Simply a good car. Review on Mahindra-Renault Logan

If the world is made of only car brands, it is made of two hemispheres- Honda City, Ford Ikon, Ford Fiesta, Skoda, Hyundai, Mahindra, Tata etc in one hemisphere, the other had Maruti's carts. Never was Mahindra Logan part of it. Why? Because people did not know much about this car. It was a car with large dimensions. It was a car with a huge boot. It was a car with a good rear seat. But - how does it run? Does it even have an engine? In my view, lack of publicity and proper promotion, is the key to the Logan problem - Mahindra never talked about such things.

I know of a drive of Logan diesel from Delhi to Ahmedabad done by the Overdrive magazine which retuened 30+ kmpl mileage which Mahindra never talked about while Ford was busy shouting about the Autocar test of the Fiesta returning 31KMPL and will do it till eternity (most of us know the Fiesta diesel - but nobody knows about the Logan Overdrive magazine test.). So what is wrong about the Logan? Nobody has the answer. It is like people staying away from non poisonous snakes without knowing the fact.

However, as I did not have many options, I decided to test drive the vehicle when there was a discount offered in Dec 2009 and interestingly- did it for good.

Here is the summary-

1) The hallmark of the car is its smoothness. The 1461 cc powerhouse (called 1.5 DCi) is a gentle yet powerful diesel engine. The high ground clearance and a good gearbox coupled with soft feel pedals make driving this car around easy even in difficult places- Confidence on rough roads is being a bonus point, which only tall vehicles can match. The car goes around any place with a smoothness unmatched by many cars and also highway drive and stability is really good .

2) The build quality of the car is very good- one of the best I will say.

3) Also this car is much more contemporary compared to most of the mid sizers (you check yourself - most of them are outdated).

4) Vibration levels, though reasonably low, are not as low as the Ford Fiesta. However, at this price it is the best and you also get more space than the Fiesta. And this space is comfortable enough. You can heve a sweet nap in the rear seat of Logan comfortably. Much more comfortably than most of the other cars this side of 10 lacs.

5) This car looks good. Believe me. It turned out to be quite a head turner when I actually bought and went around in my M. Silver car. It looks very imposing and good from the sides. It has complete wheel arches. It has a strong and decent body. It is, at least, not a bad looking car. What do you get alongwith excellent mechanicals, at this price?

6) The interiors are very basic but they are pleasing and made of good quality material. (I cannot expect upmarket interiors at this price in this car- you get what you pay for). But -if the basic stuff is high quality, you can always improve the interiors with wood finish, stereo, video, boot carpet, inner carpeting etc etc.

In short, if you talk of a car, this car is a lot of car- very capable, reasonably refined a complete car- not a single wheel arch is compromised.

In fact at the time of this TD, I had already booked a Ford Ikon TDCi diesel (the one with 1.4 Fiesta TDCi engine), a car filled upto the brim with features and, power windows and central locking apart, a stereo system with speakers included in a yummy package for 5 lac something! However, when test driven, I discovered that you feel every bit of engine movement - I love diesels and driving a truck is my dream- But driving a three box truck is not my dream- they need to be a bit gentler. So I cancelled that booking. Sorry Ford. Ford has also compromised with the metal to save material costs have removed wheel arches, side strips etc.

In fact my Logan car has been regularly giving 20 KM/l of diesel in city when no ac is used! The drive characteristics are good and I enjoy drives with my family.

I want to thank Mahindra Renault for such a nice car.