective; as in how plastics, etc look and feel on the inside.

Simplest of all, this is the measured maximum load carrying capability of the car.

For safety our starting point is a crash worthy body structure, good for one point. Depending on the number of airbags, drive assist systems (ESP, ABS, EBD, etc) and 15 other aspects, including rain sensing wipers, tyre monitoring system, adaptive headlamps and more, points are awarded.

Now here things start getting rather interesting. The Ford Aspire impressed us by offering a lot of space in the cabin. We are also happy to report that the Ford scores rather high on the safety front thanks to more number of safety features. Fords have always scored very high on ride and handling and the Aspire is no different. The hatchbacks both come from Maruti Suzuki namely the Swift and the Baleno. Both cars are based on the ever so versatile Heartect platform and as a result offers excellent comfort and in cabin space. Both offer good features and which the Baleno is available from the premium Nexa chain, the Swift is available at the Arena chain of dealerships. However at the end of the day the larger Baleno inches ahead of the Swift to be the best in segment.