7-seater Cars enjoy a different kind of love and attention in the heart of Indians, the price range doesn’t matter, how expensive it is doesn’t matter, all these 7-seater SUVs and MPVs will thus continue to get more and more sales number.
Everything from the Datsun GO+ to straight up the king of the MPVs the Innova Crysta has a customer base that ranges from the affordable part of India to the riches.
But ever wondered why do they get so much love and attention? They aren’t certainly the fastest, they aren’t the best handling cars for sure, they aren’t the most feature-loaded, so what’s the reason?
Well, it’s simple, they are comfortable and practical af, being able to seat 7 people in a single car comfortably is something that many companies have tried to nail with their cars, but only a few have succeeded so far, cause the engineering of these vehicles is much more complex than they actually seem.
For example, if the wheelbase of the car is too long which will ultimately add more space to each of the rows of seat, the handling of the vehicle might get worse, the stability of the car might be disturbed, the body roll will increase drastically, but most importantly, the safety factor of the car will go down.
Make the wheelbase too short and the car might not just be practical enough, so today we are going to be taking a look at this segment, which isn’t considered “cool” by the youths but is actually one of the best segments in the market.
Before starting the list, I just want to clarify that we will not be talking about the Maruti Eeco, just because it’s a utilitarian vehicle and not particularly an MVP or an SUV, it’s in a different league of its own.
So, starting with the 1st car on our list, we have the Datsun go+, while Datsun calls the car as a 7-seater, the 3rd row of seats is completely unusable for adults or even older children, better use of the 3rd row of seats might be to just fold it down and use it for keeping the luggage. The car looks fresh, it’s not that it looks boring in any way.
Being a 7 seater at this point clearly means that Datsun had to sacrifice at some points to keep the price low and that’s what they did with the build, the car is very light in terms of build, and with the small tires it has, it looks like it skipped leg day and in that way you can clearly see it’s hollow build.
Anyway, I consider it as the 4rth tier MVP in India or even the 5th tier, now that Kia has launched the carnival which as we all can say clearly is the best MPV in the market currently.
The Datsun go+ has a 1.2-liter petrol engine and a CVT transmission, which are better suited to urban driving, God knows who will be driving in a 7 seater hollow build MPV in an around a city, the main area where it should excel is on highway driving, cause that’s where most of the families will be taking with, on a trip or a tour.
Anyways with a base price of 4.7 lakhs on-road Delhi, the Datsun go+ is very attractive for its price especially for people who can’t afford to buy an Innova, ertiga, or even a triber, this is their best shot at getting an MPV.
Next, we have the Renault triber, better than the Datsun go+ for sure. The features, practicality, and comfort the Triber gives at this price point are unmatchable, thus I would definitely say that the car is a value for money proposition. Even the 3rd row on the triber is usable. It's the best to use probably might be as an expanded boot but if you want to carry 7 folks with you in comfort, the triber is a good car.
The 1.0-liter engine is good, it might feel tired sometimes when being pushed to the limit and 7 people sitting in it but a turbo engine is on its way with the triber update that Renault is saying will be coming in soon.
Then we have the star of the MPV market at the moment, the Maruti Suzuki ertiga, when the 2nd gen of the ertiga was launched with those ciaz taillights, I instantly took aback, because the design wasn’t good, but when I actually got to see the car and experience for the whole day, I got to know how great of a car it actually is and why it has become the new Innova, 3rd-row seats aren’t the best but they are good enough.
It’s spacious, isn’t hollow in build, and can be used for highway touring, also it doesn’t feel slow in any way, and that is due to the mild-hybrid engine being on offer. If I were in the market, looking for an MPV, the ertiga might be my first choice.
We will talk about the Mahindra bolero sometime in the future as it is not a typical MPV, so stay tuned for that.
So, everyone, that will be all for this time, I trust you liked this one, if you did then do share it with your friends and do consider subscribing to Motordrift for more such content in the future.
Till then
Ciao