I test drove, Ford Endevour, Mitsubishi Pajero and Cheverlot Captiva ( Honda CRV dealer could not provide a test drive even after requesting few times). The height of the driver seats and leg room was the deciding factor against Ford endevour ( I am not looking for fuel economy if somebody looking fuel economy then they should not go for any of the SUVs). The factor went against Pajero was the outdated model and the old body shape. Pajero is bigger than Captiva still feels and body feels very light/flimsy on the road.
Captiva the design is very good, nice interiors, very good leg room for the front seats and the middle seats. The rear seats are not comfortable at all and better not to use and use it as a luggage space only. The driving comfort is very good, nice view from the drivers seat except for rear side. You have to use the side mirrors to view the vehicles coming from behind rather than the centre mirror. The airconditoner works really good, seats are not bad but as not plush as the ones you find outside India but good compared to the other models. If you are cruising on highway it is good, in town the first and second gear the power is really good, but when you are on third gear inside the city, the engine clutters and there is no much power.
Pros
Bold look and good interiors
Cons
Rear seats and rear view from the rear view mirror.
Don't ask about fuel economy if you are planning to buy a SUV, enjoy your driving ( Hope you are driving the vehicle not your driver)
Below comments are after using 3 weeks,
I drove around 1000 Kms in first 3 weeks, the mileage in what I get in Mumbai city is around 10 Kms per Litre.
The aircondition is very good, for the front seats and middle row, still dont know how it will be in the last row because there is no seperate vent for the middle and last row.
Below are the comments after using almost 5 months and driving more than 7000 kms
We had some real good drive from Mumbai to Kerala via Goa and while coming back took the route of satymanaglam forest - Bangalore and then Kolhapur and then Mumbai. The drive was excellent and we never faced any kind of problem with vehicle ( Captiva). The roads were excellent and there were few bad patches. Total distance we covered in this trip was around 5500 kms, The average mileage on long distance was around 12 Kms. Only problem we faced was with the Music system, the CD player stopped working by the end of the journey, but got fixed when i came back to Mumbai thanks to Ashtavinayak Auto ( Dealer for Chevy). The drive was really comfortable, as per my family travelling in the middle seat also was comfortable, the rear seats were not used and used it as luggage space only. The vehilce is having real good road grip, touched the maximum speed of 180 kms while we were on Bangalore - Kolhapur strech.
We used the vehilce is real village roads in kerala where there is no tarmac and the performance was good.
I bought this car through Ashtavinayak Automobiles and they are providing excellent after sales service.
Any new car buyers and going for loan be carefull about the direct sales agents of banks, they will quote you more interest and also price of the car more than the dealers, Go directly to the dealers for buying the car and also go directly to the bank to get loan rather than going through the Direct sales agent. For saving almost 2 lacs - thanks to HDFC and Ashtavinayak. Soon shall reveal the name of the direct sales agent who tried to cheat me.
