My boss is planning to buy a new car and he was zeroing in on Cedia. he had called the sales person from J. Williams for a test drive.When the sales person came for a test drive, I accompanied him. It was a silver coloured Cedia, looking absolutely royal. The 15" alloy wheels and the mitsubishi logo looked great.Interiors were beige, the dashboard had a wooden lining; the steering and gear shift and upholstery were all soft leather matching the interiors. There was a blaupunkt audio system attached kept at a low volume; the A/C was on and the moment we got in we felt cold. The interior was very roomy and the colour combination gave a warm feel. My manager was took the wheels first. After shutting the doors, the first question was "Is the engine running or should I give it a self?" and to our utter surprise, the answer was "yes! The engine is running". There was literally no sound/vibrations whatsoever. My boss drives an automatic; so he was having bit of a trouble with the gear shift; I was waiting for my turn ;-). Around the corner, I took the wheels. The vehicle slipped into 1st gear pretty smoothly and the steering wow..it was comparable to a Buick/Le sabru - absolutely feather touch. You could turn this beast with just your little finger.
I was going hard on the accelerator. Surprisingly, the pickup on first/second was not great. For a 2 litre engine, with 175 NM torque, it should have been better. While this thought was crossing my mind, I shifted this beast to third and then it unleashed its power. Unfortunately I was test driving in front of my office which is a pretty congested area. I could not stretch this monster to its full fury; but it did gave me a taste as to what it is capable of. We did one more circle, this time it was with LPG on and there was literally no change in performance, the A/C was ON all the while and it did not seem to make any difference to this monster. The sales person pulled up the bonnet, the weight of the bonnet spoke volumes of the heavy body the car had.
The car is literally loaded with everything, ABS/SRS/EBD has front and rear disc brakes, all power windows, keyless entry, power mirrors, rear defogger, glass antennae. The only problems were - no climate control; but mind you the ac was very powerful; trunk space was a little less since the LPG cylinder was mounted there, no engine immobiliser, and strangely the horn; you need to press the center of the steering wheel only to activate the horn :-) from nowhere else you can activate it. It was strange also, I was surprised. For a car at this band, one could hear a lot of road noise in the passenger compartment.
This was not good. With a 175mm ground clearance, which is highest in its class, one can freely drive it in Pune without worrying about the potholes. I sat in the rear seat and even with the front seat pulled back, there was plenty of space in the rear and it was very comfortable. the rear seat had a arm rest and if you happen to carry 3 people in the rear, the third would be ok. I was left dreaming about this car...amazing car. You do not see it often on the roads, so people do turn back and take notice of it. Its not just another city/civic.
The sales person claimed the mileage to be 11KMPL in city and around 15-16 kmpl on highways with A/C on with LPG as well as petrol. My father has a Wagon R duo and from that experience I can say that the LPG average should be 1 km less than that with petrol.
The service was also great. The sales team were ready to go out of their way to get the test drive arranged. Also the reviews I read about the sales and service team has been fabulous.
Planning to test drive the Honda City today and then finalize what to go in for. Whether to stretch my budget and get into a Cedia, or take the Honda wheels which I expect to be a good car.