Yes, we believe Renault-Mahindra should make the Steppe, but even if they don’t, Gautam Sen suggests that Tata should take a step in that direction

In the last issue you will have read about the Ford Fusion and the Fiat Adventure in the story ‘Bonfire of the Vanities.’ You will have also noticed that we have an Adventure as TG’s official car, the car that we use for our photography, and else. And that’s why it figures in our ‘Lifers,’ the longtermer section introduced in the April ‘06 issue.
When we had to decide on a car that team TG would use regularly for photography, for lugging the test equipment around, for carrying lights to our photo shoots, for ferrying gadgets that feature on our TG Products section, and much else, we decided upon the Adventure. We needed space, essentially boot space, we needed flexibility, we needed a hatch that opened upwards so that our photographer could lie low and take tracking shots, a car that could carry five and their luggage comfortably for out-of-towner assignments, yet a car that was versatile enough without being too big, compact enough for
parking in crowded Mumbai.

There are big hatches now – cars like the Accent Viva, the Getz and the Corsa Sail – that have enough passenger space for five, but rather insufficient boot space. For more space there are MUVs, SUVs and MPVs like the Chevy Tavera, the Scorpio or the Innova, but all are more than a handful in the city. Plus their boot floor is too high for our photographer Dhaval to get that dramatic low, low tracking shots. The choice at the end narrowed down to the Fiat Adventure, the Ford Fusion and the Tata Indigo Marina.
The article in our last issue explained why we preferred the Fiat over the Ford – though the latter is a generation more modern than the Fiat, the issue of less space, poor ride and the rather high price tag dissuaded us. On which case the Marina should have been the more logical solution: cheaper, lower running costs of a diesel, and similar space to that of the Adventure. Well, it would have been the solution if we were comparing the Marina to the Fiat Palio/Siena Weekend; but the Adventure, with its body cladding and raised suspension and semi-offroad tyres is an altogether different animal.

And even better, it has been doing a good job fending off attacks from other road users. The other day a scooterist decided to make the most of the gap between the Fiat and the car ahead during peak hour standstill traffic, lost his balance and fell on the Fiat’s bumper. Or rather the bull-bar. His engine cover ‘folded’ in, and there was this horrible grating noise emanating from within. But a nary a dent on the bar. I have been wanting to remove the bull-bar – it’s so pedestrian unfriendly – but colleagues have been against it. Maybe they have a point. Is it socially incorrect to be scooter-unfriendly, especially when they lean on to your car?

Another day I parked the Adventure on the street and was at a shop next to it, when an adventurous sort in a Santro decided to squeeze through the rather tight gap between the Adventure and the car in the opposite lane ‘sure enough I heard this graunching sound’. Went running across to see the damage. The Santro had a deep gash running a little above the running board, across the two doors, whereas the Fiat’s military-looking running board had a slight indent on it.

A battle scar that it could wear proudly.

Point made? That cladding, that body armour, serve more than a purpose in the battlefields of our streets. That raised suspension and those big wheels allow for some offroadability, and the solidity of the design gives you confidence when ploughing through dirt, slush and urban traffic. Yet there is an issue: that rear overhang. Angle of approach is great, ramp break-over is good, but the angle of departure is poor, because of that long overhang, a handicap that the Adventure inherited from the estate version, the Weekend. Time and again we have managed to graunch the rear extremity, especially when fully loaded.

The Fiat Adventure is a faux offroader, like many others including the CitroenC3 X-TR, the VW Polo Dune and the Rover 25 Streetwise. Rover, as you know, is history, as is the Polo Dune. We know why Rover is history, but the Polo Dune has an altogether different reason for not succeeding. It lacked – in Europe – street cred. Here was an ordinary car pretending to be an offroader – if you wanted a real offroader, you went and got one, and road conditions obviously does not justify a car that is supposed to take the rough with the smooth roads of Europe.

Honda had greater success with the HR-V, a really soft softroader that was available with all-time 4x4 (mainly to the front wheels, with power to the rear when losing traction), though most buyers apparently bought the two-wheel-drive version. The hacks tested the 4x4, which gave it some street cred and with that established, buyers went and bought mostly the fwd version. The same seems to be happening with the Fiat Panda Cross 4x4 too, and initial report indicates that the Panda 4x4 will succeed where the others may not have had much success.

In India the complications and the cost hike of a 4x4 on a vehicle like the Adventure would work against the concept. Higher ground clearance, the utilitarian cladding, bigger tyres and improved suspension do the job adequately, given our road conditions.
In fact, all cars in India, I believe, should be like the Adventure, starting with the Maruti 800. Okay, maybe I go too far…
But, yes, I would like to see more of that kind. And I am hoping that Renault-Mahindra may oblige. The (Renault) Dacia Logan Steppe, our cover story from the last issue, may get into production. As a five-seater (and a seven-seater) estate it is due to roll out by late this year in Europe, and by later next year in India perhaps. But going from the very positive feedback that Renault has received at the Geneva motor show the Steppe version may be made too. With those 17-inch wheels shod with chunky rubbers, the heavy
plastic cladding all around, but with functional roof rails instead of the luggage box atop. And if the Steppe version makes it to India, we – as in TG – may very well be the first in the queue…

It has everything the Adventure has, and some more in terms of much better looks, more convincing styling, bigger wheels, more space, the possibility of seven seats, and in all probability, a diesel option. The Logan will be sold in India with both petrol and diesel powertrains, the petrols being a 75bhp 1.4 and a 1.6 that may be available in two versions, a 90bhp version or a 16-valver doing 110 horses, plus the diesel, a 70bhp 1.5 common rail. The latter seems to be an interesting alternative, as it has a max torque figure of 160Nm – lugging ability is what matters – that compares quite favourably with the Adventure’s 137Nm from the 98bhp 1.6. Fiat used to have a diesel, a 1.9, but that managed just 63bhp and 120Nm, rather inadequate for this 1215kg car, reason why the Adventure is offered with just the 1.6 petrol currently. The diesel Steppe surely would be easier on our wallets…

The Steppe – at 4.47 metres long – is bigger than the saloon version of the Logan and is also longer than the Adventure (4.25 metres). Which could be a bit of a disadvantage in crowded Mumbai, but if the car comes with seven seats, then the additional road encumbrance is something that we can live with. Whether Mahindra – as Renault’s joint-venture partner – can live with that is another matter. The Steppe would have the same utility of the Scorpio, with a more convivial and comfortable interior, much greater refinement, better performance not only in terms of max speed, but also lower fuel consumption perhaps, greater driveability, better dynamics surely and arguably better looks too. Only it won’t be as butch as a Scorpio.

But as butches and dykes are not our scene, we may very well prefer going with the Steppe. Sure it ain’t a 4x4, but the ground clearance looks good, and even if the ramp breakover may have been compromised because of the longer wheelbase, the angle of approach and the angle of departure is very convincing. But will Renault-Mahindra make it?

Well, if they don’t then there could be an opportunity for Tata. Yes, Tata did show the Indigo Advent concept – a slightly raised and beefed-up Marina – a couple of years ago at Geneva, but in styling terms it was just not convincing. That hugely pronounced rear overhang, coupled with a sharply raked and curved C-pillar and rear tailgate glass just doesn’t work for an off-roader, leave alone a softroader. As we haven’t heard anything further on that front, I guess Tata have decided to quietly forget the Advent misadventure.

But we have a design: the illustration that you see in these pages, as you can make out, is based on the Tata Indigo Marina platform, but with the rear modified: chopped, the overhang shortened, with the rear C-pillar less rakish, more vertical. The car has been raised, bigger, chunkier wheels added, appropriate offroad cladding at the front, on the
wheel arches, along the running board, and at the rear. And roof rails, of course.

Why did we rework the rear? You must have guessed that we are kind of obsessed with matters like the angle of approach, ramp break-over and the angle of departure – if you are not gonna go the whole hog and make a real 4x4, at least get the basics right, right?
The Adventure’s rear overhang really bothers us. So does the Advent’s. And so for the Indigo to become an Induro (that’s Enduro out of Ind-whatever…) the rear overhang must go. And if that is shortened, where is the space for the spare wheel that goes under the boot? Well, it has to come out from under to the tailgate-mounted types that Indians love (check out the number of nuts who pay extra to get their fat alloy spare wheels mounted on the butts of M-Class Mercs and Porsche Cayennes). Voila! We have a Tata softroader that can better the Adventure and challenge the Steppe!