I got the Grand Vitara back from the dealership with a new slave cylinder, the clutch pedal problem is finally solved. However, I also found out that other clutch parts are on the last legs. I can still drive 10K-20K if driven on highways. The city traffic might kill the clutch faster.<\/p>\n
Since the Grand Vitara experienced back-to-back parts failure, both my wife and my friends started pushing me to finally get a new car. I was busy setting up a new office in Manipal, and I badly needed a car to run around. So I finally booked a Hyundai Tucson.<\/p>\n
The Tucson was delivered in Bangalore with a Udupi registration, and I drove it Udupi on November 18th. The next day when the whole cricketing world was watching World Cup finals, I had a photo shoot of them handing over the baton. On the very month, my Grand Vitara completed 16 years, it is finally being retired as the primary family vehicle.<\/p>\n
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So what happens to the Grand Vitara? Frankly, I was confused at first. After knowing I had booked the Tucson, I had 4-5 inquiries from buyers interested in taking it off my hands. One BHPian even drove down from Bangalore to test drive it. I had come pretty close to selling it. But nothing had panned out yet when I started having second thoughts.<\/p>\n
After driving the Tucson for 1000 km on all kinds of terrain and also driving the Grand Vitara during the same time, I discovered the stark difference between the two vehicles.<\/p>\n
While Tucson is a great highway car and AWD, it is not really a true SUV. It is primarily a SUV-shaped sedan. On bad roads, I am forced to drive it like a sedan. The suspension simply can’t take the abuse like Grand Vitara can. On narrow two-lane roads, Tucson is slower than Vitara because it can’t overtake the bigger vehicles with one tyre outside the tarmac. Further, it doesn’t help that Tucson is wider, longer, and has a much higher turning radius. On many of my usual roads where Vitara can easily take U-turns, I was forced to take K-turns with the Tucson. I actually found myself taking the Vitara when I needed to visit places with narrow roads and difficult parking situations. Why should I give up this truly rugged SUV?<\/p>\n
So, Grand Vitara stays as my second car in Udupi.<\/p>\n
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.<\/p>\n