Expected a lot. The interior plastics and last row seats put me off

After following up with many showrooms, I finally got one showroom in Chennai to agree to a test drive on Quanto last Sunday. My needs were: I wanted a 5 or 6 + seater car, since I drive less, a petrol version is also ok. I DISLIKE interior plastics and rubber beadings that look like its a TATA car. Need the car to be spacious, and expect good service.. now now now.. all these cannot be gotten at the price of 5-6 lacs so I increased my budget to 8-9 lacs just to see what can be expected. Ertiga pertol mid version is available for about 8.01 lacs  on road and the diesel mid version costs about 10L on road. So I was pleasantly surprised to know that Quanto mid version -Diesel!! costs about 8.3lacs on road.

(I could not test drive the Ertiga yet, but have checked it out at a nearby showroom..The seating and spacing options are cleverly managed and with adjustments, its a nice buy especially with the famed Maruti customer service.. but people at Khiviraj motors at Adyar were just not very enthusiastic in selling this car or even talking to us about it..I may still check this car out with other showrooms this week.. will let you know the details after the test drive.)

Going back to my test drive with Quanto...

Exterior Good. If this was another 1/2 ft longer, the last row seats would not have looked ridiculous. Shrinking a Xylo was their only goal it seems. The spare tyre on the rear door of the Quanto was a nice touch.. if this can be done on the Xylo, it will instantly improve its looks.

I liked the external looks.. When I got into the drrivers seat, noticed the poor plastics and rubber immediately..for 8. X lacs, i expected decent material for interiors.. the window beadings(rubber) looked like my Tata Indigo..We took the car out for a spin with 4 adults and 1 child.. I did not feel it as spacious as Indigo.. but YES.. the vertical space was really good..I compared this car with Duster and an Ertigo on the road as we were driving and this was much taller than them. But I still feel Ertigo can take 5-6 people more comfortably than Quanto. Also Quanto does not have a central ac blower.. the tiny tots in the rear seats will have a hard time without AC :-)

Interior (Features, Space & Comfort) Noticed that this car definitely needs good thigh support for the driver. or you will quickly have fatigue..space in the second row was barely ok. The third row was a joke. its not for kids, but you can fit in 2 babies (not sure if its safe though ;-)). Good features such as auto stop while in traffic, auto start on depressing the clutch. displays for km, could have added mileage and distance to empty. had a small SUV (or was it Bolero?) feel. How could I forget the gear shaft. It was just like the Bolero or Gypsy type long stick. gear shifts may not be very precise. I did not like the gear shift stick in Quanto. The Middle row (2nd row) seat was barely functional. not adjustable, plain bench type..last row seats (2) can fit babies maybe..my kid will be very unhappy to sit there.

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox Salesman claimed 17km etc.. not sure.. this car performed better than the indigo with AC without the lag (if you know what I mean).

Ride Quality & Handling Does it have issues that Xylo has in terms of Stability when turning? I dont know as it seemed to be fine when i drove the short distance.  

Final Words I liked this car, but even if it is for 5 people, the car must not seem cramped. In this case it seemed cramped. The advantage is the cost of Quanto compared to Ertiga diesel. I think I will go for another test drive with the Quanto. Maybe on the second round, I may notice more positives 

Areas of improvement Sell this car as a 5 seater. In this case, its a good buy when you compare it with other diesel options at 8.3 lacs. If you cant improve the plastics, atleast improve the quality of the rubber beadings.

Good exterior looks, could be value for money if few options were addedPoor plastics, no thigh support for driver, 2nd row seat looks like a bench