People who will buy the Meridian over the Toyota Fortuner, Mahindra XUV700 & MG Gloster will appreciate the SUV’s better ride & handling.
BHPian spkrnh recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Just penning my impression of the Meridian 4×2 as an owner of Compass pre-facelift Trailhawk. I regularly drive my friend’s Model S too, so I am in touch with the facelift as well.
Looks
- Front looks smashing. It looks more like Junior Grand Cherokee than Compass.
- Rear and side have a slightly station-wagon-ish look.
Interior
- Quality is good. It feels well screwed together. There was no obvious rattles yet. Equipment is similar to Compass.
- I read somewhere in the previous posts that there were no ventilated seats. Just to clarify, seat ventilation is present and functions well.
- Brown interior will not get soiled easily but looks duller than the beige.
- No front parking sensors but the 360-camera was pretty detailed for this segment.
- Audio was also good.
Rear seats
- Seats are higher than Compass with good thigh support. Seat recline was only 10-15 degrees but added better comfort. I feel the space is not an improvement over the Compass.
- It has been highlighted repeatedly in this group, and I cannot stress enough that a sliding rear seat would have made a great difference. None of the SUVs in this segment has a great 3rd row, even Fortuner, but it is really poor in the Meridian.
- Especially with the great suspension, better seat space would have made a great difference to the rear-seat experience.
Performance
- Sluggish. My Trailhawk feels more sluggish than the regular Model S and this felt slightly slower than my car too. You have to adopt a slightly heavy-on-pedal driving style like the old Astra and not feather it.
- But it is not a deal-breaker definitely and has an adequate pickup. Gearshifts are smooth and refinement is better than Compass. But a more powerful engine would have been great.
Ride and handling
- Ride felt better than my Compass which feels a notch better than Model S on 18-inch wheels. Same indestructible feel going over bad roads at speeds. Compared to Compass which rocks side to side at very low speeds but feels much better going over the same road at >30kmph, the Meridian rocks much lesser at low speeds.
- Steering is also lighter but weighs up very well as speed rises.
- Highway stability at triple-digit speeds is fantastic.
- Anyone who buys this car over the Fortuner, XUV and Gloster, this is where they will appreciate the maximum difference.
Overall
In isolation, a great car. But I don’t see any reason to get this over the Compass for 8 lakhs extra since the added length has not added any space in the second row. Ideally, the price should have been 4 lakhs cheaper.
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
Source: Read Full Article