First Full Review Of Mahindra Logan 1.6 GLS

I searched the net far and wide to look for suitable and well meaning reviews about the Mahindra Logan. But, alas, i got nothing. I had first driven it in Hyderabad in the month of October and even though the i liked it i was not sure whether it was a good choice compared to the Honda city which i had been eying for a long time before i even heard about the Logan. Six months of deep thinking and forcing myself to be practical i finally gave in and went in for the Mahindra Logan. The reasons were very obvious and i list them down below:

(a) The Honda city body seemed to be fragile, in fact all the cars i have seen have a dent. If that was not enough i saw dealer adverts specifying zero waiting period for body repairs. Mahindra Logan on the other hand looks and is sturdy.

(b) The shock absorbers, Honda city's are much better initially but how long they would last on Indian roads is any body's guess.

(c) Resale value - I am not the kind who would sell the car anyways

(d) Mileage - I had a gut feeling Mahindra would deliver the same or better

(e) Maintenance cost- The Mahindra Logan spares are about 60 % cheaper than Maruti SX4, Honda is way much more.

(f) While I was still trying to make up my mind, the roads got flooded with Honda citys. No novelty in possessing one any more.

Any ways i went ahead and bought a Mahindra Logan 1.6 GLS. I don't drive much so the diesel did not make any sense. The buying experience was great. Goel Motors in Mohali, Punjab, did not leave any stone unturned to make me feel special and had a delivery ceremony with red carpet, unveiling and all.

After having read half baked reviews of the Logan on the Internet i was looking for those very things while driving and i was shocked about some things which people had written. First the Engine. They do not come any smoother. The 1.6 engine in the Logan made sure that i did not have to continually change gears. It climbed uphill even in the fourth. The sound proofing is great. You can hardly hear the engine inside and at times on the crossing lights one wonders whether the engine is on or not. The A/C is fabulous which is obvious for the big cars.

The suspension is great and i passed over many a big pits which felt like minor distortions in the road. I touched 150 kmph on the highway and there was no obvious strain on the engine. The car handled it well and would have taken a bit more had my guts permitted me to do so.

Now comes the big part, the mileage. From Chandigarh to Delhi i got a whopping 18.5 km/l without A/C and mind you this was a new car which was opened up to extra fuel. So one can assume that it would give at least 19-20 once the engine was retuned after the first service. Overall i got about 16.5 over a 2000 km run with the A/C on for about 70% of the total run. This is something that all other petrol cars will struggle to match.

As advertised, the Logan has the biggest space on the inside as well as in the boot and well endowed full bodied adults can easily fit in. The boot is a bit too big for any kind of family traveling in a car. Power steering, windows, central locking, fog lamps, music system, defoggers, remote boot opener, driver seat height adjustment, lumbar support etc are features which one does not get with any other cars at this price.

Talking about price. The car is 5.25 lakhs on road in Chandigarh, compared to more than 7 lakhs for Honda City. The Logan 1.6 GLS is probably the only fully loaded car one can buy for such acheap price and it does not disappoint at all.