Every year monsoons wreak havoc on our road infrastructure leaving us with flooded roads and overnight potholes. That means ideally our cars should have the basic ability to withstand some water wading, bad roads or no roads at all. Of course, big 4x4 SUVs manage to go through these quite easily but what about the compact SUV? Compact SUVs are getting quite popular but are they just hatchbacks with more ground clearance or will they be able to handle some of the worst roads we can throw at it? To answer this, we took the newest compact SUVs of this year for a tough test to see if they can handle monsoon hit roads. Our objective is to see whether these cars can be called as SUVs or not!

The compact SUVs we have chosen are the New Maruti Vitara Brezza and the new Tata Nexon. Both are present here in their petrol manual avatars. The reason to choose petrol compact SUVs is easy as they are getting quite popular over traditional diesel variants. We will see whether a petrol compact SUV can give you the performance to get going when the traction or the surface gets a bit loose. However, please note we did not do hardcore off-roading but simply took them through some rough roads and water wading to see how they cope.



Tata Nexon

Let us start with the new Tata Nexon and while its looks have changed, it does look more of an SUV now with added muscle. Today we are more interested in its suspension and performance. The Nexon gets a slight update in terms of power and makes 120 bhp and 170Nm courtesy its 1.2 turbo petrol. Its ground clearance is 209mm. Start it up and the new BS6 petrol turbo is quite refined and easy to drive with both the clutch and gear shift being light. We took the Nexon through some dug up and potholed roads where the suspension was able to bear it most of the time.



Despite not having a diesel engine or a 4x4, the Nexon's petrol had decent torque to dig it out and give it the performance when going through the rough sections. Mostly we kept it in third gear and the engine took it all. The ground clearance and suspension were the biggest surprises as while we took it through flooded roads it handled them easily. The compact size along with the good ground clearance made us escape the hard surfaces with no scrape. The decent visibility and compact size of compact SUVs help them in getting into roads or places where bigger SUVs would get stuck. We also took the Nexon on mud surfaces and loose gravel where we did not lose traction. On the flip side, the ride does get a bit bouncy on the Nexon and the suspension does not flatten or take all of the bad roads. You can feel some of the harder ones. The mileage did not dip during our test run and it was in double digits plus the trim inside or the car was stable.

Vitara Brezza

We then moved to the Vitara Brezza. It has been a hugely successful car for Maruti with the diesel variants being very successful. But now with a new 1.5l petrol, is the Brezza good in handling the rough stuff? The engine makes 104 bhp and 138Nm. While it is not turbo petrol, the power is well spread, and you do not need to constantly downshift. The Brezza felt rugged and did go through the rough surfaces very well. Its ground clearance is slightly less at 198mm but the relatively well-set approach and departure angle help it. You also sit a bit higher as an SUV. Its water wading ability was surprisingly good but as said earlier the petrol engine lacks the muscular nature of a turbo as it lacks the torque. That said the light manual helps matters and you would not feel the strain of a few more downshifts. Its 1.5l petrol was fairly efficient on the run while in terms of stability over loose surfaces or mud, the traction was decent. You can use the lightweight nature of the Brezza to advantage over the lack of the torque-rich turbo petrol.

Both the Nexon and Brezza have road-biased tyres and all were stock top-end petrol manuals. What we found is that both are surprisingly capable due to their compact size and light size which helps in pushing through flooded waters or bad surfaces. On the flip side, both are a bit firm over rough roads but their ground clearance or approach/departure angles are surprisingly good to swallow quite a bit of water wading and go through relatively deep potholes without scraping their undersides. Thus to answer the question we set out to answer, the Nexon and Brezza show compact SUVs are a lot more capable over rough roads than you might think. They are also better suited for cramped and monsoon hit surfaces than other types of cars due to their size plus good enough ground clearance.

Tata Nexon

What we like- Looks, features, turbo petrol, ground clearance

What we do not- Rides firm, fuel efficiency could be better

Maruti Brezza

What we link- Looks, space, efficiency, good approach/departure angles

What we do not- needs turbo petrol, more features needed

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