Is ground clearance the only factor while buying a car?

Hi Rajendra, Binoy, Praveen & Anindya Thanks to each one of you for your valuable feedback. Definitely I will try to learn go diagonally while crossing over the humps slowly. But I have a fear do I hit other vehicles which is coming from either side. May be I need to practice that technique, Let me hope I will learn it fastly. Thanks once agian Jay

Diagonally is not always required. You will soon understand the technic & be comfortable - nothing to worry.

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.

Diagonal driving is not really required. The best technique that I would suggest is, bring your vehicle to near zero speed (not stand still but close to it) just in front of the speed breaker, shift to second gear and start gentle accelration as you cross the bump.

Never, cross a bumbper with brakes on. Remember that while braking the car goes slightly down and while accelerating it moves up (very slight but significant for bumps). So if you are driving fast and brake right when you are over the bumper you are very likely to hit it. So brake just before it to ensure that you have slowed to very low speed, just in front of the bumper, and then release the brake and apply gentle accelration while crossing it. Over a period of time you will perfect this.

As said above in one of the replies "be watchful for bumpers and have a determination that you are not going to hit one." Rest will take care of itself.

In some cases (size & shape of the bump), you need to drive diagonally.  But yes, not always (not on all bumps).

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.

'Diagonal'-seems to have got misrepresented!

Does not always mean the car itself is diagonal, what i meant was the front wheel/axle would take the bump diagonally.

Slow down before the bump turn the wheel to either side  as you accelerate over the bump so that the wheels(only) approach the bump in a slight diagonal.

Hello Pankaj, Himanshu & Binoy

Yes. I could able to feel the technique & drove on some speed breakers without getting the vehicle hit. Itz really working & am very happy. 

Hopefully I will try to learn more precisely in future.

Thanks one & all - you were all of great help

Have a good day!

Jay

I like to brake hard before a bumper right upto the point when I am almost over it ( you have to estimate the position of your front wheels - usually can be done after many days with your car !). Then I tap the accelerator to go over ....

Sometimes however your best effort may be useless and you can be sure that you will scratch the undercarriage : at this point its a good idea to know where your fuel tank is underneath the car. Thats your most vulnerable point - other than that most of the undercarriage is safe from an occasional bang ....

No matter how much careful you are it is not possible to avoid touching speed breakers for cars like NHC.So better be informed in advance and decide to buy a car that suits your roads.I have prefferred SX4 ZXI over NHC for this reason.

Hitting one speed hump out of 10 speed humps is okay. No big deal. But it would be a problem if I have to hit every other hump. Most of the sub-20L cars will easily get away, because they have higher clearance than expensive ones.

Also, GC on paper is not the only thing. Skoda Octavia with just 135mm clearance will have less trouble than a Honda City with 170mm. That has something to do with the suspension softness. Another point to consider is that GC is taken based on the lowest clearance point under the body. So, where is the lowest point. If it is somewhere near the wheels or between the left and right wheels, somewhere along the link, it will never touch the humps.

Cross driving over hump works only if one of the rear wheel can start climbing the hump before one of the front wheel has crossed the hump. This technique will not work on long wheelbase like Honda Civic or Linea unless the humps are very wide. Nowadays, our netas also drive modern cars and they are making sure that their cars don't scrap the hump. So, in cities like Bangalore, they are keeping very wide humps, which is good. Overall, I wouldn't buy too tall ones unless it is a SUV. It compromises heavily on the handling part.

On a recent visit to Lucknow my friend took me in his NHC to the Sahara Mall for Tunda Kabab .They have  small and proper speed breakers in its basement parking and while all other cars were flying away without a bother ,our NHC got badly scraped on that small speed braeker,we were only two in the car without any luggage.