A
lot has been said about the four hatches that we are looking
at and the one thing that emerges loud and clear is that
it is important to be contemporary in today’s world
otherwise you have a tendency to get left behind.
The other thing that emerges very clearly is that there
are different cars that are more suited to certain things
than the others and if your priorities are towards a certain
thing - like performance for example or the ride quality,
then you can go ahead and pick one car. However to pick
out the overall winner would depend very much on how you
rank them for the various parameters and which of these
parameters is important in your scheme of things relative
to the other parameters.
What does not emerge however is that it might be well
and good to compare the cars and choose a winner but putting
a price to each of the cars might dramatically change
the situation and you might begin to wonder whether the
car was good enough or whether it offers enough value
to justify the additional amount that you are going to
be spending on it.
Even though the price of the Fusion has not been revealed
as yet, we are sure that it is going to be the most expensive
hatchback in the country. In fact it is going to be much
more expensive than some of the saloons as well. So does
the package justify that much premium? In the case of
the Fusion it is the question of whether you want all
that the vehicle offers, the quirky SUV-type of styling,
the various in-cabin utilitarian features, the Duratec
engine, high stance and so on and so forth. Because what
the Fusion offers in terms of styling probably no other
car in the world that could be an option. So how do you
put a price to such odd-ball styling? There might be quite
a few of you who would be willing to pay a premium for
the way the Fusion looks! In fact the Fusion might have
the most number of unique features among any of the cars
in its class and price range. Car for car it offers much
more than the others but you will have to put your own
value to these extras - eg, does the removable rear armrest
hold much charm for you as you might be usually travelling
with three people in the rear seat!
The Corsa offers a very nice ride quality that the other
cars find difficult to match. It offers more car for the
money than either of the others, but then this is just
a conjecture. It has the largest capacity engine after
the Fusion and GM is rebuilding customers’ faith
in its dealership network. It has decent luggage space
to boot. So if you are a nuclear family who’d like
a bit of a go from your car then you could very well be
giving the Corsa a serious look, because it offers a lot
of what the Getz offers but at a much lower price.
The Hyundai Getz is the cool, good looking super mini
but it has its own limitation. The engine though nice
and refined does not offer the power that you would get
from the larger engined cars. It is a car that is fun
to drive but the fun is cut short because of the limitations
of the engine. The Getz is longer than the Palio but shorter
than the Cora Sail. It is also the widest of the three
and the tallest as well.
What the Fiat Palio has going in its favour is that you
get a distinctive car complete with alloy wheels and a
special colour, nice interior touches and the top most
trim level, all at a price lesser than any of the other
cars.
Surprisingly in our wrap-up of this comparison test fuel
efficiency is still to raise its head. This is because
all these cars are so close to each other in terms of
fuel efficiency that this parameter would make no difference
in helping one makes one’s choice. What we are saying
the fuel efficiency really does not matter here! Never
would we get to say that in India, though! |
